Birthday Party

Mommy, Daddy and Owen after blowing out candles

Last Saturday was Owen's birthday party at the Clarion hotel in Muscatine. We left home around noon, thinking Owen would fall asleep for at least an hour or so on the 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive down there, but he didn't. He was too involved in watching a few of the new movies he got for his birthday. So when we got down there we checked in to the hotel a little early to see if Owen would nap in our room. An hour and a half later, he was still up and Nana and Boppa had arrived, so we gave up trying. By about 4:00, most everyone had arrived and we were ready to party!

We reserved three poolside rooms and also a few tables to be set up in the party room that was actually right outside of our rooms. It was the perfect set up. We were in one room, my parents in another and Ryan's aunt, uncle and cousins in another, so we had plenty of room for the kids to run around and plenty of bathrooms and places for everyone to get changed. The kids were anxious to go swimming, so we got our suits on and headed to the pool.

Ready for the pool!

Ryan's mom had bought Owen this life jacket for the river and brought it along for him to wear in the pool. It's the best life jacket I've ever seen! We didn't even have to hold on to him the entire time because he could balance in the water. With other life jackets, he gets pulled forward too much and can't keep his face out of the water. I'm glad she let us take it home because it really is AWESOME!

In the baby pool

Swimming with Mommy and Jaxon

He spent most of his time in the big pool and just LOVED jumping in. Sometimes I would put him out on the edge of the pool and couldn't back away fast enough before he jumped in again. He had so much fun, and my arms got a great workout! :)

After swimming, it was time to eat. We did sort of a pot luck type thing, where everyone brought something. We had walking tacos, lil smokies, BBQ beef, queso, veggie pizza, a few dips and a couple of other things. It was delicious!

He has a funny look on his face, but he's just chewing his food! : )

You could tell Owen was getting pretty tired by this time, but I livened him up a little bit by reminding him that we have cake to eat yet! But first, presents!

He really wasn't too interested in opening presents. The first few he opened he played with a little bit, but he really didn't care that much. In fact, he started walking away at one point and I had to fend off all the other kids and get someone to get him back over there! But he got some really good stuff: a LeapFrog laptop, a Transformer, a Mickey Mouse rocket, Mr. Potato Head (or as he now calls him, Boppa, because he has a mustache and glasses), new jammies, a car with a track, and a puppy that talks and sings.

Hayden was MUCH more interested in presents than Owen!

Notice the kids getting closer and closer : )

And of course after presents came candles and cake! The part Owen had been waiting for! I think he was surprised by how many people were singing Happy Birthday to him. He just kind of hunkered down in his seat and watched. But when it came time to blow out his candles, he stood up in his chair and went at them! He did a pretty good job, too, but I'm glad we practiced a few times the night before (especially because when he did it at home he got frustrated and put his hand over the candles. He didn't burn himself, but I yelled NO really loud and it scared him so much he started bawling. Oops!)

"Happy Birthday to you!"

Blown out!

Finally enjoying his cupcake!

The rest of the night, Owen was pretty much hanging out on someone's lap, snuggling up. He was fighting sleep, though. My mom tried to take him in to read a story, but he wanted to go back out where everyone else was. I finally took him in our room at about 9:15 and laid down with him in bed. It didn't take long for him to snuggle down into the covers and fall asleep. I think the poor kid was running a fever, though. I ended up having to sleep with him at about 4:40 in the morning, because he woke up screaming, and he was just radiating heat. Poor punky. But he slept in quite a while and fell asleep on the way home for a bit, and by the time we got home, he was back to himself. 

All in all it was a really good birthday party. Now I can't wait until next weekend for Christmas!