UP Birthday

So I found this half-written post of mine that I had started before we moved...
Rather than re-write it, I'm going to just post it as-is.
Simply because I can.
& also because I giggled a little when I read through it just now.

I've had so much going on with the move that I've really been slacking on my blog.

But that is a-o-kay with me...

I honestly don't want to have to stress about catching up on here in addition to the other million things that need to get done.

But I will still write a little here and there.

I will publish my posts once my thoughts are actually complete.

I am entitled to a break from packing every now and then right?

Good, because I am burnt out with this whole packing/moving thing & want it to be done already!

So we had a Cars party for Little Dudeman's birthday a while back

and the following weekend we had an UP themed birthday party for Hubby's 30th...

Ya know...

Since he's growing "Up".

I'm punny.

He really wanted to avoid his 30th birthday altogether, but I told him that it was inevitable.

Sooner or later he would have to face the fact that we all get older, and that it's not such a terrible thing.

It just allows for different phases of our life to happen.

For example, take Carl in the movie UP...

We get to watch him & Ellie grow old together,

and that's a beautiful thing.

We get to see how life can be an adventure,

and that we create new adventures throughout each phase of our life.

Hubby recently decided he wants to learn how to fly...

So for part of his birthday present,

I told him that he can start flying lessons after we move

so that he can get his pilot license.

What an awesome new adventure now that he's 30 right?

We had a busy, yet fun-filled weekend.
I spent all day Friday making 'balloon' cake pops
& filling up balloons with helium.

After work, he was greeted with this Spirit of Adventure balloon attached to a stick.
I forgot to take a picture of it flying solo,
but at least I remembered to take a picture at some point.

He saw the rest of them when he got into the kitchen...

You see, I had sent a facebook message to family & friends asking them to write messages on the balloons and then mail them to me.
I'd say I got a pretty good response (:

81 balloons.
Only 2 partial losses.
One flew away (to the ceiling).
One casualty while I was filling it with helium.
(which I laid next to the house so he could read the message)
We had pizza for dinner, then watched Up.

Saturday morning I gave him a Wilderness Explorer pin badge and told him,
"The wilderness must be explored! Caw, caw, RAWR!"
I informed him that we had some badges to earn...
I was going to make sashes & everything, but time got the better of me with the move.
Ah well.
First, we went to the park and had a picnic lunch in 110+ degree weather.
It. was. hot.
The kids wanted to play at the playground, so we spent quite a bit of time there.

We looked at the clouds and tried to make shapes out of them.
We didn't see any turtles, flying elephants, or babies,
but we did see some pretty cool clouds.
To be honest, I don't remember what shapes we saw.
I guess that's what I get for finishing this post almost 4 months after the party...

 After the park, we visited the Palm Springs Air Museum.
It was pretty cool since we had never been there before.

Hubby even got to try out a flight simulator!
Well, sorta...
They have a super advanced one that he wanted to try,
but they wouldn't let him since he doesn't have his pilots license yet.
Lame.
Instead they let him do a computer game version...

It was pretty similar to the flying app that he's been playing on his phone & the tablet.
Only the lady wouldn't let him do that by himself either...
She was constantly hovering & telling him to do this or that rather than let him just do it.
Her instructions made him stall the plane when he already knew what to do.
Silly lady.
Never underestimate my Hubby (;

The museum was getting ready to close
and we had seen just about everything that we could see,
so we loaded up the car to head to our next stop.

We were going to get ice cream cones,
sit on the corner,
 and call out red & blue cars...
But it was waaay too hot.
We decided to just go home and have ice cream there instead.

When we got home I put 3 balloon shaped toothpick candles into one of the balloon cake pops.
Then we sang Happy Birthday so that he could blow out the candles & make a wish...

Cake Pop Flavors:

Red - vanilla cake w/ pink lemonade frosting & red candy melts

Orange - chocolate cake w/ orange frosting & orange sherbet flavored candy melts

Yellow - vanilla cake w/ homemade fruit dip & yellow candy melts

Green - vanilla cake w/ key lime frosting & key lime flavored candy melts

Blue - chocolate cake w/ cream cheese frosting & blue candy melts

Purple - mystery flavors of cake & frosting (basically whatever was left) & red/blue candy melt mixture

After getting stuffed with cake pops & ice cream,
it was time to open presents.
The kids & I got him some UP themed gifts...

Clockwise:

With this baby, you'll NEVER get lost! - Certificate for Black Ops II map packs,

81 balloons with messages from family & friends,

Paradise Falls jar with approximately $65 dollars of change in it,
Caramellos - His favorite chocolate to lure snipes (we all know Kevin loves chocolate),
an Adventure Book with plenty of pictures & memories of his life thus far,
his Wilderness Explorer badge,
and of course,
an Ellie badge...
He earned it.

Happy {belated} birthday Justin!
You're the besterest!

xoxo