5 Years Old!

Where did the time go? It's a little hard to believe that it has already been five years since our lives were completely changed. Back then, I had no idea that the little baby we held would grow up to have such a strong personality, a goofy nature and a sweet compassionate soul. We know he'll be a good big brother to his little sibling to be born next month. Despite being 8 months pregnant (with work commitments), I decided to go ahead with the plans to celebrate our boy's birthday, because I am not sure if I'd be able to do it for him next year or the one after. To make our lives easier, we used the same format as previously, and kept the gathering small. Putting on a barbecue party for an additional six kids and their parents was quite manageable, and the kids were entertained for hours with the ride-on toys and a bouncy castle that I'd hired from a toy rental company. The weather couldn't have been more perfect (October is one of two months when it's good to be outdoors in Hong Kong), and our boy had a great time.

Cozy gathering in our residence's barbecue court:

The kids having a ball:

Some of the barbecued food we enjoyed:

A space shuttle cake, which was perfect for our son who has a strong interest in all things astronomy. I did a similar cake for his 3rd birthday, but he is able to appreciate it more now. And making and decorating the cake is easier and quicker the second time round:

The family tradition for our boy's birthday is to go to Disneyland! He'd been looking forward to going to Disneyland for most of this year, and he could barely contain his excitement when his birthday finally arrived! I didn't take much photos as this was our fourth visit in the past three years, but if you're interested to look at more photos of Hong Kong Disneyland, click here, here and here. The boy's birthday fell on a weekday during his school's term break, so we didn't have to battle the weekend or holiday crowds, nor did he have to miss out on school (and hubby was more than happy to take a day off work to celebrate his son's birthday). Seeing my son so happy more than makes up for the sad fact that I was not allowed on all the fun rides (and honestly I was glad for the chance to rest while the boys enjoyed the rides).

A Mickey Mouse-shaped waffle for morning tea while we waited for the park to open:

With his favourite character - he even brought along his Buzz Lightyear toy which was a gift from last Christmas. (We'd told him it was too large and heavy to bring along, but he insisted that he would carry it himself - and he did!):

We caught part of the parade:

We stayed late to watch the fireworks, and saw the spooky Halloween-themed decorations come to life:

I was utterly exhausted by the time we got home after 9pm, but we had a successful birthday outing at Disneyland!