A Busload O' Birthday Fun

While the twos definitely lived up to their reputation at times, life with Park over the past year has been some of the most fun Carrie and I have had as parents. Over the course of 12 months we've watched him become … well, Park. We've laughed together, we've carried on conversations together and we've gotten a chance to explore the world together. Along the way, he's developed his own personal tastes and interests, so when it came time to plan his third birthday party we just tried to roll everything he's grown to love into one afternoon of pure joy.

Pretty early on in the planning process, we decided it might be fun to keep all of the day's events a surprise, both for him and the members of our family who were planning on attending. So, in lieu of another slightly over-the-top party invitation, we opted for something a little more subtle and non descriptive.

While the tickets did raise a few questions among those who received them, I don't think anyone was tipped off that they were actually holding a little clue to the party's first, and biggest, surprise. You see, like most boys his age, Park is fascinated by pretty much anything on wheels, that's especially true for buses—school buses to be precise. So we went out and got him one for the day.

As you might be able to tell, this wasn't your average, run-of-the-mill, state-issued school bus, no, Park needed something with a little more style. Luckily, Carrie has become friends with Ivan Moore who happens to own the Unified Party Bus and he hooked us up. To see more of the bus, click here.

After the initial excitement over the bus settled down, everyone grabbed individual, specially prepared lunch sacks filled with snacks and hopped on board. And like that, we were off to parts unknown. Along the way, Park was treated to a personalized soundtrack containing all of his favorite songs ranging from "Party Rock Anthem" and the "Cha Cha Slide" to "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and Starship's "We Built This City" (damn you Kermit).

After about 20 minutes, the party bus pulled up to its first stop, Cox Farms in south Wichita, where they had a hay bale maze, a petting zoo (something Park has really, really gotten into … especially if it has a few baby goats), a cow-milking game and a special "cow train"—which, to our surprise, many of the adults seemed to enjoy as well.

From there, we headed back across town to our house, but not before a stop at the local fire station to get an up-close look at the trucks (although apparently the big one was off on a "food run") and meet a real-life fireman. Park soaked it all up, examining everything from the truck's tires to its shiny chrome, but when the fireman offered to let him sit in the driver's seat and wear his hat he became the shy little boy we only see on rare occasions. So with the clock winding down on our time with the party bus, we loaded back up and headed home to open presents before dinner.

As for dinner, that was really the only hiccup we faced in our party planning process. We had intended to take everyone out to a small airport in Benton, Kansas where you get to eat on the tarmac and watch the planes take off and land (obviously people stuffing their pie holes with chicken wings is not high on TSA's "threat list") however we found out the day before that it was "Benton Days" and we were unlikely to actually get a place to sit down. So we moved on to  "plan B," a pizza place with outdoor seating and an area where the three younger cousins could run and play, which they did for nearly two hours.

Finally as the party was winding down it was time for Park's final surprise—his cake. For months Carrie and I had been asking him what he'd like to have on his cake and every time we got the same answer "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Yeah, our kid wanted Santa on his birthday cake.

Not that we would ever try to talk him out of it (well at least I wouldn't) but now and then we'd suggest alternatives like Scooby Doo, a rocket ship or maybe even a dinosaur and all we ever got was "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Carrie even tried to get creative and asked Park if he wanted anything else with Santa on his cake and, thinking she had a breakthrough, Park replied yes … he wanted a reindeer too.

So here you go, Park's third birthday cake created by Lindsey Lou Cakes.

(If you can't read it, it says "Ho Ho Hope You Have a Happy Birthday Park" and by the way, it was delicious).

We'd like to thank everyone who came to the party, especially those who traveled in from out of town, because while the bus, the farm, the fire station and the cake put a smile on Park's face, nothing could match his excitement over having all of his favorite people in one place.

March in review

We haven't blogged much lately, which I guess isn't really news to you.

Not to make excuses, but we've kind of had our hands full—especially Carrie who's been busy taking care of the house and all of its inhabitants, assuming lawn work duties and working for a growing list of freelance clients. So consider this an apology and a sincere promise that we'll try to do better (but not a promise that we'll actually succeed).

In the meantime, here are a few of the things we've been up to the past month and a couple of shots I've taken. (To see the rest, go here.)

1) We took Park to see Sesame Street Live and learned that passing on the $10 ballon in lieu of a trip to the souvenir stand isn't exactly the most budget-conscious decision.

2) Carrie went country in her work for Nashville recording artist Logan Mize. After weeks of writing news releases, organizing TV appearances and setting up interviews, Logan's newest CD skyrocketed up the iTunes charts and his local concert was packed to the rafters with adoring fans. While you can't attribute all of this to Carrie's work, I will.

3) During a trip to Kansas City we attended a birthday party for our niece Kailey that featured an afternoon of laser tag and we inadvertently discovered that Carrie might be a bully. To put it simply there was enough trash talking and taunting of 11-year-old boys to make me concerned about Park's future.

4) I had surgery and got to know every inner thought of my temporary roommate Marv. Also, hernia surgery is a lot more uncomfortable—both physically and emotionally—than having half of your throat cut out (however if ever given the choice, I'd recommend you go with the hernia).

5) Park kept the holiday spirit alive by filling our head's with the Wiggle's Christmas—which he played on an endless loop on the iPad (thanks Mimi).

Here, let me share the joy.

And now for a couple of photos.

Always the little brother.

Last Friday my brother had surgery to repair a hernia. The next morning I discovered I had one.

Same kind.

Same place.

I'd like to say that this is just another case of me wanting to emulate my older brother, but I've been through so much crap in the past eight months, I could have gladly let this one pass.

Either way, I'm going to be heading back into surgery (that makes two in just over two months—after not really having any since I was a baby).

Trying to give my mood a bit of a boost, a friend at work sent me this.

I'm currently not in a lot of pain, so life is pretty much going on as usual (whatever that means these days) and hopefully I do emulate my brother and have a really speedy recovery.

More pics

I promise we'll eventually get back to posting some actual content, but until then, I just wanted to post a few of my pictures from this past month and provide this link to where you can see the rest. To sum things up, we've been busy celebrating birthdays (Zoe and Luka's), enjoying the unseasonably nice weather and moving Park into the master bedroom (we got the boot).

Enjoy.

Park has gotten into this "ear" thing, he finds great comfort in either rubbing his or yours, sometimes until it's raw.

For some reason we switched to celebrating Luka's birthday instead of his adoption anniversary this year … he didn't seem to mind.

This was taken on one of our recent unseasonably nice days, my heart almost explodes looking at it.

Where have we been?

I wish I could say we've been traveling the world and let that be a good excuse for why we aren't blogging. Unfortunately, we've just been preoccupied with life and have neglected the blog for way too long ... ok, someone has been neglecting the blog more than others. I'm guilty. But I've moved it back to the top of the to-do list. If anything, I can at least share photos of the big and little things going on here. As Craig mentioned in our last post (a month ago!), we are both taking a photo a day. Some of us have been a little better at it than others (hint: I'm not the guilty one this time). When I signed on to this project back in December, I was a little nervous about the daily commitment. But I have yet to forget, and I'm thrilled with all the photos I'm collecting to put in a book for us. Some photos capture the little things like bike rides around the neighborhood, others have captured the big things like Craig's surgery in January. All things that are Lindeman Life. Here are a few moments from the year I've captured so far.

1.16: Playing with Scooby and the Gang


2.2: Skyping with Aunt Cheryl, Cousin Hagen and Uncle Curt (Pay no attention to the mess on the desk - we were in the process of switching rooms and everything was chaos. Who am I kidding? The desk is always cluttered.)


2.3: Tub Time with Cousin Maisy


2.16: Boys Will Be Boys - Park and his friend Will


2.23: Lovin' on the Boy


We'll be back soon! (we promise this time)

Carrie

365 days of Lindeman Life (in pictures)

Each armed with new cameras (not to mention new iPhones), Carrie and I have decided to embark on a quest to take a photo every day of 2012. Carrie's plan is to compile all of her photos into a nice, hardcover book, as for me, I think I'm just going to make galleries featuring some of my favorite photos from each month on my website, which is probably a good plan since already missed a couple of days.

That said, if you'd like to see January through my eyes visit the gallery here.

Here's a sneak peak of what you'll find (plus before and after pictures of my throat, so be warned).

As for Carrie's shots, you're just going to have to wait.

Thanks

It's kind of hard to believe that at exactly this same time last week I was in surgery. There were a lot of unknowns floating around in my head and I was pretty scared. While I was hoping to wake up to some good news, I knew it was unlikely that I would hear anything until the results of the biopsy came back a few days later. Yet when I started to come to a couple of hours later, there was Carrie's smiling face telling me that the cyst was not what the doctor was expecting, instead of being intertwined with my thyroid, it was simply attached to it and was likely a rare condition called a branchial cleft cyst, something that he had only seen once before in over 900 thyroid operations. Branchial cleft cysts are basically a birth defect and are almost always benign.

I couldn't believe it. All of those worries about a quick second surgery to remove the rest of my thyroid and a dose of radiation were basically gone (they were completely gone when we got a call about the biopsy a couple of days later). I felt incredibly lucky. What made me feel even more lucky was the incredible outpouring of love and support I received from family, friends and friends of family. I'm not going to name names or call out specific examples, because I would likely leave someone out and I can honestly say that they were all so important to me I just can't let that happen.

I'm humbled … and honestly a little embarrassed. There are so many people out there dealing with so many bigger things than me and my thyroid that it just doesn't seem fair. We were reminded of this just a couple of hours after I got the results of my biopsy through an email from a very close friend asking for prayers for her 9 year-old nephew who has been battling cancer since he was five years old and was just informed about a new growth on his stomach and some spots on his lungs.

Talk about getting a dose of perspective.

So I guess in an attempt to pay it forward I would like to ask you send some positive thoughts out for this little boy and his family. (If you'd like to learn more about him click here.)

While you're at it, you might also send some good vibes out there for my aunt who will be undergoing surgery to remove a tumor recently uncovered in her spine.

I now know how much something like this means when you're scared and uncertain about the future.

Thanks again everybody.