Happy 6th Birthday to Benjamin!

It's amazing how these kids get older faster every year. Ben has learned and grown so much since we moved here and I know that he isn't so much a little boy anymore.

So every year, when the kids wake up on their birthday, they always find a present on their bed from the "Birthday Fairy" to open right away (it's usually clothes for them to wear). When Ben came down, I told him that silly Birthday Fairy thought she was funny and hid all his presents and he had to go look for them.

So we sent him off to find his presents throughout the house and the kids thought this was so fun!




After a yummy breakfast, we picked up Ben's friend Noah, and set off for a morning of fun at a place called Round 1.





This place was amazing with 7 floors of entertainment for all ages. We stayed on the 5th and 6th floors that were more kid-friendly....



and parent friendly too. That's right....they had message chairs for the parents while they sit and watch their kids have fun....man, these Japanese have thought of EVERYTHING!

Here is an entire "relaxation" room complete with TV screens and magazines for the parents to watch their kids through the window.


Once you pay to get in, everything you see is free...including unlimited video and arcade games that you can play until your hearts' content




In another area, they had a sports section where you could play ping-pong, tennis or virtual golf.




The best part was the view from the top floor:

The western-toilet ammenadies...

Complete with bum-spraying pressure options, seat warming, and flushing-toilet sound effects with volume control....

And the highlight was watching John try the bull-rider machine...in the end, the bull won!



When we got home, I was a little nervous about making a birthday cake for Ben due to the reason that I am in boot-camp-diet mode and am prone to weakness and temptations if they are around. So I pulled Ben aside and told him my worries of eating the cake if we had some, and he was so sweet about it, that we compromised on frosting the brownies John had made a day or two earlier and adding sprinkles and ice cream to it.



He loved it and I've never heard him complain about not getting a birthday cake....what a sweetie!


Happy Birthday to my little guy! We love you so much and we know that being 6 is hard since it's not old enough to drive or play with your friends after dark, but you are growing faster than you know it. Your learning to read, make new friends and play the piano...before you know it, you'll be off on a mission and then married with kids of your own. Then you can boss them around and make the rules. :) We love you buddy!