Birthday Boy

Austin is now three years old! Lucky for him, his birthday was on a Saturday this year. He got to open his big present in the morning- a race track that also connects with his wooden train set. It was a hit! The girls enjoyed it too. They had to get out the whole train set to complete it.

 Remember the symphony we went to a month ago? The next free concert, Dance, Swing, Sing, happened to be on his birthday, so we went to Detroit to enjoy another fabulous concert. It was mostly jazzy swing. There was some singing this time and a tap dancer. We all enjoyed it. Here's Austin waiting for it to start, sporting his "Birthday Boy" badge he got from Gramms.

 We took advantage of being in the city and went to Hockeytown for lunch.

 He even got his own special ice cream treat for his birthday, which he shared with everyone.

 Hockeytown is the most "boy" restaurant I could ever imagine. Not only were there pics of all the Red Wings hockey players and their jerseys, but the were video arcade games and motorcycles on display. Austin is still young, so I don't think he cared either way, but he did like looking at the motorcycles.

 Since we were right across the street from Comerica Park where the Tigers play, Jason wanted to get his tickets for the game he's planning on taking Victoria to later this summer. Here's a picture of the big tiger in front. You can see the people from a wedding party in black to the right. They were taking wedding photos there- not sure why, but that's cool.

 As we were leaving, we see this baby coming out of a truck to be put on display for the big race today. Austin was pretty excited, though you can't see his smile behind his cars.

 The kids relaxed when we got home and watched a video. I made this race track cake (which Victoria decided I can make for her 8th b-day, since it looks like an 8).

 We had pizza, Austin opened more presents, he loved these binoculars and a flashlight, in particular, and we had cake.

 He added his cars from his race track gift to the cake.

Austin was exhausted that night, but I think he felt special on his big day. He's so sweet and polite. We noticed how he always says "yes" never "yeah" and is much better about saying "please" and "thank you" than his sisters are. What a polite boy! He likes to hold the door open for everyone too.

He and Karissa play really well together while Victoria is at school. She will play cars with him and he will follow her around as she does her make-believe stories of princesses. He'll play "house" with her too. He loves to help me stir when I'm cooking and he likes to help water the garden. He also enjoys dancing, singing, and swinging outside. His dream for the summer is to wear his Superman pjs to the roller rink so the cape can fly out behind him. He prays about that happening.

Even though he is a 3-year-old boy, he does pretty good at shopping with me. I complain and get frustrated when we go, but I know it could be worse. He's such a great little boy.

We love you Austin!