Jack and Anna Turn 6!

Obviously, I am way behind on blogging.  We have been having lots of Fall fun (our favorite season).  We enjoyed going to the St Mary's County Fair, we have loved the pumpkin farms (post to come) and Grandpa Kurk visited for a week.  Plus, I have been planning for a very fun vacation (Disney cruise--here we come!). And, I guess I can mention that I am expecting baby #4 (and final), which has not been going very smoothly thus far, at least in terms of morning sickness.

But, for this post I am going to focus on our sweet first-borns.  For Jack and Anna's sixth birthday, we gave them some choices: party at home, weekend at Great Wolf Lodge, trip to Dutch Wonderland, or a local party at a venue like Pump it Up or the Gymnastics Center.  Surprisingly, they were able to agree on Dutch Wonderland.  After they decided, we stopped talking about it.  Thomas and I decided we would try and surprise them.  So, for the month before their birthday, we stopped talking about Dutch Wonderland and spent a lot of time talking about the cruise.  They mentioned it once or twice and we would artfully change the subject.  Their actual birthday (October 3) was on a Thursday.  Thanks to the Government shutdown, Thomas was home from work.  We went to school and surprised them at lunch.  They are in different classes, but have lunch at the same time and sit together at the peanut-free table (although, due to their inability to get along, Anna has lost the privilege of sitting at the peanut-free table and now sits with her classmates, but on October 3, they were still together).

They were very surprised to see us.  Jack asked, in a hushed voice, "are you allowed to be here?"  Once he was assured that we were behaving in a permissible manner, we had a very nice lunch.  After school, Thomas met them at the bus stop.  I was attending a beautiful memorial service for a neighbor's baby who was born with Trisomy 18.  Sweet Faith Anne got to spend 5 months blessing the lives of those who were fortunate enough to know her.  I was awed by the immense level of faith and humility her family displayed.  It was a difficult to go from that to two extremely excited 6-year-olds.  However, I was happy to see how happy they were.

For their birthday dinners, they chose dishes that are a true testament to my culinary skills:  Chef Boyardee mini ravioli for Jack and chocolate chip pancakes for Anna.  Following that amazing meal, we opened presents (Jack got an angry birds Star Wars game, a dart-like game, and a hot wheels toy, Anna received some doll furniture, a small my little pony castle and a glow pillow).  They also got cards and cash from Grandpa Lou, gift cards to Toys-R-Us from Grandma Kathy, and cards with musical bracelets from Ms. B.  It was a wonderful day for them.  We ended the evening with cake (completely out of order, we did presents before cake since everyone was full from dinner but couldn't stand waiting a minute longer).

On Saturday, we went to their soccer game, where they played about as well as usual (no goals) and then we told them we needed to go on a drive to get some special cup holders for our cruise.  We stopped for lunch to break up the drive and then made it Lancaster right around 3pm.  Dutch Wonderland lets you do a preview three hours before closing if you buy a ticket for the following day.  Since they close at 6pm, we timed it perfectly.

The scene was amazing.  We are driving in the car, telling the kids we are almost there when suddenly they notice something spectacular out the window.  I am going to see if I can insert the video here. Sorry about the orientation, I don't know how to change it.

So, the kids (and the adults!) were very excited.  We spent 3 hours in the park and did a lot of rides.  Then, we had dinner at Sonic, where I actually did get extra cupholders, so that wasn't a complete fabrication.  We went to our hotel and headed to their indoor pool.  We had it all to ourselves and had a blast.

The following morning, we had breakfast in the lobby.  Since DW didn't open until 10, I wanted to hit up the outlet stores, which I mistakenly believed opened at 9.  They didn't.  So, we went and found the grave of James Buchanan.  The kids, especially Jack, are really interested in anything Presidential, so it was nice for all of us.

We got to DW right as it was opening.  We went on all the rides again.  Anna was brave enough to try some rides this year that she had skipped last time, although she skipped the roller coasters.  Jack went on everything.  We had a wonderful time.  We saw the diving show again, which was a huge hit.  Jack, Kara, and Thomas sat in the splash zone and got soaked!  Anna and I were a bit wiser and sat a few rows up.  We left the park around 3 to head home. Our favorite things about DW are that the rides are geared toward little kids and because it is more of a regional park, the lines are pretty short.  We had no trouble seeing just about everything the park had to offer.  There were some additional shows that we chose to skip (we saw them last time and decided that the rides were a better use of our time).

I can't find the camera right now, so here are a few pictures off our phones.

This was Jack's favorite ride.  He rode it over and over again.  He went on 3 or 4 times in a row and had the whole ride all to himself.

All in all, it was a very successful birthday.