Feliz cumpleanos, Papi!

Birthdays are a big deal around here.  Not the "rent a jump house and have all matching paper goods" kind of big deal, rather the "take a day off from school and work and spend time celebrating together" kind of big deal.  So, Papi took today as a vacation day and spent his birthday celebrating with us.

We had a great day planned, and we ended up doing most of it.  We had our special birthday pancakes, and shared the cards and gifts we had made for Papi.

Then, we went to a nearby park and kicked the soccer ball around.

Later, we ate lunch at a Chinese buffet we hadn't been to yet and Papi had been anxious to try (he really misses Ming's.)

After naptime, we had birthday cake (pumpkin pie cake with cream cheese frosting) and then went to the mall in search of Wii games.  Papi didn't find what he was looking for though. :(

We had planned to go fishing, but it was too windy for that, so instead, we went to another park and the kids modeled some of the knit hats I've made that I'm going to try to sell on ETSY.

It was a wonderful day just hanging out together and celebrating another year with Papi!

Day Trip to Mexico

Mexico, MO, that is.

This past weekend was Alpaca Farm Days. We were pleasantly surprised that the alpaca farm we were visiting also had a U-pick apple orchard with dwarf apple trees.  We used to go apple picking in Peoria each year on Labor Day, but that orchard was sold and the new owners didn't allow U-pick.  That was about 3 years ago, so this was quite a treat!

The drive there was only about 45 minutes, which included 3 miles of gravel roads.  Just before we arrived, we saw this trying to cross the road.  Papi and JT got out to see it up close, and it waited patiently while they took pictures before it continued across the road and into the weeds.

This is only about 1/4 - 1/3 of the length of the snake - it was about 5-6 feet long!

This male alpaca seemed friendly with people, but apparently was mean to the other male alpacas, and too friendly with the females!

She was scared to get closer, but really wanted a picture with him.

This alpaca wasn't sure it wanted to be lead around in a circle.

It had gotten used to the lead when it was JT's turn.