Leaping Lads

Here's a great little video Garreth made on FinalCut:

(Be sure to notice the awesome Nacho Libre moves!)

Memorial Weekend

We had a great time with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Merrily this weekend.

We walked down to the C-Shop for ice cream cones...

...then down to the beach.

Always questioning the ability of a vegetarian to cook good meat, Tom grilled up some steaks for dinner one night, followed by strawberry shortcake.  Sam was in heaven.

On Sunday, we went on a hike down to the beach...

...where of course the boys couldn't resist the allure of the ocean.

Sam even found a shrimp.

Then it was back home with wet knickers!

Thanks so much for coming, Tom and Merrily!  We had so much fun!  We love you guys!

Sam's Birthday Celebrations

We had a great weekend celebrating Sam's birthday.  

Garreth's boss went to a fundraising auction a few months ago and bought a fire station birthday party, which she very kindly gave to Garreth, AKA "The guy with all the kids!"  Sam wanted to invite the Stowells, who are really good friends of ours.  We all had so much fun!

We got a private tour of the station, including the living areas, which I'd never seen before.  I think the grown ups were more interested than the kids, especially since Garreth and Jason are industrial firefighters at work, so they could ask all kinds of dorky questions about gear and regs and stuff!

Inside the ambulance:

In the ladder bucket:

The highlight of the trip was getting to take a 15 minute ride in one of the trucks.  The boys LOVED it!  We had to wear headsets to talk to each other, which they thought was really cool.  The firefighters were excited to take us around and said that they never get permission to take people out in the trucks.  In fact, they were excited about the whole thing.  One of the main guys took us on the tour, and the other four guys on duty all came along just to hang out with the kids!

Can you see Sam's little face in the window?

After the fire station, we went out for Sam's birthday dinner. 

Sam and Sophia.  The Stowells are from Louisiana and Sophia has the cutest southern drawl ever!

Billy McHale's is always the chosen birthday spot.  Maybe it has something to do with this:

Or this:

Sophia gave Sam a very cool present:  a sack race set.  Of course, we had to try it out on the grass outside the restaurant!

On Sunday, we had a family party.  We invited two more of our favorite families over for cake and ice cream.  

Sam wanted a horse and cowboy party and again insisted on a pink cake!

Riding on his new plasma car.

Sam's actual birthday was on Monday, but Garreth left that morning for a business trip in Alaska, so I tried my best to make that day special, too.  It began with a bath, in which he was allowed to stay for as long as he wanted.  (One hour!)

He had his very favorite lunch:  Soup, grilled cheese on sourdough, and strawberries!

We wanted to go to the park, but since it was raining we settled on McDonald's playland, a very rare treat indeed.  Sam said we should get ice cream cones but not food "because McDonald's food is NASTY."  That's my boy.

I just couldn't resist posting this next one!  (Thank heavens our blog is private, huh?)

Taking one more ride before getting ready for bed:

It was fun to celebrate our boy!  He is such a great kid. 

(And a BIG kid - we went for his checkup today and he is WAY off the charts in height and weight!)  

Here's a little video I made of all the festivities.

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Sam is four today!  

We are so lucky to have Sam in our family.  He has a zest for life that I've never seen in anyone before.  He loves life and finds excitement in everything he does - even running errands is fun with Sam!  He is smart and handsome and crazy and loving and absolutely one of the best kids in this world!  

Happy birthday, buddy!

I love you so much!