One Thousand, Eight Hundred Twenty Five Days

That was the exact the age my son was as of 6:41am on July 13th. In other words, my one and only boy is now 5 years old.

Bear and his sisters were spending some of their summer with their Ammie, near the Dam. My plan was for Jeremy, Potato, and I to leave our house by 7am to make it there by 11am. For some strange reason, my alarm did not go off, and we didn't even wake up until 6:50. Okay. That's a lie. I was leaping out of bed in a slightly panicked state at 6:50am. Jeremy just rolled back over to bed after I announced "We're supposed to be leaving in 10 minutes!" We pulled out of the drive at about 8:17am. Turkeys have no sense of get up and move your bum mornings.

Still, I figured a 12:30 arrival wouldn't be too bad. It wouldn't have been. I realize now that I am still not used to not traveling straight on through with maybe a quick trip into a drive-thru. MapQuest, from my old address, used to indicate my drive would be just over 4hrs. I usually made it in 3.5 hours. Without speeding. Okay. Without speeding more than five over. But Jeremy needed a pit stop, and Potato needed a changing. Then there was the quick run into Ephrata's Safeway for berries. When we thought we were ready to go, the Audi wouldn't start. Two attempts for jumping, a phone call to his dad, and about an hour and a half later we were on the road again. The problem? The gear shifter was not all the way in park. Something about things not being aligned just perfect after the transmission install. We did not arrive into town until about 3, I think. Oh! We did stop to give a guy a ride into town. The fuel guage in their off-roader is faulty, and they ran out of gas. Funny enough, they're from our side of the state!

Our little Bear was so happy to see us. He's gotten taller even in just a few short weeks. He'll be due for another hair cut before... he starts school. Okay, I am not going to think about that just yet.

Bear loved his cake! He is such a strawberry and blueberry fanatic. He saw something similar with raspberries instead of strawberries, and decided that was the cake he wanted.

The theme of this year's birthday was once again SpiderMan. I won't be surprised if it is again next year.

These masks mildly disturb me.

This year, Bear received his very first heavy duty remote control car. His dad got him the Land Rover with big wheels for all sorts of terrain.

My little man has the funniest facial expressions.

He got a lot of new Hot Wheels. I might have gone slightly overboard with the awesomeness. I couldn't resist all the cool cars!

Funny enough, despite other guests being there, Bear was the only boy child. After he opened all his gifts, Bear presented a gift to each girl. Potato got a soft baby doll, while the older girls each got beachy barbies.

When we drove home the next day, I noticed the lake was just about the calmest I've ever seen it.

My little Bear is such a sweet kid. He is so caring. Each morning when he hears Potato first wake, his primary goal is to make her laugh right off the bat. His older sisters find him a bit troublesome at times, when he only wants to play with them. He loves sports, cars, and anything else that goes VROOOOOM! He loves fruits and veggies for snack. He hates carrots. He's a cheese fiend. He's my snuggly Bear. He has the sweetest smile. He always gives the craziest and wackiest faces.