Happy 6th Birthday Ben! (week 323)

"What do you have to say to the birthday boy?"  This was how I greeted daddy when I woke-up Friday morning--the morning of my 6th birthday.  As with Christmas, this was the first year that I awareness enough to begin planning early and counting down the days until my birthday.  The big present of course was a new glass backboard for my basketball hoop...and of course, I wasn't disappointed.

On Friday, both Christopher and I had to go to school but we started the morning with pancakes and bacon.  When daddy got home from work, I got to open the big present and went absolutely nuts.  It was a Spaulding, plexi-glass, 44 inch backboard and rim, with red trim...just like I wanted.  For dinner, I chose Dominico's Pizza on Second Street.  We picked-up Great Grandma Betty--she has been to Dominico's many times over the years--and we had breadsticks, pizza, and cokes.  We also got to walk to Powell's candy store and pick out giant lollypops for later.

Saturday was Opening Day for East Long Beach Pony Baseball.  Our team is the Pirates this year and we all met to parade around the field with the other teams, give speeches, sing the National Anthem and throw out the first pitch.  There were probably 800-1,000 other kids in the outfield when they kicked-off the season.  After, Doug and Jackson came over to help daddy put-up the new backboard and rim.  It took them like 2 hours to get it together, but once up it was beautiful.  I spent the rest of the day shooting until by Cousin Eli and Grandma Paula came over for a sleep-over.

Cousin Eli had been at Disneyland all day with Grandma Paula as a birthday present from last year.  He came to stay with us Saturday night for a sleep over with me and Chris.  We played super heroes in the backyard and chased daddy--Dr. Octopus--and Grandma Paula with walkie talkies, foam noodles, and beach balls.  We had a great time eating popcorn and watching Rio before everyone fell fast asleep.

Sunday was all about getting ready for my joint birthday party with Nathan at Wardlow Park. Our theme this year was Sports Ninjas.  The pinata was so strong that no one could break it, but we had about 40 people over to the park with whiffle ball, soccer, basketball, badminton, nachos, hot dogs, snow cones, face painting, and cake.  We were exhausted by the end of the day...but I think our parents were even more tired out.