HappWii Birthday, N1S!

The calendar says another year has passed to mark the eleventh year since Number One Son made his familial debut. I was shocked, last year, when he so abruptly reached his first double digit birthday. This year I am worried that the years are piling up too rapidly and it won't be very long before he reaches the dreaded teens.

But I put all of my anxieties aside this day to help him celebrate.

You may be scratching your heads thinking, "I thought he had his birthday last week at Valleyfair." You needn't scratch any longer. We did celebrate an 'early birthday' with one of N1S's friends. But anyone who knows us, knows that our kids usually get a handful of birthday parties each year. We usually have one special party for our child and a special friend. These are usually a big trip or something else equally costly. Hence, the one special friend rule.

Then we usually throw a party for the rest of the friends. This usually constitutes a party at the park, our home or in this year's case, the water park.

We also have to plan on a few 'family parties' as well. Since both sets of grandparents live far away, these parties take place whenever we visit them within a month or two of the actual birth date.

So this year, N1S got to invite five of his friends for an afternoon of water slides and tubing. It was the same water park that Sweet Pea had her birthday party. The only difference today was that the kids were bigger, and Lady Di and I chose not to get wet. I decided, since SP's party guests absolutely exhausted me a few months ago in the pool, I wasn't going to stand a chance against six fifth graders. I'm not sure why Lady Di didn't swim, unless it was some left over nightmares from the rocket water slide.

The kids swam from 11am until 1pm when we took a break for a picnic lunch outside. We brought extra sandwiches in case we needed them. Fifth graders apparently always need them. Especially one of N1S's friends who made sure we wouldn't be bothered taking care of any leftovers. Lady Di once again, performed her baker's wizardry with a Mario Kart steering wheel and Wii remote cake.

After sandwiches and cake, the kids splashed back into the water and swam for another two hours.

We finally dragged them out of the pool with the promise of tokens for the arcade. Once out of the pool, we sat in a circle while N1S opened his gifts. This year is the year of the gift card. N1S got two gifts and four gift cards and was equally excited for all of them. I was too, because our kids have enough toys. The gifts he got were just what he wanted. Legos and a video game. And now he has some gift cards to buy.........Legos and a video game. This is literally all he ever wants.

It was a pretty great day for N1S and his friends. He had a good day with all of them. He even was acting 'too cool' for his parents most of the day. Which is OK for today.

N1S has a great group of friends. A few posers and at least one vampire, by the looks of this picture. And Sweet Pea is, of course, posing as a puppy.

When we got home, both he and SP were very tired but still had enough energy to try out his new video game.

After supper and a little more cake, we brought out our family gifts for N1S to open. You'll notice that once again, Legos and a video game are included in this group. He also got one of his and his parents' favorite movies and a t-shirt from our favorite northern Minnesota pizza place.

Overall, it was a busy day for the whole family. When it was time for bed, the kids didn't put up too much of a fight. That is, after they tried out N1S's other video game.

Happy Birthday, N1S.