Ben's 4th Birthday

After the trip to Holdiday World yesterday, we expected the kids to be completely wiped out, but they were so excited about Ben's birthday that they kept the energy high. Maggie said that she wanted to have her birthday again, so Ben said he would share his with her. He even let her open most of his gifts for him, and they have been sharing his new "GeoTrax" all day.

We invited both sets of grandparents over for a grill-out to celebrate.

mmmm.... BIRTHDAY CAKE....

Ben has celebrated all four of his birthdays thus far wearing this same birthday crown and topping his cake with this same frog-prince.

He asked for a chocolate cake with fudge for frosting. He even specified that he wanted frosting in the middle of the two layers. (picky, picky) I have always remembered that my sister, Amy, made my fourth birthday cake. It was pink and blue with big marshmallows baked inside. I don't know how she accomplished this. I put marshmallows in Ben's cake batter, but they mostly melted during baking. There was only a hint of marshmallow by the time we ate the cake, but it was still really good!

Holiday World 2009

Our first trip to Holiday World was a HUGE success. The kids were great travellers on the 3+ hour trip, not even asking to stop once, and they were total troopers the entire day. Brian and I thought we would be leaving the park by mid-afternoon, but we actually stayed until after the water park closed. We spent almost the entire day in the water park (since it was above 90 degrees), but I got most of our pictures during our last hour, which we spent in the "Christmas" section where the toddler roller coasters are located.

Airplains, mini-rockets, bumper-boats, a seahorse carousel, etc. My favorite thing was to accompany Ben on this crazy ride that took us slowly up and then dropped us straight down. I thought he would hate it, but our little dare-devil LOVED it. He giggled and giggled. He rode it two more times - once with Mommy and once all by himself (so I could watch his expression).

We ended our day with theme-park food: a funnel cake and cotton candy. This was Maggie's first experience with cotton candy. It was so funny. She kept saying, "My hands... STICKY!"

Oh, and we had our picture taken with Santa Clause. This might have to be this year's Christmas card picture.

First Day at the Pool

After MUCH begging on Ben's part, we have finally made it to the swimming pool for the first time this summer. I'm sorry to report that the heater is broken in the main pool (as it was last year), so the water temperature was less than desirable. Ben didn't seem to mind. Maggie's lips turned blue, but it didn't stop her either.

Dan Zanes Concert

Last weekend (May 31st), we went to the Dan Zanes concert at Hilbert Circle Theater. We have been waiting for this concert for months. I was so bummed that about 90 minutes before we were supposed to leave, Maggie suddenly came down with a fever and began vomiting. She LOVES to dance, and this concert would have been ten times as fun with her there. Of course, she won't remember that she missed it, but we will. It took Ben until about the 3rd-to-last song to really come out of his shell, but when he did... WHOAH! He was a dance-machine! We had a blast, and we will definitely get tickets again the next time Dan Zanes & Friends are in town!