As is our tradition, we had the family over for a birthday celebration. This year it was a few days before her actual birthday.
I love Sawyer in this picture! He is definitely an “in-your-face” kind of kid.
There was cake and ice cream, of course!
And some presents!
On her actual birthday, I surprised the kids with a field trip. (We school throughout the summer so it was definitely a treat not to have to do schoolwork on this day and go on a field trip instead!) We headed out to the Aquarium at Grapevine Mills Mall and Maddie got to invite a friend. I took 7 children to the aquarium all by myself AND they all survived. These two girls didn’t even plan on wearing the same shirt - they just think alike, I guess!
For the small size of this aquarium, they have quite a few tanks and lots of interesting animals.
I love how these guys always look like they’re smiling!
Em spent the entire time making the ASL sign for ‘fish’.
Gracie wasn’t so sure about them and wouldn’t get very close too often.
This is a really fun aspect of this aquarium too. They have these interactive bubbles that you can go under and become part of the tank. So fun!
This fish has teeth!
It was a pretty crowded day!
I only took in one stroller since it’s not a big place so I had the little two take turns in it. It was finally Em’s turn to get out and get closer.
The jellyfish tank is so relaxing and beautiful to watch. They have colored lighting that changes too.
And we can’t forget the Finding Nemo tank with all the main characters!
The big kids enjoyed the interactive screen games.
The male seahorse carries the young through gestation! You can see some of these guys are pregnant. The seahorse is my kind of animal!
The very last exhibit is a hands-on one. There are starfish and shark eggs and all sorts of yucky things to touch.
This is a shark egg. So weird.
This is kind of hard to make out but her finger is touching a sea urchin. When you place your fingers in the spines the urchin will wrap the spines around your finger and give you a little hug. Or at least that’s what the kids tell me. I’m not about to put my finger on a sea urchin.
It was a fun trip!
That’s all the celebrating we did for Maddie for her 13th. I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown by with her!! We are so proud of the good young woman she is. She is currently serving as the Beehive President in her class and is such a good leader. She genuinely cares about each of the girls and always tries to do the right thing. She is a great example to us on so many levels! We love you Maddie!!!
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