Safari Party

We have a difficult time deciding what is the "best" way to celebrate Robbie's birthday. I make a cake (to make me smile) and then we just try to do something that allows us to joyfully remember him. In the past, we have taken balloons to the cemetery or gone to the park.

The one conclusion I have come to in this whole grief journey is that there are no rules. We will do what is best or what feels best on that day. Some years may include the cemetery; others may not. As I've said before, this isn't something they teach you in school so we are just winging it.

Yesterday, we wanted to be together as a family and make fun memories. Eveley knew it was Robbie's birthday and helped make the cake. Around lunchtime, we loaded the car and took a surprise day trip. The kids had no idea where we were going.

Being the awesome planner that I am, I had the juice boxes, sunglasses, hats, change of clothes,..... but when the big moment came, I realized I had left my camera's memory card in my laptop. So I was stuck with only one option -- my beloved iPhone. And it didn't disappoint! (The quality isn't the same as my macDaddy camera and there is not a zoom. So you can see our day just as we saw it.)

This place was crazy. We just opened the van's side doors and drove through the wildlife. I was a little freaked out but tried to hold it together for the kids.

We let Caleb wave but couldn't let him hold the bucket of food. You can guess why.

I took Eveley inside the small gift shop to use the restroom. She stopped to rummage through a large rack of advertisement cards/brochures. When I tried to get her to leave, she told me she was picking out a birthday card for Robbie. (you can see it beside her.) Sweet.

Bob kept yelling, "Your mama is a llama." I'm sure they haven't heard that before.

It was a nice day.