James' 2nd Birthday

My baby turned 2! I can't believe it! He is growing so fast, this year just zoomed by. I wanted to do something really laid back and easy for his birthday party, just family, a few friends and cupcakes at the park. The party got off to a rocky start...I made a birthday shirt for James to wear and had these ideas of getting adorable pictures of him in his shirt. Once we got in the car and were driving to the park, James promptly vomited multicolored goldfish crackers all over his shirt!! I was devastated!!

To make matters worse, the park we decided to go to is one that we visit ALL the time and is always nearly empty, even on Saturdays...except this day. As we pulled up, we barely could find a parking spot because there were no less than 5 separate birthday parties going on at the same time at the park! Seriously, we go to this park all the time and I have NEVER seen this many people there before. The playground was so crowded, James had a hard time playing on it. Not that he minded, he was just as happy playing with the trees and sticks so it all worked out.

It was so cute to watch James and his friends from church, Jaxton and Talia, play together. They had a blast! At one point they decided that they all wanted to hold hands. Adorable!

Cake time!

We tried to get a good picture of James walking around with a cupcake in one hand and a stick in the other. He can't resist a good stick!

Then it was time for presents!

Here is a cool truck he got from Grandma Eloise. He loves that thing! He carried it around with him everywhere after he opened  it. Jaxton wanted to help him play with it too :)

His other present, a baseball toy from Aunt Robin. Jaxton loved it and James was happy to just play with his truck. Kids are so funny!

 After presents, Anthony pulled out his fishing poles and we all headed to the dock for some fishing. The kids loved it!! They had so much fun looking at the bait, the dolphins, the manatees, and the boats going by. Seriously, I don't think they could have had more fun if we hired professional entertainment!

James and Talia loved looking at the live crabs we were using for bait. James calls them "Bobs":

 Talia said, "Fishing is my favorite thing to do!! I ask to go fishing every day" :) She is a girl after Anthony's heart:

 We caught a few things: a big puffer fish and a sting ray. At one point I think they caught something else too, but I wasn't there for that so I don't know what it was. The kids LOVED touching the fish after we pulled them up. There was no fear!

It was a great day and a great birthday party. Happy birthday James!!!