Ben's Birthday

Ben’s birthday celebration stretched out over three days this year. In lieu of a family activity, we let Ben pick a fun activity for him and his two best friends. He decided to go to Classic Fun Center. Nate took the three of them on Wednesday night. They had a fabulous time together. They scootered, bounced, ate pizza, played laser tag, and stopped for frosties on the way home. It turned out to be the perfect little birthday party. All of the fun with none of the hassle.



Ben was so excited when he realized that the end of the quarter coincided perfectly with his birthday (he should thank me for that since I planned it that way 11 years ago). It worked out great with Thursday being an early day and having no school on Friday. He took ring pops for his school treat and came home and watched Kung Fu Panda 2 with his sisters while they waited for Nate to get home so Ben could open his presents. We gave him a Camelbak backpack, a bike computer, a LOTR puzzle, and a Harry Potter pop-up book. He got more ammo for his slingshot from his sisters, and my mom gave him some metal targets for his BB gun and a Ji Ga Zo puzzle. He wasn’t sure about the Ji Ga Zo, so we opened it up and tried it out. The first one we did was Ben as a baby. It was really pretty cool. (The kids and I kind of became obsessed with it and ended up building six different puzzles in two days.) We finished up the night with dessert. Instead of a cake, Ben decided he wanted f’zookies. We made them with white chocolate macadamia nut cookie dough and eggnog ice cream. It was the best f’zookie flavor combination I have ever tasted. Good choice Ben.






Ben chose Olive Garden for his birthday dinner. We usually go with lower budget restaurants, but Nate and I had a couple of gift cards to Olive Garden, so we threw it out as an option. Since there was no school on Friday, we did a birthday lunch instead of a birthday dinner. It was good food. Abby loved their ravioli. I have never seen that girl eat so much in one sitting before. She toyed with the idea of going to Olive Garden for her birthday, but after realizing that they don’t have a play area, she is back to wanting to go to McDonald's.