The Cheese Factory.
My evil plan was a good one. Remember? The display-the-birthday-presents-for-a-week plan? By the birthday eve, Holden was going nuts. So that night, while tucking him into bed, we set his watch with instructions that he could not get up until he heard the alarm on his watch chime, which would be 7:45.
And this is where we found him. Flashing the “five.”
This kid is just pure joy.
And what fun it is to have a day that’s just about you. A celebration that you are alive, that you were born, that you are here on this Earth and being enjoyed by so many around you.
The wish list was pretty good this year. And Granddaddy was very good about reading it. Wowza. There was lots of jumping and whooping over this stuff. (Oh by me, too! I can’t wait until he goes to bed and I can play this game…)
And when we asked him what kind of dinner he wanted, he said…
“Oh…you can surprise me.”
Great, we thought. Which restaurants serve PB&J and what could the rest of us eat there?
So we took him to The Cheesecake Factory. Or, as Holden remembers it, The Cheese Factory. And why did we pick this spot? Why for the desserts, of course.
Ewan’s interest was definitely piqued during the singing part.
Which scared me a little bit, but Holden seemed unfazed.
And then Ewan crawled over me, painfully fast I might add, to help Holden knock that piece of cake out.
Holden had to throw elbows a couple of times when Ewan threatened to climb right up on the table.
And after we boxed up what was left, we headed outside for a little walk down Pearl Street.
Where else can you see and hear a didgeridoo on a Wednesday night?
Or a pig. That pig kind of looks like Ewan. Huh.
And then we saw this!
So Holden showed them his fave post: snake.
But did we get an actual gift card? No, Prana, we did not. If you bought something right then and there, you could get $10 off the purchase. That’s such false advertising. I think I’ll tweet about it.
Whatever the case, Ewan suddenly had a burst of excitement and started patting Hank’s head. Quite vigorously, in fact.
And then we discovered why: a play park. Holden conquered a huge rock right away.
And Ewan hung out and conquered rocks his own way. He ate them.
But the highlight of the evening was our visit to Jay’s store. Well, it’s actually the Crocs flagship store, but since Jay is a hoity toity member of a higher-up crowd there and Holden knows it, he has decided that Jay is the owner or something.
All I know is this. Ewan looks like he’s in a kayak.
And they had kiosk after kiosk of jibbitz.
And stairs. Ewan spied those right away. And then zoomed up them.
We knew then that it was time to call it a night.
And do you know what Holden kept saying all the way back to the car and all the way home?
That is was the best day ever. And it was. It really, really was.
