April 6, 2021

Cooper turns 4

We had a fun few days celebrating our new 4 year old last week.  His 2nd birthday party was pretty much rained out and his 3rd birthday fell right at the beginning of COVID, so even though we had thought this birthday would not be so much of a flop here we were in the midst of COVID still.  But even though we still weren't ready for a big party, we were thankful this year to at least be able to see our families to celebrate Cooper-- those are his favorite people anyway, so he didn't miss a thing.  


Saturday before his birthday we had my family over for a backyard party.  We had bought this Ninja Line on sale last Fall and it's just been sitting in our garage, so we put it up the afternoon of the party as a birthday present for Cooper.  It's the perfect height for him--he can reach everything from the ground but is learning to swing on them and eventually move between them.

He dressed in his superman costume and enjoyed Chick Fil A and fruit with his cousins.

And then Captain America showed up.  All week he'd been asking for a shield and it was perfect because his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins had bought him a new Captain America Costume for his birthday so he had a quick outfit change in the middle of opening presents.  He is very into pretend play--especially pretending to be different characters-- so costumes are his go-to fun right now.

He also got this Jeep from Grandma and Uncle Nick and he is a huge fan!  We had a fun evening celebrating with part of our family.

On Cooper's actual birthday, David took off work so we could spend the day doing something as a family. We started off with breakfast and watching the video compilation of memories of his 4th year and then we headed to have lunch at his Nanny and Pappaw's house.

He was so excited to get to open more present-- more dress up capes and masks, a DUPLO set, and a whole bunch of DUPLO cars to build.  He wanted to try them all out right away and had fun playing with Pappaw and his new toys.

Nanny bought Cooper his very first ice cream cake.

He was definitely a fan!

After lunch we headed out for an afternoon at Fossil Rim.

When I was trying to think of something fun for Cooper's birthday in lieu of a party, I thought this might be a fun and safe place for us to go.  David graciously agreed to use a day off to spend with us here

Cooper loved throwing food to all of the animals.


Giraffes are his favorite and they are the only animal you're allowed to feed by hand (rather than throwing food to them).  When we got to the giraffes there was one right on the side of the road ready to say hi.  Once it was a reality, Cooper was a little more shy than he'd planned, but he sat with David while he fed the giraffe. 

We stopped at the midway point and got out of the car.  We checked out the nature store and were pleasantly surprised by the prices of things, so Cooper got to pick out some binoculars and a set of animal toys to take home.  He explored the top of the hill with his binoculars before we got back in the car to see the second half.

Little brother was now awake and ready to check it out, so I sat with him and let him look out the window.

This zebra came right up to the car on our way out.  It was so fun seeing so many animals up close and the weather was perfect for this outing!  We spent the night at a hotel in Glen Rose and had planned to go to the State Park on Friday, but after a long night at the hotel we decided it was better for us to head home early Friday morning.  So we went home where Cooper got to play with all of his fun toys and we headed into Easter weekend.

It was a great time celebrating our new 4 year old!

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