Celebrate

Buddy's 3rd birthday is coming up.  (Let's not even talk about how my little baby boy can already be 3.)  We decided to celebrate his birthday a little early this year because Uncle Sean and Hilary are going to be married the day after Buddy's birthday.  So, this past weekend we had all of our family in town to celebrate at our house.  The party was very casual and low-key, just lunch and hanging out.

Once again, Auntie Shannon decorated a cake to fit with the birthday theme (animals, obviously!)

Buddy had the biggest smile on his face when everyone sang him Happy Birthday.





He got some great presents. He was pretty excited about opening presents this year.  He asked Grandma Debbie if he could open the present when she came and she said he had to ask his mom. Without skipping a beat, he said confidently "She said it's okay." What a stinker!

The huge T-rex was definitely his favorite. He had been peeking at the gift pile as guests were arriving and saw the T-rex's tale sneaking out of the gift bag. He came up to me and whispered, "It's a T-rex!"

On Sunday, we went to the State Fair with my parents, sister and nieces. The weather all week long had been in the high 90s and very humid. Finally, on Sunday, the weather cooled and it was a gorgeous day for the fair. Unfortunately, all of Minnesota thought so too because it was so packed. 236,197 people were there- breaking the all time attendance record for one day. It was so busy, we had a hard time walking around as a group. I didn't really get a lot of photos that day either.

The bus ride to the fair is always a highlight of the day:





Buddy was much more adventurous when it came to the food. He had a pronto pup, cheese curds, and a bite or two of a malt. Punky had a slice of pizza.


We let both kids pick one ride at the Kidway (and they got to go together, so they did two). Punky chose the trucks and Buddy chose the bumper boats. Punky would not lay off the truck horn throughout the entire ride. The poor kid in front of her covered her ears the whole time. Buddy was splashing in the water, and a worker told him to keep his hands inside. He got pretty scared after that and didn't smile again.





We did manage to have a fun time at the Kidway, Midway, Animal Barns, Lil Farm Hands Exhibit, and the Giant Slide. We didn't get to see everything we hoped, like the Miracle of Life barn and the DNR fish pond. Luckily, Derek and I had been by ourselves earlier in the week, so we had already eaten all of our favorite fried foods and seen some extra things. Oh well, something to look forward to for next year!



This afternoon we had a few friends over for a lunch playdate. Again, it was very casual, but also very important to celebrate our little Buddy's turning 3! We'll be out of town for Buddy's actual birthday, but we saved a gift for him to open (the 5 animals he asked for- warthog, meerkat, hyena, baboon and wildebeest) and we hope to treat him to ice cream or do something special that day. Stay tuned!