martinzoo

Today was GB’s actual 9th birthday. Since we had already had the big family birthday, and his kid party had to be postponed until his foot is healed, today was pretty low keyed. I decorated with banners and balloons and he liked that. And I got him a chocolate ice cream cake. He really enjoyed his presents.

In the video above, he is receiving his new Firebelly toad. Every new animal is a delight for him and I tried to capture that delight with the video feature of my camera. But it is the first time I’ve tried it and I didn’t know how much film I could take…. obviously only 45 seconds, but you can’t repeat a moment, so that’s what I got. I’ll try better next time. He WAS very thrilled with his new toad. He has been named Pyro, which means fire or heat.

He also got a new chess set that came in a nifty silver suitcase and has other games like checkers, cards, mancala, dominos, backgammon, and a jenga type game. This will be fantastic for passing time at swim meets. He has become so obsessed with chess that he even plays strangers online….(psssttt ~ sometimes Daddy helps ) He’s really getting pretty good. He regularly plays with his Daddy and his big brother, Jabem. And occasionally he plays with Uncle D. I’m sure he’ll be after Grandpa the next time he comes over.

He’s very into aliens these days, so his brother gave him the movie Independence Day .

Aquagirl gave him an X-files video game. He was pretty happy to get it, but it’s way too hard for him. But he’ll grow into it someday.

We also got him another video game called Destroy all Humans. Sounds terrible, but it’s actually kind of funny.

This afternoon we went to the theater and saw Arthur and the Invisibles… excellent! We all loved it. It was action-adventure about a boy whose Grandfather disappears and some greedy land developers are trying to force his Grandmother to give up the land. Arthur learns he must follow his Grandfathers clues to find a fortune that will save the family home. Along the way he unlocks the passage to a secret world out in his backyard filled with tiny little people called Minimoys. They are so cute in an animated way. I love the way this movie is half real world and half cartoon. In order to find the treasure and his lost Grandfather, Arthur has to help save the Minimoys world. I highly recommend this movie!