Our doubles just moved from Utah to Florida. Chicago was a little out of the way, so we decided to do as the movie/musical suggests and meet them in St. Louis! Last Friday we drove down as Brittany and Luke made their way from Provo to Denver to St. Louis. We pulled into town just an hour before they did, so it worked out perfectly.
The kids were pretty excited to find their aunt and uncle in the adjoining hotel room the next morning!
Our trip happened to fall right on Wesley's birthday too, so he woke up to discover a nice little pile of presents -- wrapped in super hero paper! We also have a tradition that the kids wake up with balloons all over their room. Luckily I remembered to pack the balloons!
Wesley was pretty thrilled to open his "mixture animal" as he calls it. He kind of went ballistic and started running around the room attacking things!
We finally calmed him down enough to finish opening presents.
After presents, we got ready and headed to the City Museum. It's a pretty cool place for almost any age. There are countless tunnels and climbing structures to explore and see where they take you.
Having Brittany and Luke with us made it even better!
I couldn't believe when I saw Aaron head into this one with our two littlest! They were pretty tough. And I had quite the adventure trying to get to them. I'll have to ask Britt for her picture of that!
Birthday boy!
The giant ball pit was a huge hit.
When cousin Lynette lost a shoe I worried we'd never see it again!! Somehow she found it!
The doubles! It is still so crazy to me that 2 brothers married 2 sisters. But I LOVE it!
The train was a huge hit -- especially for my train boy Dillon.
And this moment was pretty sweet :)
Just so fun to be with Brittany and Luke!
After the museum, we found some lunch and then left the boys with Britt and Luke at cousin Janelle's house. Aaron, Caleb, and I headed to the airport. Meanwhile, Dillon and Wesley got to go to a farm. How awesome for them to have a little double date with their aunt and uncle! They even got to ride on a camel! And apparently when the staff found out it was Wesley's birthday, everyone in line yelled "Happy Birthday" to our boy! Thanks B and L for totally making his day! We love you!!!
Quick thoughts on my birthday boy: Wesley is such a fun kid! I love that he gets so into character so fast! He's full of energy and just fun. His smile absolutely melts me and I LOVE his laugh! He's getting into super heroes, which is a new thing for us. He also loves pirates and strange animals. He loves asking his dad to draw an animal that is part bird/lion/horse, etc. Then he names it and pretends to be that character for the rest of the day. When he is in character, he won't answer to his name, you've got to get his identity right!
Speaking of names, we've always had the weirdest combination of nicknames for Wesley. He's learned to answer to whatever we say -- Widdle, Squeaker Squawk, Squiddle, Wee Haw, Widdley Squoh. We also like to call him Captain Bed Head. He has the best hairdo every morning! Poor kid. He'll just go with it though -- lets us tease him a little :)
We recently took off his training wheels. The poor boy has taken some pretty good falls but he gets back up and tries again. He's a tough kid. He's got all his letters down and is starting to sound words -- I can't believe he's going to start kindergarten! I'll be sad to have less time with him. Especially because he is so good with his little brother, Caleb. If I can't understand what Caleb is saying, Welsey can usually get it right. And he'll play with him so I can clean or cook. He talks really positively with Caleb and keeps him entertained -- not an easy thing to do. Wesley still naps for me too!
He loves the scripture stories! Nephi and Ammon are among his greatest heroes!
I just love our little Wesley! I'm tearing up just thinking about him. Happy 5th Birthday Widdle! I LOVE YOU!!
