Thursday, February 15, 2018

Hayden Turns 12!

Not only am I behind on countries, I'm behind on normal blogs too. And we've been busy! A week ago yesterday was Hayden's 12th birthday, and my mom came to visit for the week. 


As requested once again, Hayden wanted to find his birthday presents via pirate treasure map. I keep wondering when he'll want to stop doing that, but apparently 12 wasn't it. 


He also requested his usual tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch. My mom's flight was a little delayed, so we had to do lunch on the fly (so it's a good thing his favorite is easy!) 


Once we picked up mom we headed out for some Top Golf. 


Then we headed over to Dave and Buster's. It was half-priced Wednesday and mom treated us. We had lots of fun playing games and we had so many tickets to spend at the end, the boys really cleaned up. 



Then we were off to Ford's Garage. The boys had not been before, but Hayden says he has 'an unlimited capacity for burgers', and we told him he would love the place. He was pleased with his Jiffy Burger (there was peanut butter on it!) and his birthday milkshake. 


They also brought him a birthday cake and ice cream dessert and sang to him. It was a good place for a birthday dinner, and a lovely evening to eat outside. 


When we got home we had his birthday present treasure hunt. Grandma had even brought something for him and added to the hunt. 


The map tells him the order, so he started with grandma's and then got a pair of Sonic the Hedgehog socks, and a game for his DS. 


Then, he got a Nintendo Switch. It isn't just for him, everyone has been talking about how awesome having one would be, and while we have to save the severance check for bills and such, I did want Asa to be able to buy at least something fun with it. 


Calib and Peyton totally freaked out about it too. 


After that he had a couple of accessories and a game to open. They're all pretty excited about it. 


Hayden requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and peanut butter chips. 


Overall, a great 12th birthday for Hayden. He's been pretty excited about it, because at 12, you're allowed to go to the lodge by yourself, and if accompanied by an adult, you can go to the gym. 


The day after Hayden's birthday was the opening day of the Florida State Fair. Mom offered to take us (look at us leaving the house- and two days in a row, no less!), so we jumped on the offer. We spent a bunch of time at cracker country just kind of nosing around. 


Hayden even got to make a candle by repeatedly dipping it in the hot wax to build it up, before cooling it down in a bucket of water. 


We also went into the exhibit hall hadn't been in before. We looked at the quilts, and art work, and photography. They even had fish tanks on display, which we thought was rather interesting (and probably pretty tough to get there!) 


Then we headed off to the 'Moo-ternity' ward to feed the animals, and see some babies. Usually, they aren't too hungry when you try and feed them, but going early on the first day of the fair helped. Everyone was more than happy to take the food we were offering (even if they were super slobbery about it!) 


We also got to see some just-born baby goats. I didn't bring my purse, or I would have been able to fit one in there to bring it home. They were SO cute. 


Less cute were the bugs Peyton got to hold. 


More cute were the baby chicks I got to hold (they were SOOOOO fluffy!!!!) 


Hayden held one too. Asa made us put them down. We're not allowed to talk about any more pets ever again, apparently. 


Then we were off to the cow barn. 


And oh my gosh, has anyone heard about miniature zebu? They are like tiny baby cows that stay tiny. They're totally on my animal bucket list. I'm sure my neighbors wouldn't mind a little miniature zebu, right? 


Also, we brushed Tippy. Because Tippy loves to be brushed. 


On our way out we stopped for an elephant ear, because you have to have some fair food. 


We did find some awesome plants in the exhibit hall too, and mom got some really cool ones for us to bring home. 


On the way home we had to stop at the dollar store for a pair of sunglasses for my mom. Calib let me dress him up. 


We also stopped by Lowes to get supplies to make our Florida skis for the Olympics. 


Because.. the Olympics! We love the Olympics here, and we always celebrate them by learning about various countries and playing games. But this year we didn't really have countries to learn about. I mean, we've learned about almost all of them! So instead of having a new country to count toward our Olympic medal count, we're just using our countries from the last Winter Games! Which means Asa has France, I have Sweden, Calib had Austria, and Hayden has the Netherlands.  Peyton gets the 'Olympic Athletes from Russia' (you know, because they don't get to compete as 'Russia'), as his punishment for killing everyone as Russia last Winter Games, and then as it turns out, Russia lost like 13 of those medals because their athletes tested positive for drugs. 

We made our flags, and lit the Olympic Torch. I'm making a blog for each day of the Olympics, complete with our event and our country for the day. But, here's a sneak peek for you. Fun note: The google home is super fun here because it'll play the Olympic theme, and the winner of each event gets to pick the 'anthem' they want played when they win! 


Mom also took me out to Joann Fabrics to get a fourth shadow box for my Hall of Presidents since she had a really good coupon to use, and then got me all kinds of stuff to get fairy gardens started. I was super excited about it, since I've really wanted to make some fairy gardens, but there's no way I would buy all the stuff for myself. I put them in pots with Asa's herbs, so he was happy with that. He also got some new herbs out of the deal. 


The cats also got treated to a new catnip plant, and they were pretty happy with that. 


On the dog front, things are moving along. We've had a few set backs here and there, but nothing too terrible. Etta has been spending lots of time out and about around the house with Phenom and Ellie, and it's super nice not to have to climb over barriers to keep my rooms all separated. 



She does need to learn some manners though. We're working on it. 


She did graduate from her obedience class at the shelter. Afterwards, Asa took her to Dunkin Donuts for a Pup-a-cino, and they gave it to him for free after he told them about her graduation. 


Ellie and Phenom have been hanging out a lot too, because Porkchop is still being kept in our room. He doesn't growl every time he see's Phenom anymore, but he's still clearly not too happy with him. We're working on that as well. 




We tried to take the cone off two days early, in time for Hayden's birthday, but Porkchop immediately started messing with his incision. So, it went back on for two days. When the two weeks was up, the cone popped open, like it knew it was time to come off. 


Porkchop, meanwhile, was thrilled with his new found freedom. I was thrilled he could finally get a bath, he really needed it. 


And now I'm only like 6 blogs behind. I'm going to try and catch up tomorrow, but we're changing internet service providers, so I might not have too much control over when I get to work on blogs. We'll see how it goes. 

Up Next: The 2018 Winter Games 



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