n.i.n.e.

Yesterday my boy turned NINE! Can you believe it? For his birthday I told him we could do whatever he wanted to do. There was one place, and one place only that he wanted to go.... The Lego Store.

We got there not long after it opened. My parents had reserved a kit from his list and had it waiting for him at the counter. It was one of the two kits that he really, really wanted. He was so excited that they had gotten him the Power Miners Crystal Sweeper.

Now it was time to decide what to spend his birthday money on....
He knew exactly what he wanted and went straight for it....
... the Lego City Passenger Train (and some extra track). According to the store, they hadn't had this kit in the store in about a year... it had just shown up in a shipment the day before. Talk about good timing!

The kids also filled a cup in the pick-a-brick section....
... I love pick-a-brick for some reason. :-)

After that, Alex wanted to go home and build but I talked him into going to lunch first...
... we ate at Ed Debevic's! I hadn't been there in YEARS and thought the kids would enjoy it.

Here's Alex with the regular menu...
... he was officially too old for the kids' menu (8 and under).

Since it was Alex's birthday, our normal rules were out the window and the kids ordered very special drinks.

Here's Alex and his Root Beer Float....
And Clara with her Strawberry Ice Cream Soda...
Our waiter constructed this special "birthday brat" hat for Alex to wear...
Hmmm.... I wonder what Clara thinks of it?
After lunch (which Alex didn't eat since he inhaled his Root Beer Float before it came), our waiter sang an atypical version of "Happy Birthday" (Happy Birthday to you, 1, 2, 3... you just wanted something free) and presented him with a "world's smallest sundae"...

Given that he was already maxed out on ice cream, I got to have a scoop or two! :-)

I made them pose for one last photo before we headed home...
Once we were home, Alex immediately started to build... and he continued to build until we had to leave for book club. I had thought that he might just want to stay home and build, but he really wanted to go to book club. We brought snacks since it was his birthday. The book was set in Mexico (well... San Diego during the time of the war with the US) so we just grabbed some chips and salsa and a sweet treat as well.

From there it was time for Clara's swim class. Since it was the first day of the session, Alex and I just sat in there and watched. She really is improving. Alex isn't taking Tuesday swim class anymore because he's in a stroke clinic during the week and he still takes his Saturday class as well.

We finally made it home and Alex started building again while I got dinner ready. Right after dinner, he got ready for bed and moved all of his Legos down to his room so he could continue to build. By 10:30, he had completed everything!

He claims to have had the perfect birthday, which makes me very happy. It's just funny how different my two are.... Clara's birthday wouldn't be complete in her mind without a big party surrounded by lots of little girls.... Alex wanted no party and to be surrounded by lots and lots of Legos! :-)