Birthday Weekend

I wish I had pictures from Mr. Man's childhood; days like birthdays are times I crave for some images of his earlier days. I wasn't very picture happy this weekend, but we had some fun surprises and a great time celebrating Mr. Man's special day!

Surprise #1: Unexpected Visitors
Mr. Man's sister called me on Thursday. Her weekend plans to escape to CA had fallen through and her and her roommate were wondering if they could come crash our party! OF COURSE!!! The only stipulation was that she not tell Mr. Man. And so the surprise of both of them pulling up to our home at the same time on Friday evening was incredible! Mr. Man says its been years since he's had a "original" family member at his birthday celebration... so this was a great surprise. And we all adore his sister to pieces and her roommate seemed to fit right in. (Don't worry Miss H - I won't blog about the birthday spankings!)

Saturday morning the kids participated in a 1 mile fun run, while the "bigger" kids did the 5K. (I was still dizzy from Friday's experience with vertigo and stayed still with Little J.)

It really was fun! They're listening to the route. Too bad for those who didn't quite listen and got lost (not mentioning any names)!

We ran from that activity to the next... Mr. Man didn't want anyone thinking he's a redneck, so he didn't want any pictures of the mud bog event at the state fair that he couldn't wait to go watch! He was in heaven - and the rest of us were pretty entertained as well. Then we hit up the rest of the fair. It was the first time we've taken our kids to a fair. First we rode a "train" to take us on a tour of the fairgrounds and see places most people who visit the fair never see.


The first ride of the day was the swing ride. I have fond memories of my Mom being bullied into getting on this ride, losing her shoe, and proceeding to throw up after getting off! Little E and Miss J (who was thrilled to meet up with some of her friends) really enjoyed this one. Mr. T was feeling sick and dizzy on the ground just watching them.

So we wandered over to the little kiddy land for Mr. T and Little J. Little J enjoyed those rides, but check out Mr. T trying so hard to smile and not shake and act completely scared while riding! I'm just glad he went with Little J so I didn't have to test my vertigo out and look as ridiculous as the other parents on the tiny ride.

The petting zoo was a blast too... the kids spent forever there and Little E had to go back over and over to see "his horse." I can't believe I only took one picture... they wanted to take this soft little critter home. Um.... no.

We had a yummy dinner and then finished up the night at the RODEO, as per the birthday boy's request. It was a first for all of us, and quite the experience. Sorry, no pictures this time.

Sunday, the REAL birthday the kids decorated the house - and oh how they decorated. Then they created a treasure hunt and geocaching extravaganza for Mr. Man to get to his gift (since he knew what it was and they wanted to make it fun!) After tromping around the house and neighborhood, while the kids gave away the clues faster than he could read them, he finally got to his longed for ice cream maker. Of course we had to try it right away.
Surprise #2: Surprise Party
I invited some of Mr. Man's friends (biking buddies) and their families over for a little celebration including WOODSTONE and birthday cake.

"Woodstone" is our new family tradition. Basically the name is a combination of the two companies "Marble Slab" and "Coldstone" and all we do is have a variety of ice cream and jars full of mix-ins and we combine everything together on our wooden cutting board. Very deluxe and delicious and also cost-effective! Each of the families brought some mix-ins and we were spoiled to death with the variety.

With favourite meals, phone calls, gifts from family and well-wishes, I'd say Mr. Man had a pretty great birthday weekend.