Big Birthday Splash!

My little man turned 2 last weekend- and what a weekend we had! For his first birthday, we did the birthday party thing here at home. He had a handful of little friends come over and it was fun. My cousin David, his wife Dawn and their son Brandon even flew in from Denver for his special day. This year we decided to do something different. Since it is bitter cold here, with a foot of snow on the ground, we headed south with our friends and neighbors, the Semrau's. Mikayla and Trey share the same birthday, so it worked out perfectly. We took the kids away for a family weekend at Splash Harbor. Having a birthday in February doesn't provide the options for the outdoor fun that a summer birthday has to offer, but watching the kids last weekend- you'd never know the difference. Anna Grace and I enjoyed time in the kiddie pool. Owen spent the majority of our stay in the hot tub. And Ben, Mikayla, Maddie and Trey ran around between the big pool, slide and spray ground area with shooting geysers and dumping buckets. I think Trey is part fish. He loved every minute of it. By the end of our stay, he was swimming back and forth between Hugh and myself, and he was going down the slide all by himself (with one of us catching him at the bottom of course.) We also made sure he wore a little life jacket floatie at all times. We also took a day trip to Richland Carrousel Park. It is the first hand- carved carrousel built and operated in the U.S. since the 1930s. The carrousel offered a choice between 30 horses and 22 menagerie figures. It also had beatifully restored antique rounding boards, mirrors, mural frames and music by a Stinson Band Organ. It was so much fun. Datha brought chocolote cupcakes and candles for our offical celebration in the room that night. We had a little pizza party and the kids played with their gifts, watched movies, played gameboy-(Ben and Maddie) and enjoyed visiting, snacking and jumpng on the bed. They had a blast! Trey has been trying to swim in the bath tub ever since. He also insists on wearing his arm floaties to play around the house. Yesterday, he wouldn't even take them off for nap time. He is just precious. I'm so glad he had such a wonderful time. And I'm glad Hugh was able to switch his schedule to have the whole weekend off to be with him/us. They got alot of quality father-son time together. We can't believe he is already two! It doesn't seem that long ago....but our baby boy is growing up.