Happily for us, Alaina decided to spend her birthday at our house! Hooray! To help her celebrate, we took her to Kidzu, an elementary school obstacle course and even a T-ball game- and as an added bonus, weather conditions were cold and blustery, bordering on miserable. Oh, and she helped organize my closet AND went to lunch at Stephanie's school (which is a noise sensory overload). Who could ask for more for a birthday??
It was thrilling to have another adult around all day on a weekday, and I had a blast dragging her around, and am really pleased she came to see us on her day!
She arrived Thursday night. Stephanie was still in bed but kept herself up until Alaina showed up, mostly to gush over her upcoming obstacle course which was to include a mud pit and a fire truck to hose the kids off. More on that adventure later. Friday, Alaina got to enjoy a solo lunch with Stephanie and 200+ other children, and then we all headed to Kidzu after school. I have likely never blogged about Kidzu, but it is a Children's Museum in Chapel Hill. The people that work there are pretty fabulous and the space is really fun- especially the "makery" where the kids are allowed to craft using all sorts of wacky recyclables and they set up fun, and often messy, planned crafts each morning. Sounds great, right? And it totally is! Except that it is fairly small and we have spent a lot of time there, so I am kind of over it at this point. But the kids still love it, it is close and we are members. So we go regularly.
Kidzu's climbing wall- Gwen scrambled all the way to the top (Alaina and I had to trade places as she has a critical few inches on me).
The next day, we treated Alaina to the anxiously anticipated obstacle course. The monkey bars were not part of it- but I am totally impressed that she can do them, as I am certain I never could.
I will also mention that I hijacked Alaina's camera for these pictures- so sharp with that 50mm lens!
I was back on my camera here, and this is by far my favorite mud pit picture I was able to get. I had her wear crocs because we don't have any old tennis shoes to wear as throw aways. It fell off and she had to retrieve it from the mud.
And a second round of obstacle course. We strongly reminded her how excited she was about the mud and that we wanted her to dive up to her neck. Crawling through it (and looking miserable while doing so) was the best she came up with. It was overcast and windy, and I am pretty sure she was awfully uncomfortable, but she was happy enough to be muddy once she was out.
I didn't get any fire truck hose pictures- it is just as well, as there were tears. It was so cold and no fun getting that mud off. And who didn't think to bring towels? That would be me. Instead, I gave her my jacket and the good mood was restored.
Next it was off to T-ball. Gwen plays around the bleachers while Stephanie plays, so I took a chance to get some pictures of everyone.
Gwen moved a bunch of big rocks (and talks about them every time we now go to T-ball - I think someone threw them into the woods) and was very pleased with herself. Some other adults looked worried that she was going to drop the rock on her foot. I took pictures instead of worrying, and she did drop the rock eventually, but luckily missed her toes.
And then Gwen helped Alaina back to the car.
Now, the for real birthday stuff! We had reservations at Nana's in Durham and picked up Alaina's former neighbor Analeise on the way. We had a lovely dinner as a trio, leaving all the kids at home. Did I mention the dinner was lovely? Because it was.
I am grateful for a fun and busy weekend, and I am especially grateful for an amazing friend to spend it with. Happy Birthday Alaina!
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