Happy 6th Birthday, Bean.

No, I know what you're thinking and that is NOT a pile of dog poop birthday cake. It is, in fact, an active volcano, don't ya know! Can't you see the spew of hot lava flowing down the sides as it explodes from the top? (That is, by the way, melted down Cherry Jolly Rancher for the explosion part and Fruit By the Foot for the lava down the sides). Maysen turned 6 this weekend and it was filled with cheers and thrills all weekend.

My little boy's love for trains continues to this day, mainly encouraged by random YouTube videos of Amtrak and other "bullet train" videos he finds. So, what could have been more appropriate than his first Amtrak ride. We have a train station in town, so Nate's mom dropped us off and drove with Griffin to Albany (45min away) while we boarded the train...just Maysen, Nate, and I.

It was wonderful! It was such a pleasant surprise for all of us. I've been on a train here and there, but never a "mode of travel" train like Amtrak. It was smooth, it was quiet, it was sooo relaxing. In fact, we decided on that 45min train ride that this must be our newly discovered mode of traveling. Maysen fell in love with this train, never diverting his gaze out the window as he rediscovered every day images in a new way.

This foot rest ended up being the coolest thing, for all of us. Within 20min of our ride, we all 3 had them up with our seats reclined and arms behind our head. We were enjoying life .. and our McDonalds apples.

The thrills continued the next day with Science Experiment Birthday party. We did experiments with Dry Ice, Milk Swirls with food coloring & QTips, Alka-Seltzer Lava Lamps, Instant Snow, Glue Gak, Baking Soda volcanoes, and the finale were 4 Mentos Diet Coke Geysers!! It was an absolute blast!

The fun and hilarity of chaos!

Maysen and good pal, Natalie. Doesn't he look handsome here?

Part of the loot

Digging in the piles of instant snow ..

I was so happy that Dad and my step mom Jo made the jaunt from California to be at this party. It was the first one they've been able to attend and it was such a help having them here as I think we underestimated the amount of help we'd need for this caliber of party. As you can see, even the adults were enthralled.

Even though I did a run through before the party, I needed to re-read instructions for the Green Glue Gak (which we deemed "Monster Boogers"). Again ... as you can see the adults were just as intrigued...

During the last few kids, we added food coloring to our vinegar when we did the volcanoes. It was a neat change. I, regrettably don't have pictures of our Diet Coke Mentos geysers. I am trying to get a few from a few of the other parents who had cameras out. If I get some I will post them. We did them in our back yard. Nate had my dad as an assistant and all of us were safely sitting on the porch. Safely, we thought, until Nate pulled the release trigger, dropping the Mentos into the 2L bottle and the top was on crooked. The diet Coke shot out sideways shooting most of the kids. I will admit that a few parents shrieked with surprise too. It was an absolute blast and I'm sure that we will be remembering this party for quite some time. Some of Maysen's friends at school were still talking about it today ... he was so proud!

So, Happy Birthday, My Little Train Conductor. I'll love you forever ...