Happy Birthday Joshua!

Today is Joshua's birthday. He woke up to a decorated door, but besides that the first thing was to go to school, since it's a Monday. He wore his special birthday shirt and brought snacks (which have to be healthy at this school, so not super fun). While he was at school, Jason put together his new nightstand with Hannah's and Natalie's help. He really couldn't have done it without them.

Then we went to school a little earlier than pick-up time so Jason could be the guest reader. He read one of Joshua's favorites (and Jason's favorite), "Dragons Love Tacos".

After school, we went to PowerPlay, which is sort of like a cross between Chuck E Cheese's and Dave and Buster's. We started with the buffet, which is exactly what you would expect and really awful, but the sort of thing a five year old boy loves (all you can eat frozen pizza? How can you go wrong).

We started out in the little kids area. This had an indoor playground, a bounce house, and a train ride that the kids enjoyed.

It also had unlimited machine rides, like they often have outside of grocery stores. Our kids never get to do those because I rarely have quarters and, when I do, I save them for animal feed at Deanna Rose, so they were pretty excited and really liked that.

After that, Joshua decided he was done with that little kid stuff because he is five now. So we went into the main arcade area. We had the place virtually to ourselves. They didn't really need to pay for every game to have fun. The car games were popular and totally free for them.  They were convinced they were playing and controlling the car on the screen, when actually it was just the demo that runs when no one is playing.

We played several games. They also had rides that I would have liked to do if we had more time and tickets and definitely think Joshua would like next time.

Finally we were down to our last tokens and played a game of air hockey (which you can tell Jason loves Joshua because he let him win) and then we were done for the day. I hoped Joshua would love this place but I wasn't sure, but he really did, so I think it was a great place for a five-year-old.

Once we got home, it was time for naps, but first we showed Joshua his mini room makeover. He wasn't that thrilled about changing rooms with Hannah, so I told him we would make his room "cool". So I got him a Spider-Man decal for his wall and a new nightstand and Spidey pillow. If I had known the Spider-Man pillow was going to be such a hit, I would have wrapped it as a gift. He loves fighting with it and was super excited about his room.

In the evening, we did a pizza dinner (his choice), followed by presents. His favorite was a remote-controlled transformer, which he was really excited about. Actually all the kids were excited about it, but Joshua is really the only one who can drive it with any accuracy. I was tempted to get a better one: a real RC car. But as much as this thing is hitting baseboards and columns, I think a toy is a good first step. Joshua is such a giver and sharer. He said, "Do you know what would be kind? If I let my girls open my presents." Which would be very kind, but we told him he should open his own presents because they get to open theirs on their own special birthdays.

Finally we did cake. He had a Miles From Tomorrowland cake, which is his favorite show. We had a super fun day with our big boy.