Tales From My House: Jack and Anna turn 8 Part Two

As is tradition, we went and had lunch with the kids on their birthday. Actually, the day before their birthday, since their birthday fell on a Saturday. Anna had requested I bring in cupcakes with pumpkins and Jack wanted to hand out candy necklaces. It is always fun to see them at school and to talk with their friends. I also feel fortunate that the school is bit old-school in that they still allow home-made treats (among other characteristics that aren't particularly relevant to this topic). That night, we had Jack's requested dinner of BJs pizza. It was his second year of BJs pizza, which I consider a small step up from the canned ravioli he asked for when he turned 6.

Originally, we were going to try and get back to Williamsburg to go to Busch Gardens. But, thanks to more bad weather, that was out of the question. Instead, on Saturday morning I took Jack and Anna to Walmart to pick out supplies for Anna's requested dinner--cheese fondue. Then, we picked up Thomas and Kara and went to K-Mart to browse their going-out-of-business sale. We bought some gifts for an upcoming friend's birthday party and not much else. After a quick lunch we were off to the indoor pool in Prince Frederick. Some friends were kind enough to meet us there, which made it even more fun for the kids. The pool is really nice, it has 3 diving boards, a little kids area, and on the weekends it has an inflatable obstacle course. I was proud that all 3 kids tried the obstacle course and the girls jumped off the smaller diving boards. Jack jumped off the high diving board and kept everyone laughing with his silly poses. I think my favorite was his "zen," where he crossed his legs and held out his arms with his index finger and thumb together. I have no idea where he saw that, but it was funny, even the lifeguards were chuckling. We stayed for about 2.5 hours and had a really good time. From there, we took the kids to Sonic for ice cream. We were trying to make the day special for Anna, who was understandably upset that Busch Gardens was again cancelled. The ice cream was the crowning jewel for her and she declared that she didn't care if we never made it to Busch Gardens because she was having the best birthday ever!

After cheese fondue, we finally got to cake and presents. This year the kids agreed to one cake and they wanted a fall theme with pumpkins. So I made a haunted pumpkin patch. They loved it! And, those monsters were delicious! All the presents were a big hit. Jack got a small arcade game, a lightsaber, and a toy gun (something he is always asking for). Anna got shopkins and a v-tech watch. They also received cards and cash from extended family, which they spent on books.

This was one fun-do!

Probably not my best looking cake, but very tasty.

She finally got her Shopkins! To me, they are one of the dumbest toys out there, but I am not their target audience, so whatever.

This past weekend (October 11), we officially declared Busch Gardens a no-go for the year. We told Anna that we could do it, but we would have to drive up and back in one day, due to a lack of affordable hotels. It is tough to find hotels that can accommodate the 6 of us and the few that were available were booked or over $400. Five hours in the car did not appeal to Anna and she asked if we could go to Kings Dominion instead. We were joined by some neighbors and everyone had fun. They had trick-or-treating (non candy items, thankfully) in Planet Snoopy and even let the kids pick and color small pumpkins. It was by far the most crowded I have ever seen the park, including Memorial Day weekend. But, since we have gone so often, we didn't feel pressure to go on everything, we just made sure the kids got to ride their favorites. Thomas and I had thought about going up for Haunt, but after seeing the crowds, we have decided to skip it.