Happy Birthday Eli!

September 1st, 2008 Eli turned 6! Matt and I cannot believe we have a 6 year old son. Where did all the time go?
To celebrate Eli's day, we allowed him to choose all of the activities for the day. After brainstorming and a few discussions Eli came up with his ultimate day.
We started the morning with happy-face pancakes. The chocolate chip pancake had banana eyes, whip creme hair, a strawberry nose and a bacon mouth. These details were very important. Next on the agenda was miniature golf. We took Eli to a jungle themed golf course where we were joined by our good friends, the Swansons. We played miniature golf amongst headhunters, crocodiles, monkeys, water spitting frogs, and other fun jungle themed elements. After golf, we headed over to the batting cages so that Eli could try and hit a few balls.
His choice for lunch was KFC. Although that seems easy enough, I didn't do adequate research prior to the adventure, and we ended up driving around for about 30 minutes looking for one. He enjoyed his popcorn chicken and then we headed over to Toys R Us to go shopping. He was armed with some of his birthday money and after roaming through the store, twice, he ended up with a new Wii game and an emergency vehicle station.
We returned home to play with his new toys and then went up to the pool for one last swim before it closed for the year. He wanted to swim the lanes so bad, and while that is usually reserved for adults, Matt took him over to the lane and he swam the ENTIRE length of the pool! Matt and I think it is about 50 meters. We are so proud of him, and he was really proud of himself too. The Swansons came over for BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs, some Wii fun, a few more presents and cake.
The whole day was really about Eli. While we did put a stop to abuse of his brother, for the most part we let him do what he wanted. He was so happy with his special day!
We are so blessed that Eli has such a sweet heart, and although at times we can't believe he does some of the things he does, he is such a great little boy and we love him so very much.