BJM’s Photos

Ally’s 2nd birthday party was Sunday, June 1st at Battelle Darby Metro Park. We were lucky to get a large shelter house shaded by lots of trees. We grilled hot dogs, burgers and brats. Lots of family came as well as some of Ally’s friends from our neighborhood. We brought the pop up tents for the little ones to play in. Ally, Annabel, Jack and Tommy had a good time hiding out.
Blue’s Clues was the theme since it is one of Ally’s favorite shows. She had Blue’s Clues invitations, a Blue’s Clues sign, a BIG Blue balloon and best of all, a Blue’s Clues CAKE! As a special birthday bonus, Nicholas even taught himself how to play ‘Happy Birthday’ on his guitar so he could accompany everyone! He did an awesome job!

She really enjoyed opening presents this year. Amazingly the things that got a consistently enthusiastic reaction were clothes! She squealed, held them up to herself and even tried to put some of them on. I think we have a future fashion diva here. (note the gold sunglasses with rhinestones-Thank you Brunners!) 🙂

And then perhaps one of the funniest parts of her party. . .we were all standing around talking. We turn around and this is what we see.

She reached up on the platter and helped herself to a big ‘ol hot dog and started chowing!
“It’s my party. . .I can eat if I waaant too!” 🙂

Thank you to everyone that came out to share Ally’s birthday with us!

Last weekend we also met Frank, Amber & Annabel at the Asian Festival at Franklin Park. We ate lots of great food, saw some interesting performances and enjoyed shopping through the booths of international goods. Towards the end we stopped in a shaded grassy area to relax and let the kids run around. We met up with our friends Mike & Heather while watching a Sumo demonstration. We saw more of those two big boys than any of us wanted to. . LOL! Heather bought a pink silk umbrella and wore a pretty hat that Ally had fun with. Maybe next year we will get Ally a little umbrella to carry around!

After the festival we went over to grandma McKean’s to visit with her and Bryan’s dad. Ally was in the mood to play peek-a-boo around the door and while sitting on grandpa Jim’s lap.

Last Saturday we went to Homestead park with our good friends, Frank, Amber and Annabel. Some friends of theirs joined us for a cookout and a few hours playing with the kids. The weather was gorgeous. We grabbed whatever we could before leaving the house and then grilled out brats and burgers. It turned out to be quite a spread. Ally played on the playground until her little legs threatened to give out. She went down a HUGE slide . . .many times. She had a look of terror on her face while going down but squealed with delight at the bottom. We laughed and quoted “You have some serious thrill issues dude” from her favorite movie, ‘Finding Nemo’ – LOL!