The Reed Family: Hudson's Reptile Party!

We have a FIVE year old!!!!! I cannot even believe I am typing this. In my mind, I'm still 25 years old. There is no way that I am really 32 and have a 5 year old. Ha!

I've never seen a boy so excited about his birthday. On Friday, he told everyone he saw that it was his birthday on Saturday and he was turning 5. He could not wait. Not even until 6:30 am the next morning when he was already up...on a Saturday. He requested 5 strawberry muffins with 5 candles for breakfast. He's very easy to please!

Then he got to open a couple of presents (and saved the rest for later!).

The monster truck track was a huge hit!

Then it was party time! We decided to hold the party at a park nearby and have Ed's Pet World come and do a reptile show. Hudson LOVES snakes...I HATE snakes...oh the things we do for our kids to make them happy.

The weather could not have turned out more perfect. We really lucked out. You just never know how it's going to be in March, but on Saturday it was 65 and sunny! Yay!

Little Harrison was not so sure about it being Hudson's day. He was pretty cranky the whole time!

All of Hudson's close friends came and they all played their little hearts out on the park while waiting on Ed's to arrive.

Boys will be boys. Hudson ended up with a goose egg on his head from playing on this slide the wrong way!

Love these sweet boys!

We sat all the kids on the wall for the reptile show. They were so cute! I had found these little snakes on Oriental Trading at the last minute and decided to get them in addition to some lizard soap and sweets, and they ended up being a huge hit! They weren't supposed to get them until the end of the party, but the birthday boy decided that everyone needed them a little earlier and handed them all out!

So we waited and waited for Ed's Pet World to arrive. Of course they were late and I was sweating a little bit! I was very thankful for the park and the beautiful weather because if those kids had been in my house I might have died--just keepin it real! We called the store and they said they were on the way and a little while later the guy doing the show called to tell me he was lost. I was starting to lose faith in these people---I have no idea why, I mean, have you ever been in Ed's Pet World??? I should have known better--ha! I had called three times since booking to make sure they still had us on the list, including the day before. I was just a little worried!

Well, I mean to tell you, Mr. Sebastian was worth the wait! This guy was AMAZING! I would recommend him a million times. He was so great with the kids! They had magic words they had to say before he pulled out another reptile and the kids just loved the suspense as to what was going to be next! He was so patient and answered the kids' crazy questions (like does he know Ariel--from the Little Mermaid!), and let the kids hold everything.

He started small with a lizard. I don't remember the type, but it was really neat!

Hudson got the royal treatment. Everything was all about him and he was the first to get to hold everything! He ate it up and I was very impressed that he was not scared in the least...of anything!

All of the kids got to hold every reptile, so they all loved that. Next, was a pretty big snake! All the parents were pretty much running back when he pulled this out! We were terrified!

Seriously???? This is NOT my child! Hey, I'm just chilling here with a big snake around my neck--no biggie!

The snake's head is just a wee bit close to William's face here! Sebastian wasn't worried though and clearly, neither was William!

Then he pulled an alligator out of a suitcase! Hudson said the alligator was so heavy! What a treat for them to get to hold a real alligator.

And then, the mac daddy of all snakes. Never would I ever hold this thing...

Check out the girls!!!! They were not scared either!

YIKES!!!!!!!!!

Sebastian ended the show with two smaller things, which were a nice change from the snakes and alligator! This was some kind of skink I think...

And then a bird that talked! Sebastian got the bird to talk into his cell phone and the kids thought it was just hilarious. It was pretty neat!

At some point during the show, Sebastian brought the birthday boy a beta fish! His name is Salty (at least today it was) and so far, we've kept him alive! Ha! The boys just LOVE having a fish and are very doting! Harrison loves to get right up to the tank and say hey fishy fishy over and over again. I'm just waiting on him to stick his hand in the water and grab him...because I know he will do that at some point! :)

After the show, we thanked Sebastian profusely and sent him on his way! Ed's Pet World gave everyone who attended a voucher for a free goldfish, so that was really neat too! I wasn't expecting that! Some of the kids went straight there after the party. How fun! If you can't tell, we loved this party. It was perfect for a pretty perfect 5 year old!

Hudson requested cookie cake (easy!) and we did that to end the party. What a fun morning we had!