Max's 8th Birthday

It was a hot one out there yesterday (yes, actually it really was yesterday, Oct. 6 -- this blog post is actually on time) as we had a party to celebrate Max's 8th birthday (Tues., Oct. 2) with some of his friends at the Lake Ridge Nursery Pumpkin Patch. Hot -- 90 degrees or more -- with high humidity.

The birthday boy

But the boys spent well over two hours running around and playing on the various bounces, swings, slides, rides and other paraphenalia, like motorized toilets (more on that below). It's quite the pumpkin fest:

William at the wheel of the fire engine

Myles keeping cool, poses with pumpkins

One of the spooky moon bounces

Max comes bounding out of the Batman slide

Jackson, one of the friends who came

Jackson's brother, Alex

William -- king of the castle

Max pulling in after riding one of the toilets, believe it or not, around the hay bales ... guess you have to live here to understand that!

Told you it was hot ...

"Mr. Lake Ridge Nursery" himself

We gathered for the celebratorial cutting of the cake and opening of presents:

Happy Birthday, Max!

Prince William County Fair

It was a hot one the day we went to the Prince William County Fair. But the boys were looking for fun.

There were a ton of rides, and it helped to cool the boys off. I just couldn't help myself shooting photos of the boys on the roller coaster:

It was just too colorful to pass up.

Another ride the boys enjoyed was a tilt-a-whirl type ride. You can tell they were enjoying it, even tho they looked like they might be getting a little dizzy.

The boys had a bunch of fun. We'll be back next year to see more of what's happening there.

William's 5th Birthday

This is the first of many overdue blog/photo posts ... more to come over the next days and week.

We travelled back from the Warm Springs/Hot Springs area of Virginia from our vacation (more to come on that beautiful area in another post) to get back to Woodbridge just in time to grab William's birthday stuff and head over to Chuck-e-Cheese! Yea! :-)

William was ready for the party, all right, even after a nearly four-hour car ride. All his "buds" were there, including Nathan, one of our family's long-time friends. We've known Nathan since he was born, just a few months after Max. He's become a buddy of all the boys.

Here's most of the rest of the gang:

And the birthday boy with his cake:

No, William's not smoking a meershaum pipe -- that's his special Chuck-e-Cheese cup and straw:

And -- the big moment: William gets a hug from Chuck-e-Cheese himself!

Happy 5th William!