Celebrating Five!!

The celebration started yesterday when I joined Clara for lunch in her classroom. I brought cupcakes to share with her class as well as a big Cinderella balloon. Of course the cupcakes were a big hit as was the balloon. One of the boys asked, "Who's the blue girl?" And then, "Who's her boyfriend?" (Cinderella and Prince Charming) He must not have any sisters. Her classmates were so sweet and each wished her a happy birthday several times.

I felt a little bad leaving her teacher with a room full of sugared up kids right before naptime and a floor full of cupcake crumbs. I tried to get out of there as quickly as possible so she could regain control. They all loooove Robert and had a hard time letting us leave. And Clara would not stop with the hugging.

I took this picture when we got home since I didn't get any with the balloon at school. It's Cinderella in her carriage. I love the one sock up, one sock down look that's all the rage in preschool.

Chris stopped by the store on the way home from work and got a string of snowflake Christmas lights. He hung them up in her window so that she would be surprised when she went upstairs to get ready for bed. When she saw them she exclaimed, "I love them!" And she got to open one present early. Bia got her several outfits, so she got to pick one to wear on her birthday.

I went into Clara's room this morning as she was just starting to wake up. I told her "Happy Birthday!" and she just pulled her covers up over her head. From under her covers she says, "Every time someone says 'birthday' I can't stop smiling!"

Chris took the day off since he has some vacation days to burn and we got bundled up nice and warm. It was pretty chilly when we left the house but the weather report said it would warm up to 65 so we didn't dress too warmly. Yeah, it never got above 53 and it was cloudy and breezy. We were quite cold all day.

We started the day out with a stop at the donut shop for a pink sprinkled donut and then headed downtown for Clara's birthday surprise. We were going to ride a city bus since she's been wanting to ride a bus lately, but it seemed quite complicated to us so we rode the train instead and she was just as happy with that. We just parked at the park and ride and rode it up to the zoo.

She loved it and other than almost getting separated as we were getting off, it was fun. Man, those doors don't wait for no one! In fact, there was a couple that didn't make it off in time at their stop. She had some obvious health problems and was really slow and almost fell several times trying to get to the door. Then when the train took off again, she almost fell because she was standing at that point.

We enjoyed a special treat today because the zoo is opening a new section this weekend called the African Forest and today was one of the preview days available only to zoo members. Here's a sneak peek for you.

This is the chimp exhibit which is the highlight of the African Forest. The zoo has been without chimps for some time now I believe so they're new to the zoo. The exhibit was quite large with indoor and outdoor viewing areas and even some of those binocular machine things for long distance viewing. You'll notice one thing is missing from this picture though. Yep, no chimps. They were too cold I guess and we only caught a glimpse of them.

Clara didn't want to go near the rhino until we wheeled her baby brother over and he started touching them. I love positive peer pressure.

This guy was chowing down on a plant outside of the exhibit. The new giraffe exhibit is much improved over their old one. You're able to get really close to them now and although it wasn't available today, you will be able to purchase food to feed them by hand. There's a cafe right next to the exhibit and the outdoor tables are just feet away from the exhibit so you can watch while you eat.

The highlight of the zoo was the carousel ride. When she walked up to pay, there were two older gentlemen working there. She told them it was her birthday and one of them said, "Me too! And my identical twin brother." There was no one else in line, so we talked a little bit. He asked her name and then made a big fuss over her before we got on. Then before starting the ride, he got on the loudspeaker and went on and on about a special girl who was turning 5 today and then said "Happy Birthday Clara!" It was soooo sweet of him to do that and she was just beaming. I wish I had known he was going to do it because I would love to have gotten it on video. When she got off, she went and gave him a big hug. She's riding a manatee I believe. She would've ridden the giraffe but it doesn't move up and down, so the animal next to the giraffe must be the next best thing.

After the zoo, we went to ride the train through the park. The train station is right next to the zoo. We were cold and tired by this point, so we had decided we would get off early at the stop that was right next to our metrorail stop so that we wouldn't have to walk the 1/2 mile or so back. We asked two employees if the train would stop there and were told yes. Well, he never so much as slowed down through all three stops, so we still got to walk all the way back in the cold. We were all ready to get to the car and get all warmed up. Here's my favorite picture from the day. This was while waiting for the park train.

Robert slept the whole ride home and I was able to get him down once we got home too. He took a loooong nap and woke around 5:30. Chris went and got some balloons and cupcakes and dropped them off at the chinese food place near our house that is Clara's favorite restaurant and we surprised her with dinner there. I was so sad that Jenny, the owner, wasn't there. Clara loves her and Jenny is always giving Clara handfuls of fortune cookies and candy. Our waitress brought out the cupcakes and had the whole restaurant sing Happy Birthday.

Clara got to open her presents when we got home and ended up going to bed a little late with all of the birthday excitement, but I'm sure she's drifted off into dreamland by now. And what wonderful dreams she'll have.