My oldest turned NINE Sunday. Wow!! She requested to start the day with breakfast in bed. Each child chooses a box of sugar-cereal to share on his or her birthday. She chose Fruity Pebbles. Yummo!

Instead of having dinner out, which is our birthday custom, she asked if we could visit the Maryland Science Center. WooHoo! (I was secretly hoping she’d choose the Cheesecake Factory for dinner while we were down there.)

We started out in the dinosaur exhibit, which contained a huge mold of Brooke’s favorite dinosuar, the Triceratops.

After digging for fossils

and putting together bones to form a dinosaur,

we were off to the lobby for some fun with the laser harp

and the pulley seats. It took us a little while to figure out the seats using more pulleys were easier to lift.

We visited our favorite section on the 3rd floor and played with all the kids’ toys.

We finally made it to the 2nd floor for the first time ever. I was so glad we took the time to stop there. We saw a great show in the planetarium and got to explore space.

At this second floor exhibit, I was delighted to line up my stair-step children for a gratuitous shot. They are now officially 3, 5, 7, and 9 for a few months. What fun!

They asked me to close my eyes and led me to the “best dinner ever,” a giant blue crab. You can tell we’re from Bawlmer, Hon.

We spent some time taking in the sights of the Harbor, and walking around to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. What fun we had together on Brooke’s special day.

Thanks, Brooke, for celebrating with us in such a fun way. You are a fantastic daughter.