Birthday!!!

Rachael, my teeny little middle child, is FIVE YEARS OLD! I can't believe she is 5. It seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital, only to be rushing her back because of heart problems which she, thankfully, grew out of. We celebrated her 5th birthday with an impromptu trip to NC to visit the grandparents and celebrate with them. Rachael was ecstatic to go visit, as all the kids are constantly asking when we are going to go see grandma and grandpa (on both sides).

We went to the Wet n Wild waterpark for Rachael's actual birthday on Saturday and had a blast. Rachael, who loves the ocean, is slightly afraid of water parks and is a little slow to warm up in general. So, as long as we were patient and gave her some time, she was fine and by the end of the day she was having a blast in the kiddie area going down the little slides and playing "neigh" with her sister. Trevor, who deems himself too big for the kiddie area, hung mostly with the men and went down the bigger slides and into the deeper water. Since I didn't have the water proof camera with me, I didn't take many pictures of the actual park. The pictures we have are us in the cabana we rented. Yes. We rented a cabana.


The private cabana was worth it. We had a covered area with table and chairs and 4 lounge chairs all to ourselves. Rachael and Ariel are taking a break with their favorite food.. sugar. The cabana was especially useful when it rained in the middle of the day and we had our nice little place to retreat to. Rachael, who was being miss princess, kept saying "I am getting DRENCHED!" And we would say, "uh-huh, the rain will stop soon." Finally, Rachael, just peeved we weren't leaving stated "I am getting DRENCHED! I will stay here one more minute and then I am taking the keys and driving MYSELF home!" It was hilarious and we laughed at her.


Trevor, who can't have a photo taken of him without posing, eating cotton candy.


Ariel helping us set the birthday table back at home for the princess Rachael.


Our poor exhausted princess resting on the couch with her poison dart frog from the previous day's science museum trip.


Trevor, Rachael, daddy and Ariel. Rachael seemed to barely stay awake for dinner and was not really hungry. What she REALLY wanted to do was open presents!


So we did! She got Hungry Hungry Hippos from her big bro, who picked it out all by himself.


And from mommy and daddy she got an Our Generation doll she had been eyeing at the store. She was thrilled and named her doll, Rachael. heehee


But... what is in this box that makes Rachael smile so much? I love Rachael's smile in that picture.


A NEIGH! OK, A horse. She got the horse for her doll to ride. She was thrilled and played with the horse and doll for the rest of the evening.

I don't have a pic of her CD player. But grandma and grandpa gave her a CD player with Hello Kitty on it and the CDs of High School Musical 2 and Kid's Bop 80s. Rachael listened to both CDs all the way home from NC and has been quite possessive of the CD player, not allowing any one else to use it. I think it was a hit, too. heh. Her other grandpa and grandma gave her this really cute stuffed horse that you can color. So she, Ariel and Trevor decorated the whole horse. She loved that, too. Thank you grandmas and grandpas! xoxo


Rachael asked for an M&M ice cream cake. Ack! He's been attacked by crayon candles!


Blowing the candles out. Happy Birthday, Rachael!


The cake was really good, with M&M pieces in it and chocolate cakey stuff and vanilla ice cream. Yum!


Playing hungry hungry hippos.


Thanks grandma for a wonderful birthday!


Can't forget grandpa! xoxoxoxoxo