Gavin's 12 Birthday

This year for Gavin's birthday he chose not to have a party but instead hang out with his Dad. Gavin wanted to go to the new water park that opened up out here so last Saturday off they went. The had so much fun. Gavin tanned really well and Derron learned a very valuable lesson about sunscreen. He only sprayed his back and shoulders and not his front side, so he looked like lobster. I tried not to rub it in his face too much. Of course they were too busy to take any pictures of this outing so I have nothing to show you.
However, Gavin also wanted to go shopping for his present and hang out with me and Callie for his birthday too. He would have loved for Madison to be here, but she is still living it up in GA. So, yesterday on his 12th birthday Gavin, Callie, and myself set off on a very busy and fun filled day.
First, we went to Babies R Us for some last minute shopping for Miss Olivia. We had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's and then made a quick stop by Target. Our next stop took a little longer. Gavin wanted to do something that Callie would enjoy so they rode the carousel at the mall. Callie was very upset that she wasn't quite tall enough to ride on the spinning cup without an adult and I am way to pregnant to even attempt to get on the carousel. Gavin rode in the spinning cup and Callie rode on the horse right behind him. We then made a quick stop by Baby Gap and then it was off to HOLLISTER to shop for GAVIN!! If you have never been in this store it is the epitome of everything teenager! It is LOUD and they walk around spraying the clothes with perfume for the girls side and cologne for the boy's side. Well, I said a silent prayer that we would NOT be in there too long, because lets face it, the music was TOO LOUD and the smell was TOO STRONG! I must be getting old. Thirty minutes and 4 shirts size XS later we were finally checking out. See, Gavin can only wear the shirts because everything else is too big. Whatever, this is all he wanted I told myself as the cologne boy walked by to spray the clothes and the air yet again. We finally left the mall and set off on our next adventure.
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Admission is FREE. They have donation boxes and we made a donation, but hey, we are all about FREE activities. Gavin had been here on a field trip, but they only got to see certain exhibits. We were there for 2 and 1/2 hours and we only covered an 1/8 of the museum. It looks like we will have to go back at some point. We would have loved to walk the grounds and see the sculpture park, but I had started having contractions so we decided to find something that involved sitting for a while.
We made our way to the Country Club Plaza. It's beautiful. Fountains everywhere and shopping, lots of shopping, great restaurants, and did I mention the shopping. Our first stop was the video game store, because in our family what's a birthday without a new video game. Then it was time for ice cream and some grown up shopping. We met Derron for dinner at UNO'S. The kids got to make their own pizzas. Callie thought this was the coolest thing ever. And Gavin, who had made it a point at lunch to tell me he was now too old for the kids menu, pleaded to order off the kids menu so he could make his own pizza too. Finally, at 8pm we headed home. Gavin didn't want a birthday cake which made me very sad, but he did let us sing to him. And today I convinced him to let me bake cupcakes for him since technically his birthday was over they would just be cupcakes.
I know this was a very long post, but we had a very long day. It was long, but lots of fun.