Ahoy you landlubbers!!!

My baby is 3 now and he is just as adorable and cuddly as the day he was born. He is funny and very into pirates, lasers, cars and anything to do with a movie he has seen even once.
Enjoy this sea of pictures from Ben's pirate extravaganza!!
The day started off with a hunt around the house to find a treasure in the mailbox.....a pirate shirt for his day of pirating. The bottom left pic is Ben giving you the pirate eye and the next 3 beside it is his tough guy/pirate/super hero stance. It's also what he does right before he runs really fast, don't ask me why!!

Next, off to the zoo where Ben got to feed a giraffe lettuce. He was not at all interested in the idea when we first proposed it a week ago. He slowly warmed to it and last night, finally resolved that he wanted to do it. When we arrived at the zoo, he as on a mission: feed that giraffe!!! He wanted dad to go with him (lucky). I love this series of pics. The bottom left picture was right after he fed it the first piece. He is laughing and saying, "the giraffe licked my hand". He wasn't at all scared and was so happy. Look closely and you can see it's long tongue licking him.

Next, a train ride around the zoo (a total lame rip off, but it's his birthday right!!) and cardboarding down the hill. Can't make a trip there without the cardboarding. I can't say it enough, this is the most beautiful zoo ever. The giraffes have beach front property, at noon it was 73 and blue skies. Santa Barbara is what I imagine heaven to be like.

And last but not least, home for birthday cake and presents. Amelia's MM's (see my last post for the explanation). Although Ben doesn't seem excited in the pic (mainly because Amelia was touching him and he didn't want to be touched) he was so thrilled to get his very own bag of MM's. I (with the help of a few little hands that "tested for poison") made a pirate ship cake with a very sorry attempt at cake pop pirates. Borderline cakewrecks people, but I am posting it anyway because who am I impressing. Kudos to bakerella (the creator of cake pops) for the patience and total attention to detail to make these little creations. I couldn't even get my candy melts to melt properly (granted I have no microwave, so I am blaming it on that). Not a skill for me I guess. The ship was a hit. I managed to keep the finished product a surprise from Ben so he is seeing it for the first time in the pic at the bottom right corner. Amelia wrapped his present in homemade wrapping pirate paper and it was too cute to not show her writing and drawings. Ben got a cape that Amelia and I made while he was napping one day (inspired by my sis-in-laws capes she made for her boys while I visited her at the cabin). I was so proud of Amelia not spoiling it for 2 weeks!! He has yet to take it off. The pic on the bottom 2nd from the left is him seeing if it makes him fly!! His response: "it does make me fly!!"

When all was said and done, I have to say, this pirate birthday stuff was one of my favorite to plan and execute. But it's easy to do something to get to see this smiling face!! Happy Birthday Ben!