Argh - He's 3-1/2 Mateys!

We celebrated our youngest son's 3 and a half birthday this past weekend. The poor kid's birthday falls a few days after Christmas and we are always in the midst of family gatherings and a focus on the birth of Christ. Thus, we determined early on that we would celebrate his half birthday, in an effort to make him feel special on a day all his own.

I can't say that it has worked out as well as intended. Originally, our plan was for him to receive his birthday cake and one gift on his half birthday. As soon as Trevor caught on to this plan, he clamored for the celebration of his half birthday as well. I don't mind an occasion to bake a cake, of their specifications, because that is something I enjoy creating. However, the gift aspect has fully gone by the wayside. And, many days, I wonder if we should just dispense with this whole half birthday effort. Then again, when he is old enough to have birthday parties (the oldest was already having an annual friend-invited birthday party by this age), I'm sure it will be next to impossible to entice friends to celebrate his birthday during that busy and expensive time of year.

Anyway, back to this year's celebration. He was most excited because our annual trip to Indiana Beach Amusement Park happened to fall on his birthday. We had another wonderful experience with limited crowds and fabulous weather.

There are many things that I absolutely love about Indiana Beach. Unlike larger parks, where the crowds and chaos exhaust you, Indiana Beach is laid back and relaxing. I so appreciate their smoke-free atmosphere and the music piped over the intercoms is always family friendly. As we rode the sky chairs (Skyride?), I was singing along with "Hey Jude," and "Yesterday."

Side note: the song "Yesterday" always makes me smile because it reminds me of a year at CMI when some guys wrote a spoof on that, called "Leprosy" : "Leprosy ... all my skin is falling off of me, I'm not half the man I used to be, oh leprosy has eaten me ... suddenly, all the vultures flying over me, once I had five fingers, now I've three, oh leprosy has eaten me ... why'd it have to come, I don't know, it just won't go. I tried Elmer's glue, but you know, it wouldn't do-oo-oo-oo."

This year did seem to be far more expensive. Ticket prices have increased and it just didn't seem like you got as much bang for your buck. We have always enjoyed going one afternoon, playing games and looking around, then staying overnight in a local hotel and returning for a full day of rides and the water park. I think next year, we will just drive up for one day.

The littler boys didn't seem to appreciate the idea of splitting the two days up into games and rides. The first evening, they wanted to ride rides. We decided to look into the cost of a mere train ride for the four of us (Bryce had gone off with his friend to play games). You practically had to pick me up off the floor when they told us it would be $8 PER PERSON for a train ride. $32 just to ride the train around the amusement park one time. You've got to be kidding.

They used to have a much more customer friendly approach. You could either pay a set fee for a wristband or you could purchase a packet of 10 ride tickets for $20. There are smaller rides for the younger children and this seemed fairly reasonable. We would have been willing to pay $8 for the four of us to ride the train once, but $32 - UNREAL!

Needless to say, we waited and enjoyed all the rides the next day, when we purchased the wristbands. Trevor enjoyed riding the Corn Ball Express roller coaster this year and Sean knocked my socks off when he fell in love with the Falling Star ride . He would get off and run around, ahead of me, to get back in line to ride it again. What a little daredevil!

Trevor talks about Indiana Beach all year round. This year, he kept inviting all the other kids in his preschool class to go with him to Indiana Beach. He must be their biggest fan. As we headed home, he was asking if we could go again this summer. They do offer a season pass now, and when the younger boys are a little bit older, I might actually consider that (although, I would want to pack healthy lunches - since there seemed to be even fewer healthy options this year).

For Sean's cake, he requested a Jolly Roger cake. I had recently picked up a Jolly Roger flag for a quarter at a garage sale and both boys fell in love with it (they are fixated on skulls these days).

The cake didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but my boys made me feel so much better when they raved about it. Of course, I see all the things that didn't go as I had planned, they just see a cool cake. I was thrilled that Sean liked it so much.




Here are my perceived flaws: I used the frozen butter cream transfer process that I had learned on Amber's blog, only I didn't want to attempt to make black icing. For one thing, it never truly gets black enough and ends up looking like a dull grey. For another thing, it just seemed easier to use chocolate store-bought icing for the dark background and homemade butter cream for the skull and crossbones and words.

The transfer ended up being larger than the top of the cake, so the word happy curved over the edge of the top of the cake. Plus, I didn't get it centered very well. Then, when I went to remove the top piece of waxed paper from the frozen frosting, it would not come off. Apparently, the chocolate icing is far more sticky, even when frozen, than the butter cream. I did get the waxed paper off, but in the process, I pulled apart some of the bits of the skull. I suppose it just makes the skull look a bit more brittle, as skulls are.

I, personally, didn't like the mix of flavors with the chocolate and the butter cream together. I encountered this with Trevor's dinosaur cake, so this shouldn't have surprised me (or I shouldn't have repeated the mistake). But, John thought the cake was delicious. As for the boys, they only seem to lick the frosting off and barely nibble at the cake.

I can't believe Sean is already 3-1/2. The time goes so quickly, while at the same time inching by on days when they are mischievous or cranky. He thinks he is one of the big boys now. He tries to read, just like Trevor and he tries to talk "like a teenager," just like Bryce. I don't mind the reading, but I could do without the teenage talk from the mouth of a preschooler. I say, "Argh, clean up your mouth, little boy, or ye'll be walkin' the plank!"