
We went back to Kangaroo Kingdom for my two-year Happy Day!

(Don't call it a "birthday." That bugs me for some reason.)

Grandma Marianne made an amazing potamus cake for me, Riley Potamus.

Mom set it on fire, which I found to be in questionable taste.

Nobody else really gave it a second thought, though.

We blew out the candles. Only you can prevent hippo fires!.

We also played a lot. Dad says there's just one group photo. "Period."

He gets like that. Dad takes the photos that dad wants to take.

He wanted to take this photo of my friend William.

And here is my friend Noah.

Connor helped me out on the slide. (Grandma Marianne made tutus for all the girls and capes for all the boys. I'm in no mood to hear your theories about "heteronormativity," regardless of whether you're a grad student or a barista. )

And Zack ran around a lot.

Ba ha ha ha ha!

Here's Noah again.

Here's my buddy Izzie.

You all know Clara, of course.

We took a break to eat some Happy-Day sushi.

It's all the rage among the toddlers of highly educated middle-class paper-pushers.

What?

This is what was left after a swarm of toddlers (and some paper-pushers) got to it.

Better snag a carrot one before they're all gone.

Here's Walker.

And here's Rosie. I was at Rosie's second Happy Day party a few weeks ago.

Celia goes to daycare with me.

And here's Izzie again.

Here's Isabella. I think I'll call her Bella so I don't confuse her with Izzie.

Oh yeah--my kid sister, Zoe, showed up.

She slept the whole time.

This is Megan.

And here's Rosie again. I was going to make a joke about Dad using color film for this one, but I have no idea what that is.

Ridley goes to daycare with me too. (No, there is no Ripley there.)

Here's Megan again.

At one point, she found herself trapped under the Parachute of Terror. I thought she handled it pretty stoically.

Emily gave me lots of airplane rides.

This is the kind of thing that happens on your Happy Day.

Do you know what else happens on your Happy Day?

It's a really good thing. I was waiting all day for it.

BUBBLES!

Let's give a hand to the good people at Kangaroo Kingdom for making all of this possible. See you again next year on my Happy Day!
Happy Birthday, Riley! It’s official…we (especially my mommy) are so sad not to be there anymore. We remember being there last year and it was so much fun! You had a wonderful party and your daddy took GREAT photos of your little friends and you. Our favorite photo is the bubble one, but they’re all awesome!
Hope to see you soon and meet your little sister!
Did Riley allow the hippocake to be eaten, or is it in the fridge, next to the 30 year old dinosaur cake?
Hope you had a great birthday, I am sorry for not being there. I was home sick and thought I should not come to see you. I am looking forward to seeing you soon. Looks like you all had a good time.
Riley did allow us all to eat the hippocake. Unexpected.