2 Times Two

We spent Elsa's birthday in Michigan, celebrating with those other August birthday party animals: GiGi, who was visiting from South Carolina, and Carter (GiGi's birthday is the same day as Carter's, August 21). Elsa, Bob, and I took the ferry over on Thursday night, and I'm pleased report that there was no puking. On Friday we had the first of Elsa's three birthday parties, this one shared with Carter and GiGi, and hosted by Ellen and Dave.

We started the party with the presents. Elsa got to pick out one of Carter's presents all by herself this year. I pointed her towards the boys' age 2-5 aisle at Toys R Us and told her to pick whatever she wanted for Carter. She went straight for an 18-inch-tall dinosaur that roars and stomps and screeches and is generally annoying. I asked her if she was really sure Carter would like it, since it looked sort of bulky to take with us on the ferry. But she would not be swayed. Once he opened it, we decided she was right.

Elsa was lucky enough to get her first American Girl dolls from Grandma B. and Grandpa P.—the "Bitty Twins" dolls, one girl and one boy. Prior to this, I didn't know much about American Girl, other than that preteen girls flock to the American Girl store on the Mag Mile like it's Mecca. I'm now starting to get an education, thanks to a catalog that came with the dolls. First of all: There is an outfit, piece of furniture, and accessory for every situation a doll and her owner might find themselves in. Second: Sometimes there is a doll version and a human-size version of these items. Third: All of the above are expensive. But yes, Elsa loves her Bitty Twins—she feeds them, she changes them, she makes them take turns riding in her shopping cart. She named the boy Wyatt (after her current favorite TV character, Super Why—we're still working on the girl's name). Anyway, thanks Grandma B., for helping establish Elsa's taste for the finer things in life. : ) I have to admit, I couldn't resist ordering Elsa a dress that matches her doll's. I think she'll definitely enjoy the whole matchy-matchy aspect of American Girl.

From Ellen and Dave, Elsa got a cute sweatshirt with an apple on it, an Irish-dancer doll straight from Ireland, and an adorable personalized case for her coloring books (plus a new coloring book about animals). She also got a volume of nursery rhymes from GiGi, a Ferris State sweatshirt from Nancy, and a selection of books from Cheryl that included some classics from my own childhood such as "Ann Likes Red." ("Ann Likes Red" was originally Cheryl's book, which was then passed on to Ellen and me, then went back to Cheryl's kids, and now it's back to us again. And it's showing the love—the spine is taped and it's been thoroughly scribbled.) After presents, it was time for dinner and cake. Here's Carter and Elsa having their birthday dinner:

Carter hid from his cake, for some reason.

Not surprisingly, Elsa dove right into hers.

Saturday was beach day for the birthday kids. We headed to Grand Haven right after breakfast. It was a little chilly when we first got there, so I didn't even change Elsa into her bathing suit, but the sun came out shortly afterwards and we ended up with a beautiful morning.

At first Elsa only wanted to play in the sand. She was very tentative about going into the water.


Meanwhile, Carter couldn't get enough of it.

But after a good amount of sand time, Elsa gave the waves a shot. She decided that it was cold ...

.... but fun!!!

By the time everybody else was ready to leave, we couldn't get her out of the water.

After the beach, it was time for party #2 with Grandpa and Grandma J.

Elsa and Carter got dragonfly balloons, Backyardigans party hats, and of course, presents and more yummy cake.

Elsa got a great camel puppet, a Barrel of Monkeys, a Dora placemat, and some other goodies. Here are Elsa and Carter with their monkeys and barrels:

As always, we had a wonderful time in Michigan and loved celebrating it with everybody there. It was especially nice to see GiGi and be able to wish her a happy 86th birthday in person! Thanks to everyone for making Elsa's second birthday memorable.