"Let them eat cake."
-Marie Antoinette
As is tradition on Ashlyn’s birthday, we took the kids to the zoo. We broke tradition slightly though in three ways. First, we went to the Dallas Zoo instead of the Ft. Worth Zoo because we heard that you could feed the giraffes. Second, we went the day before her birthday because her actual birthday fell on Saturday. Third, and most importantly, we didn’t go alone. Ashlyn made a best friend in her new class, Mia. Mia and her parents joined us at the Zoo and both the girls went crazy when they first saw each other, they ran across the opening plaza and hugged each other like they hadn’t seen one another in years. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little sad seeing her grow up. It’s part of the journey, and I suppose there’s not much I can do about it. The girls had a great time, giraffes were fed, goats were fed, and James only ran off two or three times. All in all, it was a fun birthday trip.
The next morning Ashlyn woke up as an official four year old. We started the day by opening birthday presents at the house, which included her first real bike and a princess play set. Ashlyn rode around the house for the next hour in a track that covered the kitchen, living room, and entry way. James decided to microwave Snow White. I’m happy to say that Snow White is doing fine.
The birthday party itself was a lot of fun. The family came over and our house was filled with people celebrating our little girl turning four. It wasn’t your typical birthday party. The Happy Birthday song was whispered instead of sung, and Ashlyn opened her presents in a separate room at first to avoid the attention that always sets Ashlyn off thanks to the bashfulness. We only had one real meltdown when we cheered for the piñata breaking, but over all she had more fun than she did in previous years. Thanks everyone for making this a memorable birthday party. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
The next morning Ashlyn woke up, put on a dress, and ran her remote control car down the hallway. She then proceeded to put James in a skirt (blackmail picture below). The kids played outside while we were looking through all the birthday pictures, and the porch paid the price.
