Tiger King for a Day

SEVENTEEN: "Little" CJ turned 17 today. That's darn near an adult, at least by the 'you're old enough to vote and go to war' standard.

I've been thinking about how to celebrate today for awhile. A worldwide pandemic and a state with stay home orders and most businesses closed down doesn't exactly scream, "Party on!"

I decided last week that Annabelle and I should at least make CJ a fun cake for his birthday. So, for the last few days we've been piecing together a Tiger King-themed cake.(In case you haven't heard about it, it's a wildly popular show on Netflix about a bunch of crazy people in the United States who, for lack of a better description, collect tigers. It's horrific and wildly entertaining.)

As you might expect, we had to make a tiger for the cake. And by 'we,' I mean Annabelle.

I did have a hand in some elements, like mixing sherbet toned fondant for tiger collector Carole Baskin's blouse.

Annabelle sculpted the leader of Big Cat Rescue in Florida. I made her 'crown.'

Speaking of heads, or lack thereof, here's a headless Joe Exotic. He's the star of the show, and former operator of a big ol' tiger zoo in Oklahoma.

Below is Joe's head, bi-colored mullet and all - in a paper boat, awaiting a body.

Eventually the whole cake came together. It was quite a project. 

When we unveiled the cake for CJ he said, "Well, I wasn't expecting that."

Ha ha ha. I thought that was pretty funny.

This morning, we continued a birthday tradition by going to Easy Street Records for breakfast. Of course, because of the pandemic, we couldn't dine in. And CJ couldn't peruse their record collection. Instead, we had to get breakfast to go. We sat in the car next to an also-closed park and hoped for better time soon.

Afterward, there were a few hours of school and house work. Then, this afternoon, CJ opened his presents. He was pleased with each and every one of them. 

For dinner, we drove mostly country roads to Issaquah. Our destination was XXX Root Beer, a nostalgic drive in.

 It was sad to see the place cordoned off and quiet. The joint is usually jumping.

We weren't able to tour the whole restaurant and see all their cool collectibles, but we did appreciate this great Orange Crush dispenser on their front counter

 If you're at a place famous for its own brew of root beer, you simply must order a float. So that's what we did. The masks made them a little hard to drink, however. 

There was a cool, vintage Coca-Cola machine out front. 

I actually rather loved the artificially sweetened dietary carbonated beverage Tab. (It was sugar free!) 

 This old 7Up bottle caught my eye, as well.

We've been to Triple X Root Beer a couple of times before, but had always just bought the kids floats before. Tonight we ordered food.

Oh. My god. 

I told the kids, when I get a box or plate from a restaurant, I don't really want my first thought to be, "Oh no!" But that's what happened at this place. RIDICULOUS portions of food.

Hope CJ has room for cake!