The day after Ian turned six we celebrated with a fabulous birthday party. I made him a mountain scene cake complete with chocolate rocks, gummi bear hikers/rafters, and Swedish fish. I looked at it as a brilliant accomplishment. Ian looked at it and cried. Apparently (though he'd never told me prior) it was supposed to be a Perry the Platypus cake. He later adjusted and decided it was a really cool cake.
We'd already planned to drive down to San Antonio to see the Natural Bridges Caverns. I told Ian that he could pick anywhere he wanted to go for lunch. He picked Chuck E Cheese. Apparently birthdays and Chuck E Cheese are inseparably linked in the minds of our children. I googled a Chuck E Cheese only twenty minutes away from the cave and we went there for lunch.
We ate pizza, blew out candles, had cake, played arcade games and when that was finished up we piled back in the mini van to Natural Bridges Cavern.
At first sight Natural Bridges was already pretty cool. It had a miner area and was pleasantly wooded.
All three boys had miner hats bought (thank you Amazon) ahead of time just for this occasion. All three boys were ecstatic to wear them.
It was really great to have Cyndie and Heather with us for Ian's birthday as it gave every kid an adult helper plus an extra to rotate out if need be.
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The miner hats worked really well. They lit up dark places for the boys and were the envy of every other kid on the tour.
As a huge bonus the tour was one way. We actually exited out the backside of the caves and did not have to hike back up all those stairs we went down. There were a ton of really great formations in the cave that were quite stunning, and all three boys really seemed to enjoy them. Unfortunately as Ian looked over the ledge to enjoy the view...he lost his miner hat. We were forced to go home with only two, much to Liam's, freak out autistic melt down, distress.
After hiking through the caves which were a steady 70 degrees with 99% humidity, it was really nice to sit out in the breezy air while Ian ripped open all his presents.
Of course there isn't anything quite like getting lots of toys and random bits of junk you've been begging for. Plus Maga bought all the boys a souvenir in the gift shop which they loved.
Ian enthusiastically hugged Maga when he unwrapped the new Infinity characters of Lightning McQueen and Mater.
In addition to large amounts of toys, a tadpole to frog set, and books Ian got a pair of Godzilla pajamas (complete with attached tail) which he loved so much that he refused to take them off...for three consecutive days. These so inspired him that later on when he got Pop Pop's gift card he spent it on two Godzilla action figures.
That was a blast!!! That cake was awesome.
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