Family Photo Album Jesse's Birthday 1990 Three Years Old This was the year for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The cake was entirely Lyn's idea and creation. She shopped at all the stores and bakery but couldn't find what she wanted for Jesse. She took inspiration from a Betty Crocker book from the 1950's, about custom cutting and stacking standard cakes into little sculptures.   The custom cutting and stacking went fast, and mixing turtle colors (green, tan) was a little wierd. However, after a dozen tries, we could not get a purple to match Jesse's favorite Donatello. In desparation, we easily whipped up a perfect blue (in 10 seconds) and the cake became Leonardo. Jesse's first words? "Why isn't it Donatello?" Lyn imagined and executed it all by herself Jesse was too young to appreciate the extra effort We had a outdoor deck party on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Michigan in May. All the grownups shared in the six-foot long "party sub". What was Jesse's words upon open his Ninja Turtle play costume. "Cool! Hey, I don't want to be Raphael!" Eventually, it was decided that he would be Donatello but borrow Rapael's mask. That costume hung around for the next four years of playtime. Both sets of grandparents came over and Lyn's sister brought his cousins to have some fun. Louis and Irene came over from next door. They were Jesse's third set of grandparents, and Louis was forever talking to Jesse, telling and listening to stories, and helping him harvest cucumbers from the vines growing on our shared fence. Louis and Irene were grandparents to the family we bought our house from and continued the tradition with the next set when we moved to Utah. What a wondeful memory of our years in Dearborn. Louis, Irene, and Dave's mom at the backyard party Ninja Turtle boy Hit the Pinata No birthday part is complete without the pinata stuffed with candy and toys. Jesse is wearing a little-guy blindfold of tissues tucked inside his superhero mask. He had a ball with his playtime golf clubs but it took his older cousin (and an actual tennis racket) to finally get the pinata open. Click to view a different holiday or year Original Web Upload July, 2001 Last Update: March 15, 2003