So, maybe this whole "Golden Birthday" thing is made up because it seems to be a recent invention. I think it is safe to say that Laura Ingalls did not get time off from milking the cows or whatever on her "Golden Birthday," but....y'all know that I love a theme and a festivity and, most of all, the idea of planning something, so we fully embraced this idea around the Glover house recently. 
The night before Anderson was born, Brandon drove me to the hospital during an ice storm & this guy made his appearance on a snow day from school. (This was awesome for me because it did not count against my maternity leave!)
So, it was fitting that on his Golden Birthday, the snow returned! We woke up to a few inches and the boys were SO excited to try out the new sled & the new skateboard thing from GG.
Seven years old is a lot of years. I cannot believe I have a kid who requires so many fingers when showing his age.
After lots of snow fun, he did the Birthday Scavenger Hunt tradition and loved finding his treats/leftover stocking items.
Max LOVED running around trying to help him find everything.
My favorite part of this is the "junk box" which is at the end of the hunt and an idea I totally stole from one of Nicole's friends. I mean, he was PUMPED about his own little cokes and candy.
The snow, while fun and festive, almost ruined ALL of my hopes & dreams. I planned a surprise for Anderson over 8 months ago and I didn't think we were going to be able to make it to our destination based on the fact that Gatlinburg was supposed to get 10 inches of snow on the one day we needed to be there. Everyone who knows me was living this high stress situation with me because I love to follow the Tina Fey approach of attacking all things with extra worry to make them work out in your favor.
Brandon knows me too well and knew that there would be NO chance that I would remain tearless if we missed this excursion. I have possibly been talking about it daily for at least 6 months. It is a real thing-my planning and subsequent inability to deal with life not lining up with my plan. Anyway, he told me were definitely going and proceeded to drive us through the snow and ice covered mountains to Gatlinburg. This picture does not look scary at all now that I am looking at it, but it was actually pretty terrifying.
We wrapped up a Ripley's brochure & some little sea creatures and he was so confused when he opened it. He actually thought we just gave him the brochure, which is hilarious. This was when he started to process that we were going there and he was SO happy.
And, this is when we told him that he was going to get to swim with sting rays.
This was also when Max lost his mind because he realized he was not also swimming with the sting rays. To be fair, once we got there, Max was way happier with the giant sucker we let him get from the gift shop than if we had let him swim, too.
We finally made it to Ripley's Aquarium where we joined the other 10 people who ventured out in the snow. The fact that it was not crowded at all was one of the things that made this trip so enjoyable.
Also, the family, the sharks and my high quality picture taking also contributed to the enjoyment.
They did occasionally humor me by posing.
I mean, I love these penguins. I would really like to take one home to join our animal collection. How much fun would bath time be with this new addition??
Max kept making friends with all of them.
And, the real highlight of the trip was definitely when the penguins kept pooping right in front of us. If you live with 3 & 7 year old boys then you know exactly what I am talking about with this situation.
Just some boys and some sting rays.
Speaking of sting rays....!!!
Seriously, I have been thinking about this exact moment for months and it was truly as amazing as I anticipated. He even got to wear a wet suit; it just does not get more official than this.
It was hard to get good pics because he was so focused.
Please notice Max yelling at Anderson every time a sting ray was near him. It was hilarious and precious.
When he got out, he was so happy and still can't stop talking about it.
Meanwhile...this is another version of happiness.
That evening this spoiled kid received even more love in the form of awesome gifts from the grandparents. He loves these helmets & Noni got him this one to add to his collection.
GG made him pretty thrilled with his own shark snuggie!
As always, so grateful for our village!
What a great kid!!! Can. It believe he is 7!! He is so smart and funny and can be so sweeet when he chooses. ❤. Love him
ReplyDeleteWatching the boys grow up thru a blog is not what I imagined but it is better than nothing :(
ReplyDeleteThe sting rays was basically his own version of Disney world.
ReplyDeleteAlso, max with the sucker.