Monday, March 8, 2010

Birthday, birthdays, and more birthdays

The months of February and March are filled with birthday celebrations for us since Caleb, Luke and Isaac all have their birthdays in those months. Isaac's birthday was last weekend, so now we can finally slow down a little (and quit eating so much birthday cake!).

We decided this year for all three boys' birthdays not to buy them presents to open. Instead, we decided to start a new tradition of putting that money towards something we can all do together as a family. This year we decided to try out the Great Wolf Lodge. (The Great Wolf Lodge is a large hotel near us that has an indoor/outdoor waterpark.) It was a lot of fun, and I think the boys agreed that making memories together as a familiy was much better than getting another toy. Here's some shots from our time there:

Caleb splashing around with a basketball

Isaac standing amidst the sprayground

Andrew splashing on the stairs

Our trip to the Lodge was not without injury, unfortunately. When we were getting ready to leave, Andrew fell in the changing room and cut the inside of his mouth wide open. We almost took him to the doctor to see if he needed stitches, but decided against it. It looks much better now, so I'm glad we didn't put him through the trauma of stitches. The Great Wolf Lodge staff was really nice about it, and gave us a free day pass for all of us to come back since Andrew got such a bad injury. They also gave him this stuffed wolf to comfort him, which we thought was really nice. We decided to name the wolf "Ouch." Ouch has become Andrew's little buddy, and he likes to carry Ouch around and give him hugs.

Then Isaac's birthday came on Friday. Friday night we celebrated (just the five of us) at home with Isaac's favorite meal. Our tradition on the actual birthday is to have the brothers exchange gifts they pick out for each other. This year Caleb decided to surprise Isaac with a big box of Ramen noodles and Hubba Bubba bubble gum. (Isaac loves Ramen noodles, but I won't buy them very often because they're so unhealthy.) As you can tell from the photo above, he was very excited about the gift.

The next day we had our extended family over for the big birthday meal. Here is Isaac's Indiana Jones Lego cake.

Opening presents while Caleb looks on

Andrew cheesing it up over Daddy's shoulder


Uncle Mark was very generous and gave Isaac a tool bag filled with really nice tools. He's very excited to get started building stuff with his daddy!
Our birthday fun for this season is done, but we enjoyed every minute of it. Celebrating the lives of the children God has given us is such a joy!