Happy Birthday Monkeyshines

(Just a quick note: these images are from my new camera - courtesy of Jon & Allison - but there will be more images uploaded for this and the previous Monkeyshines post, from the last of the disposable cameras - check back in a couple of days:)

Indian summer continued here in Brooklyn, thus our two favorite little people had an absolutely gorgeous weekend to spend with Daddy. As an added bonus, this past weekend fell between Zachy and Miranda's birthdays, so Daddy cut a couple of corners and combined them into a weekend long celebration.

Our adventures began rather sedately on Friday night with the usual mad dash for the toys and the usual Thomas the Tank Engine film festival hosted by Zach. Zach went down at around the usual time (about 9:30), however, Miranda had apparently had one of her patented late afternoon power naps, so she was up until 11:30 (ouch!).

Saturday, dawned bright, clear and 20 degrees above normal, so we broke fast and headed out to the Sensory Gym. Miranda and I made our usual rounds and stopped at a gumball machine to buy beautiful jewelry and a bright pink superball. We visited our friends at the pet store and collected Zachy at noon.

On Saturday afternoon we went home to change, then went out to the park for some exercise and were amazed to see the ice cream truck doing a landslide business on the 20th of October (global warming anyone?). After all the running around it was nice to have some lunch and chill out, after which we had our happy birthday party. Daddy put some candles in cupcakes, which Zachy couldn't eat and turned out to be kind of terrible tasting so we threw them out after the candle-blowing ceremony was completed.

The "happy birthday presents" on the other hand were a big hit! Zachy got a bunch of Thomas the train track and accessories. Daddy discovered that the Ikea version is exactly the same gauge track as the official Thomas track and is only a fraction of the price - thus Zachy scored big time. Zachy also got 3 wonderful books from the Childers. Miranda got Polly Pocket everything - dolls, shoes, a Polly Pocket convertible car, etc. She is very into toys that have a thousand tiny little parts. She also got a beautiful princess Barbie from the Childers. Both children recieved thoughtful birthday cards from the family. Daddy suspects that the birthday bonanza will continue, with the impending visit of Grandpa Monty and Grandma Fredi - stay tuned for further developments.

Even with new toys to play with, we couldn't resist going outside to join in the soccer game that evolved in the front lawn of Daddy's house so we postponed our baths and kicked a ball around for an hour or so before coming back inside for our evening. Daddy stunned and amazed the monkeys by demonstrating how to carve our big pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern, which turned out pretty good - and not too scary. The only problem was that Miranda was still in birthday mode, so every time Daddy lit the candle in the pumpkin to light it up, she blew it out and made a wish - we'll work on that.

Mercifully, both kids were pretty exhausted after their big days and went to bed on the early side and slept late. Sunday was pretty typical with another trip to another park and lots of nice cuddle time. As always the weekend seemed to be over almost before it started and we set off past the school, under the weeping willow, over the bumpity bumps, up the hill, past the number two building, and past the library to Mommy's house, where we said a fond farewell until our next installment of Monkeyshines.