Gary’s Constructive Birthday

This past Saturday we celebrated Gary’s constructive birthday.  Since Gary got home around bedtime on his actual birthday from his 40th birthday guys’ trip, we decided to celebrate his birthday on Saturday.  Gary decided that for his birthday he wanted to go hiking then have a picnic at Tannehill State Park. 

The morning didn’t start out quite as nice as we expected.  Everyone (including the birthday boy) was a little grumpy.  I seriously thought about suggesting that we stay at home – but then I figured that a meltdown on a hiking trail had to be better than a meltdown at home.  At least it would be different.

The hiking trip didn’t start out perfectly. Henry was squatting down checking out something when all of the sudden he started screaming and ran to Gary.  I saw something black on his thumb on the way, so I grabbed his thumb and saw a fireant.  We immediately stripped Henry down to his underwear and were flicking off every fireant we could find. 

Henry got bit on his hands several times.  They were swelling up a bit, so we gave him some benedryl and then just kept an eye on them.  At some point during this process, one of the fireants bit me on the knee.  It hurt.  Bad.  I can’t imagine how much it hurt Henry to be bit so many times on his hands.  Luckily, by the end of the hiking trip his hands looked almost normal.  I bet he keeps his eyes open for fireants from here on out. . . .

To our great surprise, the kids started talking about all the bears they were seeing.  Piper named one bear and one little bear, and made friends with them.  This is “little bear”:

And this is “bear”:

Penelope really, really enjoyed herself, especially the lunch.  We stopped at a chicken place on the way to go hiking, and got an 8-piece chicken box with 4 biscuits.  All the food was gone.  Gary and I each only got one piece of chicken.  The kids destroyed the lunch, and Penelope especially enjoyed herself.

Even though she’s almost 4, Piper still gets really tired at naptime and WANTS her nap.  Especially after she’s gone hiking and then had a chicken dinner.  She barely made it home without falling asleep.

After lunch, we found a few crumbs and the kids went down to the water to feed the fish.  They love it!

By the time we made it to the car, all of the kids had that glazed eye look.  They were exhausted and so ready for naptime.

I really think that hiking is our favorite family passtime.  We all seem to really enjoy it, from us parents down to Penelope.

For Gary’s birthday cake, he requested a banana pudding (the first dessert that I ever made for him – he still loves it).  Auntie Ann came over to help us celebrate, and I made some twice-baked potatoes and Gary grilled steaks while the kids ran around outside and played.  We even ate outside.  It was awesome.  I love this time of year.