Happy Birthday To Me

Since I was in Dallas last week during my actual birthday, I chose to celebrate the Saturday prior with a day in the city and the Friday after with an ice cream cake!  While I was in Dallas, my co-workers all made me feel very loved - even having a dessert platter delivered to me while I was teaching a course!  But nothing compares to this grin!  Look at my happy boy getting ready to help me blow out my candles on my ice cream cake!  We've been enjoying the cake leftovers all weekend. 

Our trip to the city was to visit the Museum of Science & Industry (we had to get in one more visit before our annual pass expired) and then sushi and gelato in Lakeview.  William loved the gelato; the sushi, not so much. . . .

He actually wouldn't eat anything at the sushi restaurant - including edamame or dumplings.  However, he didn't whine about it, and just bided his time for the ice cream.  And then he totally scammed us into a macaroni and cheese cup once we got home.  Well played little guy. 

Photopass Back blogging

I just posted the Disneyland Photopass pictures with May dates if my Disney fan readers want to check the archives for some cute shots!  This is one of my favorites in front of the castle.  The big boy was surprised that I suggested it!  I was surprised that we purchased 3 light sabers instead of 1, so it was a fair trade off.   Neither of us complained about our surprise.

 

Frozen Dragons

This weekend we didn't have anywhere to go (hooray!) so we had time to see two movies.  We went to the movie theater to see How to Train Your Dragon 2, which was a little scarier than the first movie but not too bad even for Will.  Jason and I had a lot of parts to laugh at, too, so that's always a sign of a good "kid" movie.   All in all, a good family movie if you like dragons and battles and jokes like we do!  And FINALLY after all the craze, we recorded Frozen and watched it at home.   Will has already seen some or all of it at school, but this was mine and Jason's first time.  It was great!  But, I'm still not-so-secretly thrilled that Will doesn't like to meet princesses and our Disney trips don't involve a trip to see Anna and Elsa!  We did, however, "meet" Olaf when we were at Disneyland!  

 

Paddle 2

Will passed out fo the second level of swimming this week.  He advances from Paddle 2 (Basics of Swimming) to Paddle 2 (Flip to Breathe).  The skills he had to master were:

• Bear Paddle:  paddling and kicking on tummy
• Kid Backstroke:  swooshing arms on back
• Kid Breaststroke:  arms extend together in front of head, sweeping back in circular motion and kicking
• Humpty Dumpty:  fall into pool, turn, swim to wall and perform a Tummy Pool Exit

In the next level, he will work on doing all of those strokes for a longer period with more emphasis on flipping himself over to get a breath, as well as learning the basics of freestyle.  So excited to see him develop a love for swimming!  On our couple of trips to the pool this summer, he has really shown a lot of confidence in being in (and under) the water. 

 

St. Louis

We celebrated the Fourth of July weekend with family in St. Louis - a spot we picked so that everyone had to drive the same 4 or 5 hours!  When we started planning in the spring, we chose a downtown hotel convenient to the arch and the fireworks on the Mississippi River.  Due to construction and St. Louis's 250th birthday, the Fair St. Louis was moved to Forest Park further inland.   It wasn't walking distance anymore, but it was still easy enough to get to.  We went on the 3rd when we all got to town, since we assumed it would be less busy than the 4th (it was) and because there was an awesome concert line up (Thompson Square and The Band Perry) all free!  Unfortunately, we didn't get on the road early enough to make the concerts, but we did enjoy the fireworks!  

After the Shields Family slept in on the 4th, we met up with the Schweers and Lohrmans at City Museum.  Oh my goodness; this was everything I hoped it would be and more!  We had a blast.  The six adults to three five-year olds ratio was perfect.   These climbing structures are not for the faint of heart - or the nervous parent.   It's pretty much impossible to keep an eye - much less a hand - on your child as they go off exploring.  But, there was usually a parent, aunt or uncle that had a visual on each kid.  Usually. . . .

Will and I rode this big slide together.  Jason (in the red hat) rode a little later on his own, while Will was climbing up for a third ride on the white tube slide above this slide.

Indoors pictures were hard to get as well.  There was plenty of climbing, slipping and sliding to be done in a room straight out of a skateboard park. 

 New five-year olds Will and Lexi had no trouble conquering the City Museum's obstacles!

After all that playing, what better way to make the nearly mile walk home to the hotel:  on top of daddy's shoulders!  That last about two picture perfect blocks before various kids wanted down to walk themselves or have a mommy hold them.  Tired, sweaty kids are extra heavy!

We enjoyed some time at the pool; cupcakes for Lily's 6th birthday; and dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory before retiring back to our rooms to watch fireworks out the window.  At one point we could see three sets of fireworks shows (plus the ones on TV)!   It was a fantastic weekend with family, and we're so thankful for all those who could make it!