Trace's 7th Birthday Party

Since we had our big trip to Alabama and school starting in and around Trace's 7th birthday, we decided to just postpone his birthday party until things calmed down around our house. It turned out to be a great decision and we may just do it every year! Because it happened to be on a Saturday, we decided to have his party on September 24th, 2016, exactly a month after he actually turned 7. Since he simply cannot get enough of our local aquarium, we decided to have the party there. They have a kids play area that has tons of play equipment and private birthday party rooms. They even put a picture of Trace up on the big screen to wish them a Happy Birthday. We have annual memberships, so that gave us a discount and I think the kids that came had a blast. The people that were in attendance were:

Matthew Palmer

Laura Palmer (Matthew's Mom)

Aidan Clark

Isaac Allen

Joanna Allen (Isaac's Mom)

Sebastian Deem

Ryker Pilling

Ryker Adams

(Ryker Adams Mom)

Liam Welling

Reid Williams

Cam Carrell

Boston Carrell

Fisher James

Nate James

Braden Chipman

James Chipman

Joe Taylor

Debby Taylor

When everyone first arrived, we let the kids play on the slides, jump houses, swing ropes and other fun tree house things. They had a great time reconnecting and screaming with new and old friends. They had so much fun that when we brought them into the party room, Trace was not the only one who's hair was soaking wet with sweat. Then we fed everyone with pizza and soda, and cut the most amazing cake ever! We had it created by a professional, custom cake decorator and she delivered it to the Aquarium for us. He wanted something from the sea and so she made a delicious chocolate cake with an octopus and a narwhal on it. All the employees at the children's play area were coming out of the back room to see how cool the cake was. Then we opened all of Trace's gifts. These kids (and their parents) were so generous! I was amazed by the nice things he got from everyone! Also, the kids were great about letting it be Trace's day and although you could tell they were excited for him to open their gifts, they didn't try to take them away or steal the spotlight. I kept thinking they were all a pretty good group of kids. We gave each of them a goodie bag with sea life related treats and games in it. After the playing, pizza, cake and presents, the kids and the parents that hung around went to tour the exhibits at the aquarium. We saw the shark tunnel, the midnight zone, all kinds of fish and the electric eel exhibit. All in all, a really fun time and a great celebration for a really great kid!

Never Give Up

It's not often, but occasionally, Trace will grumble about bedtime. Usually he wants time to finish building a Lego something or drawing a picture. Such was the case last night. As his Dad told him repeatedly to go to bed, it was past his bedtime and the like; Trace began bargaining: "How about when the big hand of the clock is at the bottom?", "How about after I finish this spaceship?" etc. His slightly frustrated father said to him; "Trace, no matter what you say, it's still bedtime". Without a beat, my son said; "But Dad, you always tell me not to give up, so I have to keep trying!" I think we're in trouble with this one.