pre-birthday festivities

This morning we took the boys to scenic Western Springs, Illinois, to see cousin Lucy's first soccer game (full disclosure: she is 3, as are her teammates, so "game" is a term I use very loosely), along with Johnny and Erin, Richie, Barb and Kevin, and Erin's parents. Erin very generously baked a cake and brought it to the park, so after the game was over, we took over a picnic table and sang "Happy Birthday" to Henry a couple days early, and he got to open his presents. After that we had some fun playing in the park with Barb and Kevin, and then we went off to the zoo with Erin and the kids. Amazingly, this is the first time this year we've made it to the zoo (which is pretty sad considering we renewed our membership in November). Henry was thrilled to be able to celebrate his birthday a little bit early, and excited to know that he gets to see both sides of his family for his special day. Such fun!