Happy Birthday, Caroline!

We had another very busy day on Sunday – Caroline’s actual birthday. I thought my emotions would get to the best of me – but surprisingly, they didn’t. I didn’t cry until 8 PM that night! HA!

I wanted to do something extra special for her on her birthday and thought long and hard about what a 1 year old would like to do. Ripley’s Aquarium, right?! I just thought FOR SURE that all the fish and colors and water would be so exciting for her. WRONG. I couldn’t have ever been more wrong in my life. More on that in a minute.

Before we went to the aquarium, we took Caroline to lunch where she feasted on an appetizer of yogurt melts and puffs and a exquisite meal of corndog and French fries (yes, I cut up the hot dog into TEENY TINY pieces first). Loved the corndog, hated the French fries. On a side note – it was at this restaurant where my suspicions were confirmed…I am going to have a STRONG, INDEPENDENT child. As Wally was waiting on the check, Caroline and I were walking around. She was bound & determined to walk in one direction while I was trying to get her to walk in the opposite direction. As in, pulling so hard on my hand that she would have face-planted if I let go.

Next stop – Ripley’s Aquarium. We brought her in her stroller because, if anybody knows her, she’s a squirmy little girl. However, strollers can’t get real close to the glass so, we decide to take her out to hold her up closer to the fish. That lasted about 5 minutes (maybe) until she was ready to be put down. That would be fine if she was walking, but she’s not walking. So…what did we do? Let her push her stroller. She’d get tired and want to get back in it or be held eventually…right? WRONG. My sweet little girl pitched a FIT if we picked her up to show her anything. I mean MAJOR MELTDOWN. So…Caroline pushed her stroller around for an hour and a half while Wally and I looked at the fish and took stupid pictures like the tourists do.


This is what Caroline did everytime you picked her up! Click here to see Aquarium pictures.

Then, for dinner, we met up with Aaaaaash, Uncle Bubba & Collier at Myabi’s to keep up with the birthday tradition. Who doesn’t love a good Japanese meal on their birthday? Since Caroline has started to eat a lot better these days, I was excited about letting her try this, too. She LOVED the zucchini and the rice. YES!!

Oh yeah! I forgot! Wally and I got Caroline a pretend kitchen for her birthday! She loves it. She loves to take the kitchen sink out, drop stuff in the hole, reach in and get it and put the sink back. Who knew it would be that entertaining? I wish my kitchen duties were that simple.