Happy Birthday Marcus!

Well, my little boy keeps growing up!! He is 9 years old now! We celebrated his birthday by taking our family, and three of Marcus' friends to Meadowbrook fun center. They had so much fun with the arcade, miniature golf, go karts and bumper boats! We decided to do something big this year with a few selected friends because of what happened last year. We planned a birthday party, and no one came. It was just a weird busy weekend for everyone else, and Marcus only has a few friends anyway. His best friend here in Yakima was out of town that weekend, but we still planned it because that was the only Saturday Jon had off. I thought at least a few from church and the neighbor kids would come, but it was not so. It broke my heart and I vowed to never let that happen to any child of mine again. So this year we planned around his friends' schedules and did something big with just those few. It turned out great because his best friend from Sunnyside, Devon, was in town so he came too!

We celebrated on April 10th - - one of the coldest and windiest days of April! (I will write more about that on my baseball post!) They still had a blast, though! My mom happened to be in town visiting while my dad was at a conference, so that made things even more fun. I was so glad she was there to help because Jon ended up spending much of the time we were at Meadowbrook on the clinic phone for the Residency. It was his turn to take the after hours calls. We couldn't really change it to another Saturday because Ethan , his best Yakima friend, wouldn't have been able to come. Oh, well, Jon was able to get in a little bit of fun!

First we did the arcade:




Then miniature golf and presents:

(above: Marcus and his friends Mia, Devon, and Ethan)




Then the Go-Karts. The kids were all to short to drive them by themselves, so Jon and I each went several times with the kids as the passengers, so each would have a turn. I was a bit dizzy afterward- I think I am too old for Go-Karts. The kids (including my husband who is a big kid at heart) had a ball, so it was worth it!



Even though it was such a cold day, the kids all still wanted to go on the bumper boats. Luckily I was smart enough to have them go last- - because they were soaked! We just had them jump right into our warm van and wrap up in towels . . . such fun!



Happy Birthday Marcus! I am so proud of you and what a great kid you are. I can't imagine our family without you!