Friday was Declan's actual birthday so we started off the day with opening presents in pajamas. Since we were travelling I only brought the presents he was receiving from us, and left the ones from extended family at home. I took video as he opened the gifts and post it here because it perfectly represents his developmental stage where he is so sweetly appreciative of the small inexpensive gifts we were giving him, yet at the same time, was quite disappointed when the well ran dry. Takes after his mama! All of his presents from us had a "National Park" theme to them, as we have really been enjoying visiting the US national parks in the past couple of years, and Declan is crazy about the awesome Junior Ranger program. He has become a Junior Ranger at 8 different parks so far, and he takes his responsibilities very seriously. Said responsibilities mostly manifest in picking up other people's litter while visiting the parks, but hey. Ecological awareness must start somewhere!
Lest you think all is too sweet and wholesome with our family, after present opening, Shane and I left Declan at the hotel with a babysitter while we went and did a callback audition with The Chase game show. Now we have left him with hotel babysitters many times, but this one really pushed the envelope. Her name was Mary, and she was 85 if she was a day and was so frail that she became quite winded walking from the elevator to our room (about 30 feet). I wasn't worried about Declan but the whole time we were at the audition I kept envisioning the ways in which Mary might shuffle off this mortal coil in our absence. When we returned, she was surprisingly as alive as when we left, but Shane had to help her out of the chair as she could not get to her feet on her own. So that was a new low for us in outsourcing childcare. Happy Birthday, Honey!
The rest of the day we walked over to Universal Studios next door, and had a grand time. It was actually a lot more fun than I was expecting for some reason. Highlights for Declan were the pet show, the Jurassic Park water ride that we went on 4x, and the Studio tour, which was as delightfully cheesy as ever.
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