Such a small number but definitely a big birthday! I remember all of the fuss we made about Tyler's first, and I wanted to do no less for Austin. It's funny because to them it's really just like any other day -- the concept of birthday is far from being understood. But to us, it's such an important occasion because it signifies that just a year ago our lives were turned upside down -- we were blessed by our sweetie's arrival.
We took Tyler to the Aquarium for his first birthday, and did the same for Austin this year. With Tyler, I remember wanting him to be more fascinated by the actual creatures, but he was too busy taking the whole place in -- the people, the lights of course! Similarly, Austin gave the fish just quick delighted glances and then would take off, and this time I better understood what was going on. They are only 1 of course and the whole world holds the fascination of an aquarium.
What was most special about this visit was that we were just with Austin. I thought about bringing Tyler and actually planned to up until the day before. But in that environment, it's a cat and mouse game with my little 2-year-old firecracker, and I wanted to be able to give Austin some if not all our attention. And our attention he loved, although he kept running up to little boys Tyler's age at the aquarium looking for his DA, which is what he is calling Tyler right now.
We then went to a quick dinner with our little birthday joy and ended the evening perfectly with a cupcake celebration thanks to Scott's mom having the foresight to bring the treats when she came over to watch Tyler. He'd had cake a couple days before and then would have it at his party, so I guess I just didn't think of it -- but everyone should have cake on their actual birthday.
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| He looks a bit perplexed by the candle -- his first time seeing it so close! |
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| Very comfortable with cake eating though :) |
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| Cheese puffs and cake! |
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| Birthday angel |
My new favorite adventure with the kids is the Botanical Gardens. We've been there before, of course, but it seems to particularly suit their ages this summer. Austin is at the age where he will run off at any given moment, so he pretty much needs to be confined to a stroller when on the go -- and he can be there and still feel like he's part of the crew. Tyler loves to walk a few feet in front of us and take his time exploring the paths and the kids' area -- and they both love cooling off in the sprayground. Then we can eat in the new air conditioned lunch place and be home in time for good long naps.. We got passes for the year and did one visit with Scott last week and then met Lisa/Kids there later in the week and we still have yet to cover the whole park. Plenty of time to do that this summer!
Our precious little nephew Dominic turned 2 last week and we celebrated with a party at Gymboree. My sister was a bit concerned about having 25 kids plus their parents in the smaller gym space, but it turned out to be a nice, relaxed crowd and everyone had a great time. Well, I wouldn't exactly call Tyler relaxed -- he's got unbelievable enthusiasm for his old stomping ground.
