Another Birthday Passes

The Monkey turned 8 this year!  We had time with Luc and Aidan and J and B before they left, and we left, and then we celebrated at Grandma’s House, and then we celebrated with the C-Family, too.  It was a good birthday, and she finally got an American Girl Doll (Target Brand), which she has asked for for a long time.

Notice Baby Alive sitting on Zoe’s lap.  Her gift from Lucia and Crew, which has brought much joy and laughter to the family.  (The kids love to see her tinkle and poo.)

Unwrapping Eva.

Two happy girls.

The girls in their matching t-shirts from Uncle Z, Aunt A, and The Cousins.

Grandma and Grandpa VT sent The Monkey and me to Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as our joint present, and we loved it.

The scary blue cake Monkey picked to share with the C-Family.

Any questions on why I called it scary?!

We made a little pit stop for a tractor ride at The Iowa Machine Shed Restaurant on our way out of Iowa.

Pizza and birthday cake with some of your favorite people in the world.  There is no better way to celebrate a birthday.

We did decide, though, that next year, we’ll return to the State Fair to celebrate her birthday, as we did for several years.  We would take party hats and balloons with us, pass them out to people, and share cake with whomever happened to be sitting near us at the Horse Show we attended in honor of the occasion as well.  It was always wonderful, and she and I have missed it.

A two-year-old Monkey entranced by the horses trotting by.

Good times.  My dad had just had cataract surgery, hence the big bug sunglasses.

It was very fun to hand out party hats to random strangers as we walked by.  And, since it was Iowa, everybody was willing to share our homemade cake with us at the horse show.

Traditions are a good thing.