Happy 5th Birthday, PCK!

Our little guy is five years old! I've been a Mama for half a decade - I really cannot wrap my head around that fact! While last year was all about construction and the color orange, Parker's favorites this year include hockey and the color red. He wanted his birthday celebration to be at a Huntsville Havoc hockey game, so we let Parker choose two buddies (and their families) and we celebrated the Friday night before his actual birthday in one of the ice suites.

Hockey games are seriously his happy place - he loves getting there early and watching the teams warm-up on the ice, and has so much fun cheering his loudest all game long.

Parker was super specific about his cake this year - he wanted yellow cake with sprinkles and chocolate frosting. I usually make his cake but we ordered it this year from Smallcakes, and it was worth every penny (we finished every crumb of the leftovers). If you're local (or if you have a Smallcakes near you) I highly recommend! I especially appreciate the cookie crumbles that were sprinkled in the frosting layers - genius!

Our happy birthday guy!

Parker's actual birthday fell on that Sunday - it's become a tradition for us to bring birthday balloons up to his room when he wakes up. 

This year, he also requested breakfast in bed. He read about the concept months and months ago in a book, and has been asking for it ever since. 

Birthday donuts for the win!

This was followed by opening presents - including new hockey sticks and a goal for indoor hockey (heaven help our hardwood floors). 

A quick snap before our birthday outing:

An hour and a half later, we were in Chattanooga, Tennessee! It was a gorgeous, cool and sunny day (followed by a tornado warning the next day, but that's #springinthesouth). 

It's become another birthday tradition to visit the Tennessee Aquarium each year on or around P's birthday. It started our very first year living here, when we'd only been in Alabama for a few months and thought a road trip to Chattanooga would be a fun way to celebrate Parker turning two. We've returned every year with our growing guy.

This year, Parker convinced us to treat him to two fancy meals on his birthday. We started with sushi (Parker's favorite cuisine) lunch in Chattanooga (no, the irony of eating sushi then visiting the aquarium was not lost on me). 

 Parker was all about the penguins this year - he talked non-stop about them all the way home.

Photography fun with the iPhone portrait mode:

My favorite guys!

We caught an IMAX movie on wildlife - P's third trip to a theatre. 

And after four visits and three years, he finally warmed up to the touch tank and actually felt the stingrays!

 Birthday selfie!

We left the aquarium and headed straight to birthday dinner in Huntsville at The Melting Pot! Parker knows I always request fondue on my birthday, and this year he wanted to do the same. 

Happy fifth birthday, Parker Campbell!