The Big Day

Sydney woke up to a house full of decorations. We let Kayleigh stay up a little bit longer and help us decorate. Kevin decorated the refrigerator with this....

Then the four of us enjoyed a healthy, frozen waffle breakfast with fake syrup and whipped cream (birthday girl's choice).

After lunch, we headed to the new, local aquarium where we were meeting a friend. We received a family membership from Grandma and Grandpa Hall for Christmas, but had not yet been. It was small, but nice. Very hands on. There were several large tanks that were open and you were encouraged to gently touch the fish and/or feed them.

We each took turns feeding krill to the fish in this tank.

Then we moved on to the ray / shark tank where we also tried feeding them. They didn't seem as hungry as the tropical fish.

Ever since we visited the aquarium in Seattle in October, I have become fascinated with octopus. They are so interesting. This aquarium had two, and this guy below was very small compared to the ones we saw in Seattle.

And strangely enough, there was a reptile room. Syd loved it and there were two chameleons.

Then there was a bird cage and the birds were very friendly! I didn't stay in the cage long because I got a bit freaked out.

It was a great place to spend Syd's birthday!

On our way home, we stopped at our favorite, local coffee shop because I knew the owner had a little surprise for the birthday girl. She had set up a "throne" and sang a special song for Sydney. I love to see how  much other people love my girl.

Then we came home and it was time to make the cake. Our family tradition is that the birthday girl gets to decorate her own cake. This takes all the pressure off mom and the girls LOVE it. They plan for months what their cake will look like. (I love this picture)

Sydney wanted a LEGO themed birthday and got some lego candy from Kayleigh for Christmas. We saved it for the cake. I also found these lego-ish candles and put them in her stocking for Christmas.

And we decorated with LEGOS. These decorations have been on the mantel since January 1st. Sydney has loved them ~ I think she likes the attention! She even helped make the numbers and letters.

She got a new knight costume because her other one was getting a bit small. She also got a small LEGO set (the Lord of the Rings spider) and she leaped across the room and flew into her daddy's after opening it - she was so excited!

Do you see the shadows in the balloons? We rolled up dollar bills in a couple of her balloons and she had to pop the ones she thought had money in them. It was obvious, but she had fun.

So that's it ~ she's officially 8 years old now!