Abby's " DEVINE" fifth birthday

For Abby's fifth birthday we let her choose where to go for a fun day. Since California was out of the question we told her to make a second choice. " You can go to the zoo, or the water slides or to the beach. You can go ice skating or we can see a movie. Or we could see the gardens at Opryland Hotel." As we offered each choice she said " Maybe." But when we mentioned the Opryland Hotel, there was an instant decision.
"Are you sure you want to go there?" " Oh, YES!! Then I can see Devine and tell her its my birthday! We can even walk around the hotel!"





We went there and had a great day seeing the plants and the various people walking around. Abby saw Devine almost immediatly. She did get too nervous to talk to her, though. Then we went to the Opryland Mall ( not the best idea) to try to get dinner at the Rain-forest Cafe. There would be at least an hour long wait and the mall was PACKED so we knew that the service would probably be poor at best. We left but not before we saw the Stingray reef and rode on the painted horse carousel. Abby loves horses ("PONIES!").


Back at Opryland, we found a restautant ( one of many there) but this one was nice and quiet.
The name was Rachel's Cafe. It was a great dinner and then the staff surprised us with a chocolate cake with pink candles for Abby. The cake had strawberries and fresh Blackberries in it. It was delicious! The mood was relaxed and happy in the restaurant. Sam pointed out that some of our fellow diners were Miss Washington and business people that looked filthy rich, so the staff were trained to serve at a higher caliber than a mall strip restaurant. Then he said that at the prices they charged, excellent and considerate service was to be expected.





The next day, at home, mommy made Abby a pony cake. This was a treat that mommy had promised to make weeks in advance. With the help of the present that Grandmother and Grandfather Sandling gave Abby ( a My little Pony Party play set) mommy made a great cake WITHOUT using food dye. We had a party and Abby painted a few pictures with her new acrylic paint set and canvas ( a present from Grandpa Dan and Debbie) Abby is happy to be 5 now as she feels that is a big girl age. She will be enrolled in our Academy this fall as a K/1st grader. At this time she reads a little, does math well, and paints or draws daily. She may not notice much of a change to her daily life when school resumes in August. But she will get to go to all of the big kid classes at co-op now.

When we asked Abby if she liked her birthday she said "Yes and seeing the hotel and gardens was the best dessert of all."