Brontë is Eight!

The Land family "birthday season" can really wreak havoc on the psyches of parents who are trying to convince themselves that they are not really very old, but at least there is a brief reprieve between Brontë's birthday and Cuyler's. We might be able to recover our sense of youth by then, what with Christmas being oh-so-restful! As you will soon deduce from closer examination of the pictures, Brontë's party was co-sponsored by Coca Cola, the Granada Hotel pool, and Pizza Inn. Bronte invited Devina, a friend from school, and we did cake, presents and fun at the pool. As it gets dark at 6:00 p.m. and we were the only people keeping the attendant from closing, it was a whirlwind of a party that lasted about two hours. Brontë was happy though, especially since she got some Ghanaian dresses for her birthday, and a new DS game (thanks Granny!).

We had the party on the actual day of her birthday, so it made for a hectic day (especially for Carmilla--thanks mom!) as it was a weekday. To complicate matters, the waitress from the restaurant at the pool refused to serve us, claiming there was "no menu and no food." She just happens to be the very same server who tried to double our bill the last time we were there, trying to tell us that the prices had changed since she handed us the menu. We did not fall for this age-old Ghanaian custom (reserved for obruni) and simply did the math ourselves, included a small dash, and went on our way. The patrons, "Douglas the Driver," and staff of the pool were on our side (as they knew the real prices as well as the "custom"), so we left her with a rather sour expression on her face and went on our merry way. Her revenge meant I had to dash out and get pizza, which was probably for the best as the last time our food took more than an our to arrive and the order was wrong. Alas, this will probably be our last visit to the Granada, as the pool was also quite dirty! Welcome to Ghana, have a nice birthday!