Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Today is my husband's birthday, and although he doesn't want a lot of fanfare, and would rather not be getting any older (tough luck, Babe!), I'd like to wish him a Happy Birthday and a year of love and adventure! We're off to a fantastic start - we leave for Nicaragua in two days!! He can't even sleep now, he's so excited. He's been packed for days! His surfboards are waxed and waiting, he bought about eight cans of sunscreen - the good stuff - not what I grew up calling "suntan lotion" with an SPF4. He's got our transportation all worked out, and we'll be one of those big shot families at the airport looking for a guy holding a sign with our name on it. Sweet! Not to mention the mansion we're staying at! Dios mio!! There is a very cool group of people coming along to join us there, and in all we have twelve to fifteen people (including kids, and yes, they should be included)! Should be a fantastic time!

This photo booth picture strip was taken on Oliver's 6th birthday - ten days ago! I told you I've been busy - and from the following pictures you'll see why. It was super funny to see him wake up on his birthday morning, with me kind of shaking him awake, saying, "Hey sleepy head! It's your birthday, you know!" He sat straight up in bed, then shot out of the room yelling, "Dada! It's my birthday, you know!" It was only 6:30 a.m., but we needed to get things going. They left right away to get some fresh doughnuts at Voodoo, the best place on earth for fresh doughnuts, and that's where the pictures were taken. Andy told me later that Ollie really wanted to play all three of their pinball machines, and he let him, although the people sitting at the table near them were giving him the stink eye, mentally saying, "It's only 7:00 a.m., you know!"

Oliver lined up his presents from us in a nice straight row. He likes building walls.

After his party, which was a fantastic success at a place that specializes in making dreams come true for six year olds (think enormous jungle gym, arcade games, trading tickets for "treasures", etc.), we went down to the Willamette under the St. John's bridge to play with the remote control speed boat we got him! It was awesome! Afternoon sunshine, not rain! Woohoo!

He was so happy! But wait, the fun continues! The next day we headed to Build-A-Bear Workshop so that Rachel could pick out some cute stuff for her bear (her birthday present from Grammy & Granddaddy - her birthday post is coming too), and of course I couldn't resist getting a new lovey for Ollie. I'm such a softie!

To end the day on a high note (oh that's bad - you'll see), the kids asked if they could climb the wall at REI. Although they've been climbing (bouldering, really) their whole lives, they've never done it in a harness before. This time, I said yes!

Looking back at where he just came down from.

Turning six is a blast! Don't you agree?