Alice’s Day

Today my baby turned seven. Seven! I’ve mentioned before that I take a picture of them on their birthdays so today started out with a trip to the portrait studio. Unlike a few years ago when she refused to smile, today’s session went great. She is such a cute kid. Since we live in a really small area I didn’t think about having to make an appointment at the studio and after a few minutes of talking her into it, the girl working there scheduled us for first thing today. I thought ahead for Jake and schedule his appointment while we were there. Alice picked the pictures we bought and made a quick list of who to send them to.

We walked around the mall, stopping to buy perfume for me (and scored a free gift – which I think I’ll send to a friend of mine) and giving the kids a ride on the carousel that is inside the mall. For some reason I thought it would be at least five bucks a kid (I think the only other carousel like this I’ve seen in San Francisco – so I was definitely expecting a high price) so when it was $1.75 each, I was pleasantly surprised. Other then my baby growing up, today was a first for Jake too. He rode the carousel by himself. Sure he’s almost five and very athletic and handles himself well, but Mom was reluctant to let go until today. He was inches above the ‘you have to be this tall’ sign so I let him go alone.

I need a new digital camera – though this picture looks pretty dang awesome!

And what a great time he had! With no Mom or Dad standing up next to him just in case. He did have a belt on so I felt better, though I didn’t notice that and it was the woman in charge who put it on him.

Alice looked alternately like she was having a great time and looking bored. She opted to sit in a chair, she sat facing backward – she had a view of Jake and the whole thing rocked so she had fun. She’s definitely the more cautious kid.

Slightly Bored

Hanging on because man this thing goes fast

Okay it’s cool

They loved the carousel and we definitely plan on doing it again. I was surprised at how busy it was considering the mall just opened within an hour of us being there.

The rule in our family is your birthday = you get to pick what we do, where we eat, what we eat, etc. We started the day with pictures and a carousel ride, moved on to shopping and the aquarium and ended with a movie. We did buy a few things at the craft store and grabbed something from the aquarium, but technically no gifts were given. We are doing experiences this year and Alice declared that today was “the best” so mission accomplished.