Birthday Celebrations...

The birthday bucket was in full force this weekend - complete with his favorite cereal (Lucky Charms), pop-tarts, gum and star wars fruit snacks. Although I thought Lucky Charms would be the first thing he ate for breakfast, he held out for his dad's pancakes. Which turned out to be a one-eared Mickey Mouse pancake, smothered in peanut butter topped with fruit snacks. Only on a birthday do you get a delight of that magnitude!



He opened presents in the afternoon - he asked for Legos, more Legos and money for Legos. But really how many Legos does any kid need? We have so many sets and pieces and although they are well loved and played with - we have more than enough. And yet every birthday/holiday he gets another set because that's really all he wants.


But this birthday we branched out just a bit and I think he was just as excited as I was. I suggested Steve's parents give him a Vex Robotic kit (made by the same company that does the Hex Bugs). I'd never seen one in action but it seemed to build on his love for legos. And although it's great for building - the instructions are awful. They should take a lesson from Lego. He got it put together, but there were a couple steps that I sat analyzing the directions picture and had to interpret what they meant. Still a great building toy.

The other new toy we introduced to him was the Snap Circuit Discovery Kit. It has a 5 star rating of almost 2000 reviews on Amazon. That's unheard of. I bought with confidence and I can tell already it's going to spark things in that little mind of his (and on his fingertips as he's already been shocked working with it!)

We read through all of the directions/warnings together and went through each piece and then he started going to work. There are two booklets that come with it describing how to create different projects. They aren't hard/complicated projects. The first couple included a simple switch that turns on a light or create a sound. But it helps a kid to see why something works. Why a light switch in their room turns on the light. Why does something create a sound? It's a great toy for the kids that tinker and discover and already he's had a great time playing with it.

Although it was difficult prying him away from his new toys - Steve took him to the ASU game that night with his brother and son. It would have been nice to see a win but instead they watched USC play a great game!



He came home late and went to bed a happy birthday boy. It's just a bummer he has to wait 365 days to do it again.