My baby turns 4!

We celebrated little L's 4th birthday this month. I seriously can't believe my "baby" is 4 already. I remember the day he was born so vividly. I was laughing as he was born. Yes, it's true. My OB was hilarious, and my husband joked about something...and little L came into this world into a room filled with laughter. It's really appropriate, as he's been a little joker ever since. He loves to make his older sisters laugh, and can get us all roaring with laughter at his antics. As a baby he was our earliest "laugher" and has always had a great sense of humor. We just can't imagine our family without this little guy.

So, when he asked for a beach birthday party with Spider Man, Lego Ninjago, fishing, and Star Wars...I had to figure out how to make it happen.

He loved his Spider Man cake. And I loved that I figured out how to do it without any dyes (my kiddos are really sensitive to). Baked the cake from scratch, and used strawberry puree for the spider man face. The dark brown lines are dark chocolate melted down. It worked great, and as you can see, he LOVED it! Yeah, for happy kids and happy mom.

I still can't believe my baby is 4! Where did the time go?

The walk to the beach here is gorgeous, but very steep. It's about three steep paths down. Leave it to the birthday boy to leave his adventure vest (gift from Grammy) down on the beach. Of course I had to run down and retrieve it. Mama's not in the shape she used to be, and my wheezing, gasping self caught back up with my crew at the rv. haha. But I made it!

We stayed at New Brighton State Beach. The campground was great, but I gotta say, I'm not loving the beach here. Too many birds. Eeeek! It was very Alfred Hitchcock-ish. In fact, after watching the swarms (I know that's the wrong term, but that's truly how it felt) of birds flying over us and the ocean, I Googled birds at Brighton Beach. Turns out, this beach was the inspiration for "The Birds!" Crazy! 

The birds didn't keep us from enjoying some yummy birthday s'mores though!

Love my new four-year-old so much!

The next morning, we headed off to one of our favorite places, Costanoa KOA for the rest of the weekend. Here's our kiddos on the hike to the beach:

 

 Here they are last time we were there:

Awww...my babies are growing so fast!

The birthday boy loves this beach!

And Star Wars.

Yes, he really loves Star Wars!

And for some reason, on the day of his birthday, he asked for those skinny balloons that you can make animals out of? haha. Kids. Anyway, when I stopped at the grocery store for ice, I happened to find these in the summer seasonal section. He was obviously thrilled!

He enjoyed the new fishing pole toy too.

While opening gifts that evening, you can see what happens when a mom (perhaps after a cocktail...or maybe two) tries to indulge her kiddos request for a balloon crown. It looked hilarious, but my kids loved it. And my husband cracked up. So it was fun.

It was a simple party, with just our little family, but we all really enjoyed the weekend together.

And I really love these guys. Happy Birthday to my sweet, hilarious, fun, spunky, adventurous, brave, little four-year-old. I'm a very lucky mom, and so thankful to have you in our family.