The Final 2012 Birthday Post

I'm finally ready to do the final post about Caleb and Sarah Rose's birthdays.  We have a tradition of taking the kids to Happy Joe's in Ottumwa for their birthday.  Its a great place with delicious pizza (maybe a bit pricey?!), a coin operated model train around the ceiling, and an arcade.  We totally avoid the arcade, but make sure the kids each have two or three quarters to operate the train.  The train is pretty neat in and of itself: it has a special car with an arrow on it; if the arrow aligns with special signs hung below the track when the train stops, you win whatever is on that sign.  I didn't think to take a picture of the train setup, probably because we were pretty excited when Sarah Rose won a personal pan size pizza!  Now we have to ponder on whether its valid for us to go out for pizza again within 90 days (it was originally 60, but I talked her into an extra 30 days!) to use the coupon or if we should just let the coupon expire...hmmm, decisions decisions!

Anyway, we had a wonderful time making memories at the kids' joint pizza party!  Here are the pictures:

All coated up and ready to go!

With the Chilicothe bridge being out, we take the back roads to Ottumwa.  The "River Road" runs alongside the railroad tracks for a ways.  The kids were thrilled (and Mama was quite nervous) when we ended up driving beside a train for several minutes!

POP!!!! 
A special treat saved for grandparents' houses and the occasional dining out!

Part of the Happy Joe tradition is that the birthday gal/guy gets a free ice cream sundae.  BUT.... they must endure the loud honking horn getting the restaurant's attention so they can sing "Happy  Birthday" first!  Caleb remembers well from previous years that this happens and was prepared for the horn when he saw the ice cream coming his way!

Lucky for Caleb, there were a couple of sleeping babies in the restaurant so we requested they not blow the horn.  He thought we were tricking him and wasn't easily convinced that he was off the hook!

Sarah was easy to convince, however!  She dug right in... and poor Caleb is in the background, STILL waiting for the inevitable horn!!!

Okay, finally convinced!

Back home, it was time for cake.  Not that they needed more sugar (they didn't eat all their ice cream, nor did they eat much of their cake!), but its part of the celebration. Sarah was excited for her Strawberry Shortcake cake!  No picture of her blowing out the candle though;  someone (no names mentioned **cough cough JOSH cough cough**) borrowed my matches for a chore outdoors and didn't bring them back in!  But she didn't miss it and we had a terrific celebration nonetheless!

Well, there ya have it!  The last mention of the 2012 February birthdays... until October rolls around and we celebrate the birth of the man we call "Daddy".