Aaron's 9th Birthday

On May, 9, 2017 Aaron turned 9 years old.

Aaron's 9th birthday was a little unusual in that it wasn't all about him.  His birthday fell on a Tuesday, and it turned out that Leah had a strings concert (which is part of her grade) on that evening.  Leah kept telling Aaron that he was special because he got to go to the concert on his birthday but he sure didn't feel like that.  To his credit, he didn't make a big deal about it and since it was his birthday, I let him play with my old iPhone on silent mode rather than make him pay attention like he usual has to at these things.  So we broke up the celebration into a few parts.  The first part was an early dinner before the concert.

Aaron requested spaghetti for dinner.

After the concert was part two, cake and presents.  Aaron requested a big chocolate chip cookie cake in lieu of cake, which I was happy to make as this is also my favorite.  Then he got to open gifts.  He received many nice gifts from family members but I've got to say that Matt and I got him the coolest gift ever:  an electric guitar!

Welcome to the jungle, Aaron!
Here is your own Epiphone Slash
"AFD" Les Paul guitar & amp.

Aaron has been wanting to learn how to play electric guitar for nearly a year now.  We've been using it as an incentive to get him to behave well at school.  He really does listen to music while he rides in the back of the car and has his own opinions of songs he likes and dislikes.  He'll even sing along and play air guitar to the ones he really likes, which is funny because he pretty much refuses to sing during music class at school and at church.  Matt came up with the idea to give him a guitar for his birthday rather than an elaborate Lego set or the like.  Aaron LOVED it and wanted to rock out on it right away.  It's still a little big for him but he'll grow into it.

"It's Aaron's World,
 it's party time, it's excellent!"

The last and final part of Aaron's birthday celebration was a trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg.  Last year, we all did something special for our birthdays but Aaron couldn't really decide what he wanted to do so we really didn't do anything.  We wanted to make sure we did something fun.  Initially, we were going to play hooky and go on his actual birthday, but unlike Busch Gardens Tampa, which is open year-round (and what I'm used to), Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) is not open on weekdays during May, only Friday-Sundays.  We wanted to go on a weekday so it wouldn't be crowded and we wanted to go in May before it gets too hot.  Matt was able to get the day off on Friday, May 12 so we called the kids in sick and we all went to BGW.

The weather was not optimal, but we really didn't have the time to reschedule so we went anyway.  There was an almost constant light rain, but since it was light, all the rides were still running and we just wore our raincoats and dealt with it.

The grey skies and near-constant drizzle
made us believe we could be in England.

Unlike Busch Gardens Tampa (BGT), whose theme is Africa, BGW has a European theme.  Most of the rides are roller coaster rides so like BGT, I'm good for going like once a decade.  I do not like roller coasters!  Matt and Leah can't get enough of them.  Leah is our little daredevil.  Her favorite ride was the Griffon, located in the French section.  This thing is ridiculous with a 90 degree free-fall drop and speeds up to 75 mph.  I think Aaron was glad he was too small to go on it so he didn't have to be embarrassed by admitting he was too scared to ride it.  I was not embarrassed; there was no way in hell I was riding this thing!

Before they drop you, they hold you at the
 top for a few seconds so you can get a good
 look down towards the ground.

Seriously, the Griffon is insane!

Aaron's favorite was the first one he rode, the Loch Ness monster (in Scotland, obviously).  He also liked the Verbolten in Germany although when he first got off it, he said he'd never ride it again.

By lunchtime, it started raining more and after lunch, they closed down all the roller coasters.  Only the kiddie rides remained open.  Leah and Aaron were desperate to ride some rides so they even rode the Li'l Clydes.

"Giddy up!"

By 2 pm we called it a day and after getting the kids' picture taken with a real Clydesdale, we left the park.  Leah was disappointed because naturally she wanted to ride all the roller coasters but Aaron seemed satisfied and that's all that really mattered.