So, Oliver has picked up the sing song-y "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo" thing...from school, I'm sure...but he doesn't use it right, so it's totally awesome! We get "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo, I found your phoooonne" or my favorite thus far "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo, I meeda go poo poo".
Three. Is. Greatness.
Oliver just had a birthday. He's three. If you ask him how old he is he'll tell you, in good '0l April Fool's Day style, that he's four. We didn't prompt him to do that, he really thinks he's four. We're working on it.
We wrestled with what to do for his birthday. Do we find some great place, like Jump Zone or Boingo Bounce, to invite all his little preschool friends or do we have them all over or go to a park.....basically, do we make our afternoon miserable paying for a headache that would be fun for the kids, but won't be remembered by anyone who will think of it fondly. It would probably be one of those "What on Earth were we thinking?!" memories.
When Ben turned three, we took him to the Tulsa Zoo. We decided, with little hesitation, to make that a three year old birthday tradition. Granted, the tradition started with Ben and stops with Oliver, but it's a tradition none the less.
We were immediately greeted by our guide, Sir Ladybug. This kind critter accompanied us all the way to the gate.
The zoo charges admission, of course. Nothing drastic, very reasonable. But let me just tell you how the zoo feeds the animals and pays the bills.
Sunscreen.
As soon as we stepped out of the car, I realized that we left our sunscreen at home. I HAD to get some for "the fairest of them all". Fine, first stop: gift shop.
For a no name, piece of crap can of spray sunscreen...$13.99. Shall I put that in perspective? After tax, I paid more than half of the admission price for a shady (pun kind of intened) can of sunscreen. I'm over it, won't make that mistake again.
On to the fun.
Ollie was crazy cool in his Wayfarers....thank you VERY MUCH Dr. Mertins!
Angry Birds. Ha!
ALL DAY LONG, Oliver asked to ride the train. I think he wouldn't have cared at all if we didn't even see one animal as long as we rode the train. It was a little loud in the tunnel,but Oliver LOVED it!
It was perfectly perfect outside and a really great time was had by all....
....especially the birthday boy.
The Esty boys aren't the only things growing around our house. Yes, we have planted our garden! Wahooo!!
Ben and Oliver were great help.
They planted.
Oliver did some victory laps.
They watered everything in.
And then Wade watered them in.
Can't wait to watch our garden grow!!!
When we were trying to figure out what kind of birthday party Ben wanted, he commented about how it seems like it's been the longest year ever. I remember that feeling, you probably do, too. How time seemed to crawl in between Christmas and birthdays.
I'm gonna go on and say that we made the wait worth it.
Ben had a skating party!!
I haven't been skating since the mid 80's at Thunderbird Roller Rink in Plano...seriously.
I gottat tell ya, it smelled the same, it looked the same, there was a snack bar and a disco ball....I don't remember it being so loud, though. Hmmmm.
Anyway, it was great!
Ben and his buds seemed to have a pretty good time, too. There were many spills, but only on the skating floor. There were presents, candy, wicked cool cupcakes. We had it all.
Below is my favorite picture. It might not look like anything special, but I can't tell you how many times I have seen this exact scene. I've known these guys since they were Kindergarteners and have seen them gather just like this for years. Good stuff!
Oliver even got to try skating. They had skates for the wee ones that fit over their little shoes. We knew that it was going to either be super awesome or an epic fail. HE LOVED IT!!!! 
That's enough pics for him! Let's GO!
I'm not sure that I have ever seen Oliver have that much fun. Really. We were going around the rink, I was holding his little hand, and he said, "I so happy." Melted my soul...in a good way.
Oliver asked morning and evening for the following 3-4 days, if we could go skating. That is not an exaggeration. Bless him, he asked every way his big 'ol 2 1/2 yr old brain could come up with, too.
"You wan go skating?"
"We go skating?"
"I like skating. You like skating?"
"We GO skating?"
"We go SKATING?"
"WE GO SKATING!"
This party was big fun for everyone. Ben and his friends skated. The parents of Ben and his friends skated. The people at the roller rink took care of all the details so that all you had to worry about was making it around the skate floor and back to the table for some cupcakes without falling. Not bad. 
I guess when you hit "The Big Time", a.k.a. 4th grade, it's just no big deal. No sweat. Same 'ol same 'ol.
You get up, put on your shorts and t-shirt, grab your perfectly worn in backpack ("NO WAY" was the response I got when I asked if it was time for a new backpack) and walk through the doors of the school like you own the place.
Gone are the days of ripping the tag off the brand new crinkly backpack the night before school. Gone are the days of checking your bag of school supplies 3 and 4 times just to daydream about what kind of things you will be doing with them. And what happened to the anxiety over that first morning in the classroom with your brand new teacher?
Maybe he just felt a calm cool about where he stands in the ranks of the elementary school.
See, this year, the 4th graders are in the 5th grade pod. The 4th graders are the ones with the lockers. This year, the 4th graders like Ben are the top of the elementary food chain.
Ben goes to a school that has both an elementary and a middle school. His school is part of a pilot program that has moved the 5th graders to the middle school side.
What this all means for Ben is that now his is elementary royalty...with a locker!!
He's already playing it pretty cool. When I asked him: how his first day was, does he like his teacher, is it awesome to be in the 5th grade pod and have a locker, the response I got to ALL questions was something like, "meh".
I suddently had to fight back my visual of Ben walking down the hall with his leather jacketed T-Birds in tow, combing back his slick hair to keep his duck tail in check.
He shouldn't play it too cool at home, though, because I have this on him...
Tell ya what...I feel bad for the poor 4th graders last year who have waited since Kindergarten to be a big 'ol 5th grader and are now sitting at the bottom of the middle school totem pole just waiting to be scalped. ouch
Welcome to Belize! White sands, crystal blue water, schools of fish tickling your legs as they scoot by. The beautiful coral, the cocktails on the beach. The sunsets, oh the sunsets...amazing.
Ok, we're not in Belize, we're at.....
....the Prairie Grove Aquatic Park. Whah whah whaaaaaaah.
It doesn't sound as good as Belize...but it IS fun.
They have corndogs!
And water slides!! I'm not talking about those sad slides we had when I was growing up, either. You remember, they had about 7 steps on the ladder and spit a tiny stream of water on half the slide so that you would burn off one thigh and buttock on your way down, and then bang your heel on the side of the pool once you hit the water b/c it was so close to the side of the pool.
No, these slides are the real deal and Ben LOVED them! (I enjoyed them, too.)
So, we didn't escape to some tropical getaway, but we did escape the house and beat the heat. That's close to the same thing, right?
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