The Best Birthday Ever

And isn't that the way it should be? Birthdays are fun and special, days for doing things that one wouldn't normally do. And that's just what we did! Quinn had not only a birth day, but a birthday weekend.

On his birthday, I made him pancakes for breakfast. He was lucky that it was a Friday so that meant a half school day, plus it was the monthly free dress so no uniform. I picked the kids up at 12:30 PM and we headed to a birthday lunch with his best friend, Gabe and his mom and sister. It was Quinn's choice -- and he selected McDonalds' (no surprise). Liliana even brought a birthday cupcake cake (in the shape of a football...so cute) and we all had one after lunch. After lunch, we headed home to decorate Quinn's cake. The original idea for the cake was a football field (yes, he's pretty into football right now) but he changed his mind when we were shopping for the cake. He wanted a 'Gummy Bear City', complete with roads, Matchbox cars, candles as street lights (Grandma's idea) and of course gummy bears. It was his genesis as it always is, and I just execute his ideas. It came out pretty cute!After dinner, he opened a couple of presents from us (two books he has wanted) and he had already opened and built his gift from Keely (Lego Star Wars of course). Then we watched Star Wars Episode I. Yes, he's also WAY into Star Wars these days (one of the books was the Lego Star Wars Dictionary). As he was going to sleep, he declared it the best birthday ever but the fun was just about to begin.

Instead of having a birthday party, we decided to head up to Park City for an overnight extravaganza. We went to the Park City Mountain Resort and purchased day passes for their summer activities: the Alpine Coaster, Alpine Slide, rock climbing wall and bungy trampoline jumping. We had a blast and definitely got our money's worth...riding the coaster 3 times (4 for me and Quinn), the slide 3 times (4 for James and Keely), rock climbing 1-2 times each (except for James) and jumping (1 time for each Quinn and Keely). And we managed to sneak in some beer and appetizers at the restaurant right by the activities :) On the way down one time on the slide, Quinn shouted 'This is the best birthday ever!'.

We left PCMR when the activities closed (we were just about last ones down the coaster and slide) then checked into the hotel and headed to dinner. We ate at Main Street Pizza & Noodle. We've seen it but never eaten there, and it was pretty good. It was casual, laid back, and quick -- and the pizza was pretty good for Utah. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for swimming. We finally crashed about 10:30 PM. The next morning we headed to Einstein Bagels for breakfast then let the kids play at the Main Street Park.

For the drive home, we decided to go over Guardsman's Pass. The fall leaves were spectacular. We stopped at Silver Lake on the Brighton side and walked the boardwalk to enjoy the views and

hoped to see some moose but no luck.

We arrived home about 1 PM....having had the fullest 24 hours ever! We were all exhausted but we had so much fun, and it will definitely be a birthday to be remembered forever! Well, until next year...but not sure how we will top this one :)