Dream Liam Weekend

Liam and I went to a baby's 1st birthday party Friday night and had a great time watching that baby be as cute as can be. When it came time for the baby to smash his cake, Liam got curious about his own reaction on his first birthday. We ended up getting into the photo/video archives and smiling together as I held him on my lap like when he was little. Love my almost 8 year old boy!

http://workingmomofliam.blogspot.com/2006/10/happy-12-month-birthday-liam.html

Saturday I really wanted to spend the whole day with Liam. I had some church stuff to do in the morning, but everything else that I/we were invited to do that day was declined.  When I got back from the items I had to do that morning, we got ready to cruise up the mountain and check out Oktoberfest at Snowbird Ski Resort.

We had a lovely lovely drive up the canyon.  The fall colors were glorious! I took a risk and took photos with my phone out the windshield... Liam took a few out his window too.  Thank you, Liam.

I asked him to keep his eye out for the color red because there isn't much that had changed color that far yet.  I remember there was a tree in our complex that was completely red already and asked if he knew what I was talking about.  He replied, "Yes!  I pointed it out to my friend JJ (13) and said 'isn't that beautiful' and he gave me a weird look, but said it was."  My heart leaped a bit that Liam isn't afraid to verbally notice beauty in front of his friends.  Oh so sweet.

 At the entrance of the Oktoberfest, Liam got friendly with a gingerbread guy.  Okay, I made him smile with the pastry.

After a game of bean bag toss, we browsed at some vendor booths, then we headed into a big tent where there was German entertainment going on the large stage.  We stood in line for the authentic food - well I did.  Liam stayed close to the tent and played in what little snow was outside! 

As we were eating our yummy German food,they announced it was time for a game of musical chairs!  According to Liam I made him play.  He did really well on each round as he made eye contact with me each time he found a seat... "I'm still here mom... and I'm doing good" is what those sweet eyes kept saying.  He ended up in the top two with a gal named Leah and she was also a Tae Kwon Do kid!  Funny!  Leah took the victory as Liam was on the wrong side of the chair when the music stopped.  He got a bouncy ball consolation prize!

And these cute guys all humored me for a photo!

We packed up and started walking out of the tent to go on to the next thing when Liam checked his wallet to ensure his $5 and the birthday voucher for $3 from Toys R Us were still there.  He discovered the gift card was gone.  He was heartbroken.  He went back and looked all over the floor and also asked the guys above if they saw it.  No dice.

As we stood in line for the tickets for the ropes course and the tram ride, Liam continually got worked up over that $3 now gone.  I said, "Let's not let that ruin your whole day.  We'll go to the store and see if they'll understand you lost it and maybe they'll help us."  He cleared his tears and we marched on to the highly anticipated ropes course.

He was rigged up to start the course and given directions on how to guide his rope along.  He seemed confident that he didn't need any help up there. 

He was doing so well.  I was cheering for him and clicking away with my camera.  Then I went to the other side of him and discovered something I didn't expect.

Sad face!  Oh no!  "What's going on?  Are you okay?"  Nope.  He was scared of the height and was frustrated with the other kids going around him and making things tougher than he had imagined.  I rushed over to the workers and one gal volunteered to go up and do the course with him.  BLESS HER!  

He did just fine from there and I was so proud of him for conquering his fears!!!!!!!!!!

Look at him go!!!!!!!!!!

 I was really impressed with the time he spent up there to try a few different ways to cross the ropes.

Next, the tram ride!  We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes before we tightly loaded up!  That little sweatshirt Liam wore strummed up conversations left and right.  We stood next to a lady that has a son that goes to the same studio for Tae Kwon Do.  A year after quitting the sport, we are still meeting people because of it!

It was a fun ride to the top.  Gorgeous views!  It took a ton of convincing for Liam to put on his coat and hat and mittens... but shortly thereafter he was grateful for all three!  He got right to work when we arrived at the top of the mountain!

 We had riden up a couple of alpine horn players.  They set up and the music was glorious!

 

Snowman in progress.

After he played in the snow for awhile, he spotted some icecicles forming under the tram platform.  So he start throwing rocks towards them to knock them to the ground.  He was successful many times and collected a few good size ones.

Then he started making snow angels!

See that lovely snow angel?


Then I attempted to take self photos.

Whoa... too close!

There we go.

I then asked a stranger to take one last photo of us before we loaded the tram.  Liam doesn't like it when I talk to strangers.

Tram ride down - photo out the window and between lots of folks.


Liam got a huge pretzel with cheese and then we stopped to watch Dale the yo-yo guy show us the evolution of tricks!
 
I stopped the car on our way down the mountain to capture the beauty!


Liam was determined to stop by Toys R Us and see if they would give him another $3 towards his purchase that day.  Amazingly we got a very helpful worker that agreed to his plea.  Loved that Liam initiated the sob story with, "My mom made me play musical chairs..."

He picked out a Pokemon sorting binder and we checked out.  As Liam laid his cash out and waited for his discount, the worker asked if he wanted his birthday balloon and crown.  He looked at me in amazement of the offer.  So I answered yes for him.  I sized the crown and placed it on his head after handing him the giraffe balloon.  Right there in the store he said, "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"  I cracked up.  And then my heart sank because my phone had died and I couldn't take a photo of this grateful little guy!

When we got home we carved Liam's huge pumpkin together! He had been asking to do this all week long.  So glad he did more than half the work this year!  He even sorted all the seeds so I could roast them. 

It took a bit of encouragement to get Liam to finally do his bedtime routine.  I ended up kinda grumpy by the time I tucked him in after reading and prayers.  I went to lay in my own bed and yelled out to him, "I love you, good night!"  He replied the same thing back to me.  I then shouted back, "Sorry I am grumpy!"  And he replied, "You aren't grumpy, you are awesome!" - my heart melted.  I love how resilient and unconditionally loving he is towards me.