Happy Birthday, Oob!

Oob is 4! Can you believe it?


I mean he was just: and now he really is big feet tall!





He had a great day!

Not quite the day we had planned, but a great day nonetheless. We had planned to go to the Zoo. In fact, we did go to the zoo, we just didn't get out of the car...

Let me back up a bit. First of all, we went to Mass for Oob's birthday. That was pretty much the only thing that went as planned. We came back and I baked the cake. I had asked if he wanted chocolate, strawberry, spice or carrot so, of course, he picked peanut butter.

I made the cake and then started packing a lunch. Sometime while I was doing that, Oob emptied half a container of fish food into the 5 gallon tank in a misguided attempt to feed 5 tetras and a Betta.

The fish swam about in the pink water, looking like like survivors of some bizarre nuclear tragedy with an occasional flake of fall out drifting down from the top of the tank. It didn't smell too good.

It took 40 minutes to clean up the tank, so by simple arithmetic, we were ... 40 minutes late leaving for the zoo and therefore arrived midway between the last parking lot closing and the parking lot attendants realizing all the lots were full. Oops.

We decided to go playground hopping instead. This was the first time it's ever taken me an hour and half drive to get to a local playground, but, guess what? Everyone was happy! The birthday boy loved it! We alternated playgrounds and home for popcorn and presents the rest of the day.

I think a few kids ago, I wouldn't have seen that a four year old can be just as happy doing free silly things close to home as the Big Plan, and I would have been unhappy at the "wasted effort." As was, I could just let it go and we all could be happy.

Happy birthday, Oob!