Reynolds’ Birthday Fun!

Oh my gracious!  What a fun birthday Reynolds had!!  It was nearly 3 weeks ago, but who’s counting!?  It’s taken me quite some time to get all of this together with the kiddos, work and all the other whathaveyous, so I’m sorry for the delay, but I think this will bring some joy to your beautiful eyes tonight!

I just want to say, if your birthday starts off with homemade chocolate chip waffles, made with immense love by your momma, it’s going to be a really incredible day.

The first sweet picture of my “Captain”…anybody else think he’s huge?  He’s huge.  44 inches tall, confirmed last Friday by his pediatrician, who looked at us and said, “So…he’s grown FIVE inches since his last check-up.”  Then smiled with this, “I really don’t know what to say.” look on his face.  HA!

The plan was for him to go to school for a half-day and then I would pick him up around 12:15 to go to the Zoo.  “Surprises” were in store for him as we let him know in the morning.  Mommy and Daddy had surprises for him, and we would let him know as they happened.

As I picked him up from school and helped him change from his camos into shorts I told him we were going to the zoo.  His sweet face lit up and then he said, “is sister going with us?”  I replied, “No….did you want sister to go with us?”  Secretly hoping his answer would be “no” so that he wouldn’t be disappointed…

“Yes!” he said, enthusiastically…

“Well…she’s not coming, baby.  Mommy planned for just you and me to go to the zoo and that way you can do whatever you want to do!”

Somehow that won him over and he was all smiles leaving school.

Kids and adults alike love to gaze at the lion..

His best tiger face.

I’m not kidding when I tell you that we stood here for 15 minutes watching those sweet sea lions swim in circles.  He asked me questions like “why can’t I go swim with them?” and “where do they sleep at night?”  It was wonderful.

The reptiles are my least favorite…I sort of have to stare at the dirty carpet as he searches for these fascinating creatures – are they on a branch, under a leaf, in the water…not my kind of hide and seek…

The shark led most of the kids to start singing “Baby Shark…”

We counted the Galapagos turtles I think eight times…just to be sure no one was trying to get away too quickly to hide..

I sent this picture out to a few friends with the caption, “Guess who is going to ride the pony on his birthday?!”  I was giddy with excitement and nervousness that he would get up to the platform and somehow change his mind.

I literally stood in shock and awe that he just put his foot in the stirrup and hoped right on that sweet pony.  I was completely amazed at how big he seemed…and was.

He was so happy, with his head bobbing up and down at the gait of this sweet animal.

I was nearly jumping up and down by the time he got off the pony and he had a massive smile on his sweet face.  Proud and excited all in one four-year-old’s body…it was beautiful!

Next up was the train, and in the three years we’ve had a membership to the zoo, this was my first time riding in the little train!  We had so much fun!

Oh, and if you notice the book “Farts in the Wild”…that was a gift we got for a friend. hahaha

Oh the carousel…we rode it twice…and the rhino was his favorite because he didn’t move up and down.

Because everybody needs a little ice cream on their birthday.

We went into the little bird sanctuary and he looks at me like, why don’t I have anything to give these birds, when all the other kids did.  So I stopped and looked at him like, are you for real not going to scream and run when they all attack you for your two ounces of nectar?  He said no…so we went out, back around to the front, paid the what ever dollar or two to get our nectar and back in we went.

This kid.  He just kept surprising me.  He held up his little cup and let them drink right from it.  Not the least bit scared.

Of course he kept a safe distance, and was in his flight stance…but it was all good.

Then we ran over to see the gorillas…because there’s a momma expecting any day.  And there was this sweet lady that kept saying (out loud), “that must be the pregnant one because she has the breasts.”  So that was fun.  And amusing.

After the zoo we went home for a little rest time and for daddy to bring Eliza Jane and Emory home.  Once they arrived, Daddy got to tell R his last birthday surprise….a night at the baseball field with the Fireflies and Tim Tebow.  You can’t see it, but on our row, there was a seat #15, which is Tim’s number, so of course that’s where he decided to sit.

We tried for a family selfie, is that called a famfie or something?  But you can see that someone is missing…

Oh wait, there’s Eliza Jane…and now you see why she was missing.  #breakdown.  Reynolds was not amused…

Eliza Jane pulled herself together and we got one of the guys behind us to take a family pic for us.

Great memories for a really fun birthday.

Hope y’all enjoyed his birthday as much as we did!  How do you celebrate birthdays in your home?

Thanks for reading this sweet post! xo,