Belated birthday blowout!

Evan's request for his birthday was to go to dinner at the MAC and then play mini golf. We had dinner at the MAC, but eating out with a big group always seems to take longer than you think it will. When we got to the mini golf place around eight o' clock, we were devastated to find out that they were closing for the night. Evan was pretty bummed out, but took it like a trooper. The lady at the ticket counter felt bad for him so she gave him a coupon for a free game that he could use on a different day.

It only took us over a month to get back there, but yesterday we had Evan's fake birthday mini golf extravaganza! In our defense, this week has been the first week that it has actually started to warm up around here. Yesterday was a real summer day. It was gorgeous out. On a side note, don't neglect to check out Hailey's little purple skort set. She got to wear three brand new outfits yesterday - a dress to church, her bathing suit and this little number for golf. She has so many adorable warm weather clothes and this is the first chance she has had to wear any. Seriously, I am so in love with her summer wardrobe options I would change her four times a day if I could avoid the laundry!

Hailey actually got to "play" golf for the first time. In the past she has always been in the backpack on Trent's back while we play. They didn't charge us for her but they gave her a ball and a club. She did pretty well on the first hole and then dropped the club and the ball and just wanted to fill the ball cups with rocks. Or dangle her fingers in all the "waaaarrr" (water). Or just lay on the artificial turf and watch the "hazards" spin or flip. She was pretty much in the way the whole time.

The boys game of choice is "speed golf". They take turns hitting their balls near the cup and then just keep hitting them until they go in the hole. Each hole takes them a minute and a half at best. Then they move on to see what wacky, zany contraption the next hole has in store for them.

On the last hole our luck started to kick in. Eighteen is a straight shot down with a built up mound around the cup. It is a pain to get the ball up that mound and into the hole - I think I had a seven or so on that hole. Evan got a hole in one! His first hole in one! He was so excited.

His luck continued when he took his turn at the dynamite shack. The shack is what they use for ball retrieval at the end of the game. You have to aim for this little wooden "gully" just a tiny bit wider than the ball that leads into the shack. If you miss, the ball just rolls into the collection bin inside, if you make it in the gully - you blow up the dynamite shack. Evan hit his ball and missed. Then he hit Dad's ball and HE BLEW UP THE SHACK! In my whole life of playing that mini golf course, I have never done that. I don't think he knew what to think - he just kind of looked at it with a mixture of amazement and embarrassment. Then it was Spencer's turn. He hit his ball and missed. He hit my ball and missed. I could tell he was pretty bummed out. He is always so excited to try to blow that thing up and now that he saw that it could be done - by his little brother no less - he was so determined. We still had Hailey's ball so I told him he could hit hers. I told him to try to bounce it off the side a bit like Evan did because that is how he did it. Spencer bounced it off the side and the ball headed toward the gully - it sort of stopped in the middle right in front of the gully as we all stared in disbelief. It was seriously like it was happening in slow motion as that ball rolled toward and eventually into the gully. HE BLEW UP THE SHACK! He was so excited! Both boys won free rounds of mini golf. They were so stoked!

The funniest part was later that night as Spencer was re-telling the story to Grampa Dan he told him that as the ball slowed down it just kind of stopped and then Mom and Dad GASPED! Gasped! Seriously, when did he get so old?

The boys with their free passes. Can I just say how much I love Spencer's "Jim Halpert" hair? This is the hair I wanted him to have all year, but for some reason it won't lay like that when school is in session.

I never got to post anything about Evan's birthday because at the time of his birthday our computer was on the fritz. I love to try to make the invitations for my kid's parties. I love doing it and I think they are so much cuter than store bought. Not to mention - cheaper - since I have all the stuff and I might as well be using my scrapbook stuff for something...

I always make an extra invitation for their scrapbooks (cough, cough) but I usually don't ever "document" the thank you notes that I make. So here it is. I just sent them out last week - extremely belated. I wanted to try to include his five year old picture which I still have yet to get. I tried the other day, but Evan is so hard for me to photograph - he just doesn't have much love for my camera.

I thought they turned out pretty cute. And because I am totally shameless I have to post a photo of his dinosaur bone cake. I LOVED how this cake turned out. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine and their website is where I printed the template for the bones.

Happy 5th birthday Evan! I love you to all the planets and back again!