Birthday Weekend

Jameson's birthday fell on Labor Day this year and so we decided we'd make a weekend of it and take him to SeaWorld in San Antonio.  We celebrated with a family party the day before we left for San Antonio and he got to open all of his presents and eat his "donut cake."  It was an actual donut, yes, but not just any donut - the "Texas-sized" donut from Round Rock Donuts.  It is probably the equivalent of an entire dozen donuts all put together into one large donut.  Jameson is not a fan of many sweets and isn't really into cake or cupcakes - trust me, I've tried - so I thought it would be best to get him something that he would enjoy and I think I did pretty well given that he hasn't stopped talking about his donut cake every time we pass a donut shop (and yes, he knows them all).  

BTW, I'm trying this new thing with doing picture collages since I hate the way that Blogger usually uploads photos.  

Clockwise from top left: the donut cake, opening presents, cake face, admiring his cake, a closeup of the donut cake, complete with frosting train tracks and trains, one happy boy, enjoying his yummy cake, opening presents and the extravagant decorations ;)

Jameson's family party was not fancy, since we figured the trip to SeaWorld was his main present.  We used his naptime to wrap presents, pick up his cake and decorate - a lot to do in a small amount of time. He's been really into trains lately and has been working on using the potty to earn a "Thomas" bed, so I kind of stuck with the theme, and used as much Thomas stuff I could find.  That, and a few Chuggington items.

I do have to say that the donut cake was super yummy and probably something we'll repeat again - even though they spelled Jameson's name incorrectly (even after she insisted that they knew how to spell it since she had a neighbor who spelled it the same way).  I still can't figure out what that letter is after the "m" in Jameson.  

Spending some quality family time together before leaving for SeaWorld.

We took off for SeaWorld after church on Sunday and spent the evening at our hotel.  We stayed at the Drury Inn since it had free breakfast, appetizers at night and popcorn in the afternoons - it was heaven for Jameson.  From an adult perspective... probably not a place I'd like to eat at again... unless I'd just had surgery or was in a school cafeteria.  

Jameson LOVED SeaWorld.  It was probably the best day of his entire 3 years.  Upon entering the park, we took him right to his first roller coaster - the kiddie Shamu coaster.  I took him on it while Stella hung out in the wings with Spence.  Afterwards, I asked him if he liked it and he said no.  I guess that the thrill-seeker gene hasn't made an appearance yet.  He did really enjoy the carousel, though.  And since Spence took him on that one, I'm pretty sure Spence automatically became favorite parent of the day.  

We then went to snap some pictures with the Sesame Street characters.  We got shots with Bert & Ernie and with Cookie Monster.  Jamie wasn't interested in the other characters, except Elmo.  Unfortunately, they kept Elmo and Big Bird locked up inside where you had to pay to take pictures with them.  Apparently, Elmo and Big Bird get injured when they're allowed out among the general public.  Who knew that a mob of small children could be that dangerous??

Jamie and Spence caught the Sea Lion show, played on the playground until he injured himself (didn't take long), and then headed over to the Shamu show.  Obviously Jameson hasn't spent as much time watching Whale Wars as I have, because I think that was my favorite part of the day.  I loved watching the whales.  They are such beautiful and intelligent creatures and I could watch them perform or even just swim around all day.  I almost cried more than once.  

Since the weather was so great (highs in the low 90s), we were able to spend a lot of time outside without sweating to death.  I know that must sound crazy to all you non-texans, but after 75 days in the triple digits, the 90s are a huge and welcome change.  Spence and I took turns going on the big kid roller coaster and both agreed afterwards that we are not kids anymore and roller coasters are not as appealing as they used to be.  Don't get me wrong, it was fun - just not ride-it-again fun.  While the kids  hung out with whatever parent wasn't riding the roller coaster, they both crashed.  Jameson crashed pretty hard.  If you notice the picture in the middle, he is covered in orange Cheeto powder.  It makes an attractive lipstick shade, right?  His hand was still in the bag when he fell asleep.  

We decided to hang out in the back of the penguin exhibit while the kids snoozed and get a little break from the sun.  I couldn't help but think of Happy Feet while I watched all the penguins crammed into such a small space.  Then they released one of the "chicks" from the "chick pen" and I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was seriously the most odd and scary looking penguin I'd ever seen - like a penguin dressed up for Halloween.  I don't really know how to describe it - it was covered in thick gray fur-like fuzz... and it was huge, as in bigger than the other penguins.  I'm not sure how they can call it a chick.  I stared in disbelief until the chick was escorted out of the exhibit into the backroom and then we left.  

We then hit up the dolphin feeding pool where Jamie fed some dolphins.  After that it was off to the shark exhibit and then we ended the day at the splash pool portion of the waterpark.  As we left SeaWorld, Jamie pointed to all the people who were leaving at the same time we were and commented on how they had all come to SeaWorld because it was their birthday as well.  It was really cute, but I guess I had made it a little too clear that we only go to SeaWorld for birthdays.  We were all thoroughly exhausted, but the kids did great.  At least until after we left the park.  It took 2 hours to get out of San Antonio because of all the stops we had to make.  Food stops, diaper change stops, nursing stops followed by formula stops (seriously, this girl is like a camel before bedtime).  And then more stops to try and find gas.  It was a long long time.  

Jameson fought sleep super hard until we got home because he knew that a surprise was waiting for him.  My awesome parents spent part of that day assembling and decorating his new bed.

A series of action shots capturing his excitement at having a new bed.

He was so thrilled about his bed.  He's been sleeping like a champ since we got it for him.  I wasn't too excited to get him a theme bed so I had the idea to get him a simple plain bed that we would decorate with vinyl wall art.  That way he can pass the bed onto Stella when she's ready for it and we can decorate with an entirely different theme.  Brilliant, right?  Well, except for the part where I didn't realize that Ikea children's beds are a very unusual size and don't really fit normal toddler sheet sets or twin size sheet sets.  So.... thanks to my mom, and some quick thinking, she made it work and was able to put the Thomas sheets on his bed.  As long as he doesn't grow to fill the entire bed in the next 2 years, I think we'll be okay.  

He still asks to have birthday parties and donut cakes, but I think he's starting to figure out that birthdays don't last forever.  I sort wish his did though, I love seeing him so excited and happy to do things we don't normally do.