Brandon at SIX

Our big Brandon had a birthday this week and turned six years old! It's kind of a rough week to have a party because most of his friends are traveling. Usually we are, too, so he gets to celebrate with whatever relatives we happen to be visiting at the time. This year, we are staying put, so he got a little party with just our family and then we'll have a friend party later.

How we celebrated

We had such a fun day. We went to the library, had happy meals for lunch, and then went to the park.

We rode the train

and the carousel.

It was a perfect overcast not-too-hot day.

Then we changed into our swimsuits and met Andrew at the water park. We had a picnic dinner,

cupcakes,

and B opened his presents.
He is still the funnest kid to watch when he opens
gifts. He is completely enthusiastic and
grateful for whatever he gets.

We got the kids cleaned up (chocolate cupcakes are SOOO messy!) and went into the park for some fun in the sun. Only it wasn't too sunny. And it was kind of cold. Whit's lips were turning purple. We huddled together to keep each other warm and still had fun.

Brandon's favorite part was Shipwreck Cove.
Ready?

JUMP!

We also had fun on the lazy river and cyclone zone. And Andrew watched the kids for a little while so I could do the scary slides. Yes! Love that. The park stayed open late, but we were all done swimming before it closed.

We hung out on some lawn chairs
trying to stay warm
while Brandon entertained us with his

sweet dance moves!
And we played "I Spy" until it got dark.

Then, they had a spectacular
fireworks show.
(Ok, so my camera doesn't take the best
pics of fireworks. You'll have to take my word
that they were awesome.)
I'm thinking this could turn into a yearly
tradition to celebrate B's birthday.

Brandon at six

*Loves all things that involve Star Wars, Legos,
Bionicle, or Transformers

*Asks for dessert about 5 times a day

*Loves to ride his bike and scooter

*Likes to watch movies and play Playstation

*Loves to be in front of a crowd. This is most
evident when he is asked to give a talk in primary.

*Doesn't care about matching clothes or
having combed hair

*Is great with babies and is hoping he'll
have a new baby brother soon. I've tried to
warn him that if we have another baby, it could
be a boy OR girl, he is adamant that he ONLY
wants a boy.

*Loves to read. Especially if the books are
about any of the topics listed in the first
bullet point.

*Wakes up EARLY--usually between 6:15 and
6:45 every morning. This morning he slept
until 7:35 and was very proud of himself for
"sleeping in."

*Can be over-confident at times.
(Some might even call him a know-it-all.)

*Can do math in his head better than me.
(Not that that's saying much.)

*Is scared of thunderstorms and we've
had a few LOUD ones lately.

*Remembers almost everything we
teach him about the gospel.

*Is very LOUD.

*Has a lot of charisma, energy,
and spunk and is the funnest
little boy to have in our family.