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Monday, May 13, 2013

WJG Zoo Birthday Party

Like all the other milestone and special occasions in my life I had been planning William's first birthday party for years!  When he was first born I thought about doing a whale theme party.  But, when William was about 4 months old I changed my mind.  Over breakfast one morning Gordon and I were discussing when we should have the party since it would be the same weekend as his brother's wedding.  We both agreed that having it at our house (like we had originally planned) would be too stressful since there would be so much company in town (and lots going on).  So, we started talking about venues and the zoo came to mind.  I'll admit it was a little pricey to reserve the pavilion but we figured it would be worth it in the long run.
I got serious about buying and making things for the party after Christmas time.  Let me just tell you how time consuming party planning is...but I sure do love it!!  I'm going to do a separate post about all the party details.
Sunday morning we went to the hotel for breakfast so we could say goodbye to Ashley and Brandon.  Nobody had seen William all weekend so we decided to head to the galleria area.  :)  My parents came by the house after that to help me finish making the fruit kabobs, gift bags and to load everything up.  As I mentioned before, it was Earth Day at the zoo so parking was a nightmare.  Luckily, Alison and her mom were there to help me set everything up while the boys parked the car (and Skye watched William). 
We had fun visiting with all of our friends and their kiddos.  William's teacher and school friends, Britton and Amos, came too!  We sang happy birthday, opened presents, ate some yummy birthday cake and headed to the carousel.  By the time that was all over it was time to load back up.   
All in all things went good.  I was disappointed to not have one of the things I ordered back in February.  I had ordered the cutest labels for everything and they got lost in the mail.  The company sent them to me again but they didn't get to us in time.  :(  I was pretty bummed but already have next years birthday theme picked out and I'll be able to use them then.  Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend having a birthday party at the zoo.  Parking is too far away so it takes forever to get things in and out.  You only have the pavilion for 2.5 hours so it makes things quite chaotic!  If they'd had an area that we could put our stuff after the party (so we could walk around and enjoy the zoo) maybe I'd recommend it.  But....they don't.
We DID make great memories, spent time with some of our favorite people and William had a fun time....and that's all that matters.  :)  I know it was hard for people to find parking and make it to the party in time so THANK YOU to everyone that came.  Since becoming a mom I've learned just how protective mothers are.  I want everyone to treat William with kindness and love him as much as I do.  So, having everyone come out to the zoo to celebrate with us really warmed my heart!!! 
This past year has been jam packed with wonderful memories.  We've watched William learn to drink from a bottle, eat real food, sit up on his own, open Christmas presents, try birthday cake, crawl, babble and much much more.  We are so blessed to have wonderful families that have gotten to experience these things with us along the way.  I can hardly wait for all the new stuff that's to come over the next year.   :)


Birthday party guests-  some of my old co-workers: Anne and her 2 kiddos, Stacy with her girls, Rachel and her daughter and brand new baby, Jacqui and her son.  Gordon's buddies: Barteau, Cesar, Zito with his wife and adorable daughter and John Davis and Kendall with little Piper.  William's mimi, grandad, GG, Pop, Nana, Papa, Uncle D, Skye, cousin Susan and Daniel, his teacher (Ms. Melissa), 2 of his school friends and of course Alison, her mom and her 2 kids (that were such a big help!). 

  • William looking at his pretty cake!  The adorable hand knitted elephant next to him is from his GG and Pop
  • Opening presents (he loves playing with the paper).  Parker was our helper.
  • With his Uncle D
  • I love how he's smiling up at Gordon from his new wagon from Nana and Papa!  Melts my heart!!!
  • Silly baby
  • SO in love with my little family of 3
  • Singing "happy birthday" again!  He thought the hat was pretty funny.
  • With his mimi
  • Hanging out with Ms. Melissa while we cleaned up.  Thank goodness she was there.  :)
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