Happy Birthday Dallin!

Dallin was SOOOOO EXCITED to have a birthday. Lucky for him he got two days of celebration. When your birthday is on Sunday, there is a fun activity day and a birthday day. So... to celebrate Dallin's day we headed to the Natural History Museum. WOW! What a museum! This place is huge! We will definitely be going back (I am sure a lot when it is snowing).

We spent most of our time on the 4th floor. The floor of DINOSAURS. The boys were so excited. Actually, I think John and I love museums more than anyone. :) I was really impressed that the museum had an app that you could download that allowed you to take a variety of personal tours throughout the museum. We decided to take a medium length tour to catch some of the major highlights.

Along the way... we met up with these guys.. MaryAnn and Stephen! We were so excited to have visitors. Stephen was here in NYC interviewing for Med school. We can't wait to see where he ends up. And yes... this picture is out of place. This was actually taken on Sunday, but they did meet up with us at the museum :).

It was fun to watch the kids remember the movie "Night at the Museum" and find the various characters amongst the exhibits.

After the Museum, we headed through Central Park to find some lunch. Lucky for us there is a Shake Shack not too far from the museum. Yum! Yes .. they really are that good.

After some serious discussion, we convinced Stephen and MaryAnn to check out of their hotel (in New Jersey.. way too far from the city) and come stay with us. While they were off getting their suitcases, we took Dallin for one final birthday stop.

Dallin LOVES legos and he was more than excited to pick out his present.

Sunday (Dallin's real Birthday) we awoke early. Church starts at 9am... so this mom had to crawl out of bed at 6am to get the birthday breakfast started... Gorilla Bread. Good thing he loved it and was so grateful.

After church it was present time.

In some ways Sunday birthdays are the best. It is nice to have the time to just sit and enjoy each other. Here are the boys (John, Dallin, and Connor) putting together some lego masterpieces together. I love Father-Son time. So cute.

After opening presents, we took MaryAnn and Stephen down to the Staten Island Ferry to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. (We really did have fun with these two)

Dallin was just thrilled to be able to carry his candy along for the ride (thank you MaryAnn and Stephen). While riding along we met another women visiting NYC with her daughter who also was having a birthday this month. She was so sweet. She learned it was Dallin's birthday and gathered her kids around to sing to him.... soon there was quite a group singing and wishing Dallin a happy birthday. I think his favorite part was when she whipped out $5 and said "Happy Birthday!" He was grinning from ear to ear!

That evening we blew out the candles, cut and devoured the most delicious chocolate cake ever. So glad Dallin wanted the Black out Cake. It was fabulous.

Too bad I took the cake out of the fridge too soon... some of the frosting had begun to melt down the side of the cake. At least we knew it was really made out of butter :).

Dallin is such a sweet, fun loving boy. We love his happy-go-lucky attitude. He is always thinking of others. He may give me a heart-attack on a daily basis (always trying something crazy- he climbs on anything and everything)... but I sure do love this little guy.

Happy 5th Birthday Dallin!

We love you!