Happy Birthday, Luke!

Luke kicked off his 5th birthday by opening presents in the morning -- a large Lego set of a 3-story department store from Nana and Papap and a pitching machine from Mom and Dad. I took brownies and fruit salad into school at lunch time and Luke came home with me afterwards.
A package arrived from Uncle David, Aunt Lori, and Sara: very cool night vision goggles and some motion detector equipment that sounds an alarm when tripped. Great for playing spies, which he and Bryn like to do. That evening we went to Ruby's Diner where the wait staff serenaded Luke upon giving him a hot fudge sundae, which he dutifully shared with his big sister. But the celebration didn't stop there. Luke's birthday fell on a Wednesday, so his party was four days later at the Little Gym. Nama came up for it, and from her Luke got a much wanted panda pillow pet and a cool science kit, too
The birthday party began with a karate warm up:

Then, air track:

And the highlight, the tower of power:

Followed by this last stunt:

And one more for the birthday boy:

We had bought 3-D Star Wars paper plates, but in all honesty, I didn't think the 3-D glasses worked well. Think the light sabers were supposed to look three-dimensional.
The highlight of the party was a 5-pound gummy bear that we had gotten in lieu of a birthday cake. I wasn't able to puncture the gummy bear with the small candles, so we put candles on a stack of brownies instead. The huge gummy bear was a big hit, but things did take a slight turn for the worse when the party goers started yelling that they wanted a piece of the "BUTT!!!!" and you can guess what body part was next offered up! From 15 guests Luke took home two garbage bags full of presents. He opened the presents in only one of the bags when he got home and is, shockingly, saving the second bag for tomorrow. He's gotten some cool gifts this year -- a remote-controlled vehicle that can traverse land and water; a clone troopers helmet; his first Erector set; two lacrosse sticks; some Beyblades (dueling tops); an erupting volcano kit; and a game of logic. You can't ask for a better birthday than that!