Our Owen is 7!

We had a party for this handsome boy with our family. 

 Nana and Papa hosted with their awesome pool, backyard, and setup. We would truly roast at our house, unless we ran in the sprinklers the whole party. We usually have Owen's party at Wynt's house, but since Nana and Papa moved this year to a house with a pool, we gave it a go. It was a fantastic place for a party.

We will be calling again to have other parties there!

 Check out that view! Gorgeous canyon view beyond the trees. It is so neat as they can see the airport lights from their deck, and so can my Mom from her house, in the opposite direction. Neat that they have a vantage point to see that!

 When we asked O what kind of party he wanted, his response was "A tuna party." OMG we were dying laughing. It was the truth though. This kid really loves anything to do with fish. He loves learning about different kinds, reading about them, watching monster fish (do they ever actually catch one?), and going fishing.

He did also want a little bit of Pokemon to be integrated into the party. He recently learned about Pokemon at his school's book fair. We will not have the computer game, but I did try to learn the card game. And when I say try, I mean it. It is hard. I don't get it. So he is a collector and memorizer of the characters for now. And he has about 8 books about Pokemon characters.

 Zoey and Ara had a blast together. Not too long ago they were hard together, fighting (mostly Ara!), but now they are easy peasy and just love being together. Zoey found a medical bootie that she wanted to wear as a surgical cap. Totally normal, you know?

 Loving cousins surround Owen and Ara's wedgie!

 Elise Kay is so gorgeous. Can't believe she is my sister's baby!

 I did two basic fun games that we can possible reuse! This game was hard (just like the fair). At the last minute I opted to use fish bath toys instead of real ones. Because who really wants to take a fish home that is probably going to peace out quick? Not me!

 Owen made lots of decorations, he drew 7 posters of his favorite fish. He did all the signs labelling the food. I like simple and fun and cheap and cute decor. This was just right. The pretzels are labelled drift wood and the organic gummy worms as bait. We had roasted seaweed in the dollar tree pails (that I wanted anyway!)

 I love my boy and he gets so excited with parties and social interactions. We have a lot of fun getting things ready together. The actual help is awesome too.

The weekend of his birthday we decided to go on a surprise trip to Monterey! It was a BLAST!

We picked up Chris from work after a day shift (and after a stretch of working....) and heading to central cali. I made Chris pull over so I could freak out over this sweet pea field. It was ridiculously amazing. I would have frolicked through it if we weren't trying to get somewhere before dark!

 His shirt says give me seafood!

 Our friends were also there which was super fun! Brynn is in the photo as one of our adopted kids ha!

 Mama Cari and I met at Owen's preschool 3 years ago. We have a great time together. I love friendships even more in my 30's. I find few hold back much, and this kindred soul and I have ventured into our friendship raw, open, and ourselves, even from the beginning. It is really refreshing to make a new friend but feel like you've been friends for a really long time!

 Our mad dash to Monterey was about 24 hours, but of course we HAD to get our toes in the sand.

 One of my favorite moments from the weekend was our breakfast. We were up early (duh!) and checked out from our hotel. We found an awesome breakfast place and we were all sappy and happy and excited!

 He is special. Just a love of a kid. AWE! He was very excited to go to the aquarium. We went last year in the early spring and he has asked so so so so many times to return. It is his Disneyland.

 Ocean flowers and rustic settings.

 They had homemade coloring books with drawings and facts about sea creatures.

 Before breakfast I stole away for an awesome run. It is super silly but I will NOT wake early to exercise at home, but when we are away I am up early running the morning away most of the time.

 That's my super excited yet serious yet happy yet goofy face on a foggy morning run.

 We had a total BLAST in Monterey and Owen loved everything about his birthday. I know he's my kid and I am seriously biased but he is pretty darn cool. To an amazing year ahead for our boy!