Happy Birthday Elise!

We had another fun birthday celebration yesterday. Elise turned 4 years old. After seeing Emily open her presents Thursday night, it was a very long wait for Elise until it was her turn. She told us about 173 times that she wanted a training wheel bike. On Friday, I found her out in the garage trying to stack things high enough to reach the key to the shed so she could see if we were hiding a bike in there (she was on to us). Luckily, her birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so she could open her presents first thing in the morning. Elise got basically the same gifts as Emily . . . except for size and color. One of these years that will have to change, but for now it works great.

After presents and breakfast (Nate’s famous crepes), Emily had her first soccer game of the season. We came home for lunch (we told Elise that she could pick anything she wanted . . . she chose Kraft Macaroni and Cheese) and then headed off to the zoo. We were partly glad that our plan had fallen through on Thursday so that we would have more time to spend there. Seeing the parking lot filled with the cars of 4,000 other people who thought a day at the zoo sounded fun made us a little weary. It was certainly crowded, but we had a good time. Elise seemed the least excited about the animals. She kept asking “when do we get to go to the park?” and “when are we going home?” Of course as we were leaving she said that she loved it, but her favorite part was playing on the playground. Her favorite animal was the white crocodile because he winked at us and she was pretty sure that meant that he was saying “Happy Birthday” to her.

We hadn’t planned on it, but we ended up staying until closing time. That made for another late night. We picked up some food at Wendy’s so we could have a quick dinner and then the kids went out to play so I could hurry and decorate Elise’s cake (nothing like the last minute). After some still frozen cake (oops) and ice cream, we just had time for a quick clean up and a story and then it was off to bed.

Some days I think it is fun that we have three birthdays in six days, but by the end of the week I am always pretty worn out. We have had a great time, but I must admit that I’m glad that I have a four month break until it is Ben’s birthday and I’m looking forward to a “normal” week next week.

We have a birthday tradition of tying balloons onto the kids bed (one for each year) while they are sleeping. It is fun for them to wake up and immediately know that it is their special day.

We finally let Elise look in the shed.

Elise on her new bike.

Emily was a very timid soccer player last year. She would get close to the ball, but didn’t want to actually kick it. It looks like that stage might be over. She was right in the thick of things most of the time in her first game this year.

The kids got to touch an armadillo . . .

. . . and a red tailed boa constrictor.

Ben insisted that we take pictures on every animal statue at the zoo.

We got to see all of the giraffes up close and personal.

The gorilla walked right up to us. It is cool to have a great ape two feet away from you.

On the train.

The kids loved playing at the park. Abby is currently a huge fan of slides and went up and down the big snake slide lots and lots of times.

It was a very long day/week. This is what happened whenever we were in the car for more than 10 minutes.

Elise loved her hastily prepared cake. I’m becoming a big fan of toys on cakes. It makes decorating easy and the kids love it.