Natalie's birthday party

Better late than never! Pictures will be out later.

We had her party at a local farm this year - Marley Farms. Wonderful place! Huge facility, so much to do. There is a mini hay maze, playground, petting zoo with goats and sheep - and the animals are SO docile - Oliver can (and did!) go right up to them and hug them. They got to feed animals in the barn - llamas (didn't get spit on this time), pigs, donkeys. Two bounce houses. A covered area for lunch. And they got pony rides! Natalie was thrilled too - we were expecting it to be a pony ring - nope - they got to get on a pony and actually ride along a trail - she's been dying to do that but is still too young for most trail rides. It is really a neat place, and a great place for a party! Her friend Walker had his there in September - it was so much fun - I booked it when we got home. That's also when a llama spat on me. Grossest thing ever. And I couldn't even drop an F-bomb because there were too many kids around. Had about 16 kids total - some friends from school, family friends, and friends from Natalie's old pre-school. And of course Mitz, Aunt Jamie, and Uncle Mike (who made her day with his gift. God love him, he tracked down the Zhu Zhu pet she wanted most - the grey one - Numnums. He went through Craigslist to get it!).

The farm also operates as a rescue - they even have camels and zebras there! And a zonkey. They took in a pregnant donkey, and when it gave birth, apparently whoever had it originally mated it with a zebra. No shit. Donkey face, zebra-striped legs. Wild.

On Natalie's actual birthday we had dinner at home. Tacos (her request) and a giant cupcake cake. Nicholas, Rex, Ray and Mitz came for dinner. Lots of fun!