birthday parties

We attended our first birthday party today. Our first birthday party of Calvin's childhood years, the kind that, at this age, means both parent and child attendance. Twenty-four children and the adults that went with them, and Calvin was one of only two boys. The kids made cat ear headbands, then ran wild in the basement before consuming fruit, veggies, hotdogs, and cake as a prelude to present opening that took half the time it could have, and twice the time it should have.

Calvin said he had fun, and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed the cat ear making, but it was clear to me after the first thirty minutes why we have yet to throw a party of this kind in our own home. In particular, something about the scads of presents that go largely unnoticed makes my stomach turn. Calvin told me in the car, and then Jon later, that his feelings had been hurt when the birthday girl had taken no notice of the gift he gave her. It opened the floor for a heart felt discussion about showing gratitude, and about doing our best for others but being our own best fans and not worrying about others' assessments of us. Still, it always breaks my heart when he is sad.

After we talked more about the party—Calvin liked the cake and loved the ears—we asked him what kind of party he thought he'd like to have for himself this year, a party with family, like we've had in the past, or a party with friends? "Definitely a friends party," he told us, and when asked what friends he would like to invite he replied "Oh, gram and grandpa, and Oma and Opa, of course, and Aunt Wendy and Uncle Jack. Just like our Easter party. That was a good party." 

As Calvin meets more kids in our community and makes more friends closer to his own age I know that answer will change. Maybe that will even happen this year. I'm actually looking forward to throwing a child's birthday party some day, a reasonable number of children playing games and creating take-home crafts and eating cake and ice cream, but for now I'll just enjoy the sheer adorable-ness of that answer and all that it means.

The Himalayas from Africa

There is nothing like spending a birthday at Disney to make you feel young again. A quick check-in at guest services procured for me a birthday pin, complete with my name in large letters, so that everywhere I went Disney staff, and sometimes others, were wishing me a happy birthday. So how old am I today? Maybe five.

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom. Calvin enjoyed the flying triceratops carnival ride, but not so much the Dinosaur thrill ride, and we all enjoyed the Kilimanjaro Safari through Africa from which we spotted giraffes, elephants, lions, and cheetahs as well as a variety of grazing ungulates. We ate ice cream for lunch (gasp) and lest we forget that this is the place of dreams and memory making, we snapped a quick picture of the family with the Himalayas in the background...from the bridge in Kenya (or wherever we were in Africa).

The Tree of Life really is beautiful, carved with many species so as to be eye pleasing and thoroughly engrossing. We skipped the line at the runaway train (in the Himalayas) and fell in love with the tigers, the golden pheasants, and especially the flying foxes in Asia.

Home again, home again (or resort again, resort again) to enjoy the snack bar (and regular bar) and the pool, before heading back to Downtown Disney for a birthday dinner—crab legs and whole lobsters for five, plus wine, plus a surprise birthday cake at the end. We topped it off with Irish coffee before catching the bus back to our hotel, and with Calvin and the grandparents all in bed Jon and I capped the evening with a stroll on the resort pond, and a stop at the tiki bar.

Birthday party, Oz style

Calvin's birthday party was last night, the party we've been planning together, he and I, for a couple of weeks now. My favorite part of the whole thing was his interest and enthusiasm for every step of the planning, and his enthusiasm didn't wane on the day of as he was handing out hats and glasses left and right, and eagerly eying the presents on their way in. Though he is gaining friends in our neighborhood I am still avoiding the big birthday bashes that are so common in our time and our party was limited to family, which kept it small and enjoyable. This will be a short post, after a long day, but I wrote about the party details here.

Just follow the yellow brick road...

The Wizard will greet you at the door.

Camera on timer, not so in focus, but still a family photo of Munchkins, Quadlings, Winkies, Gilikins, the Wizard (Calvin) and Ozma (me). Many of these details, like the hats and the glasses, will make sense only to those who have read the original series, but they're fun even if you haven't.

I didn't get a picture of it (I have no idea why) but he was ecstatic upon opening a set of Magic Tree House books, the next four that he hasn't read. Surrounded by packages unopened and toys already unboxed it was wonderful to see him get so excited about those books. We have made a point of giving books as gifts for every occasion and he not only expects them now, but gets very excited. When he received money from my godmother this time and was asked what he wanted he readily supplied the title of the next book in the Oz series.

Dinner at the Emerald City.

The cake and the characters on it (part of our gift to Calvin) will again make the most sense to someone who has read the series. Calvin did a lot of explaining at this party. You can read a little more about these fun characters here and here.