Day 1,769 - Photographer at Work

It’s always fun to watch one’s children develop a new skill. It doesn’t matter if it’s an academic, athletic, or an everyday life skill. It’s still a fun process to watch unfold. Today, Ellie had one of those moments as she put one of her new birthday gifts to good use and broadened her artistic horizons.

Today was a little bit of an unusual day around the Holt household. As Bethany was working from home, I decided the best thing for the rest of us to do was make ourselves scarce. Therefore, around 9:00 am, Ellie, Ethan, and I loaded up in the car and set out for the Zoo.

While the kids have always loved the Zoo, I’ve noticed over the past year that they are getting a little less excited about going over time. That was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess. We have had Zoo passes for practically Ellie’s entire life. We also were just there twice a couple of weeks ago. Today though, Ellie was actually excited for our trip. The main reason for that being the case was that she was taking along her new camera to take some photos.

Of course, Ellie had to take a photo of her favorite target.

Once we reached the Zoo, the three of us set out for Africa where we made our way around the grounds. It didn’t take Ellie long to begin taking video of the baboons leisurely walking around their enclosure. That was only the beginning of her videography practice for the day. As we circled Africa, she found time to take photos of many of the animals that she saw along the way including the chimpanzees, a pair of tortoises, gorillas, and some birds.

Once we completed a full circle of Africa, we hopped on the Sky Safari to sail over the top of the animals. It was there that Ellie really put her camera to use by taking 180-degree video of the grasslands under her as we flew over the animals. She also took plenty of shots of the giraffes, zebras, and ostriches that resided below. After our round trip was over, it was time to head back to the front section of the Zoo for a quick lunch before taking in some more animals.

Our next stop after lunch was the aquarium where Ellie once again had a ball playing photographer. She seriously made a stop at almost every display to snap some photos of the animals within. My favorite had to be some of her awesome shots of Tortellini the sea turtle. The pride that she showed in sharing her favorite shots with me was pretty awesome to behold too.

Next on the agenda was a pair of quick stops to visit the penguins and the sting rays before making our final stop of the day at the sea lion enclosure to watch animal training. It was here where Ellie’s camera received its biggest workout of the day as she took quite the series of videos highlighting nearly every part of the training.

By the time we finished up at the Zoo, Ellie had taken around 40 photos and videos and had done a fantastic job documenting our trip. Like I said earlier, it’s really fun to see one’s child learning a new skill and I’m certainly excited to see what exactly she chooses to take pictures of next!

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Day 1,768 - Ellie's Birthday Bonanza

It’s kind of unbelievable to even process but Ellie had her eighth birthday last week. Yes, that’s correct; she is eight years old! It’s crazy because it seems like it wasn’t too long ago that we took a picture of Ellie stretched out on her changing pad the day we brought her home from the hospital. Seeing as how turning eight years old is quite the achievement, we definitely found it necessary to celebrate. In fact, we ended up having a full week of celebrating Ellie.

Are we actually sure that's the same kid?

The week of celebrating Ellie started on Tuesday with her heading up to my parents’ house to spend the night. While she’s spent the night up there before, Bethany and I have always been along. On this occasion, she was actually spending the night all by herself! Around 9:00, Ellie, Ethan, and I loaded up in the Traverse and headed towards Dearborn, which is the halfway mark between Kansas City and Savannah. Shortly after we arrived, my mom pulled in to the gas station parking lot where Ethan and I said a quick goodbye to Ellie before she and my mom headed on their way.

During her time in Savannah, it certainly sounded like they had quite the fun night. She got to eat out twice, go shopping for a new outfit, got a pedicure, and even saw a movie at the theater! In other words, she was definitely spoiled during her time in Savannah. Honestly, it was good for her to just have a little time by herself. I know that she sometimes feels like she has to share so many experiences with Ethan that it was really fun for her to get a special experience all for herself.

Fast forward to Thursday and Ellie’s actual real-life birthday. Like any good mom would, Bethany took the day off from work to celebrate the special day with Ellie. When we asked Ellie how she would like to spend the day, she thought about it for approximately 35 seconds before responding that she wanted to go to Worlds of Fun. While we waited for Worlds of Fun to open though, she was able to get lots of playtime in on her brand-new ninja course in the backyard. If you’re at all familiar with Ellie’s dream of becoming an American Ninja Warrior, then you realize how this was the perfect gift for her. In less than fifteen minutes, she had even conquered the course in its entirety. That hasn’t stopped her from doing it time and time again over the past few days though.

Once Worlds of Fun opened for the day, the four of us headed to the park for a day of adventures. During our time with our season passes thus far, Ellie has wanted to take in some of the park’s roller coasters. However, she’s been a little intimidated to ride in a car by herself as she would have to do with Ethan in tow. With another adult with us though, her time had finally come. The first coaster that she chose to conquer was the legendary Timber Wolf.

As we strapped in, Ellie continually looked at me for affirmation that everything was going to be ok as she was more than a little intimidated. When the climb up the first big hill began, it goes without saying that she was freaking out a little. Once we reached the top though, there was nothing to do but hold on tight. As we careened down the first big hill, I looked over at Ellie to see her arms up in the air and a big smile on her face as we bounded around the track. By the time we had reached the end, Ellie looked at me and immediately asked to ride again so that’s exactly what we did. After our second trip, Ellie found Bethany waiting for us outside and recruited her to ride as well. By the time we were done, Ellie had ridden the Timber Wolf three times and Prowler twice. I think it’s safe to say that the girl loves roller coasters!

With that, we fast forward again to Saturday and Ellie’s birthday party. I don’t remember when but at some point, Ellie decided that she actually wanted to have a birthday party with her friends this year. As such, we asked her to make up a guest list of people to invite which ended up totaling four girls from her class. As you can see, Ellie wanted to keep the guest list quite exclusive. Of course, any party needs some cake so Bethany and Ellie spent the morning whipping up a batch of “Better Than Everything” cupcakes for her to share with her friends.

Per Ellie’s request, we had her party at City Park in Liberty. The park not only has a playground but also has a great splash pad. Somewhat unfortunately, two of the members of her guest list were indisposed and could not attend. That didn’t stop Ellie and the remaining two from having a great time running back and forth between the playground and the splash pad while enjoying their time together. By the time we were done, the girls (and Ethan) had spent over two hours playing hard. I’m certain that everyone slept well that night too!

Finally, Sunday and the final day of a week of celebrating Ellie’s birthday rolled around. On this day, we were joined by Bethany’s parents and Ellie’s cousins for a full day of play. Of course, it wouldn’t be a celebration of Ellie without her specially requested birthday meal of, you guessed it, pancakes, sausage, and eggs, followed by an Oreo ice cream cake for dessert.

Wow, after reading back through all of that, it’s fairly obvious that Ellie had an incredibly full week celebrating her birthday. Now, I’m just curious if she’ll expect a big deal to be made out of the rest of her birthdays to come. We’ll just have to see!

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