Clayton turned 9 years old in March and Shayla turned 7 years old at the end of April.... And yes, I realize it's August, but I have a back load of partial blogs stashed in my drafts and I'm just now getting around to posting them.... Better late than never right??
ANYWHO....
I really hate birthday parties...... REALLY HATE THEM.
Last year we did the whole pizza party thing at the arcade. Kids had a blast.... I, on the other hand, couldn't help glancing at the fake guns wistfully wishing they could put me out of my misery for at least an hour.....
This year, I asked if the kids would like a trip vs. a party. If they really had their hearts set on party, then I would suffer through it.... That's what parents do.... Parties are almost as bad as "The Night of Horror"...
No, no.......let me take that back, the night of horror ended quickly, where as the parties full of hyper screaming kids torture you in a slow, methodical manner with no end in sight.....
Thankfully, my kids were agreeable to the trip idea!
Clayton, being my lil brain with aspirations to be a paleontologist really enjoyed the day at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. He enjoyed the preserved tracks and loved the river, though crossing it by hopping across the stones didn't work out quite like we planned.... The water was deeper than it looked, still quite chilly, and Shayla fell in... We all ended up with soaked jeans/boots.
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| A bit shocked by the foot size?! |
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| Kicked back in a preserved dino track... |
When we finished up our explorations, we hit Dino World for some shopping.... Clayton, of course, picked out more fossils for his collection.
For Shayla's birthday, we went to East Texas to spend the weekend with her Pawpaw & Momma Jan.
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| Shayla & Pawpaw |
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| Beautiful birthday girl outside Medieval Times |
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| Tator showing off his new quill from Momma Jan |
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| Shayla sipping her virgin Pina Colada & checking out all the beautiful horses |
Shayla was REALLY into all of it. Standing in her chair screaming for her knight, and turned several shades of red when he kissed a carnation and threw it to her in the stands (to which she blushed and asked me if I thought he was cute too.... Lord save me!)
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| The brave knights of Medieval Times |
Clayton, my child who takes everything very LITERALLY was apprehensive.... Eating with his hands was not the norm in Tator's world, and heaven forbid we do things differently. He got into the spirit of things though but still watched the riders very intently. They had dancing Andalusians, the falcon came out for an awesome lil show and a few rounds of tricks and story telling, he was mildly interested in these entertainments, but kept asking when the joust would begin...
When it came for the actual joust, he was on the edge of his seat.... When the knight was unhorsed and the sword fighting began, he stared, bug eyed, as sparks flew with each clash of the swords....
One knight was tiring, clearly loosing and when the victor lunged in for the kill, Clayton jumped up, with a white knuckle grip on the table edge and said:
"WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!"
He was so intense, so serious, it was hilarious.... After the downed knight was pulled out of the spotlight, I pointed out to my son that he was ok.... Didn't know why he was so shocked... We told them what the show was.... Later I find out my husband told Clayton that the joust was REAL... LOL
You'd have to know us to "get" our humor, but the whole things was just freaking hilarious. Clayton laughed about all of it, and enjoyed the rest of the show with the same awe and excitement as before, just none of the worry.
All in all we had an awesome time and I would love to go again in the future.
I'm hoping next year the kids are willing to forgo parties in favor of trips.... I know I'd certainly enjoy it.....
Simply can't beat birthdays that take you back in time with dinosaurs & dashing knights!
9 comments:
What fun birthdays! I have to say that we went to the Creation Evidences Museum in Glen Rose numerous time when we lived in Texas but never made it to Dinosaur Valley State Park! How strange is that. Would love to go to Medieval Times someday too.
Wow! How awesome! I've never heard of a restaurant(?) like that, but it sure would be a blast. I'm so glad you're back sharing your families adventures with us! :)
So happy to see you back to posting Crystal. You were sorely missed, I always look forward to your wit & humor.
Have never heard of Medieval Times, but clicked the link in your blog, looks like a wonderful time.
When will you start your kidding season? I'm just outside of DFW & think I'd like to add dairy goats to the homestead :)
Amy
Haha Leigh... I've been to Dinosaur Valley twice, but each time I head that way and plan to hit the Creations Museum, I never get around to it.. One of these days I'll go see it.
Patty- Medieval Times was great! They have a handful of locations across the US.. If you ever get the chance, you must go at least once :)
We used to go snow skiing and water skiing on birthdays. I hated parties too! Medieval Times is one of my favorite places. We went in Vegas once and California once and had a blast. Your story of how Tator handled it cracked me up, it sounds so much like what one of my own kids would have done...so tickled my funnybone!!
Glad to see you getting back into the swing of things. I missed the Noodleville adventures.
Fun birthday ideas! I loathe birthday parties as well, maybe I can get out of them by offering a trip instead when the toddler is old enough to understand.
I love Medieval Times, I've been to the one in Myrtle Beach and the one in Atlanta. Loved it. Love the Friesian they had at both places.
Petey, Tator is just so hilarious...... Especially when he's not trying....lol Will never forget the look on his face :)
Farmerstac- Thanks for stopping by & sticking with me despite my inability to maintain this blog on schedule :) I am trying to get back in the swing of things.....somedays are great, somedays still hurt too much to do anything more than the bare minimums, but I'm getting there :)
Red Sonja- Trips are SOOOOO much better, not only for my sanity, but I think the kids got so much more from the trips than they could have had from a loud, junk food filled party. Not to mention, guest didn't RSVP, a few endee up bringing more people than expected & it turned into a pricey nightmare. In the arcade, a few moms wouldn't watch their kiddos, so I was stuck chasing hyper brats all over the place......Oy. Never again if I can avoid it :)
Medieval Times was just great..... Our show also included a beautiful Friesian, tried getting pics, but they all came out blurry...
Hi Crystal!
I just wanted to drop you a quick note. I found your blog through someone linking to your copper bolusing how-to on the homesteading forum, and then promptly saved it to favorites and went all the way back to your first post so that I could read everything in order. I loved it! You are hilarious and a great writer- I feel like I'm there with you with every post, laughing about the goatly antics and crying about the news of your amazing mother's passing, for which you have my most sincere condolences.
Your family is really a lot of fun to read about and I am looking forward to many more posts in the future!
Cali
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