Cruising with Theresa

After our awesome girl's ski trip last year, I opted for somewhere warmer for this year's girl trip. Luckily Theresa was on board for something new and we decided to go on a cruise! I have only been on one cruise, but it was fun enough that I was up for doing it again - though with a change on the room choice this time. (Accidentally booked four of us in a tiny interior room - not the best choice...)

We were trying to fit in a cruise between multiple events and managed to find a Carnival one that fit perfectly for both of our schedules. It left out of Galveston, so we even got a short road trip from San Antonio complete with road trip snacks! Once it departed Galveston, we had a fun day at sea, a day in Cozumel (see the port above), a day in Yucatan and another fun day at sea before returning home. As a side note - our room at the back of the ship had a decent sized balcony and it was awesome!

The best part of a balcony on the back of the ship was getting a nice view of the Pilot (or Piloto if you weren't in the US) boats escorting the ship through shallower waters. Also the views in general, but I really liked the Piloto!

We didn't have anything planned in Cozumel, so we just walked through a bunch of shops and got a snack once we got hungry. Also, we had to get the Mexico cokes - while in Mexico...! Once we got tired of shopping, we found a spot on the beach in the shade to hang out. I was trying very hard not to turn lobster red on this trip!

On a related note, we found the perfect deck for us to hang out on the fun days at sea. The Lido deck is where the party is happening, so we avoided that one. And the other upper decks were generally super crowded and not a lick of shade for this poor Alaskan. But the lower deck off of the ballroom was perfect - breezy, shady, close to food and restrooms. It was pretty much all the senior citizens and us. Perfect!

We did book a tour on the Yucatan spot. There were a ton to chose from, but we were both sold on the Foodie & Photography one. It pretty much is perfect for the two of us! It had several food and historical stops in the old town of Merida. First stop was the Mexican bakery with a few tasty treats for us to try - yum!

The bakery was next to a large traffic circle where they are working on a monument to their Mayan roots. Our tour bus did several circles so we could all get photos, though it didn't help the people on the right side of the bus very much... we chose our seats well! :)

We did a short walk down one of the main streets that has the historical mansions. There were two equally impressive "houses" next to each other than belonged to sisters. Apparently their dad was smart enough to know that they better be equally grand. I thought it was interesting that the historical society in charge of the houses is very strict on what repairs can be done (no painting!), but the were ok with stabilizing this large sculpture at the top that was in danger of falling. 

I didn't get many photos of the food after the bakery because I was slowly starting to melt. It was over 95 degrees and I was dying. The air conditioner on the bus wasn't quite up to the task of keeping the bus cool, so I just decided to survive by napping. Luckily we got back to the ship safely and we could retreat back to the safety of our old people deck - ha!

Overall, it was a great trip and I had a blast hanging out with Theresa. A week with the bestie in the sun was just what the doctor ordered! :)

Easter Egg Hunt

I have a pretty poor track record with remembering to make a big fuss out of Easter. Usually a grandparent mails us some sort of package to save me from myself, but this year I was on it! It was a combination of the Easter Train and a coworker who still thinks easter egg hunts are the bomb. So I actually made them Easter baskets and hid eggs!

They were both pretty pumped about the baskets, but not about waiting to hunt for eggs. I told them they couldn't start looking for the eggs until their dad was up. I tried to get them to pose on the stairs for photos while we waited and this was the best I could get out of either one of them...

Finally Matt was up and the hunt was on! Thomas was clearly paying attention, because he went straight for the easy to spot eggs.

In Henry's defense, he was having a little bit of trouble getting to any of the eggs... You can also see that Thomas wasn't that situationally aware - that green egg is in the same spot as the last photo. ;)

Henry got away and managed to start collecting his own eggs. Go Henry!

Don't worry - Matt doesn't play favorites and was running interference on his eldest as well. Henry thought this was so entertaining he didn't go for the egg Thomas was madly trying to get. 

Thomas definitely ended up with slightly more than half, but no one seemed to notice, so it was close enough. ;)

After they ate enough of the easter candy out of the eggs, it was time to do their easter crafts the "easter bunny" brought them. Thomas needs no help to do his except the occassional check "is this right?"

Henry still needs a little bit of help, so Matt and Henry worked together on the bunny car. 

Both of the boys thought the carrot shaped race car was the funniest thing. I mean, not as funny as the wind up rabbits I bought them that "poop" out jelly beans. But maybe a close second!

I remember having fun with the stained glass things when I was a kid and Thomas seemed to enjoy it as well. The colors weren't super bright, so it was almost impossible to see the pink, but he painted the whole thing anyhow.

Henry, on the other hand, was not so impressed by it. He painted part of it, bent the tool and then spilled his paint. I offered to help him finish it, but he was "all done!" Okie dokie, little man! ;)

Are you wondering where the dyed eggs are? About that...

I bought new egg dye kits and was super pumped about doing them today. So I went to boil the eggs this morning and realize all the extra eggs I had bought at the store were brown eggs.

*face palm*

My enthusiasm was quickly drained away and I didn't bother going to the store to get even more white eggs. So we'll just save that egg dye for next year!

Whale Watching

Everyone tends to get a little stir crazy in early spring when the snow is still around, but not really great snow anymore. Knowing it's a rough time of year, I booked us another whale watching trip our of Seward, hoping we didn't end up with the crazy rough seas that we got last year... 

I haven't seen this sign up at a playground because we are usually avoiding them for that very reason. But we couldn't come to Seward and not play in the playground!

Plus you can tell it was a pretty nice day out - no jackets! The sun was shining and the skies were clear - a perfect day to be boating. Or, you know, pretending you have a skateboard and running up the ramps... :)

"All aboard!!" I'm so proud of him for not smashing his face like he did two years ago in this park. Though to be fair, he didn't have a cookie in his hand to protect if he fell. ;)

On the boat and ready to find some marine life!

As always, the otters are the first ones we found out of the harbor. I didn't have the super fancy zoom lens this year, so you get normal photos. Sigh...

They were being ridiculously cute and several of them were chasing each other around. It's probably the most active I've seen them!

Those are some pretty gorgeous mountains today. Also the spot of Matt's goat hunt later this year. Looks pretty rugged to me... Good luck, honey!

Speaking of the goats - one was just hanging out at the tops of a scree slope hunting for some food. These guys are super impressive where they like to hang out - there was one up the hill a little bit laying down on what looked like a very tiny ledge!

Finally found a pod of Orcas cruising around the gulf entrance. And you see that tiny fin in the background - it's a teeny baby Orca! Eeeeek! 

The boys got tired of looking for whales and wanted to color instead. We have done this enough to have plenty of entertainment options available! (For some reason today they wanted the markers instead of the crayons.)

I feel like the Harbor Seals don't much care for the boats. They are always throwing some serious side eye at us when we cruise by...

The obligatory bald eagle! :)

And finally, my favorites, the noisy and kinda stinky Stellar Sea Lions. I can't decide which one is my favorite in this photo, the two trying to bite each other, the other with the backwards "rawr" or the big guy in the middle staring dreamily at us. I pretty much love them all!

And this is what a successful boat trip ends up looking like near the end. This guy doesn't always take naps anymore, but the running around the playground and the boat rocking were too much for him to fight today. (Not pictured, Henry napping on me...)

No gray whales again this year, but still a fun day trip for all of us! :)

Easter Train

The parents aren't the only ones who enjoy a fun train ride - the boys love the Christmas train so much that I thought we would give the Easter train a chance. I was imagining it would be almost identical, but with an Easter theme for the crafts and such. (I was 100% right)

We planned this train trip with a friend that has 3 kids, so Matt was generous enough to bow out and let us take up two tables without him. Ha! He's got a limited tolerance for the amount of noise this many kids generate, so I think he is more than happy to stick to one kid event train a year. ;)

But in a stroke of "luck", he ended up having to work incredibly late the night before and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. Bad for Matt, but good for us because he bought us donuts for breakfast! Best hubby / dad ever!

Made it on the train with plenty of time to spare. It helped that I was caravanning with my friends... Since I bought the tickets all together, we had to arrive together. We gave them our little cup of crayons because we are all about bringing our own giant tin of crayons with us for coloring. Thomas seemed super excited about coloring and I thought he might actually get the whole thing colored (haha - nope!).

Henry did not even pretend to be interested in coloring. But he sure was enjoying watching the scenery as we chugged by. 

These two were not too sure about the Easter Bunny at first. Thomas warmed up pretty quickly though and gave the bunny a high-five. Henry only warmed up once he realized the bunny was carrying a bucket of candy. Then he was all about the Easter Bunny!

There was a table at the end that didn't have seats on one side and any time the other side's occupants went to get a snack, these two would run over and stand there to look out the window. 

It looks like the ice is starting to break up finally! There were massive chunks of super dirty ice scattered all along the Turnagain Arm. Come on, spring!

This activity was challenging for me, I can't imagine that many kids got this completed without help. You had to string them with one side, then string the other side through the beads. And unsurprisngly, they fell apart shortly after we got home. Don't tell the boys their super-awesome carrots ended up in the trash... "/

The train stopped so everyone could get a glimpse of the sheep on the side of the mountain. Thomas spotted it right away, but Henry needed some help finding. Thomas was being a very good big brother and pointing the sheep out to Henry. (And can you tell the lady with the basket of snacks just stopped by??)

Jellybean Bingo! Thomas ended up winning because they just kept playing until everyone won. Henry would have one, but he just kept eating his jellybean markers. But that was probably "winning" to Henry, so it works! :)

We were back in Anchorage before the balloonists made it to our car. They were working from both sides and my boys were getting worried they weren't going to get balloons. Turns out, we got back to the station before their balloons got made, but they patiently waited on the train for their turn. And Henry really wanted a black flower. Bold choice, son!

We tried to get a photo of all of the kids once we got off the train, but it was impossible. It was too bright for Thomas, Henry was pretending to shoot his flower at me and one of my friend's kids was just wandering off. Oh well, we tried!

Our family photo wasn't much better, but I'll take it. :)

See you again soon, Alaska Railroad! 

March on the iPhone

Since I didn't do a great job of taking photos this month, I figured I'd add some more insight into the month with a random assortment of what my phone captured this month!

These kids can make anything seem more exciting. Thomas noticed that the cheese in his pizza roll stretched when he took a bite and the two of the were both trying to make the longest "cheese bridge" they could. Henry clearly won...!

Also this kid has my genes when it comes to keeping his eyes open for photos. Sigh.

We haven't built a couch cushion in forever and the boys loved it just as much as all the other times. Though one of them was a bit more into knocking them down than I recall from last time. Eliza was not as keen on the chaos, but (of course) had to be in the middle of it. Crazy dog!

Lunch date with the boys to the food court at the mall. Thomas and Matt both went for Subway, but Henry and I went from the grill. We were waiting patiently for both our food and the other two members of our lunch date. Also, check out this cool small tables for kids - perfect addition to the food court! 

As promised, a pie with the crust made out of the pork fat from our butchery class. It was as amazing as I thought it would be. It might be the flakiest and tenderest pie crust I ever made!

My coloring buddy! Kathryn picked up on my love of coloring things and bought me a new coloring book. I am never going to get any of these books finished, but it's nice to have so many options!

I moved offices at work and the cart loaded up with all of my shoes cracked me up. I wear my snow boots in to work and change there, so I have to have enough options to match any given outfit! :)

Best part about travelling up to the North Slope? *So* *many* *donuts*! The boys were duly impressed with this particular selfie I sent them!

I was more impressed with the rig move that was going on at the morning's first stop. That's not my rig, but this one is so impressively mobile compared to the one I am currently working with.

One of the arctic foxes stopped by to say hi. The people who work up there guess it's "probably rabid" since he didn't seem to scared of us. Well luckily for me, I'm currently immune to rabies - picture time!

(Slightly kidding - I still have no desire to get bit...!)

Oh man, we must be overdue for a trip to Texas. Why is my son eating tacos like this?? I swear, I have taught him better than this... Henry did the same thing with a hot dog the other day. Kids are cray-cray.

Also nothing I taught them - their dad made them peanut butter & banana sandwiches. Why they would like anything with banana that isn't banana bread is beyond my comprehension... Gross!

This is the cutting board and knife set I bought Thomas once he started doing cooking classes at school and he seemed interested in helping more. Of course my youngest wants to do anything his big brother does, so he got to help cut up strawberries for breakfast this morning!

This guy somehow managed to talk me into buying ice cream cones at the store for them. I found a package of the smallest sized cones and filled them with some leftover sherbet we had. You have any idea how excited they were??

Soooooo excited!!

I think the astronaut outfit might be my favorite one. Especially with such a serious space traveller inside of it! 

Thomas has been doing more art that actually looks like something instead of just scribbles and "treasure maps". This one is me and 3 of my friends. I've forgotten already who is who, but I know I am one of the ones with short legs. Guess we'll work on dimensions soon... :)

Playhouse

I would like to claim I am not an impulse shopper, but I think that would be a lie. In my defense, my worst moments are when it is something I think the boys would love and that pretty much is my doom. Luckily, Matt is the least impulsive shopper ever, so if I can call and convince him it's awesome, I don't feel bad at all. 

Which is how we ended up with another cardboard structure! The space shuttle and space pod both proved that they love playing with these things as long as we all accept that they have a limited life span... Plus they seemed more into coloring now, so I thought they might actually color on it. And they did!

Of course, it looked like so much fun that I decided to paint a big swath of it for them that night so they would be all excited about the tree in the morning. And they were! They got to work on coloring in more while I made breakfast. 

Thomas is getting awesome at staying inside of the lines, but Henry is definitely still working on it...

Look at that fantastic coloring behind Thomas! He ended up coloring one "X" red and one green and he told me it was the bathroom door. It took me much too long to realize he was talking about the ones on the airplane and how the lights show you if they are open or occupied. Observant little guy!

Also, look at that fantastic bed head! Ha!

Thomas was getting upset at his brother for "scribbling", but I managed to convince Thomas that Henry and I together would make it look awesome. So I just worked around Henry's scribbles o various parts and incorporated them into other spots. I think the play house is quite the hit and hopefully we get it mostly colored before it inevitably bites the dust. : )

Ski Train!

One activity we definitely didn't want to miss is the Ski Train! Heather wasn't scared off by a long weekend with the kids and watched them so we could go hang out with our friends in the middle of nowhere, Alaska! (Technically, Curry, but the description is accurate)

We had a super small crowd last year because of all the uncertainty with layoffs last year, not very many people wanted to sign up for an event months away. But we have a whole bunch of new people in Alaska and we had gotten most of them excited about the fun times to be had on Ski Train!

Some people were so excited, they climbed the first hill them could find and slid / tumbled down. It always take a while to get everyone geared up and ready to hike, so the faster ones usually get antsy waiting for the slower ones. And yes, that is a pea-in-a-pod outfit on the right. Some people take their ski train outfits very seriously!

The long walk up has not changed from last year. And the weather was remarkably nice again this year. Not sure how we lucked out again!

Part of the group! It's hard to keep everyone together, but Matt was nice enough to take a photo of those of us that made it up in this cluster. Clearly we lost the skiiers, this is just a subset of the snow-showing contingent. :)

And someone was also nice enough to take a photo of Matt and I! Matt looks like he is ready to go out hunting - I am much too bright in comparison for that. ;)

Several people hiked sleds up to have an easier way on the downward part. Except that at least one of the sledders was a little wild and crazy and may have almost taken out several people - ha! I got in front of her to take photos a few times, but very safely off the trail!

Our ever beautiful Alaska colors were waiting for us to return and head back home! But this was the first time I have ever seen that door at the front of the engine open! I wanted so badly to snuck up there and peek inside, but I didn't want anyone getting mad at me and leaving me there... Curry is a long ride from home!

Safe and sound, back in Anchorage. There was so much tasty food this year that we were all quite stuffed by the time we got home. And unlike most year, all of our namesake (the cheesy poofs) were eaten. I think it may have to do with one of the guys tossing them at anyone who walked by to catch in their mouths. And most everyone who walked by tried it - the camraderie on this train is hard to beat! 

Until next year, Ski Train!

Portland Anniversary Trip

I bought Matt a dual present for Valentine's Day because it was actually tickets for a trip to Portland for our anniversary. Heather has been offering to watch the kids for a long weekend for months (years?) now and I finally decided to take her up on it for our 13th (!) anniversary this year. 

Of course, I had to take a ton of selfies to send back to the boys! We did a lot of walking around because it was a long weekend and the only activity I booked was on the last day for only a few hours. So we went exploring!

Of course, since we were in Portland, I had to make a stop at the donut shop I narrowly missed the last time I was in Portland years ago. Everyone had talked up these donuts and by the time I dragged my friends there, they were out of all of the donuts! I mean, it was 2am, but still - heartbreaking!

Oh Voodoo Doughnuts, I have been imagining you for years! We almost didn't get them this trip because every time we walked by the long was ridiculously long. Luckily, I picked our hotel in close proximity to their store, so we managed to beat the rush on Sunday morning!

The other thing we were dangerously close to was a completely lucky find. We picked a spot to eat dinner based on the menu for the Portland Restaurant week. (We used to do these in Houston, a 3 course meal for cheap and the proceeds go to charity.) We randomly saw them making their signature beverage for someone else and had to order one. This is a Spanish Coffee at Huber's, my friends, and it was amazing! We may have come back for brunch just to get another one!

But why did we go to Portland? Matt has really gotten into hunting since we moved to Alaska and apart from the deer on his first trip, they have been doing their own butchering. And after the 3-day bison butchering event, we all decided maybe we could use some lessons. The soonest butchering class I could find was in Portland and technically for pig. But I figured some of the lessons learned would be useful no matter the exact animal. 

The Portland Meat Collective teaches the classes and I thought it was great! The space they held the class was pretty awesome and we all got a ton of pork to take home. Look at that chunk of leaf fat on the cutting board on the right. That will make some fantastic pie crusts soon!

Matt really seemed to enjoy the class too! I never managed to drag him to a cooking class, but a butchering class? No problem! Also, we were the only couple... Apparently not everyone thinks of it as an anniversary activity!

We had a long trip home for our pork, so I decided to ship coolers and ice packs to the hotel before we got there. We ended up fitting most of it into our cooler and it all made it home safely. There was a random assortment of cuts since the class had 12 people and 3 pig "halves", but I'm a little confused on what to do with this particular one. All the recipes I can find call for more than one tail. Guess we'll have to butcher a few more pigs...! ;)

Fur Rondy

We missed Fur Rondy last year, but since Thomas has been learning about Balto (the most famous sled dog from Alaska) in class - we certainly had to go this year. Fur Rondy stretches over several days and there are all kinds of activities in Anchorage apart from the ceremonial start to the Iditarod!

It was a chilly day, so we bundled up and headed downtown. And unlike the last time we went, everyone was capable of walking around without being carried or pushed in a stroller. A win for the parents! : )

But we missed the dogs running today, so that was a fail for the parents. By the time we got there, they had moved on to "Outhouse Races". It was quite entertaining to watch, but the boys were not nearly as impressed. I was also really confused as to how these contraptions were outhouses. They all did have a toilet seat and roll of toilet paper hanging on them somewhere, but that was it for authenticity!

But the boys favorite part is really the carnival that is a street down from the main drag anyhow. And guess who is big enough to ride the helicopters with his brother now?!? Thomas maintained his usual stoic expression while "flying" through the air, but Henry threw us a few grins. 

On to the construction truck ride. It's hard to tell, but the two of them were trying to give me a thumbs up. They picked out their truck and got in it all by themselves. What big boys we suddenly have! 

Since Thomas was super bummed about not seeing the dogs on Saturday, we decided to try again on Sunday. We were running later than I wanted, but I figured we still had plenty of time. Unfortunately, we were at least a block or two away when I heard them announce "And our last rider for the day is..."

I picked up my eldest and booked it down the sidewalk as fast as one can in a down skirt and snow boots. We didn't make it to the starting line, but we did make it to a point where I could lean him over the fence so he could see. I made a big deal about how we managed to see the last one! 

Henry didn't seem to care at all that he missed the dogs running, he was just concerned about when we were going to eat...!

We opted to avoid going to the carnival again, so we walked back to the car. Thomas had tons of questions about this dog transport truck, so his daddy explained all about the kennels and why the exhaust pipe looks so weird and long (to keep the fumes away from the dogs!)

It was clearly not our best planned Fur Rondy visit, but the boys had fun and I'm pretty sure the one rider we got to see take off was the one who won the Anchorage part of the race. So there's that! :)

Henry Turns 3!

I feel like every birthday keeps coming faster and faster... How is my youngest turning 3?!?

As usual, there was no snoozing once they were both up in the morning. This morning was extra special fun because we bought Henry a new bed! He hasn't slept in his current "Big Boy Bed" for months - he much prefers the Elmo couch on the floor. We figured part of the reason might be because his mom and dad can't hang out with him on his bed, so we decided to buy him a twin sized bed like his brother.

But we couldn't get him a boring bed while his brother has a super awesome Lightning McQueen bed...

So we got him an equally cool super awesome Jeep bed! We convinced the boys to have a sleep over in Thomas' room and installed the Jeep bed in Henry's room after they were asleep. Then we decided to be brave and move both of the sleeping boys into the Jeep bed. Amazingly, they stayed asleep and were super excited when they woke up in Henry's new bed!

First order of the day was donuts for breakfast! Henry went straight for the sprinkled donut and immediately started eating the icing off the top. When I pointed out to Henry that he was only eating the icing he looked at me and said "Well... Yeah!"

How does one argue with that?

We decided to have a party around lunch this time since it was Sunday and I might need the afternoon to recover. Since it wasn't an all afternoon affair, I even managed to talk some of my new friends at work to come join us. There may have been some cajoling involved because Kathryn made the mistake of mentioning that Ben has a hidden talent of making balloon animals! The kids were obviously entranced by his skills!

Look at Henry's monkey in a tree! Way better than some of the more recent balloon creations we've received. Ben did an amazing job with only some minor technical difficulties with his balloon pump, so I offered to give him my balloon pump. Everyone was confused as to why I even had a balloon pump, but it saved the day! :)

This Spiderman might have been my favorite. Look at the "webbing" balloon coming out of his hand - such attention to detail! 

Lunchtime was tasty, but the real excitement came when it was finally cake time! The boys were helping me scroll through Pinterest one day and Henry saw a Donut Cake, which he decided wanted for his birthday. Shortly after that, it morphed into him wanting a Ninja Turtles Donut cake. At some point we realized he had changed it slightly to be Minion Turtles Donut cake. I told him that he had reached the end of his options, but he would definitely get a Minion Ninja Turtles Cake.

I think I pulled it off quite well!

Everybody is ready to get singing! Matt lit the candle and Henry let out a very excited "Ooooooooooh". Remind me to keep an eye on this kid around matches in the future...

This guy was super excited about his cake and first taste of rainbow sherbert, but probably ate the least amount of cake among everyone at the table. He is unpredictable with his eating habits.

Then it was piñata time! I didn't intend to buy one, but there was kinda a Ninja Turtles theme going and Henry and I have been arguing about whether or not he likes pizza - he doesn't! But he insists he likes pizza - especially once I said he couldn't be a Ninja Turtle because they like pizza. So it not only fit the theme, it made me laugh to buy my pizza-hating son a pizza piñata. ;)

Everyone got a turn at the pinata! I don't think some of them had ever whacked a pinata before, so we weren't making much progress! But they were happily cheering for each other anyhow.

Thomas clearly knows what he is doing, but even he didn't put a dent in it...

Abby certainly was hitting it the hardest, but it mostly just flew in magnificent circles on it's string...

Finally Matt decided to help the kids out. Turns out this piñata was made with some pretty sturdy cardboard. Henry was still *technically* hitting the piñata, but he obviously has a lot of help...

We finally got that darn thing open and the kids were running around getting all the goodies. My last minute addition of these tiny foam rockets was their favorite part. 

Once the kids kinda moved on to other things, the adults may have grabbed the rockets and starting hit each other across the room. Apparently we grow older, but we don't grow up.

On an unrelated note, there is all kinds of drama in the kids clothing world these days (drama everywhere these days, honestly). Anyhow, some retailers have been very responsive to the parent's complaints about clothing options (mostly for girls clothes, but some for boys.) Target just started selling these "Strong Like Mom" shirts in the boys department and I definitely had to show my approval by buying them both one. :)

Present time! Henry was definitely excited about presents all day. I let him open his presents from the Larson's early to keep him from ripping into all of them, but he finally got to go crazy! He got quite the haul - Legos (a family favorite), Superhero sheets, a TMNT dvd for the original show (not the new weird looking turtles) and more Star Wars toys.

Thomas seemed to be a little confused who the presents belonged to, but given they share all of their toys, he's not completely wrong. ;)

When the kids convinced Ben to go for round 2 on the balloons, I asked for one too! I didn't even know what to ask for, so Ben made me a butterfly. Matt decided that my awesome butterfly needed to fly and tried attaching one of his paper airplane motors to it. Shortly after he told me his plan, I heard a loud pop... Turns out the prop on the motor popped my magnificent balloon.

But you can clearly see who was most upset about Matt's miscalculation. Thomas stared at his dada with disapproval for the longest time... I'm pretty sure there was even a disappointed head shake.

Ben made me a new balloon that was pink and gold and just as awesome as the first. :)

After the party and much needed naptime, Henry woke up and wanted to watch a movie with his Nonni. And you can see one of his new presents - a big eyed sea turtle to make up for the fact that Thomas and Henry have been fighting over from a big eyed wolf that Thomas got as a baby. Since Wolfie was causing so many fights, Nonni bought Henry this cute little guy. 

Henry promptly named him Wolfie... Ha!

Happy Birthday Henry, can't believe we've had your awesome little self in our life for 3 years already! Love you whole bunches!