Stephen's Birthday ~ 3 Years Old!

Stephen turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and we had a little birthday party at Ridge Ferry park here in Rome. We set up camp in the main pavilion.
The guest arrived, and they came bearing gifts.
And Stevie was more than happy to help bear the load.
The kids had fun playing on the playground equipment.
Stevie immediately made his way to the biggest slide for a swift ride down the curves, party blowout in hand.
Did I mention they had blowouts?
Noah loved his. Or is that Matthew?
Mary Grace had fun on the playground.
They had cars for racing.
Riley enjoyed the swings.
Stephen shared a cab with JD. Actually it was a police car.
Time for Stephen's first trip downtown? A little young.
They all gathered around for food and the party.
It was a beautiful evening.
We had some uninvited guests. And I don't mean flies or ants.
Two kids thought our party looked fun, so joined in. When we asked where their parents were, they said they'd gone to get a drink. So for about half an hour we had them following us, then joining us at the table.
No problem...the more the merrier!
We just kinda wondered if their parents would return, but someone eventually came for them.
Time for birthday cak....er, um... I mean birthday muffins. (Sometimes going healthy is a little over-the-top for even me.)
Matthew (or is it Noah?) helped blow out the candles on Stevie's muffin.
Now, to be fair, Stephen had tried and failed a few times to blow out his own candles, and I think Matthew finally had had enough.
Then Stephen opened presents.
He got some really neat toys!

Including a Thomas train and track.
The kids checked out their party favors.
The mini kites were a big hit.
Rex worked to get his crew safely on the grasshopper.

(Never realized it was a grasshopper until I had to come up with a caption here.)
Watch out indeed!

If he drives like his Dad, he'll mow you over.

(Actually, he'll make a few quick swerves, pass you and be out of your line-of-sight in 30 seconds! Then he'll make that trip downtown we mentioned earlier.)

What a lovely thing to see!
(What we won't mention is the next picture I snapped, which caught Syndi biting Junior's back because she got --no almost got -- hurt. I say hurt is what you get when you grab onto the back of a moving vehicle. But I digress.)
That's more like it!
JuneBug helped Jules get into the swing of things.

Oh, that was bad. Not even punny.

Happy Birthday StevieBoy!
He's the Big 3 now!