Brayden's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Brayden!! Yesterday was Brayden's third birthday! He was so cute. Grandma called first thing in the morning to sing to him. As soon as he answered the phone, however, he says "Hi, wish me a happy birthday b/c it's my birthday!" Talk about not giving someone a chance! He was very proud about being "big" now. He even tried to convince me that he could sit in the front seat b/c of how big he was now!

I had planned early this summer to do a big, beach party. However, his birthday fell on a Friday which just happens to be my small group day. So, instead we stopped by the grocery store on the way to small group (he knows it as "play group" because he gets to play with friends!) and he picked out cookies and milk to share. He was thrilled with getting to eat so many cookies (and the other treats that the church office staff kept giving him!) at 9:30 in the morning! Then, we went to Mickey D's for lunch. After that it was home to an early nap. The kids woke up at 3 and we were off to Sea World. Sea World is Brayden's favorite places! (and for you non-floridians. . .you can get a season pass for the price of one day!) So, we decided on a night at Sea World and told Brayden he could invite one friend. Of course, he invited Abbie. He's still trying to win her heart for their marriage plans later in life! The rest of the gang consisted of us, the Clines, Grandad and Nana, Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the Galbraith Clan.

The husband of one of my dear friends works at Sea World. He treated us so special! Really, we got the works! Thanks Jay and Carrie! As soon as we got there, he took us straight back to the penguin encounter where, as you can see, we got to pet a REAL, LIVE penguin. This is Skippy, he's a rock hopper penguin! So, cool! Brayden loves penguins. Especially after many trips to Sea World, Diego's Pepito episode, Happy Feet and Surf's Up!!

Next, Jay took us back to the rehabilitation area of Sea World. Sea World takes in many injured animals and works with them to heal and then release them back into the wild.
The first tank was a dolphin tank. Jay carefully warned us repeatedly not to touch the dolphins. (at first I thought he was over-stressing this. I mean, come on, it's not like the dolphins will let us touch them!) Well, he was right on because those dolphins were begging to be pet and played with!This pic is not zoomed at all, in fact I had to lean back. The one dolphin wanted to play so bad, I had to lean back so as not to kiss him on the nose. Ok, as you can tell, I thought this was just as cool as Brayden did!

While back there, we also saw Sea Turtles and Manatees that we being rehabilitated. The Manatee was super close too! Next, it was off to the Dolphin show then dinner at Shark's. The dinner was so cool b/c the restaurant is located under ground right next to the Shark tank so one HUGE wall is the shark tank itself. What a cool evening. From there, the grandparents and the Galbraiths (have I said thank you enough?) left. The Clines stayed with us and we adults headed to Kraken to ride the roller coaster (Greg had never ridden it!) We loved it but the natives were getting restless, so off to Shamu Rocks, a killer whale show set to rock music with lights and everything. It was a great night that completely exhausted us. Our kids are not used to staying up until 10!

What a fun way to celebrate our little man turning 3. He is getting so big. He talks like crazy and is so intelligent in what he says. He also has a sweet, soft heart. He loves his friends and especially his daddy. He also absolutely adores his little sister. He wakes Gracie up every morning with "good morning, princess!". My other favorite thing is to hear him pray, "I thank you for this food, for your Wove (love) and for everybody that. . .(fill in whatever we did that day!) and do his verses (he knows 25+ bible verses!). Love you Brayden James!