Some fun times coming up for the Barrows Family

I'm finding these days that with Jim away it is making me plan things even further in advance than I usually would because we are only guaranteed one weekend per month with him when he's home. I think only twice this whole year he will get two weekends on one set of days off. So, with two boys birthdays coming up as well as two trips planned we have lots of fun stuff to look forward to on Daddy's days off.

First up of course will be James's FOURTH birthday party! How the heck did he get to be almost four already?! I had my hopes pinned on having a monster truck or car birthday party but he changed it up on me and decided he really wanted a Mike the Knight party so off I went on the planning. For all of our local friends, it's going to be held on Saturday, April 19 from 11:30am - 2pm at Assumption School Gym. It's being held on Easter weekend and we picked the time so parents could come up after the Easter egg hunt that is held at Willingdon Beach every year on that morning. I'm already really looking forward to his party as he is so excited and can't wait to see his school friends there too. I hope lots of them say yes!

The awesome James the Knight image I ordered from Etsy. This will be featured throughout the birthday party!

Did I mention that we also rented a bouncy castle to add to the fun?!?!

Party stuff that I found online at PartyCity

Another Etsy find... a personalized placemat and coaster for the birthday boy!

Next up in May will be a family trip to Vancouver. Jim and I have both loved Cirque Du Soleil since the first time we saw it years ago under the big top in Vancouver. This will be my fifth show and Jim's fourth. Three have been seen in Vancouver; Quidam we saw together, Varekai I saw with my old boss Lynn, and then Corteo again together. Our favorite one and the one we saw last was O at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was an incredible show and one that I will never forget. We are both really looking forward to going back under the big top to add to our list of shows seen. If you've never been to a Cirque show, all I can say is DO IT. It is amazing! Jim thought he wouldn't like it the first time we went but he ended up really enjoying it and since then we've talked about going back again and again over the years! This will be the first time we've had the means to make a trip to Vancouver happen.

James's big birthday present this year is going to be a trip to the Vancouver Aquarium while we are there. Again, something we've wanted to do for a long time but we've never just gone to the city to be tourists, so we've decided that now that James is older it's time to do it. We are also thinking a day wandering around Stanley Park is in order while we are there.

Next up immediately following our trip to Vancouver will be Jordan's 1st birthday party. Not much planning has been done for this one because it's being held at my parents house as we will be house sitting there while my parents are in Europe. It will be on Saturday, May 24 from 11 am - 1 pm for those local friends reading this blog post. I'm thinking of doing a Barnyard Dance themed party for our little guy cause he loves this book...and really so do I!

And the event that if I'm being honest here I'm most looking forward to is Jim and I's big trip to SunFest Countryfest in Duncan over the August long weekend. Last year's trip to Seattle was so much fun that Jim decided to ask my parents if they would take the kids again and surprised me with the idea that we could book tickets to see this festival. It has been my dream to see Tim McGraw in concert since I was just a young teenager and fell in love with country music. When I first found out months ago that Tim was playing I told Jim I wanted to go if we could, and he remembered and has made my dream a reality. It will be the first time we've gone anywhere just the two of us since we went on our anniversary trip to Sechelt in 2008. We are going all out and camping on the site, which should be interesting to say the least but I'm really looking forward to it. As tickets have been on sale for months already we were too late to get reserved seating tickets so instead we had to pay the big bucks to be in the Stage Pit area which is standing room only but I'll be so close to Tim that I will deal with the standing without a problem! I'm sure afterwards I'll have tons of photos to share with you all!