After we played at the Dennis the Menace park, we continued on to the Aquarium. We love that place. We’ve all learned so much about the ocean because of it. I’m so glad we finally bought a membership! We had a great time!

On our way to the Aquarium, we stopped at the Dennis the Menace park. It’s basically 10 parks smooshed into one with some really long, steep slides! Holly and Greta loved it. We felt like we were dragging everyone away from play time on the park to go to the aquarium. It really was a blast!

5 year olds seem to really know what they want when it comes to birthdays. At least mine did! Holly was completely into kresents (presents) this year, and she had some specifications for her birthday day. Pancakes, crepes and pizza were on the menu. Presents to unwrap. A party with strawberry cake and friends. It was a fun and busy day! Fortunately it began with everyone sleeping in past 8am!

This was our Lego year. Greta gave Holly some animal packets, and my parents gave her a bin of legos. And we went to the Lego store to buy some blocky people (anyone else annoyed with the Lego friends characters? My daughter does not need a curvy lego girl to play with!). Conor’s especially excited about the Legos.

We bought Holly a bike with no training wheels. She learned how to ride a 2-wheeler last summer, but we didn’t have a reliable one… so she had to relearn yesterday. It took her no time, although she only wants to ride in a circle in one direction. That’ll change I think when she gets out there with her neighbor friends. The bike was a bargain and a good find on craigslist. As much as I wanted to buy a $200 bike, $35 sounded a lot sweeter. It was as chill of a day as I could make it because the food prep wasn’t super easy and we had her birthday party in the evening.

It was a good day. And it was extra fun to have grandparents to share it with!

I’m not exactly big,
And I’m not exactly little
But being Five is best of all
Because it’s in the middle.
A person likes to ride her bike
Around the block a lot
And being Five is big enough
And being Four is not.
And then she likes to settle down
And suck her thumb a bit,
And being Five is small enough,
But when you’re Six you quit.
I’ve thought about it in my mind -
Being Five, I mean -
And why I like it best of all
Is cause it’s In Between.

- Dennis Lee

My girls are really into sparkly lips. Fairly regularly I find them with lip color thickly and generously applied to the point of looking clownish and yet they feel on top of the world, fancier than ever. Greta is especially fond of the stuff and I’ve heard her boasting, “my mom has two lip chaps!” Oh darling, if you only knew how many the average woman truly has…