It's Great to be Eight!

The highlight of the summer for Spencer was finally, FINALLY, turning eight years old.  Since eight is a very significant birthday with being old enough to get baptized and all, we usually allow the kids to pick a bigger deal party place for their friend birthday party.  At first Spencer decided he wanted to do it at the Kids n' Stuff museum.  But while I was looking into that and gasping at how much higher the price has gone since Kendall had a party there, I was also planning a hiking activity for the Activity Day kids at the Whitehouse Nature Center.  I had gone to their website to see if I could find a map to print out for all the parents living in Marshall and saw a link for birthday parties.  I checked it out and it looked they had some really fun options for a very, very nice price.  And I liked knowing that the cost went right back into the center too.  Anyway, I showed it to Spencer and he loved the idea.  He picked the river birthday where they got to go out on the boardwalk by the Kalamazoo river with nets and jars and microscopes and see what kinds of critters they could find.

We wound up putting everything back into the river except a little crayfish that Spencer found that they let him put into the aquarium inside the center.  The kids loved meeting some of the inside critters too like snakes and turtles.

We followed everything up with cake and popsicles/ice cream bars and gifts.  They gave each of the kids a goody bag full of fun stuff too. Definitely a fun time and definitely a location I would love to have a party at again.

Then, on Spencer's actual birthday, we celebrated at home with just the family.  

He loved his Angry Bird's fedora from Kendall.

And his own Piano Guys shirt to wear to their concert in October. (Everyone got one!)

I can't believe my kids are growing up so fast.  But as sad as I am to see things flying by so fast, it is always exciting to watch them learn and grow and progress into such wonderful people.