Daddy's 34th Birthday

Dad's birthday was last Saturday, and we were blessed with beautiful weather and a whole day to spend together to celebrate!

His number one wish for his special day was for us to go to "Boo at the Zoo" at the Philadelphia Zoo.  We had never been before, and learned an awful lot about what we'll do differently next time.  (Lesson 1: Go Earlier!!)

Liam and Joergen were excited to try out their Halloween costumes for trick-or-treating at the zoo.  Well, let's be honest here... Liam was excited, perhaps enough for the both of them!  Joergen was just a good sport.

Before we left, they were kind enough to let me take their picture on our next door neighbor's front steps.  With Hurricane Sandy on her way, we weren't sure we'd have another nice day for a picture anytime soon... and as it turned out, we were right!

When we finally got to the zoo, we were stunned by the number of people there.  How did we not see this coming?!  We had to park literally a mile away, and the zoo was crawling with kids of all ages in costumes of all kinds.  Liam was especially excited to see Iron Man, Batman, Superman, Super WHY, and many of his other favorite superhero friends.

Captain Liam, ready for action!

First Mate Joergen

It didn't take long for Liam to make a little pirate friend.  They excitedly greeted each other (although they had never met!) and immediately brandished their swords for a friendly fight:

We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the zoo, and with Joergen distracted by his apple slice, I even got him to wear his pirate hat for a minute!

Liam practicing his most ferocious pirate face.  ARGH!

On our way out of the zoo, we stopped to pay our respects to the hippo mural-- and Liam offered him a toothpick:

Back at home, we were super-excited to have a special guest join us for Dad's birthday celebration... Uncle Tim!  He got the weekend off from his crazy training program and was able to come stay with us for the night.  We went ahead and gave the boys dinner, and then we all gobbled up some of Dad's traditional birthday treat: pumpkin pie!  This was my first attempt at an eggless pumpkin pie... and it was awesome.  I'm not kidding, folks, this stuff is the real deal.  It even passed the Dad Test with flying colors.

Make a wish!

Liam, Uncle Tim, Joergen, and the Birthday Boy

Team Derry

We were so happy to have Uncle Tim there with us!

The birthday celebration continued after we got the little guys to bed.  We ordered a bunch of food from the Cheesecake Factory, turned on the Notre Dame game, and did our best to keep the screaming and cheering to a minimum so as not to wake the boys.  Notre Dame 30, Oklahoma 13!  The Irish are 8-0!!!

Now seriously, Anthony... what could be a better birthday present than that?!?!