A Birthday to Remember

On Thursday, April 17th, we celebrated Maddie and Will's SECOND birthday with our friend Chris and their Mimi and Papa, who had returned from their European adventures just to spend the very special day with us.  The twins may not remember their second birthday (or much of our stay in Holland), but we will certainly never forget the unique ways in which we celebrated the twins' second year. 

We chose to spend the twins' birthday at Burger's Zoo, one of the two zoos that we have had the chance to visit during our stay in Holland and the one with which we were more impressed.  Unlike our first visit, the twins spent most of their birthday taking in the sights of the zoo on foot, though we did bring the stroller inside.  Will needed the stroller more than Maddie, who not only walked through most of the zoo on her own, but also conquered several flights of stairs on foot.  It's no wonder that she fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Will cried the entire ride home.  He said that it was his birthday and he could cry if he wanted to. 

After several hours of touring the zoo, we caravanned back to the Little Dutch House for a nap (Will) and playtime (Maddie) while the rest of our group visited the local train station to purchase their tickets for the next morning's ride to the airport and picked up the twins' birthday cake.  Once Will woke up and the group reconvened, it was time to party with balloons, pictures, presents, pizza, play, and a very special, very Dutch birthday cake!

Jim and I didn't want the party to end any more than the twins did, for it was our last night with Deb, Steve, and Chris.  They returned home - to the land of Target stores, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Starbucks Drive-Thrus - the following day.

It wasn't the party that I had once imagined throwing on occasion of the twins' second birthday, but it was a good one nonetheless; in fact, it was all the more special because it will never be replicated!  Had someone told us upon the twins' first birthday that we would celebrate their second birthday in The Netherlands, I would have never believed it.  And yet, here we are.  Please don't tell me that we'll be celebrating their third birthday anywhere other than at home - in the good ol' USA!

Mimi lifted Maddie up for a better view of the penguins.

Papa did the same for Will.

Maddie walked hand-in-hand with her daddy through most of the zoo.

There they go!

Maddie was fascinated with the fish in the ocean exhibit.

It looks as though Will was just as amused by the exhibit, but don't be fooled - he was more amused with running wild and shoving fistfuls of crackers in his mouth than any stupid fish.  He stopped for approximately 2.3 seconds when I snapped this picture.

Jim points out a shark to Maddie, telling her that it would surely eat her brother if he didn't settle down.

Maddie had to stand on her tippies to get a good look at the rhinos.

Will checked out the rhinos in between spastic movements.

The zebras captured his attention for a bit longer.

Mimi and Will look out on the animals of the savannah.

We couldn't leave the zoo without a stop at the play area!

And Maddie just had to take a turn on the swings!  It wouldn't be her birthday without some time on a swing set!

Taking one last look at the penguins...and yes, Will's hair is THAT long!

Back to the ol' bungalow park for some pictures and balloons

The twins LOVED their balloons from their Mimi and Papa!

Mama loved them, too...they were fun to photograph!

Will and Maddie probably would have been happy with a trip to the zoo and some balloons!  There probably wasn't a need to get them those gifts.

Maddie and her Mimi

I still can't believe that they're TWO!

He was practically flying down the road with his TWO balloons!

The balloons were made even better with a little wind!

We didn't think we'd be able to get them back in the house after all the fun that they had with their birthday balloons!

After dinner (pizza from our favorite restaurant in town) and presents, it was time for the cake that will forever haunt our dreams.  I had ordered the cake from a local bakery, requesting a typical children's cake.  One of the bakers had told me that if no picture of the child was given to place in the center of the cake, they would decorate the cake with a clown face.  Even though I am deeply afraid of clowns, I thought I'd let the bakers go ahead with this plan. 

When Jim returned home with the cake after it was proudly presented to him, I opened the box to find a cake that could be described as a "cake wreck" inside.  It looked as though the bakers had dumped every candy that they had on the shelf on the cake and around the skeleton face in a haphazard fashion.  If you cannot see them all in the picture, those candies included marshmallows, sprinkles, gummy cherries, marshmallow snails with gummy shells, marshmallow bananas, and white chocolate rounds.  I couldn't help but laugh...and proceed to take dozens of pictures to forever preserve the memory of the twins' second birthday cake.  I think it's safe to say that they will never again have a cake quite this unique, though we did talk about recreating this cake for the twins' SECOND second birthday party with all of our family members this summer.  I have a feeling that I couldn't recreate the cake even if I tried.

There's no telling what the twins were most concerned about here - the cake, the candles, the singing, or the horns.  It could have been any or all of them.

After the cake had been sampled and the leftovers had been trashed, we headed into the backyard to play with the twins' new soccer ball...

and those birthday balloons once again.

Being two RULES!