Happy Birthday, Rusty!

Rusty is EIGHT! I can't believe it! I remember just a few short weeks before he was born walking from the back of my house to see Ruthie sitting in the family room watching a Baby Motzart video and my eyes began to water because I wanted just a little more time with her before the new baby came. Now, all these years and 3 children later, I cannot imagine a house with just one child. I can't imagine the meals, the laundry, the vacations, the car rides. The birthdays! We are our own party. But, continuing with this year's theme, Rusty picked one park and I shared it with him.

He chose Magic Kingdom and with him, It wasn't the race cars that we rode over and over. Well, it was, we rode them 3 times but we also frequented the tea cups...who knew? I had to convince him to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and The Jungle Cruise but I think the cruise ended up being his favorite ride of the day. You see, it's not as if he's never been it's just that Rusty is our easy going, go with the flow child. It seems now that I have been with him by himself, he probably had opinions the other times we went as well. He probably enjoyed some rides more than others, but being the kind, reserved person he is, he just went with the rest of us making no waves along the way.

Truth be told, the high light of his day (among all the "War Eagles!" and sharing a moment with a fellow Tiger and birthday boy at the race track) was shopping. I know. However, he knew weeks ahead of time that he would be able to pick out one toy under $50 as part of his day. As soon as we walked in the gates, he wanted to buy his toy. I convinced him to shop along the way not making his decision until it was time to leave the park. I mean, Disney World, no stroller...who want to carry a bag all day? So, we shopped on Main street, in Fantasy land, Frontier land and in all the lands between finally settling on a set of Puffle pins for his lanyard. On top of that, the park stayed open until 10pm but around 7:00 he looked up at me and said, "OK, I'm done now." Really? "yah, I just want to stop at McDonald's on the way home." It's his birthday and I am fully prepared to shut the park down but I can't compete with the pull of a little college football with his daddy before bed.

The best parts of the day for me were the car rides...just talking to him about nothing really...just that time where it's me and him and there are no other voices chiming in and no fighting in the background. I also really enjoyed seeing the park decorated for fall...that was a first for me. Rusty was awesome about letting me take his picture all day and he was so sweet, constantly asking what I wanted to do. We did just about everything and I got to know my new 8-year old Rusty just a little bit better. You can't buy days like this.

So, at the end of a wonderful day with my oldest son, we wander back out to the car and we stop for burgers and fries at the golden arches. We walk into the chaos that is our home, and flop onto the couch to finish out the day with a little SEC football. Happy Birthday, Rusty!