After weeks of anticipation, her 5th birthday finally arrived. Kevin and I decorated the kitchen so that she could wake up to the surprise. Unfortunately she opened the door and got a sneak peek before she fell asleep the night before but she was still very happy to walk in to the streamers and gifts first thing in the morning.
We didn't tell her anything about what we had planned for the day so she was very excited to find out what we'd be doing. We left the house at 8:30 that morning for the Gulfarium. Here she is after we first arrived.
We walked around looking at all of the sea life. It brought back a lot of memories for Kevin and I. I hadn't been there in more than 10 years but it all came right back to me. Here we are at the sea lion show.
Our good friend Derek works there and showed us around for a bit. He was so great with Reese and took time to tell her about everything we were seeing.
Derek's wife, Stacy, is a dolphin trainer. You can see her standing to the right of the dolphin. Reese loved the show.
We were excited to be there and to see the show. Stacy and Derek were at the wedding the night before and mentioned that they could probably arrange having the dolphin sing Happy Birthday to Reese. The rendition of Happy Birthday was just the beginning! We had no idea that we were all in for one of the best days we could hope for. After one of the shows, they closed the gates and escorted us to the side of the dolphin pool after the crowd left. Stacy called over Princess & Zach and the sang to Reese. It kept getting better and better after that. She got to feed them & pet them. You can see in the picture below that Zach came all the way out of the water allowing the three of us to touch him. It was amazing! We are forever grateful to Derek & Stacy. Reese will one day realize just how lucky she is to have had that experience. It was a first for all three of us and unforgettable.
After our fun at the Gulfarium we headed over to Baytowne Wharf for lunch. We had a delicious meal at Acme Oyster House and then soaked up the sun at the park.
It was off to Seaside to end our day. We spent some time with friends of ours who just moved back to the area. We knew Sean in high school and had the pleasure of meeting Heather while working at Bud & Alley's. They have a beautiful little girl, Beru, who is the same age as Reese. They hit it off instantly and had so much fun together. 
We met up with Jennifer & Balder to await the gorgeous Florida sunset from the rooftop at Bud's before heading over to Panama City for the night. I think it's safe to say that Reese had a fabulous 5th.
Heather & I (and Talan hidden somewhere in the sling):
And now here we sit in Panama City. Thank goodness we took advantage of the beautiful day yesterday because the sunshine is gone. We did have a good day today in spite of the weather but that blog will have to wait. Off to enjoy some down time. Thanks for reading.
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