Amelia's Birthday Celebration

Amelia celebrated her 10th birthday this year in two stages. On the date of Amelia's birthday we were on our family vacation in Boston. Amelia selected our family activities for the day - a visit to the Museum of Science in the morning and a whale watching cruise in the afternoon. What an action-packed day!

The Museum of Science was amazing, and we had to drag the kids out unwillingly after 3 1/2 hours so that we could get to our whale cruise. The cruise was very long because you have to travel over 90 minutes out to sea in order to get to the area of the water where the whales swim. During the first 30 minutes of the boat ride we were able to enjoy fantastic scenery of Boston Harbor and the Maine coastline.

And then the next 60 minutes before we arrived at the whale spotting area of the ocean looked like this.

Finally we were rewarded with several views of whale fins. I did not take the photo below (I downloaded it from the website of the whale cruise operator) but we did see one whale who showed his fin to us like this. I was not able to get any good photos on my camera because it as too crowded on the boat decks to get a clear view with the camera. We also saw several smaller whales as well.

We got back from the whale cruise pretty late so we kept things simple that evening. A quick pizza dinner out with birthday ice cream for dessert for the birthday girl.

Stage two of Amelia's birthday celebration came last weekend when Amelia hosted a birthday sleepover for her closest friends. We waited until the start of the school year to have the party since several of Amelia's friends were out of town for most of the summer. Amelia planned the event and I supervised while Scott and John enjoyed a boys' evening out. First stop was a pottery painting studio where each girls painted a piece of pottery. From left to right - Olivia, Elle, Lydia, Amelia, and Elsa. 

Painting pottery was actually a really fun activity and the girls did a great job with their selections. After our painting experience we returned to the house, where the girls played, ate pizza and cake, and settled down to watch one of the Harry Potter movies. All of these girls love the Harry Potter series and when they talk amongst themselves I sometimes can't understand what they are saying because of all the Harry Potter references and inside jokes.

From all the laughter coming from the guest bedroom where the girls were watching the movie, I would say that the party was a success. Happy 10th birthday sweet Amelia! We love you!