The Tangrens

Actually we've been celebrating for two weeks!(I'm giving you fair warning that this is long) I'm blaming my tardiness on his birthday never ending. He was none the wiser. He just thought it was great that he just kept having fun adventures and parties. So it all started on Monday the 11th of May. Do you remember back that far?

Cue the swirling pictures of memory.

I know it's blurry that's what you get trying not to use a flash with a busy kid. I just love his smile. We'll blame it on the swirling :)

Derek had taken the day off of work to celebrate with us. We didn't have any clue of what we'd do to celebrate but we were determined to do something fun. As you now know Hyrum loves to watch the space shuttle take off and as luck would have it Atlantis was taking off at noon ON HIS BIRTHDAY. We knew we needed to watch that. So we waited around (and Hyrum mowed the lawn- that's becoming a near daily event) until the shuttle took flight. I have to say if you haven't watched a real time lift off in a while I recommend it ( for one they are going to be retiring the space shuttles soon and for two it really is SOOO exciting- I was so surprised just how excited I got) I mean we are sending people into SPACE. I think we've gotten real hum drum about that and it really is amazing if you think about it. After the lift off (and Hyrum said "again" four seconds into the flight) I was thinking how much Hyrum would love to have a toy space shuttle like the space shuttle toy I remember my sister having as a kid. I was trying to think of where we could get one and I said "Remember where we went and saw that 3-D movie? Didn't they have shuttles in the gift shop there?" to which Derek replied "You mean the Planetarium?" Duh! So we decided to take off to the Planetarium for the day.

One of Hyrum's favorite things at the planetarium was this ball rollercoaster ( for lack of a better term)
It was two stories high. Hyurm couldn't get enough of it.

They had exhibits about planets in our solar system, eclipses, solar power, meteorites, weather and more but Hyrum couldn't be pulled away from the rocket section. His favorite videos presentations were "History of rocketry and The fundamental physics of rocket propulsion"....Yeah.
But we were able to briefly tear him away for a little walk on the moon and Mars.

And at the end of the day he did get a little space shuttle for his birthday. We didn't even pay attention and got him Endeavour but I guess that shuttle was on the tarmac too in case Atlantis had damage on lift off. Oh well. :)
It lifted off at our house! On our way home we discovered that Grandma and Grandpa Wadsworth's gift arrived so he was able to get that too on his birthday. I didn't get pictures of him opening it.
As soon as he got it out of the box he climbed right on in and it nearly dumped him out because it didn't have wheels. That startled him but he hopped out and got right to work trying to put the wheels on.

After his walk in the wagon he got his cake before heading to bed after a long day.
Elmo seems to be pleading for mercy huh? It's almost like he knew what was coming.

A good end to a good day.

Fast forward five days later to the 16th of May. Grandma and Grandpa Tangren ( and of course Uncle Dave) came to haul down all of Derek's childhood memories and everything they've had for us and waited till we had a house to give us. We celebrated Mother's day, tilled up garden spots in the back yard (more about that later) and had a party for Hyrum. I'd invited six families and had the potential of 14 kids here. ( I know I'm crazy) But as it turned out we had two families able to make it last minute and only four kids for Hy's party.
We set up the party downstairs since it was warmer and we had a lot of space down there. The first game was a train themed cake walk type game then pin the caboose (or steam for the older kids) on the train. Then cake and ice cream. We also had a game that if anyone heard a train go by the first one to tell me would get a prize. It went pretty fast but I think everyone had fun.
It ended up being a Brinkerhoff party.

He loved all of his gifts but Grandma and Grandpa Tangren's gift was THE gift of the day . This is his reaction to seeing it...

This is what you call a tricked out tricycle! He even gave his buddy a ride on the back.
He was very appreciative of his guests for coming.
Another great day!

Now fast forward another 6 days til the Fri the 22nd. Derek took another day off to take Hyrum out for a day with Thomas!
This was our gift to Hyrum for his birthday. Now call me a cynic but I thought that a they just dressed up the Heber Creeper to look like Thomas but here is proof that they didn't. That would be the Heber Creeper. (and Hyrum thought it was really cool)
Thomas is REAL!! :) There were a lot of things to do. They had all kinds of train sets to play with and look at and a hay maze for kids to wander through.


As you may or may not be able to tell Hyrum is not in the best mood. He wasn't planning on a big trip. We were trying to keep it a surprise but we've discovered that you kinda need to prep little kids for this sort of thing. They got out of the car and immediately Hyrum said he wanted to go home...but he warmed up to the situation a bit as the day went on.

His favorite things of the day would have to be his "Harold" tattoo,
His Monkey balloon,
And the Thomas train ride with Dad.
Some videos from the tracks...


Hyrum didn't know what to think about the conductor. That's who he keeps looking at. He looks a little beady eyed huh? ;)

He wanted nothing to do with Sir Topham Hatt so maybe that's why he was so suspicious.


Another good ending to the last birthday event.

DONE!! Whew!