Vacation Day 7: "Happy Mama"

Today is my 32nd birthday. Wow.

Mikey woke me up at 5:40 am. Apparently I am not the only one who likes to celebrate every minute of my birthday! I very politely gave Mikey a book and told him it was too early to party. Thankfully he fell back asleep (as did I) until 8:00. That was birthday gift #1!

Mom and Dad made me "Pina Colada Stuffed French Toast" for breakfast. Yum-o. Then I was off for a morning of "me" time. I got a pedicure and then hit the mall to use some of my birthday coupons. After a successful shopping excursion I headed home for lunch. Mikey had just gone down for his nap when I got home. Grandma and Mikey had gone to the party store and got me a birthday balloon as well as a "Bob the Builder" balloon for Mikey, which he insisted was Handy "Manny". When Mikey came down from his nap he told me "Happy Mama!" (which translates to "Happy Birthday, Mama!"). Love him.

We headed to dinner in Belmar at a place called Klein's where we had fried soft shell crabs...Yummmm. The weather was iffy (as was Mikey) but we decided we would try to head to the boardwalk for the rides and ice cream. Mikey loved the "rides" and requested he go on the "boats" first. He "rang da bell" on the boats and the fire trucks. He appeared very comfortable and SO happy!

















Mommy and Mikey got to ride the train together. The entire ride he kept making chugging sounds like "choo-choo-choo-choo". This kid loves his trains.




Then we headed for ice cream--Mommy and Mikey both got soft serve vanilla and chocolate swirl with rainbow sprinkles. Mikey ate his ice cream until he was distracted by another child on our bench with an Angry Birds stuffed animal that he had won from a nearby game. That is until the fireworks started.......

Mikey immediately freaked out, lunging for Mama and squeezing my body as tightly as he could. If he could have crawled into my skin he would have. He kept repeating "Car. Car now." When we started to walk away from the fireworks (as Mikey was on Grandpa Bob's shoulders) he turned, waved and said "Bye-bye fireworks". When we got to the car I asked Mikey what sound the fireworks make and he replied "BOOM. BOOM. BOOM." Then I asked him if he liked the fireworks. His response: "Yeah!".

I had a great birthday. I received so many phone calls, texts, facebook posts, and cards acknowledging my day. I feel so special and so loved. Thanks everyone!