Whitney talks about her birthday year-round. She basically pins all her hopes for fun outings and gifts onto her birthday, so by the time it actually rolls around it feels like we need to get it right.
This year she woke up to find the birthday banner hung, the balloons leftover from Randy's birthday (which was 6 days earlier) and her "corner presents". She had a box of her favorite cereal, a pack of cute socks (she has sock issues), 2 pairs of earrings and a cartoon cat made by Randy. She was thrilled with all of these items.
Apparently when Randy took her to school they brought "Rino" our new hamster (our other one died a few months ago) in his exercise ball to show her class. He also brought her some Arby's for lunch and ate in the cafeteria with her and her friends.
I picked Whitney and Madison up from school for a fun outing of Krispy Kreme donuts (I had a coupon). We NEVER go there so this was a major treat for all of us.
We got a dozen since I had a coupon for a half dozen free, but our bill was still $11! Apparently I need to remember that it's the 21st century because I still think a dozen donuts she cost $4.
We spent a "fun" hour at Toys-R-Us shopping for the ultimate birthday gift from my parents and siblings. They originally planned to go in on a bike for her (since the one she has looks toddler sized when she's on it) but she wasn't excited about that so she had birthday cash instead. Luckily Madison was with her and could share in her excitement and help discuss the pros and cons of each toy. I leaned on the shopping cart (and really wished I could sit down) and played "Words With Friends" on my phone.
She was elated with her purchases!
Later that night we went to dinner at Los Hermanos as a family (I used another coupon...they're going to expire on November 1st so I'm on a mission to use as many as I can).
Good times.
I never get tired of their food.
It was Whitney's first time being sung to at a restaurant and she handled it well. I never enjoy that when it's my birthday and always want to crawl under the table to hide.
The birthday continued on Thursday when she started the morning by opening a present from Amie and her kids. They gave her homemade hair flower clips (including the orange one in her hair), which Whitney loved!
Then we drove to Adam and Amy's house to pick up Bella and Tess for a day at the zoo (oh joy). It's rather great that our Fall Break from school fell on the week of Whitney's birthday!
I had a coupon that saved us $8 so it cost $22 for the 4 of us to get in. (This outing was in lieu of a birthday party, but I never spend much on her birthday parties, so the joke was on me.)
Mapping out our route was very important.
About an hour after getting there we were all hungry. I had originally planned to stop at Wendy's to get food to bring with us, but we didn't pass any fast food on the way to the zoo so we got hosed and paid for zoo food so it was $27 for lunch!!
Tess had a stare-down with her hot dog.
I don't enjoy the zoo, but did enjoy the fall leaves and the perfect weather (65 degrees and sunny with a breeze).
They have a gorgeous Merry-Go-Round there now but of course it costs $2 per ride. The rides seemed oh so short to me so I timed it...less than 3 minutes! I figured out (with my 7th grade math skills) that they make $96 every 3 minutes if the Carousel is full. Outrageous!
Of course we had to have some ice cream for $8 ($2 each). I know I sound like I'm ridiculously cheap (I'm not) but it was like I had a cash register in my head dinging each time we did something.
Later we road the train (4 minute ride) for $1.50 each and that was fun and it was nice to sit down, but good grief already with the expenses. Also is it wrong that I wish the ride lasted longer and went around the whole park? I know it's not Disneyland, but the wait in line is way longer than the train ride.
Our train self-portrait.
Our final stop was the play area, so the girls could run free and I could sit on a shady bench for awhile.
I had my book with me, but only got a couple pages read because it was hard to keep my eye on the girls, plus I was sitting next to a weird couple that made me wonder about humanity.
After 4.5 long hours at the zoo we headed out to freakin Eagle Mountain so the girls could have a sleepover at my parents' house. My mom wasn't home yet so we went to Amie's house to hang out, but Amie wasn't home yet either but I talked to her on the phone and decided we'd hang out in her backyard. The girls jumped on the trampoline while I enjoyed the sunshine and breeze and read a few more pages in my book (this book is taking me forever even though I like it).
Later we had dinner with my parents and I visited with them for an hour or so then left the girls with my mom (my dad was getting ready for bed...it was 8:15) then headed back over to Amie's house until 11:00pm.
It was a marathon day but everyone was happy. Landon had stayed home and ended up playing with several friends from church and got to see Monty Python's Holy Grail for the first time. It's a quotable classic so it was time.
**Do you enjoy the zoo?
Do the costs of outings like this bug you?
Do you enjoy Krispy Kreme donuts? (What kind of question is that?!)
Comment Window Tidbit: I really need to catch up on blogging, I'm drowning in pictures!
