After Abby’s ballet class on Saturday, at which they handed out their recital costumes, we all went on a little outing for Abby’s birthday.
The rain killed our idea to go to the zoo, since we didn’t want to be outside in the rain. Instead, we offered Abby the choice of several places to go - The Aquarium, The Franklin Institute, The Please Touch Museum. In the end, she chose the Oasis Family Fun Center.
We’ve been there a couple of times before, which I have written about. Both she and Riley seem to like it enough to make it memorable. This adventure, though, the toddler area was partially closed off. Perhaps there was a roof leak or something?
Abby and Riley crawled around in thetunnels and slides for an hour or so. Berta and I followed Riley around to keep the big kids from trampling him. Near the end of our visit, he became interested in a little red-headed girl, and started doing things to “impress” her, like pressing his face against the playground netting and smooshing up his nose in a funny way. She was not impressed, turning her head away in an exasperated expression. Riley didn’t give up, though, and eventually she resisted going off with her parents to play on the playground in lieu of hanging out with Riley. Yeah, he’s a cutie.
We hardly saw Abby. She spent all of her time up in the tubes and sliding down the slides. I had to chase her through the thing to get her to come out when we were ready to go. That was exhausting.
Sunday we had the actual Birthday party. Abby insisted on chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Berta had tried to make a cake on Saturday night, but there were some issues.
Our oven has been acting up, beeping oddly sometimes when things are cooking. The error code on the display indicates some problem with the temperature sensor. Well, I think the over has finally had it, since after the cake had “baked” for the required time, they were still quite liquidy when Berta took them out. In fact, the whole oven wasn’t any warmer than a hot summer day.
So I bought a cake from Wegmans. It was pretty good, with chocolate shavings on the top and sides. Abby actually ate some of the cake part, which is unusual. Will came over from next door to have cake, but he only ate ice cream, which was also unusual. I was told that Abby was going to forego cake to play outside with Will until someone suggested inviting Will for cake. This is a disturbing happenstance.
Abby got a few good gifts. Mom and Nana got her art supplies and this flying, winged doll that turns out is a tad hard for her to operate. Berta and I got her some dress-up stuff, a Trouble board game, this Play-Doh guy whose hair you cut off, and some more Kid K’Nex.
There were pink balloons all over the dining room, and a giant butterfly shaped mylar balloon, too. I think Berta got an extra pack of pink baloons, and we filled them with helium from one of those small retail tanks. I’m telling you, it’s just not enough. You can barely fill 30 balloons and still have enough helium left over to talk like a mouse on crack. Next birthday, it’s pro helium tank all the way. I might even learn how to tie balloon animals.
I suppose that’s about all of the birthday festivities. Berta’s family all called after 9pm to give Abby their good wishes. Why they waited until so late on a Sunday to call (Should Abby have even been up this late? Probably not.) I can’t say. Riley was already asleep in bed. It’s a good thing he sleeps pretty well.
Today, Abby takes cupcakes in for her classmates. I bought those cupcakes at the same time I bought the cake. They looked tastier than the cake, if you ask me. I would hope there are some left over, but who wants cupcakes that were left over from a classroom of 4- and 5-year olds? Half of them are bound to have their icing licked off, and who knows how many will have finger prints.
In all, I think Abby did pretty well for turning 5. She’s going to be tall enough this year for the big kid’s rollercoasters at Hershey, so we’re both anxious to get out there and try them.
