birthday boy

Here's our nine year old!  Zeke had a hard week missing family and friends from the Bay Area, but we did our best to make his birthday special and I think he had a good one.  This picture was taken a few days before his birthday at a local park.   We're still scoping out parks in the area, but so far this one's our favorite.  Notice the fun water play stuff in the background.  

On his birthday, he woke up to a huge birthday greeting across our otherwise barren walls, and had panakkuken for breakfast.  A little later we went to the mall so he could pick out a new skateboard deck.  When Joe went to work, I took the kids bowling.  We headed back to our house after bowling so Mercy could get a nap.  Zeke and Brooklyn had fun playing outside and he got some practice in on his new board.  He also got a special birthday Skype session with cousins.  Later, we went to Space Aliens, a restaurant with a video arcade.  Joe and his co-workers met us there after the shop closed.  Yesterday some family from Northern Minnesota came to celebrate with us.  We enjoyed a barbeque in the nice weather and had fun spending time with them.  All in all, I think we celebrated this nine year old pretty well and he knew he was (is) loved.