Birthday Chiptole…. and Science!

In what has become an annual tradition… here is Ben enjoying his birthday Chipotle. ;)

The other two got into some sciencing today… mostly of the vinegar/baking soda/food coloring variety… we exploded a plastic bag, make popcorn kernels dance in water, and then mostly poured things for awhile. ;)

Birthday Sleepover Success!

Well, we survived our first foray into little boy sleepovers!

The kids had a blast. They played a ton of Wii, watched Pokemon movies, played laser tag, and ate a shameful amount of junk food. They say they were up until about 1:30, although they were pretty quiet after about 11. 

In an attempt to keep the little ones out of their hair (because they wanted to be RIGHT in the middle of it all), we set up a mini sleepover in Simon's room and hooked up a little tv to the x-box up there. They had their own popcorn and glowsticks. They were (mostly) content…. it took some convincing that their setup was as cool as Ben's. 

Ben's two little friends, Sujay and Tommy, are such nice kids.  I like them a lot! They've been over separately, but never together. It's a great little trio.  I fed them a pancake breakfast this morning and Tom just left to take them all home. They were still chattering about Pokemon.  

Now… to air out the junior frat house basement. LOL.   

Simon's Treasure Hunt Firepit Party....

My parents and Aunt Debbie did Simon's family birthday party this year. He asked for a firepit hotdog cookout and a treasure hunt. Ask and ye shall receive... As usual, they went allll out. The kids had the time of their lives and we are now the proud owners of a great many Lego people that were part of the treasure hunt clues. (they are very cute though!!) These pictures are in no particular order because Blogger makes it really annoying to move photos around once they are uploaded!!! But anyway....

The boys on the treasure hunt. Ben read the clues and Simon had to figure them out. We had a hard time getting Ben to NOT give him the answers though, or run up ahead. (sigh) Big know-it-all brothers! 

The centerpiece!

More treasure hunting... 

On their way to the slide for another clue... 

His present! The Lego City Forest Police Station that so desperately wanted to buy with his birthday money the day before but mean mommy wouldn't let him. :)

The happy birthday boy! 

Some of the treasure hunt clues... 

Lego brick candles!

Blowing out his Lego candles!

A clue in the mailbox awaits... 

More clues... 

The five of us... Simon looking a bit American Gothic, Jonathan looking at who knows what and Ben being Ben... 

Tada!

The little one... 

More clues... 

Lots of clues... 

The message on the present... 

Lego men flashlights! Aunt Debbie finds the coolest stuff! 

Hugs for Aunt Deb. 

Birthday boy


Aside from the fact that I am cake-decorating challenged, the foil stuck to the icing... sigh...


Cousins


The blood-related Graff family sings REALLY off-key...


D.C.

First stop -- Air and Space


Thought this was cool... all kinds of foreign currency in the donation box at the entrance


This exhibit is always a hit... must dig up the other picture we have of Ben playing with it when he was Simon's age


Really big version of Google earth


Planets


I call it "Firstborn at the Center of the Universe"


Hoards of people rallying for immigration reform.. this was kind of cool and interesting until they all filled up the Metro on the way home... ugh.


Washington Monument


American History museum... sadly, they aren't finished renovating it just yet and the coolest part of it, the popular culture section only has 12 items that they rotate on a regular basis. So sad. :(


Greensboro Lunch Counter exhibit -- they reenact the sit-in every day at 1p.m. Kinda cool!


I should have known the currency exhibit would a huge hit...


Their kids invention area pretty much kicks Baltimore Science Center's butt...



Always have to visit the ruby slippers...


Apollo Ohno's speed skates from the 2002 olympics (I added that because I thought they were from this Olympics just past and I actually said, "Didn't he JUST take these off?!")

Kermit's an old standby too... but I miss Oscar... :( He wasn't in the rotation...


More freakin' rallyers -- seriously got annoying after awhile -- although Tom used this as a lesson to Ben about free speech in America...


White House.. from a very far distance. I think Ben was a little disappointed by this.


Capitol Building -- also from a ridiculous distance. The rally people were just everywhere and you couldn't get close to any of the good monuments and whatnot.

Anyway, all in all, we had a good time. I think Ben enjoyed it, although he got a little tired toward the end. (as did I!) Would love to go back soon and do the spy museum and maybe Natural History...

:)

So ends sixth birthday parts I and II. Stay tuned for Part III on Wednesday! :)

Shoot! Score!

First, here's the video of Simon waking up to his birthday balloons... apparently, the balloons were just too tempting because no sooner did we hear him stirring, than we opened the door to find him out of bed. ;)


This gift is as much of a hit as the globe was on Ben's birthday. He has been playing NONSTOP today, except for when we had to go take Ben to school and pick him up. We also stopped by Lakeshore to play and read stories, which he loved, but was happy to leave without protest when I mentioned we could go home and play with the basketball hoop. ;)

Here he is seeing it for the first time! Ben of course, immediately got to work on trying to convince him to hand over the ball or switch balls with him. (so excuse my obvious annoyance)





For the record, this basketball hoop, while wonderfully sturdy and well made, is WAYYYYYYY bigger than it looked in the picture on Amazon. Holy heck. NO idea where we are going to keep it. We couldn't even get it into his room for the traditional morning birthday surprise! Ah well, I guess it just means lots more stuff is going in the attic!! :P

(sigh)