Brayden Turns 3!!!

I can't believe my baby is three! I refuse to believe it. In fact, it hasn't really sunk in yet. We had a quiet birthday yesterday for him. He doesn't really have any friends yet, so we opted to forgo a party. Instead, yesterday evening we all went to Valley Worlds of Fun. Brayden had a blast. We went down the big Fun Slide (like the one at the fair) together as a family. He played miniature golf with Daddy - which he loved! He was emulating his Daddy. If Daddy was teeing off, Brayden plopped his ball down and teed (sp?) off. If Daddy was putting, he picked his ball up and went over to putt. It was cute. Daddy and Brayden got in the bumper boats and got soaking wet! The boats have a water gun on them and there were some rowdy kids in the water. In fact, one little boy was bullying my baby - he had that water gun two feet from my child and had the gun pointed straight at his head while Brayden squirmed and fussed. I just about jumped the fence and snapped at the child. Eli later told me there wasn't anything he could do about it. Seriously?! I told Eli he was 26 years old and that child was 10. You stand up for your children. Anyway... Brayden was upset that he couldn't climb the rock wall, but he didn't weigh enough. But Brayden and Daddy did go up in the free fall ride. They pick you up and drop you about 8 times. Brayden was a little anxious in the air, but he seemed to enjoy it. Then we went inside to the arcade and indoor play area. Brayden loves playing Skee Ball and he racked up some tickets. We also played Daddy in Air Hockey. Momma kicked Daddy's butt once Brayden stopped playing! Then we all climbed in the blow-up obstacle course. Brayden really wanted to ride the bumper cars, but he was too short. After we left, we came home and had Monkey Cake that Mama worked all day on and opened a few little presents. His big present was his new bed. I was fortunate we had a bed skirt and comforter Eli's Mom had given us a while back. Then last night he got a box of paints, which he was thrilled about, a set of Kid Kinex - Furry Friends, and a set of Play Doh with several neat cutters and presses. Here's photos from the celebration. I know there's a lot, but I wanted you to feel like you were here!


Brayden's Monkey Cake!


Every time Eli would hit the ball and it didn't get near the hole, Brayden would pick it up for him so he could put it closer to the hole! "Here Daddy, I got your ball!"


Brayden thought he needed to put his ball right next to the hole so he could hit it in. Here he is placing Daddy's ball for him.


And hitting Daddy's ball in.




Yay! I hit the ball in! He would cheer himself each time he sunk the ball.






Daddy trying to show Brayden how to properly hit the ball.








The free fall. Daddy wanted me to go on it with Brayden, but I told him that if he stayed on the ground, I would require him to take pictures. He told me he'd rather go up!












Brayden driving with Snoopy!




"Happy Birthday to you!"




He actually blew all three candles out in one breath all by himself! We had to relight the candles because he wanted to do it again.






*Gasp* Colors! Paints!










Kitty Cat!




Trying to figure out how the box opens.










He was very excited about the play doh!

All in all, it was a nice day. He seemed to have a lot of fun. He was actually in a pretty good mood all day. He finished up his evening with a Skype with his Pa Campbell. Brayden was showing him all his new toys and sat to chat for a bit. I was surprised he sat for the Skype as long as he did. He even told Pa Campbell "I lub you" and "bye bye".

The Aviary

I decided to take Brayden up to Pittsburgh to the Aviary one day a couple weeks ago. We had a ton of fun. Pittsburgh has a whole complex of educational places like this including a Children's Museum, a Conservatory, and a Zoo/Aquarium. It was a lovely Mommy/Baby day out. Here's some highlights. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of photos due to a too-slow shutter speed. (Silly me had my camera on aperture preferred with a wide open aperture!)




These little windows looked into the penguin enclosure. As you will see, this was Brayden's favorite part of the aviary!


This bird had caught a mouse! Later you'll see one of the mice family that had moved into a large flower pot in this enclosure.


These are Victorian Crown pigeons. They are the largest pigeons in the world! They were very cool.




These are Lories. They have encounters with the Lories a couple times a day. I didn't have any cash on me to feed them nectar, but it was neat to get up close to them nonetheless. I got one to perch on my finger, but Brayden was slightly less than excited by their close proximity.





The aforementioned mouse. He was quite adorable.



As part of an educational encounter in one of the enclosures, the guy had a volunteer hold a worm in the air and the bird swooped down and took it. In the next photo you'll see where the female was chirping like a chick and the male flew over and fed her the worm.






Brayden loved this sculpture! He kept saying "dinosaur!"


He really did love these windows.


There were glass domes in the penguin enclosure where you could stand up in them and your head would be in the middle of the penguin land. This little guy was right next to us!



He found a friend in the penguin area. They ran around together for half an hour! It was totally cute.




These tunnels led under the penguin enclosure and to the underwater windows.


Shooting through the large pane of glass to Brayden playing in one of the windows in the tunnel.















He had so much fun! This will definitely be an exhibit we will go back to. Eli wants to see it, too!