Waxing the Van

 A couple weeks ago, Francis, Grandpa Cermak, and Gavin waxed the van.

Francis put the wax on, and Grandpa and Gavin followed him, taking it of:

Gavin was very meticulous!

They did a great job.  The van looks like new!

Gavin's Birthday Party

We had Gavin's 5th birthday party at Airtastic this weekend.  It's one of his favorite places, as you will see in the photos!

These are all the balloons we crammed into the car.  Driving there was quite a challenge!

Gavin and his friend Ella:

Gavin with Ella and Nico (good friends from his last-year classroom):

The cake, thanks to Creating With Curtis!  It's Abby and Elmo dreaming of a chocolate chip cookie:

The cakes, surrounded by haunted houses (really, haunted "goody bags").  Nice job, Francis!

A cake for Evie:

 Nana and baby Melissa:

 Nana and Uncle David:

 The kids spent a lot of time in the basketball dome.  Yes, that's Gavin lying down in the middle, but he loved it.  He just loves to fall down, must be a 5 year old boy thing.

This look radiated Pure Joy:

 Down but not out:

Tackled by Ella:

 Now tackled by Nico (and still having the time of his life):

 Gavin ran around with Nico, Brandon, and Nick almost the whole time:

 Laura and her beautiful kids:

 Rany and Melissa:

 Nick and Gia:

 Gavin, Nico and Nick (I got them to pause for 10 seconds):

Grandpa Cermak and Grandma Cordes kibitzing:

 The BIG slide:

A much needed water break:

 Time for snacks and cake:

 First the big cake...

Then Evie's cake:

This was the funniest moment of the day.  When our party host cut into the cake (and into Elmo) Gavin yelled, "He killed it!"

All the other kids joined in.  And every time a new slice got cut (and Abby or Cookie Monster, as well ) the room filled with a new round of "He killed it!"  Luckily, our party host had a good sense of humor!

Here are the kids in action in the basketball dome:

Aisling's Birthday

Gavin got to attend Aisling's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  This was our first time going there!

I told them to pose for a picture and they only wanted to take "silly pictures."  Typical!

Gavin loved all the games.  And it was on a weeknight - we heard those are less chaotic than weekends!

Gavin was NOT interested in riding the horse.

The thumpey thing was a big hit!

Ella's Birthday Party

One of Gavin's friends from school, Ella, had a birthday party.  She and Gavin had so much fun together (read: they were so silly together) in the Cat Room that they sometimes had to be separated!

Ella's party had a Hawaiian theme - hence, the lei's and palm tree decorations

They took turns pushing each other on this tractor:

Playing on the neighbor's play-set:

Gavin helped get gifts ready for Ella to open:

A new Bolt dog:

And, when all else fails, hit an inflatable tree.  This is typical silliness for these two:

Birthday Party

Gavin has had a busy social calendar this month!  We went to the first of three friends' birthday parties the other weekend.  It was Wilderness Falls mini-golf, to celebrate our twins buddies Felix and Pierres' 5th birthday!

Gavin had a great time zipping through the course, and wants to go again.

My favorite blue-eyed boy:

After golf, the kids played in the arcade.  Gavin's favorite was Dance Dance Revolution.  I didn't even put tokens in - he just jumped and danced like a pro:

Spinning the wheel to see how many tokens you'd get (really, all the kids got the same, but they all wanted to take a spin):

Here's Gavin in action:

I didn't get any pictures of the birthday boys, but we had a great time!

County Fair

We knew that the DuPage County Fair has a demolition derby every summer, but we never went before because it conflicted with naps.

Now that Gavin is long done with napping, we decided to go this year.  We figured he would LOVE to see cars crashing.

When we first arrived, he and Francis rode on the merry-go-round:

Then we got to the derby track.  Gavin surveyed the scene:

And this is the position he quickly adopted!

When the cars started revving their engines, he covered his ears and said he wanted to leave. I tried to tell him we weren't leaving until we saw some crashes, but he was in tears before they even got started.

I took him out of the track area and we waited for Francis and Nana and Grandpa.  He didn't want to do anything else at the fair - once he heard all that noise, he was done.