The Day Katelyn Turned Six

I love birthdays for so many reasons, but my favorite is because they give us a chance to celebrate people that we love and make them feel special all day (or month, if you are Katelyn).  Kid birthdays are the best, because they love everything and are so happy to be celebrated.  So today we got to celebrate six wonderful years of Katelyn.

She started of her day with a special breakfast with bear shaped pancakes which she ate in my recliner chair while she watched TV.  At first she thought she wanted breakfast in bed, but then realized that she would be up there alone, so she decided to go with the option that involved being by us and included TV.  Kyle was coming home at lunch time, so after playing and hanging out with me for a little bit, she had her BFF Sara come over to play.  They had so much fun and were good about including Brooke.  They played pretend most of the time and had Brooke be a dog and the wicked queen.  She didn't mind a bit.  They also incorporated their Build-A-Bears and even got to play in our newly almost finished basement (just the baseboards to go).  Sara stayed for lunch and then we walked her home when Daddy got home. 

To kick off her family party we started with present opening.  She got some fun things, some of her favorites included new Wii games, babies for her new Build-A-Bear and new school stuff including a backpack, lunchbox and thermos.  She also got a certificate to pick out a new bike that evening.

 

Next up was a trip to the mall so she could spend some of her birthday money.  Daddy mowed the grass and Brooke took her afternoon nap so Katelyn and I had the afternoon all to ourselves.  We had the best time and of course spent 99% of our time in Build-A-Bear.

For dinner, Katelyn picked her favorite restaurant, Bonsai Bistro also known in our home as "The Fist Restaurant."   It is in Coeur d'Alene right across from the Resort and it overlooks the Lake.  Katelyn loves the bottom floor of the restaurant though so I made a reservation earlier in the week for the table on the center island.  This has been her pick for her past three birthdays.  The bottom floor of the restaurant sits so low that it doesn't have a view of the Lake, so in attempt to make it an appealing place to eat they put in a Koi pond that circles around room complete with a center island.  It is full of giant fish and turtles and the kids get to feed them.  Katelyn was so excited that this year Brooke was big enough that they brought her a cup of fish food too.  As an added bonus, the food is fantastic.   Brooke even loved it and we discovered that she will eat sticky rice by the fist-full.   They had so much fun feeding the fish and managed to make two cups of fish food last the whole time.  Just as we were finishing up, our waiter brought Katelyn a special birthday dessert... the perfect finish to a fun and delicious dinner.

After dinner Katelyn decided she wanted to walk around the "Art on the Green" festival that was going on in downtown Couer d'Alene.  We saw lots of cool art, got to pet lots of dogs and heard lots of great music.  Then we saw the booth that made her day - a rental company had a bunch of inflatable jumping/climbing toys set up, so we bought Katelyn a ticket and she was off.  It was getting late so she had the place almost to herself. She had a great time and opted to jump and play and save bike shopping for another day.   

On the way home we stopped at Baskin-Robbins so Katelyn could get a scoop of her favorite, blue cotton candy ice cream.  We sat outside in the Adirondack chairs for a minute while she enjoyed her treat and we enjoyed a great summer night.   When we got home we let her stay up and try out her new Wii games.  She said it was perfect day and I couldn't agree more... being able to celebrate such a fantastic little girl is wonderful.  Happy Birthday sweetheart - we love you so much and are so grateful that you are a part of our family.