Mark Turns FIVE!

How did you get from this…

…to THIS!?…

I admit, it is difficult to have a child with a birthday between major winter holidays. With all the presents and parties and sweets that are part of Christmas and New Year’s Day, adding a birthday seems to be an overload. Nevertheless, we try every year to make it as special for Mark as possible.

We started Mark’s birthday morning early with orange balloons! Orange is Mark’s favorite color.

And the reason why we had to wake him up early is because we were going to Water World— “UK’s #1 indoor waterpark”! It was Mark’s choice, of course (better than a zoo in December).

Water World is in Stoke-On-Trent, a town that is two hours away from here. It opened at 10 am, so we left before 8 am and got to the waterpark before anyone was there. It was great!

All I can say is that it exceeded my expectations! It had seven or so slide-rides, a lazy river (that was not lazy at all, as it was more like a riptide but fun), a wave pool and a kiddie area for the youngest. Mark is taller than 110 cm, which made it possible for him to go on all the rides he wanted, and he wanted to go on ALL of them, dozens of times. I am glad I had Robert to follow him around, because after ten rides I was a feeling a bit motion sick.

I am glad that all my kids are so brave and love roller coasters and slides. It is fun to watch them dare to go on the craziest ones and enjoy them.

We were not allowed to take any pictures inside, so this is all I got before I was told not to.  Our Birthday Boy!

Oh, I forgot to mention the best part! We had family this year to celebrate Mark’s birthday! James, Michelle and the kids drove down to Water World as well that morning and we were able to spend the whole day with them. Kids just love spending time with their cousins, and I see how much they are missing this feeling of something bigger than just our little Watson family.

After playing at the waterpark for about five hours, we found a Pizza Hut (a British one, so it’s a bit different than the kind we are all used to). We had pizzas, and salad bar was included for all of us! Yum!

That night we got home around 8 pm, but everyone was exhausted so it was too late to open Mark’s presents (he got to open one in the morning right before we left for the waterpark). Next morning he FINALLY could unwrap all of his gifts.

Suddenly everyone in our household is big into archery.

And pirates…

In the evening, we had several family friends come over for cake and ice cream. Mark requested a chocolate cake with snow, Christmas trees and penguins.

Ta-da!

Oh yes, it was very tempting for the kids to keep touching these cute little penguins and try to lick the snow as they were walking by the cake in the kitchen. Mark loved it!

So now Katya is ten, Alex is eight, and Mark is five!

And we even got a family picture! Mark, we all love you very-very much!

And just so that someday I remember this, a few of Mark’s favorite things (as of this month) and accomplishments:

Favorite color: orange (but you already know that).
Favorite movie: Despicable Me 2, How To Train Your Dragon, Ice Age (all of them), Croods.
Favorite food: Oatmeal with frozen blueberries, quesadilla, grapes, mandarin oranges and Craisins.
Favorite Primary song: “Popcorn Popping”.
Favorite regular song: “The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round”.
Favorite toy: pirate ship.
Favorite place to go visit: Sardinia (how many five year olds know Sardinia even exists?).
Best friend: Konstantinos (it’s kind of funny, because that’s a boy in his class whose parents are Greek, and he barely speaks any English).
Things learnt in the last year: READ! Recognize music notes C, D, E, F, G (we are working on the rest), swim, ride a two-wheeler with no training wheels, get dressed completely on his own, putting away laundry, cut up bananas, do push ups and say good bye to mama in the morning without crying.

Mark, you bring so much sunshine into our family, and yes, you are still our baby. I cannot believe that he is in school all day every day making independent choices and making friends.

Happy Birthday!