Henry Turned Two, So We Headed to the Zoo!

we had a wonderful birthday party for hj monkey with friends and family at the zoo. we were so close to the polar bears we could see them walking around while we ate! we made bug collectors and collected (fake, mostly) bugs and had a puppet show and face painting and all kinds of fun. a great crowd showed up despite the heat and the loooooooong walk to get to the picnic area where we were.


after the party, i swore up and down i was going to simplify things next year and just do a small, simple family gathering with cake and birthday hats. but now i'm thinking a PIRATE PARTY with TREASURE MAPS and BURIED TREASURE (booty) and EYE PATCHES FOR EVERYONE!!

we'll see.  (which means, ARRRR, MATEY!)

anyway. henry had a great time with his friends and he got so much great loot. toys and books and clothes and baseball and golf sets and a mini kitchen with all the fixins' and lots of crafty things to paint and draw with.

and even a dragon tail!

i can't help but laugh, though, every time he gets a mountain of presents. he opens the first couple and then seems put out that he can't just play with those and has to keep tearing through the rest of them. and he 's still at the point where the box it came in is as fun as the content.



after all, the 5 best toys of all time are: stick, box, string, cardboard tube, and dirt.  :)

we are so thankful to all our wonderful people who love on him (us) so much! and we couldn't do it without them! (= they are enabling my birthday party addiction).