Birthday Boy

Stephen is the big SEVEN! His birthday was last week, and we had a party for him in the park, since the weather always allows for outdoor activities, and it worked better than our apartment. We invited the boys from his school class. We designed a pretty easy scavenger hunt, with picture clues leading to the next item. The guise was that a cake bandit had come and stolen the birthday cake, but left clues as to where to find it. Eventually, all the clues led to the trunk of our car! It was fun to watch the two teams race from one end of the park to the other and delight in being able to recognize and find the next clue. Stephen opted for chocolate cake, decorated with Scooby Doo. (Yes, a few of you are thinking this sounds an awful lot like last year's party. Same party plan, different city, different friends - hey, recycled ideas work!) We went to the party store to get Scooby Doo plates, but they didn't have any, so we ended up with a mixed theme of Scooby, other cute dogs, and camouflage. They actually make bouncy balls in camo - pretty cool to a bunch of first grade boys.





In other Stephen news....some of you remember for Halloween last year, Stephen was a loon. As in, the actual bird. The craft in his Big Backyard nature magazine was a loon costume, and Stephen really latched onto it. "THAT'S what I'm going to be for Halloween, Mom." It was July. I thought for sure he would forget by October. Nope. Good thing I kept that magazine, just in case. It wasn't hard to make - just a paper plate, some paint, and a few pieces of craft foam. Allen really delved in and made it happen last year. Top it off with Stephen learning the actual loon call and you've got one crazy night of trick-or-treating. (Thanks again to the Speichers for putting up with that!) So, this year, we thought, hey, no one here has seen this costume, or had the chance to be wowed by the loon call, so let's....RECYCLE this idea, too! Today at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, there was a costume contest. We thought it would be a great Saturday to spend at the park, and why not get out the loon and let him strut his stuff. Well, can we brag a little? Stephen won the GRAND PRIZE in the 7-12 age group - a safari caravan for four, which we'll promptly use when Grandma comes to visit in two weeks. It was his loon call that put the judges over the top. We hit the right crowd - a bunch of zookeepers couldn't help but be a little biased for a loon over Ariels and Darth Vaders.



Video of Stephen doing his loon call...