Ben's Birthday

The keen reader might have noticed that I skipped a day when talking about our stay in South Carolina.  That's because Monday deserves its own post because it was EPIC.  Ben and I had been talking for months about what to do to celebrate his fortieth (!!) birthday and after we debated and planned and revised the plan and debated some more, the big day arrived and we still didn't know exactly what to do.  I scoured the internet Sunday night, looking for ideas of things he would enjoy but the rest of the family would have fun with too.  I narrowed it down to a few options and presented him with my findings, and he decided we should all go to Frankie's Fun Park, a family-fun place across town with lots of activities for all ages.

This was a winning plan.  Everyone got a card with a certain amount of attraction money on it and they could use it for anything they wanted: go karts, batting cages, bumper boats, arcade games, laser tag, or putt-putt.  We ended up staying together pretty much the entire time with most of our time spent on the 3 go kart tracks, followed by bumper boats and laser tag.  We had SO MUCH FUN.  Everyone had SO MUCH FUN.  It was a truly great afternoon.  And afterward, he was adamant that it was better to have everyone do something together rather than him doing something big by himself.

Back at the house, Jack and Weston loved on Sadie, may she rest in peace, while we prepared dinner.  And the triplets helped take care of the surplus watermelon.  After dinner, Ben blew out the candles that were atop his pound cake and opened fun Dollar store presents from everyone.

We found a frog by the front door when we were heaidng out to go to our hotel,
so Eliza did what any normal little girl would do.

Dylan was content to watch.

Turns out, she was the smart one.

The frog was just a frog.

It was a very happy birthday for Ben and for all of us!  We loved it!