Lorelei Turns Fourteen

We spent Lorelei's birthday celebrating with many of her favorite things!

We had our traditional presents-then-breakfast. I went a bit extra-festive on the traditional table this year.  I had a poster in the birthday bin I found a few years ago, so just took some color ideas from that. :) She chose french toast, REAL bacon (vs turkey), and strawberries for breakfast this year.

You really can't see it well in the pic...but it's worth mentioning and is behind her...
Double rainbow on her birthday! :)

Then we headed off to the aquarium for the day. (We dropped Brad off at a workspace on the way...you will see why later!) We had only been to the aquarium once about 10 years ago, so it had changed quite a bit! It reminded us quite a bit of the Omaha Zoo Lied Jungle! It was small enough we were able to go through the entire thing and then double back to see a few favorites the kids requested to see again. Even though we have been blessed to see so many amazing zoos, aquariums and the like, I love that it is a new and different experience each time getting to see God's amazing creation!

New Christmas music (she listens to it year-round)
and a new book to read for the drive!

Tex Mex restaurant at the aquarium for lunch!

There were a surprising amount of birds at the aqurium, including a burrowing owl.
This was a favorite because Makin had recently read a book about them!

This fish did not look real, but it was!

Seaweed? Nope, seahorse!

Sawfish!

Not the best pic but a fun moment...
Getting to watch a sloth eat! (Upper left!)

Hanging out with the little blue penguins!

Barbara!
(The boys LOVE to give Lor a hard time. They call EVERY manatee Barbara...
any Veggie Tale fans reading this will understand. ;) )

Axolotl's were another fun creature to see!

Then we headed back up to meet up with Brad's childhood friend, Dennis (who you may remember we saw about a month ago!) and his wife Racheal who were in town. We met up with them at an Italian restaurant in order to keep Lorelei's birthday supper of spaghetti tradition! (We are fairly certain she has chosen spaghetti ever since she could tell us what she wanted!)

We told Lorelei she could choose any dessert out and she chose The Yard for an extra special milkshake! So yummy!

So much fun celebrating our girl!