One year older, and wiser, too!

We spent some time this weekend to celebrate Landon’s big day as a family and with friends. The festivities began on Friday with a trip to Jungle Java in Farmington Hills with our next door neighbors and Landon’s friends from the branch. The kids ran and climbed and ate too much and carried on and got all worked up and stayed up too late and did all the fun things kids do at parties.

Big Indoor Jungle Gym

Party Goers

I have some strong words to say about black food coloring, and none of them are good.

Case in point.

And another.

Boys punch drunk on cake, ice cream, staying up too late, etc.

Landon went wild for this present!

Did I mention that I have nothing but bad words for black icing?

We thought for sure he would get a good night’s sleep, but (alas) he woke up crying at 4:30 this morning after having rolled off the end of his bed. Hallie and Mike had each taken some night time cold medicine and were in no shape to comfort a squirrelly three-year-old. Hallie went in and read to him and ended up falling asleep in his bed, then when he woke up again at 6:00, she sent him over to Mike, who entertained the boy for a bit while Mom fell back to sleep. We all three eventually got our act together sometime around 9:00. Landon unwrapped presents from his parents and grandparents. He got most excited with his new roller skates and insisted on taking them out for a spin. A few hard landings on his behind later, he was done with that gift for a while.

LEGOs! Yes!

Trains! Yes!

The face says it all.

Concentrate . . . con-cen-trate . . .

Wielding the hammer like a pro

Independent builder

Testing out his finished work

Watching his balloon spider get made

His Pablo the Penguin face painting

Happiness is a chocolate covered rice crispy treat.

Our first excursion out of the house after a quick breakfast of leftover cake had us over to Lowe’s for their Build and Grow class on making a flapping Halloween bat. Landon wielded his hammer like a pro! Miss Grace, handy Lowe’s associate in charge, even sang to Landon Stevie Wonder style upon hearing about his big day. We headed out from Lowe’s and up to Morley’s Candy Factory for their Spooktackular Halloween events. Landon received a balloon spider to wear on his wrist had his picture taken in a “pumpkin patch” and got free samples of yummy chocolates and rice crispy treats. After dessert, we had lunch at Five Guys. We really like Five Guys, but we have decided we actually prefer Achatz Burgers (not to be confused with the pie people). By this point, Landon was tuckered out and took a little nap in the car on the way home and in bed (thank goodness!).

Once he woke up, he wanted to start playing with his new train and Lego set. The kid had a ball building his sets and then racing his little wooden train around the track. Soon enough, however, it was time for us to head to dinner at Sindbad’s with our next door neighbors to share the sons’ common benchmark (Miles is exactly 11 years older than Landon). We had a delicious meal and great company, and Landon impressed the waitress with his relatively polite behavior. A well-fed and worn out little boy finally hit the hay at around 9:00 sporting new Thomas the Train pajamas, a gift from his grandparents. We love you, big man!