Hong Kong with Tom and Jenneke: Charlotte's Birthday

I wanted to make sure we did something special for Charlotte's actual birthday even though we had already celebrated it in St. Louis. I had thought about taking the kids to Disneyland, but the forecast was for very hot weather and didn't want us to be miserable. Instead, I thought it would be fun to try a new place (new to us) I had been hearing about called Discoveryland. Recently, a friend had gone and posted pictures and it looked like a lot of fun. It is an huge indoor (air-conditioned!) play place with many different activities. We left early in the morning, after Charlotte had breakfast in bed of course. I believe it was her first year getting breakfast in bed on her birthday, which is a tradition in our family. She was excited to finally be old enough (and didn't spill anything). It took us over 2 hours to get to Discoveryland. We took the shuttle bus, 3 trains, and a city bus.

My big 5 year old

On the bus

We got there pretty soon after they opened and the place was still pretty empty. They had rock climbing, huge slides, miniature golf, trampolines, a big obstacle course with tunnels and slides, plus more. The kids had a great time!

Overall view in the morning

Obstacle course

Charlotte flew down the slides!

The kids really had fun rock climbing. They both did it several times. I was proud of how brave they were.

We discovered how much the kids (especially Tommy) love miniature golf in California. They were excited to get to play here as well. It was a pretty simple course.

Around 12:30, I had to convince the kids to leave so we could get some lunch. We went to a nearby pizza place which sells HUGE slices of pizza. It was delicious.

Charlotte with her pizza slice (they cut it in half for her to eat)

We went back after lunch and played for a few more hours. I think they spent almost 6 hours there total. It started to get much more crowded in the afternoon. The original plan was to go with Tom to the country club for dinner, but we spent so long at Discoveryland, we weren't going to make it back anywhere close to dinnertime. The kids were exhausted from playing, so we didn't want to keep them up too late. Instead, we met Tom at the train station, rode home together, and decided to stop at McDonald's on the way home. I am not a big fan of going to McDonald's, but the kids both love it and we knew it would be fast and they would consider it a treat. We got home and Tom gave the kids showers while I quickly made icing and iced the cake I had baked the day before.

Finally, time for cake, presents, books, and bed.