Caleb's Fifth Birthday

This guy turned five over the weekend!  And we had the party to end all parties to celebrate.  I don't know that I've ever seen so many lightsaber battles (outside of a Star Wars movie, of course).  It was wild and sweaty.  It was so chaotic that I didn't even have a chance to break the camera out until after the cake and many of our guests had already left.

He received not one but two slip-n-slides for his birthday, which we all enjoyed the next day.

I sure do love my lightsaber fighting, slip-n-sliding little five year old!  Thanks to everyone who made his birthday so wonderful!

The Time We Lost Judson at the Zoo

It started off as a lovely day.  The weather was perfect - just overcast enough so that it wasn't too hot but not so overcast that is was threatening to rain at any moment.  Our family, my sister and her kids, and RaRa and Grandpa all met at the zoo for a fun day of seeing animals and being together.  We loaded Wren and Judson up in the double stroller and let Caleb walk along aside.  We were all excited about the animals we would see.
First were the flamingos (or "mingos" as Judson calls them), of course.

Then, (Wren's favorite) the elephants.

Then the sleepy lions, followed by the lion photo op.  We had to stop.

One, two, three of the mobile children were accounted for, and the fourth was just behind the board waiting for his chance to be a lion...except for when I poked my head over the side to tell him it was his turn, Judson was nowhere to be found.  "Don't panic - I'm sure he's with his dad," I thought to myself.  Or not.  I double and triple checked all the areas around us, even looking amongst the groups of other children that were close by.  Nothing.  I quickly found a zoo employee and told him my son was missing, including a description of him and what he was wearing.  I also quickly said a prayer (or five or ten or one hundred) that we would find him and that he was alright.  One of us staked out the spot where he was last seen and the rest of us started to search in all different directions for him.  Five full minutes - that's how much time passed before we found him again.  Five minutes may not seem like much but it is a long time for a mother to contemplate all the things that could happen to her missing little one inside of a zoo.  My mind went to stories of children getting into animal enclosures and of child abductions.  Had he been so intrigued with the elephants that he tried to find a way in to see them?  Or had he just drifted away in the sea of other blonde headed kids, not realizing that he left us behind?  As it turns out, he just wanted to see the gorillas.  Grandpa found him standing in front of the glass wall in front of the gorilla habitat.  Mind you, this was pretty far from where we were - especially for a little guy like him.  He apparently didn't even realize that he wasn't supposed to just wonder around the zoo unattended.  He seemed a little surprised by the tight hug and stern scolding I gave to him.  Once all of our blood pressure returned to normal, we resumed our review of the zoo, at an unhurried and non-panicked pace.  This time, however, Juddy was fully buckled into the stroller.  He didn't seem to mind too much.
Here Ashley and I are remaking a picture of when we were younger.

Then it was time for a picnic in the park.

Then back inside to ride the train and carousel.

We all managed to make it home from the zoo - a little weary but with lots of fun memories.  All's well that end's well, but next time I may consider bringing a leash for one of my little wild creatures...