The Pictures Tell the Story

Whew. It's done. The week of birthday cakes and birthday parties and birthday dinners and birthday presents is done. Although I've always liked that Owen's and my birthdays are a mere 1 day apart, it does make for one heck of a busy week. In fact, I'm still a little wiped out. And, for that reason, I'm going to let the pictures tell the story.

On Friday, Owen was off from school, so I took a vacation day and we did some of his favorite things. You know, like going to the grocery store and the mall. Of course, because it was his birthday, we did some extra special things at those places, like buy a 3-foot tall balloon at Pick n' Save.


And select a deflated turtle to bring to life with stuffing at the mall's Build a Bear. (Ours now sports a kickin' black solar system T-shirt, that, unfortunately, is minus Pluto. Poor Pluto!)


Then it was off to a classmate's birthday party at a big, indoor playground of inflatable play equipment. And, after a few turns through the obstacle course and down the big slide, I can attest that those thing are a lot harder to climb and maneuver on than they look. A few hours later, we were home again, and it was time for his big birthday present, a new bike.

Followed by an appropriate 5-year-old supper of mac-n-cheese and hot dogs, and using the same small piece of cake to sing two Happy Birthdays. (Notice Jon's clever redecoration of the top of the cake for me. Hey, I wasn't baking a cake for Friday and then another one for Sunday!)



On Saturday, Jon and Owen took the train to Chicago to visit Jon's mom, who was in the hospital for a few days of treatment. It was Owen's first trip on a train. When I asked him what he saw, he said "fields and cross-its."


They walked to Navy Pier, where there were St. Patrick's Parade activities going on, so the great big Ferris wheel was running. Both Jon and Owen took a pass on that one. (And see the turtle? His name is Matthew.)


Sunday was party day. We'd decided on a bowling party -- less crazy than Chuck E. Cheese's and less work than in our house -- and picked an alley near my former place of employment, because really, I just haven't been to a lot of bowling alleys. We'd invited a handful of kids from Owen's class, plus the grandparents. (By the way, the real Matthew is Owen's friend in the blue shirt).


It was a blast. Watching those kids propel their 8-pound bowling balls down the lane was priceless. They threw them between their legs, overhand (thud!), sideways, you name it. A couple of the balls didn't make it all the way, running out of momentum before they reached the pins. And the kids got a kick out of watching everyone's balls slowly, slowly roll down the lane. Fun.

Then we retreated to another room for pizza, cake and such. And yes, I made a bowling-themed cake, though the "bowling ball" part turned out a little lumpy. I was just happy it didn't slide off.


It was all over so quickly. But it was nice to meet a few of the kids I hear about but haven't met before, and nice to talk to the other parents, too. And, since 1-2 parents came with every child, my little bungalow would have been overflowing. This definitely was a lower-stress option.

Nora spent the afternoon looking cute and being really good at staying off the lanes, though when we were done, she quickly walked right up to Owen and sat down next to him, which resulted in my favorite picture of the day.


Sigh. Man, I love those kids.