Five

Say hello to our little man or should I say fisherman? Jaxon turned five on Sunday, but he celebrated a day early with a fishing party. Nineteen of Jax's buddies joined us at the neighborhood pond to try their hand at catching a whopper. I was very worried that the never-ending freeze would put a negative spin on the festivities, but the 33 degree day didn't dampen the spirit. These kids were ready to party!At the last minute, after seeing that Mother Nature was not going to cooperate, Anh and I made the executive decision to relocate the actual party from the park pavilion to our much warmer house. The game plan was to meet our guests at the pond, fish until frozen, and then return to our house to defrost & continue the good times. To set the stage, I ordered a fishing themed cake for the birthday boy and draped the tables with fishing nets accented with fishing lures (hooks removed, of course).Plus, Aunt Nguyen and I made fish-shaped rice krispie treats and sugar cookies.Continuing the theme, Jax filled some fish bowls with Goldfish crackers and Swedish Fish...And I placed some cute little fishing-themed accessories (like Aunt Glenda & Uncle Robert's antique fishing game) around the house.We even found coolers that looked like fishing bobbers and filled them with juice boxes for the kids...Fish coozies doubled as utensil holders...And, as party favors we gave the kids tackle boxes filled with candy "bait" to pair with the cane fishing poles that Grandfather and Uncle Travis made especially for the party. Everything was beyond cute in my very humble and completely unbiased opinion. Thank you so much for the help, Everyone!Like I said before, once we gathered at the park, the kids weren't going to let some freezing temps interrupt their adventure. With a quick round of instruction, they were fishing like pros. Sadly, the fish just weren't biting.There was a moment of excitement when we all thought Jax had a bite, but the big catch turned out to be some pond scum. Yeah, not exactly the "big one" we were all hoping for. Oh well!We gave it our best shot, and the kids really didn't seem disappointed. Maybe they actually had realistic expectations unlike me. Honestly, the kids were more excited about hooking worms than anything else. Is that a good or a bad thing?When the wind started to pick up, we called it a day and headed back to the house where the parents could enjoy hot cider and sandwiches around the fireplace, and the kids could celebrate with cake and ice cream. Woo hoo!

Notice Baylor pointing to the giant piece of cake he wanted!Knowing that the sugar rush would result in a burst of energy, I tried to provide the kids with some activities. Some were structured projects like cookie decorating. This appealed mainly to the girls.The boys naturally gravitated towards the toy fishing game. I guess it's in their competitive nature.Of course, both the boys and the girls were HUGE fans of the playroom. That place was a mad house! Only a few parents dared climbing the stairs to witness the insanity, most were either having too much fun in the cocktail party-style environment downstairs to care what was happening upstairs or they were afraid of what they might see. Either way, the kids were having fun while the parents were entertained. It was like two parties in one!However, all good things must eventually come to an end. Before our guests bundled up to once again brave the elements, we snapped pictures of them with the "catch of the day."Everyone left with a smile on their face, but the birthday boy's grin was the only one I really cared about. He truly enjoyed his celebration which made all the hard work worthwhile. Thanks again, Everyone, for contributing to the memories!

Arg!!!

Ahoy, matie! I'm going to back-track just a bit so I can share some cute pictures of the kids from Pirate Fest 2009. It was a beautiful Fall day, except with summer time temperatures. Actually, it was pretty funny to see most of the crowd decked out in their Fall fashions. They looked good, but hot! We went the more sensible route and opted for t-shirts & shorts.

Hudson & Hayden joined us for the festivities, and as usual, Hudson was happy just to be a part of the fun. He didn't mind being strapped in his stroller. Baylor wasn't as thrilled with the arrangement.

Baylor didn't like watching from the sidelines as Jax & Hayden performed death-defying feats on the trampolines. He wanted to get in on the action! Soon, buddy. Your big brother was only 2 the first time he "jumped like Spiderman." You've still got a few months before I'll let you take that leap.

They made it look so easy! Something tells me it's not. One of these days, I'll give it a shot too.

Hudson got his adrenaline rush in a more traditional way, the swings. Again, Baylor wasn't happy to settle for this safer alternative. He didn't want to participate in "little kid" activities, but he was happy to eat most of Hudson's snacks while he waited for us to move on the next activity.

Even seeing big brother Jax on the swings wasn't enough to convince Baylor to take part. Oh well. His loss!

Our final stop was the only part of the day that Baylor truly enjoyed. Yummy frozen yogurt never disappoints. The girl behind the counter even treated Baylor to his own mini cup topped with a raspberry. Boy, did he feel special!

This picture just cracks me up! Jax looks like he just a bite of heaven!

Jay really didn't understand what all the fuss was about, but he seemed thrilled to get a break from the heat.

And, Hudson was excited to get a break from the stroller. All in all, it was a great Fall day. If only Mother Nature had picked up her copy of the memo.

Rewind

It's the start of yet another week, but considering the poor job I did of blogging LAST week, I thought I might press the rewind button on life's imaginary remote control and bring you up to speed on some of the fun that we experienced.

Actually, it was a pretty busy week all things considered. As usual, Anh had a packed week covering both offices, and Jax had school. However, the kids did receive a special visit from a team of paramedics. Not because of an emergency though. The kids are learning about the different types of emergency personnel, and last week was "Paramedic Week."

Mrs. T, Jax's teacher, reported Jax was very quick to inform the paramedics that his dad is a doctor, and he often goes to the hospital with his dad who "fixes people." I'm sure they appreciated that bit of info, Jax! Oh well, clearly, he's proud of his dad. This week, Jax's class will meet a team of firefighters AND have the opportunity to check out their firetruck. I imagine that will be big fun! Good thing the paramedics don't have to follow that act.

Baylor also had a relatively full schedule with 2 play dates. First, he did lunch with Hudson. Lisa and I tagged along too, of course. During future lunch dates, I will need to place Baylor on the opposite side of the table from his guests. Otherwise, Baylor helps himself to anything on their plate. Nice, buddy! You won't get many 2nd dates, if that's how you're going to behave.

Baylor also met up with Ethan and a new friend, Jack, for a little fun in the sun. It has been unseasonably warm here, and we thought that was a good excuse to hit the beach. Not that we ever experience a true Fall in North Florida, but by now, highs are usually in the low to mid-eighties. Last week, we were treated to highs in the 90's, and with the heat index, we were pushing close to 100. Yeah, a trip to the beach was definitely in order.Somewhere in the middle of all that fun, we threw in a little family party for my 33rd birthday! Man, 33! Where is time going?! Anyway, it was a lovely, uneventful mid-week birthday. The boys got me a lovely & delicious cake from a bakery we recently discovered. Let's just say, the diet was thrown out the window for the week. We enjoyed every last bite of that cake! What it lacked in beauty, it definitely made up for with flavor. As you can see from the pictures, Baylor couldn't wait to dive in.

After all of that, factor in some crazy house drama, and I'm sure you can understand how time got away from me. Let's hope I do a better job of time management this week. We don't want to wear out that rewind button.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My

Actually, our zoo doesn't have tigers and bears, but we did see some lions. We spent Sunday at the zoo with our friends, Jay and Lisa. Oh, and of course the kids, Hayden and Hudson, were there too. Makes sense, right? Because we all know these play dates are for the kids, not the parents. First stop, Stingray Bay where you can get up close and personal with stingrays. Oh, and Jay took that a little literal. No one is exactly sure what happened, but as he was feeding one of the stingrays a chunk of fish, it got VERY upset and started wildly flapping it's wings. As a result, everyone was treated to a nice splash of salt water, and we were left wondering, just what was Jay doing under the water's surface? Just kidding! Jay swears he simply held onto the chunk of bait a little too long, and the stingray didn't appreciate that.

After that excitement, we made our way towards some of the more traditional exhibits. Along the way, Hayden decided she would adopt Baylor as her 2nd little brother. Enjoy it while it lasts, Baylor. Eventually, Hudson is going to be up and out of that stroller too, and he's not going to appreciate you making the moves on his sister.A trip to the zoo wouldn't be complete without feeding the giraffes. I didn't catch this fella's name, but he's the biggest giraffe we've fed to date. He was a gentle giant though, very friendly and hungry! He couldn't get enough of the lettuce leaves being handed out that day.Everyone was amazed by the length of his tongue. The boys laughed when the giraffe licked Hayden's hand, but that was too much contact for her. After that little experience, Hayden refused to feed the giraffe. She wasn't going to risk a second lick by the giant tongue. I can't really say I blame her. The tongue was longer than her arm!

After washing up, we stopped to enjoy some the scenery and snapped a few pictures. Hudson was all smiles for the camera. He may be little, but give him time, he's going to be running the show one of these days.

Oh, here's a rare event I captured...Elephants and a monkey playing together.Then, we lost our minds and served the kids snowballs laced with crack. Yeah, looks like he really needed more sugar!

The brilliance continued. After pumping them up on sugar, we put them on the carousel where they could get dizzy. I'm sure it's hard to believe, but the kids exited the ride no worse for the wear.At that point, we decided we should probably feed the kids something besides sugar and took a break for lunch. After refueling we set out for the most anticipated stop of the day, the splash park. Sadly, within a matter of minutes, Hudson went from this... to this. Poor little guy missed out on the grand finale. Oh well, there will be plenty of future opportunities.The other three made the most of the experience, but in a relatively short amount of time, they were ready to move on to the playground. I was able to get a few cute pictures before the ADD kicked in and forced us to move on.

Our final stop, the playground, a good place to have the kids run off that last bit of energy before we loaded them up and headed home.

With four kids in tow, you never know how the day will unfold, but I give them all high marks. We hopped them up on adrenaline and sugar, but they were troopers and avoided the potential meltdown. Now, that's what I call a successful outing!