Four Years Old!

Today is Jake's fourth birthday and the folks at Sea World were kind enough to put up this sign for him. OK. That's not really true. It was just a happy coincidence that it was there. I think anyone visiting Sea World this year will be able to get a picture like this. But today really is Jake's birthday. We had a fun day. We spent a good part of the day at Sea World, but because Sea World is so close to our house, we were able to take a break in the middle of the day to take care of some other birthday business, namely getting yearly portraits made and getting our birthday cake on. Which brings me to the next photo.

This is Jake's R2D2 birthday cake. It has been my goal lately to create cake's that do not require specially shaped pans, so with a rectangle pan, a plate and a knife, I crafted this cake. It looked like a tombstone at first and when Brandon walked in from work and saw me decorating it he called it a snowman, but I think once the blue went on, it became pretty recognizable. I was pleased and Jake, of course, thought it was great. It was fun to make.

I cannot believe my baby is four. It's not fair, really. He came out big and then he grew up so fast.

Below are a few more pictures from our day at Sea World.

I could spend an entire day at the dolphin pool. A new baby dolphin was born six days ago. It's mama kept it pretty far from the onlookers, but we saw it surface a couple times.

The boys love the aquariums. Hard to get a clear picture without a tripod.

We have one roller coaster fanatic (Kyle) and one who's not so sure, but he'll give anything a try. Again, hard to get a decent picture. We don't have a very snazzy camera, and I don't have great skills, you know, photography skills, nunchuck skills.

The boys had to ride this one alone because it makes me and Brandon too sick.

And on a final note, parents, if you think your small child might have diarrhea leaking through his pants, please take care of it before taking him on any amusement park rides. That look on Brandon's face is the realization that a seemingly dry, harmless, dirt spot on the seat was not what it appeared to be. As the odor overtook him, he became aware that he had sat down in something far more sinister. But, don't worry. It wasn't so bad that he ended up looking like he had diarrhea. Just a seemingly dry, harmless dirt spot on his pants. Ah, humility.