Birthday Party time

Mom got up with Logan after doing an amazing job getting things ready
for his Birthday party the night before, to include decorating the house
with streamers and banners and balloons! At 7:10 AM we all sat around
the coffee table and let Logan open some of his birthday presents from
Mom, Dad, and other relatives. A Bertie Bus from the Thomas the Tank
Engine cast of characters was a good hit as it was battery operated and
could move along his train tracks without the need for manual labor. He
also got a lion puppet, money, mini-cars (consisting of a mini truck,
motorbike, helicopter and ambulance). We then ate a quick bite of fresh
pumpkin muffins. After Mom cut up fruit for a fruit salad at the party
later on, we hustled into both our party-packed cars to the Telegraph
Station to set up for the party at 9 AM. Mom set up the arts & crafts
area for painting rocks and making 'contact paper sprinkle sticker
posters'. The kids, now to include others, were taken out to explore
for a special magic rock for which they could paint upon. Painting fun
was had by all, to include Bradon, Nicholas, Holly, Alice, and Maia.
After painting, they pushed the trucks and toy lawn mowers up and down
the nearby hill over and over... until it was time to sing 'Happy
Birthday' as Logan and others 'kind of' blew out the one candle (had a
numeric 2 on it) that rested upon the "Ambulance" and "Bull Dozer"
chocolate cake (It was a 'Bob the Builder' themed party). After eating
cake and drinking milk, goody bags were passed around to all the kids.
Logan loved one cheap item in the bag, a paddle ball that we adults all
grew up with... you know, the paddle ball that no one is good at hitting
that has an elastic string attached and stretches back-and-forth to
enable you to hit the ball with the paddle again and again. Well, Logan
loved it, and was so much into it with such force and excitement that by
hitting the ball so hard it took him only a few minutes to cause the
elastic string to break from over-usage. He also successfully popped a
couple balloons on the grass. It was at that point that we attempted to
get Logan to open some of his birthday gifts, but Logan loved his paddle
ball so much it was nearly impossible to tear him away!
Logan got some beautiful birthday cards, especially from Melissa and
Bradon, of a train with Logan's picture in one of the train's windows.
He got an ABC's Dr. Seuss book, a Little Tyke's Little Handiworker
workbench, a Formula 1 fast race car powered on batteries (Mom cut
herself semi-badly trying to get it out of the packaging). Logan also
got a toy freight truck, a geodesic expandable magic ball, a couple
Berenstein Bear's books of the Honey Hunt and Off to the Moon, an "I can
spell" book, a drum, a click-clacker, a Thomas the tank engine button, a
Triceratops dinosaur wood puzzle, among so many things! And that was
just the gifts from his friends at the party!
After the party, we went home and had a nice seafood salad lunch... and
then crashed hard into a nap (pretty much all of us after Mom cleaned up
and relaxed a bit first, naughty Mom) About 1.5 hours later we woke
up with great difficulty and made our way to a coworker's house (Bill
and Louise Gadd), for a farewell party for another family (Mitch and
Michelle Petree) who have also lived in Alice Springs around the same
amount of time as we have (8 years). Both families have a daughter that
is close to the same age as Logan, albeit the Gadd's daughter is about
twice as tall as Logan (and yet only about 4-6 months older). Logan
played around the sandpit and their huge toy house (with a two-way
working phone system in the toy house). We had great food, great tour
of their beautiful house, and had a great time with the company there.
Logan and some other kids ate at one point around a small kid's picnic
table. He had a fruit plate to eat while some of the other kids had
bowls full of gummi bears to eat. Needless to say it took Logan three
seconds to figure out that he wanted the gummi bears more than the fruit
(in Australia gummi bears are called 'lollies'). There was also
another little girl, Mariah, who is pretty much allergic to everything
in existence... from foods to cats to dust, etc.. she can eat only two
things without a problem, lettuce and something else (can't remember
what the other thing was). So poor Mariah, who is only about 1-2 years
older than Logan, sat at the picnic table with them eating a bowl full
of lettuce.
Just before leaving, Louise Gadd gave us heaps of food to take home
(naughty freeloading us!) Mom laughed so hard in embarrassment from
taking the food that she nearly peed in her pants.
That night Logan played more with his new toys, including our letting
him open one or two more. Mom and Dad think he became overexcited
because Dad desperately tried to get Logan down to bed, but as Dad
writes it is 8:15 PM and he can still hear Logan wide awake in his bedroom.