Family Gatherings, Easter, and Colton's birthday!

 We combined celebrations of Colton's birthday and Easter with each set of grandparents on the two weekends preceding Colton's birthday, and then celebrated Colton's birthday as a family on April 10th, his actual birthday.  Below I will group pictures according to Tommerdahl celebrations, Kirkwood Celebrations, and April 10th celebration.

Tommerdahl Celebrations

We drove to Fergus falls the weekend before Easter and had so much fun!  We went to the gym with Grandma and Grandpa and learned pickle ball, we played Settlers of Catan, we went mountain biking, we played outside, we ate amazing food, we did an Easter Egg hunt, and Colton got his "group gift" of his new mountain bike (which he was ecstatic about!) as well as having a birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's complete with decorations, favorite foods, and ice cream cake!

Kirkwood Celebrations

On Easter Sunday, we went to Grandma and Grandpa K's house after church for a combined Easter celebration and celebration of Colton's birthday!  We ate yummy food, enjoyed an Easter egg hunt, and had a lot of fun hanging out for the afternoon!  Colton was excited to receive a new Loons jersey, a Vikings lunch box, and some cool room accessories for his MN Loons theme room.

April 10th - Colton's birthday

We started off the day with traditional breakfast in bed!  Instead of a birthday party this year, Colton asked to do something fun as a family.  We went to Can-Can Wonderland, an indoor mini golf place where each of the 18 holes is a work of engineering art.  For example, one hole is set up as a living room, that you putt the ball around in.  Another hole is set up as a pool table room, where you start by hitting the golf ball as if it were a pool ball on a giant table, and then continue from where the ball lands after it goes into one of the pockets.  A third hole is in a room that looks like a baseball stadium, where you "bat" the ball to start, and then putt it from where it lands.  There are holes with waterfalls, ferris wheels, drums, and all manner of items in which the ball is carried/bounced/etc to a new place.  It is really fun and the kids had a total blast.  There is also seemingly endless old-school games such as pinball, packman, and various other games that they could wander around and play as many as they liked!  It was a total hit!  We came home and ordered pizza and had Colton's choice, chocolate fudge oreo cake, and then opened presents.  While his main gift from us was part of his new mountain bike, he opened a few other items, of which a pokemon game was the highlight.  He got extra card packs from his sisters, and we spent the evening with him teaching us how to play.  He said it was his best birthday ever (I think he says that every year!).  He is such a fun kid!  (Tomorrow we will have his requested bday dinner -smoked salmon and banana bread - but we weren't able to make that today since we were at Can-Can Wonderland all day). 

Happy 9th birthday, Colton!  We are so proud of you!  You are everything I could have ever imagined the best son to be, and more.  You make me laugh, you help out around the house, you love to learn about and fix and make all number of things, you are my mountain biking buddy, Lego builder extraordinaire, and the sweetest "big kid" to kids half your size.  Most importantly you love the Lord with all that you are, and you let God's light shine through you daily.  You grow more amazing by the day, and I am so proud of you, and I am so grateful God blessed our family with YOU!