It's a good thing I have a socially unacceptable number of children because I LOVE CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS.
Also, not only do my birthday cakes look heartbreakingly earnest, but ever since I started added espresso powder to my buttercream frosting, they taste amazeballs.
I set the breakfast table the night before AND wrote happy birthday on a damn banana. I even got up at 5 (not pictured) so I could work out, take a shower, and get dressed before the kids woke up so the morning could be all birthday and no rush. That's love of birthdays right there.
We started with a very civilized opening of the birthday card and a healthy dose of banana berry smoothie to offset the breakfast cake.
Harry and Jack helped Cooper read his card, and everyone was delighted to discover that we were leaving at 2 that afternoon to celebrate at the
Kalihari "resort" and waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells. (I understand that the quotation marks are kind of snarky, but you guys. I have been to resorts, and no. Just no).
Then the kids enjoyed general merriment and present opening.
Cooper took a moment to watch all of the candles because he is SO OLD.
So old he doesn't even need help to blow out his candles anymore.
**Brief interlude** Dorothy still cries before school, so that's awesome. (That was sarcastic, by the way-- like her shirt)
IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER THAN CELEBRATING YOUR BIRTHDAY AT SCHOOL ON YOUR ACTUAL FREAKING BIRTHDAY?!
Birthday donut after school because why the hell not.
And then Ben came home from class, and we were off to the Dells, with 4 kids really excited to be headed to swim even though it was 50 degrees and rainy. (She's excited, I swear).
READY to hit the pool!
We rented a cabana, which I highly recommend you do if you go to this place. It was large and private (some of them are not private, and people can sort of stand around behind your couch and watch your TV, but ours was tucked away right next to the kiddie area and totally walled off by that fake grass stuff), and you can have food and cocktails delivered right to it, plus there's a fridge for leftovers and a safe-- handy for people like me who constantly want to take pictures but don't want to leave their phones on a sticky table in the middle of the park. Also, all of the tables were sticky.
The lobby has terrific ice cream, BTW.
WE CLOSED THE PLACE DOWN and stayed until 10:00 pm, unheard of for us and our bedtime-at-7 kids.
Ben and I were ready for bed by like 8:15, by the way.
Even though nobody went to sleep until 11, they were all up at the crack of 6:30, just in time for Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty to open at 7.
This place, by the way, was EXACTLY like I remember it from when I was a kids, and the donuts and pancakes are still perfect.
After breakfast, we packed up all of our stuff and headed back down to the waterpark until it was time to go home and pick up Beatrix.
In short, FIVE IS AWESOME:
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