Evan's 2nd birthday: The day

I took off work for Evan's actual birthday, and John only had one early morning appointment, so Evan and I burned some time that morning playing at a new park along the drive to meet John.  Then we met John at the Butterfly Pavilion when he was done working, to treat Evan to a "mini-zoo" birthday experience, this one being a non-profit that focused on invertebrates.

At the park...wanting to swing "so high"

One little butterfly...

Two little butterflies...

Once we got inside, Evan immediately went running off saying "pool!" thinking there was a pool somewhere (did it remind him of the rec center maybe?).  Once we wrangled him up and pointed out the neat things to see along the way, he petted a crab, ran circuits around the indoor rainforest (it was sure hot and muggy in there!), found an injured butterfly on the ground, inspected it, and then almost tried to step on it, played in the kids play area, watched coins go around the circular coin drop, and saw a tarantula spider (eek!).

Petting the crab with Daddy

Uh oh...injured butterfly on the walkway...(don't worry, we told the staff and they took care of it, not sure what that means though...)

Inside the rainforest, staying close by (finally) on Daddy's shoulders

Check out that GIANT butterfly on the tree!

Pointing to the newly "born" butterflies in the glass-enclosed "hatching" area (full of cocoons and chrysalides)

A giant puzzle in the kids area

"Oooo, it's fun watching the coins go around and around!"

There's a giant furry spider in there...eeek!

Evan and Daddy walking back to the car after all the fun (notice he's really into wearing his shades now when it's bright outside!)

We had planned to get lunch on the way home, but he was already falling asleep in the car so we figured we should get home quick to get him in his crib for naptime.  Sadly, as soon as we got home he was awake and despite our attempts to get him to nap (i.e. putting him in his crib and letting him lay there awhile) he never did.

For afternoon snack we had his birthday cake (we still had the whole round cake left from his party) and opened a few cards that had arrived in the mail for him.  And then we had planned to go for a walk and out for dinner that night, until it started raining on us and some storms rolled in (nothing severe like the ones after his birthday party on Saturday though).   Evan was pretty upset that he thought he was going to get to take a walk and we had to come right back inside.  So instead, we moved the cars into the driveway and let him play a bit in the garage with the door open while it rained.

Running back inside as it started to rain.

So, his whole birthday didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned it (especially the no nap part!), but it was still so nice to have a family day together and do some fun and new things with him.  I love watching him explore new places and get excited about new things.  He's turning into such a cute little man!