Happy Birthday!

My youngest nephew turned one year old this past weekend. My wife and I traveled to my parent's place so we could join in the celebration.

The party was in the city park. This made for some outstanding pictures (yay, natural light!). However, it was crazy windy and cold. That meant that if you didn't keep a firm hand on your pizza, it would blow away.

And let me just say, when a stiff north wind is bearing down on you and you're not *quite* dressed warm enough, this is when you really want to have an ice-cold Dr. Pepper clenched firmly in hand. After a while, I had to look down at my hand to make sure I still had the can there. I couldn't feel it anymore.

Naturally, the Young One had no idea what was going on. He was the center of attention, which he liked quite a bit. He wasn't sure what to think about all those colorful boxes in front of him. That was OK, though. Older brother and sister knew *exactly* what to do.

At one point, my oldest nephew (7) opened one of the gifts. Then, with a cartoon-ish look of disgust on his face he shouted, "Hey! He's already got one of these! Why'd you give him this? He's already got one of these!"

It's hard to address the serious concerns of a 7-year-old when you're trying not to wet yourself laughing.

The cake was finally presented. The Young One was placed next to the cake by his paternal grandfather (in other words, it wasn't *my* dad). Everybody on God's Green Earth could see what was coming. Except, methinks, for the paternal grandfather.

*splat*

My father later confided in me that a full minute before the splat he was thinking, "There's gonna be a splat. Oh well. At least he's not riding back in my car."

Plans changed. My parents ended up taking the Birthday Boy home with them for the afternoon. The Sticky Young One did, in fact, ride home in Dad's car. :)