Peter's Birthday Part 2 - or The World's Longest Post About Going to the Zoo and Eating Ice Cream

After spending the morning opening presents, we decided to go to the zoo to celebrate (since that is one of his very favorite places to go at home.)

He was all about checking out the map and planning our path.

I promise not all of this food was mine.  As the Mom, I'm just the designated holder of all things for everyone.  It's the one time I miss not having a stroller.

The Fort Worth Zoo was definitely a big hit for everyone.

The gorilla just chilling and munching on some celery.

The elephants are always one of Peter's favorites.  And this zoo has TWO baby elephants.

(There were also other moments when I wished we had a stroller because Peter wanted to be carried.  Good thing he has such a nice big brother.)

That was looking pretty enticing.

The lions roared for us.  Hearing the lions roar was always one of my favorite parts of going to the zoo when I was young.  I'm really excited to have them back at Hogle Zoo in a couple of months.

Feeding the parakeets was also a huge hit.  My older kids had done this when they were at our zoo, but not the younger kids.

My girls.

And my boys.

Sorry for the disgustingness of these next photos, but if you ever need a visual on why you should cover when you sneeze, this is it.

Gross.

Yeah, that was as nasty as it looked and some of that landed on me.  Yum.

Hanging out on the stage coach.

Jonas practicing for when he is an old man sitting on his front porch.

A train ride back to the zoo gates.  That is one happy 5 year old.

Those are some big horns.

Two types of flamingos to admire.

After a fantastic afternoon spent at the zoo and dinner with the Marshes, we headed to Cold Stone for some birthday ice cream.

Mom and Dad with the birthday boy.

Playing king of the mountain.

And one last upside down birthday carry before heading back to Matt and Anne's.

And there ends the third and final birthday celebration on the road.  I can't believe my baby is 5!

Peter's Birthday in Texas - Part 1

As always, it just breaks my heart a little bit that this kid is growing up so fast.  I can't believe he is turning 5.  He was pretty happy that he still got to celebrate his birthday even though we were far from home.  Plus, it was fun to have cousins there with us.

There are always willing participants to help unwrap presents.

There seemed to have been a little bit of a Star Wars theme - even Grandma Judy got the Star Wars vibe.

Jonas was just thrilled to not have to get up early and get in the water.  He was happily cuddled up with his nook.

Peter and C3 were good buddies the whole time we were there.

He is just such a happy kid.  He wakes up with this big grin on his face every morning.  He tells me all day long that he loves me.  Or says, "Guess how much I love you?" or "Guess who loves you the most?"  Yeah, he pretty much has me wrapped around his finger.  When I ask him to do something, he always replies with a happy, "Aye aye Captain Mommy."  I just love being with him.

ODP Wrap Up Wherein Jonas Gets to Hang out With His Family Again and Enjoy the Rest of Spring Break

The ODP tournament wrapped up on Sunday.  the boys were all exhausted but overall, I think Jonas had a good experience.

There were several quotes on the wall at the pool, but this was Samantha's favorite, so she snapped a picture of it.  I guess there's some truth to this.

Jonas was really glad to be able to come and stay with us and relax a little.  He and Bea were good buddies.

We have a couple more days to spend some time with cousins and doing some sight seeing before we have to head home again.

Amelia's Birthday in Texas with a little ODP Thrown in For Fun

Amelia wasn't super excited about having to spend her birthday at a water polo tournament, but we did the best we could to make her day special.  Being able to spend time with cousins that we don't see very often was definitely a plus.  So here is birthday celebration number two.

These kids had so much fun together.  And yes, we do travel with our own Birthday hat and birthday banner.  (Plus Matt and Anne still had one up from Collin's birthday which falls right in line with all of ours.)

She opted for the open presents with your toes method just to stretch things out a little.

She had a very enthusiastic audience.

This was obviously a big hit.

She even got some help unwrapping.

After all the present opening, we did go to watch Jonas's team play for a bit.

This kid was awesome. I think he has learned so much from this experience and his playing has improved dramatically.

We didn't have a chance for cake this day, but we did go to lunch with the team and Shawn got them all to sing Happy Birthday to Amelia.  She was pretty embarrassed to have all those teenage boys singing to her, but I think she kind of liked it too.  She got her own personal bundt cake to celebrate with.  Yum.  Unfortunately, she had to finish it in the car so we could get back to the pool for more water polo.

We enjoyed lots of tasty meals with the Marshes.  Samantha especially loved the abundance of juicy meat.  We don't have that much at home.

Maybe not the very best way to spend your 10th birthday, but I don't think it was all bad.  It should be memorable.