Labor Day Weekend

We went to Space Aliens for lunch on Eden's birthday. It was supposed to be a lunch with her friends but being a long holiday weekend, the last of summer, it was no surprise when all her friends were lake bound and couldn't come. We rescheduled for a couple weeks out and went to celebrate anyway - just us.

We had fun, eating greasy food, playing games and winning tickets. We go for the kids, but secretly we have just as much fun. Really, we are just like kids except we weigh more. Some of the fondest memories from my childhood were the special times when my parents would take me to Chuck E. Cheese's - which is a lot like Space Aliens - you can play games and win tickets. It probably wasn't my parents' idea of the best day ever, but they knew I had fun there. They did it for me. And so I do it for my kids too. They love it.

Later in the afternoon, our friends the Lees dropped by with their 3 kids. And eventually Gram showed up too. Eden said she had the best birthday ever. She says that every year. I guess that means I pretty much rock at making my kids' birthdays fun ;)

These next two are Eden opening her present from us.

She wanted a Fijit Friend so bad. We got her one. And I knew if I wrapped it up, she would know what it was right away simply by the size and shape of the package. So I wrapped up the gift receipt from Toys R Us instead. She was trying to guess what was in this box that weighed next to nothing. After looking at the receipt, she still didn't get it until I pointed out the word "figit".

One happy girl!

That night I was exhausted. I ended up getting sick in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. I don't know if it was the combination of excitment, bad food, no sleep lately or what. But I felt fine the next day.

On Labor Day (Monday) we met family at Maplewood State Park in Minnesota for a picnic. The weather turned out to be a little windy and chilly but it was still beautiful in the sun. That's what they make sweatshirts for, right?

It was the perfect long weekend. The last holiday of summer. A final goodbye to those hot lazy days. It's always sad to pack up and head home.