Ethen's Birthday Party

Ethen is turing 5! This is the first year we have done a REAL friend party and he was VERY specific about what he wanted to do.

Invite 4 of his VERY BESTEST friends . . . . .

Take them miniture golfing. . . .

And go down the VERY BIG slide on "those bean bag things."

Now, I will say that golfing with 5 kids 5 and under. . . . . .

is a challenge . . . . .

and we had our casualties along the way . . . .

But they all had a lot of fun and it was WAY worth the time in the sun. Matt and I had a blast watching them run all over the course and running up and down the soft play arena.

And best of all: "It was my best birthday ever Mom!"

(I am not sure how to flip this. It was right when I filmed it! oh well)

Zoo Day with Grandma

Yesterday we got to spend a WoNdErFuL day at the Hogle Zoo with Grandma. Talk about a perfect day to be there! Not too hot, not too cold, JUST RIGHT!

The Ghost of the Bayou, one of 10 RARE white alligator (or is it crocadile?) he has 9 other brothers! If his eyes hadn't been moving, I wouldn't have believed he was real!

This is the boys favorite part at the new Elephant exibit. It is a HUGE wooden elephant that sneezes and blows water all over whoever is in front. The boys thought it was hilarious!

Nait

Ethen and Grandma

Can I just tell you that the bird show was FABULOUS! So worth the 25 min and there isn't a bad seat in the house! Just make sure you keep your hands in the car at all times!

And of course you had to have the talking parrot. Nait thought it was very funny.

We got up close and personal with Rinos

and the Giraffes.

And it was great to see a tiger AWAKE!

Look Mom! No Training Wheels!

So I have to give MAJOR props to my friend Linda, who gave us the tips on how to teach Ethen to ride his bike without training wheels. I have to say we had our doubts that it would work, but DOUBT NO MORE! It REALLY works, and I would suggest to anyone the same technique.

About 3 weeks ago we took off the training wheels AND the pedals of Ethen's bike. He didn't like the idea at first, but got used to pushing himself around with just his feet. On Monday I took him with me on my walk with Fonz at the Logan River Walk. It has hills and bridges and Ethen did really well on the 4 mile walk. At one point there is a hill that he picked his feet up and just cruised all the way down, and then wanted to do it over and over. At that point I knew he had his balance and was ready to try with the pedals on.

Matt held on for the first little bit until he got a handle on his balance..................

And then off he went. All on his own, without looking back.

And we haven't been able to get him off since!

So here is a little video of my BIG BOY riding his bike WITHOUT training wheels. What can I say, I am one proud MAMA, and yes, I cried a little!