Birthday Date

Philip and I decided that we would take Levi on a surprise birthday date with just the two of us on his birthday. So, we dropped Joel off at a friends house and took our excited little 4 year old out for a treat. We didn't tell him where we were going, and he was all questions in the car on the way. Levi had never been to a movie theater before, and we decided he was old enough to sit through 2 hours of a picture of the big screen.

When we pulled up to the theater he had no idea where we were. I guess we had never really even talked about the movies with him before. We bought our tickets for Monsters University, got some popcorn, a slurpee and a lemonade and headed to find seats. He was in AWE of the "humungous TV!" We explained to him that we were going to see a movie, and he was very excited. The previews were already rolling and as soon as he started watching we could no longer get him to talk to us, answer any questions or smile for a picture. He pretty much stared with a zombie expression at the screen from start to finish only to pause occasionally to eat popcorn or sip a drink. At one point he did get a little confused about why the characters were learning to scare kids when the monsters don't scare anymore...the ideal of a prequel was a little lost on him. (We own Monsters Inc and he has watched it several times...it scares him a little, and he always reminds himself while watching, "it's just for pretend, and they are nice and funny at the end") Oops!

He was so into the movie that he refused to go to the restroom until it was over even though he was wiggling in his seat for about the last 20-30 minutes. After the movie ended he said that is was "super amazing" so I would say it was a success. As we walked out we let him decided where we would go for dinner. His choice of "Inn and Out Burgers" was no surprise, although Chick-fil-A would have been no shock either. We have no idea why he is so into this place. We went with some friends one time just to see what it was like and he has requested it constantly ever since. Not that we mind, it is super cheap! Since we rarely eat out or get fast food, this was certainly a special treat and Levi was overly excited. He was even given a "fancy hat" as he requested and a chocolate/vanilla shake for dessert.

All through the meal he was giggling and grinning, making it extra fun for Philip and I. It was a special evening celebrating our favorite 4 year old, and one I'm sure we will never forget!