Sixth Birthday Bash

Now that we're going to have four kids and all the exhaustion that takes place with birthday parties, Tom and I decided to change our family tradition:  instead of having a kid's birthday party every year where we invite all their friends, we're only going to do that every other year.  The alternate year will just be a celebration with our immediate family.  And we decided to institute this new tradition this year, with Lukas' birthday.

It took a little getting used to for him, the idea of not having a birthday party with friends and cake and a pinata:  he goes to so many parties and has had five parties like that for himself (although he probably only remembers the last three) and has been involved with four parties for Natalie and then Konrad.  But he finally got used to the idea (which meant he stopped talking about the party that wasn't going to happen and talked about what was going to happen).

Our surprise gift for him this morning was a new 20" bicycle.  He had outgrown his old bike, and he's just large enough for the new bike, with the seat completely down.  As Tom and I discussed getting a better quality bike than his old bike (which gets tweaked every time he falls), the fact that two brothers will likely use it after him factored heavily into the price we paid.  And we're glad we got it...it's a good bike and Lukas loves it.

The rest of the birthday celebration was:  Tom came home from work a few hours early and we went to Disneyland (California Adventure, first), ate dinner at Rainforest Cafe (Lukas' choice) and went back to Disneyland to ride Finding Nemo and Autopia until Disneyland closed at 8 p.m.  Eating at Rainforest Cafe and staying until Disneyland closed are NOT something we normally do, but it looks like our kids are finally old enough to handle such a long evening, barely.  Natalie and Konrad fell asleep in the car before we were even out of the parking lot.

Here are some pictures and videos from Lukas' Sixth Birthday Bash.  He had asked me a few weeks ago why no one has night-time parties for kids' birthdays, and wanted to know when he would be old enough.  I didn't even realize until we were in the middle of the celebration that he was getting his night-time party this year!

Happy Birthday Lukas!  We love you and are so glad you had a fun time.

Natalie and Konrad rode these slides over and over while Lukas waited in line for the tire swing (above) and ran through the maze (below).

Wheeeee!

This is just a little bit of static electricity.

Lukas didn't want to do the climbing wall at first, then couldn't get enough of it.

Konrad was enthralled by the mechanical gorilla at Rainforest Cafe

(which Lukas didn't want to look at, AT ALL).

Our table was right next to one of the aquariums,

which kept Natalie very occupied while we waited for our food.

Lukas saw some other people getting a volcano cake and slowly realized that's what he would get too!  It's funny to watch a kid having wait staff sing "Happy Birthday" to him

(which Tom and I cringe at when it's for us).

Lukas steering the car at Autopia.

The girls in the other car at Autopia.