LIFE - L.ove I.magine F.eel E.njoy: Birthday

Dad wanted to go check out the Laona Steam Train (yep sure it wasn't for Grant at all....) for his 60th birthday this year. So Dad, Heidi, Mom, Grant and I piled in the minivan to head up north and check it out. It was a very impressive train!

All aboard!!!!!

It had about six different passenger cars to choose from. Here is the one we chose.

Settled in for the ride.

Grandpa and Grant

One of my favorite pictures of Mom.

Are we there yet?

The train trip is relatively short and you soon arrive at their museum, petting zoo, playground, farm area. It had something for everyone. Grant's favorite part was easily the petting zoo as you can see from the following pictures. Baby goats are soo cute.

Making three baby goats that much better!

I am not sure how Grant managed this but he was actually able to pet some of these fast moving chicks.

Grandpa showing Grant his first paint turtle.

This cute little mini horse kept following my sister around everywhere in the yard. It is a good thing we did not have a horse trailer with us!

Grant did not get to go on the playground because a stormed rolled in and drenched everything. You can see the clouds in the distance here.

It was a great birthday trip. We ended it all off with a true Wisconsin meal at the Maiden Lake Supper Club. Yummy!

We had a Curious George Bday party for Grant today. We were quite concerned with how the weather was going to be but it ended up sunny and in the 60's! A bit breezy as you will see from some of the pics but it only added to the fun! The events for the day included; scavenger hunt, finger painting, balloon fight, and pinata pulling (no we did not smack the ever living heck out of George!)

Grant requested hot dogs, macaroni cheese and crab salad for his bday meal and we supplemented with BBQ chicken for the adults. Amber whipped together her amazing punch which seemed to be quite a crowd pleaser.

Amber and I spent about six hours Friday putting together Grant's cake. A feat I am sure we could both say we will not soon forget! Everything except the bananas is cake! I made my Great Grandma Hazel's wackie cake, a family favorite.

Amber made the cutest George posters. We took advantage of her talent and took pictures. See Grant's cute Curious George shirt? Well the story behind that is Tate actually gave Grant the shirt to wear off his back. And where might you ask did Tate get such a cute Curious George shirt for Grant's party? From Tracy in Virginia of course! Thanks Tracy!! ;-) Annabelle is not pictured here she was quite shy when it came to posing for pics with the boys.

Here she (Annabelle) is with her brother (Jackson) petting one of Soot's (last year's bday present for Grant) kittens named Tiptoe.

Here is Grant practicing his bubble blowing technique. Notice the little Curious George "Tattoo" he got on his arm. :)

This will probably be the last year three boys can fit in the wagon. Certainly the last year I will be able to pull three of them! ;)

Last years photo and this years photo...

Here is Curious George attached to some balloons!

The funniest moment at the party was when George escaped the tent and ended up drifting away up into the trees (just like in the movie). We really could not have planned it better.

The big event of the birthday was a scavenger hunt around our place. The kids were given clues and then had to follow the arrows to find what was on the clue cards. The first clue was balloons

Jack showing the way!

The second clue was bananas.

The third clue was butterflies. By this point the parents were worn out from running back and forth trying to get to the positions before the kids to snap the pictures.

And finally the monkey himself!

After all that running and working up a sweat a balloon toss was in order. The original intent was for the kids to toss balloons in to a plastic swimming pool. Let's just say a few balloons went awry and it was not the kids that did it! ;-)

Next was the fingerpainting wall. Tate and Grant really got into this one. Of course Tate barely got anything on him and Grant looked like a paint canvas.