This week it was Merrick's turn for a pandemic birthday. Back when we started this (25 weeks ago apparently), I knew Carrigan's birthday would definitely be affected by the state of the world at that time but I was hopeful that life would be back to normal by Merrick's birthday. Flash forward 25 weeks and, spoiler alert, it's not. So our task was, once again, how to make a birthday seem special when most of the activities we would typically do to make it special were off the table.
Thankfully for Merrick, the universe was looking out for him. We started the day with doughnuts and presents. Merrick scored everything on his list with baseball cards (including some of him made by Carrigan), an airsoft gun and mask, and cold hard cash. While we were eating I got a text on my phone. It was from my neighbor with a link to an article saying that the governor had decided that parks and pools could open in our county. I had heard the night before about parks but was unaware of the pool part. After a quick pow-wow with the pool committee, it was determined we would open the pool right away.
We were supposed to be meeting cousins for home run derby, but we couldn't resist letting Merrick jump in the pool really quick. He had been waiting ALL summer, even collecting signatures to try to petition the governor. Finally, as the ultimate birthday gift, he was finally able to swim.
After a quick jump into the pool we went to play baseball. The boys all played until they were exhausted and we headed home for Merrick's chosen lunch (Three cheese Mac and Cheese and watermelon).
The pool was officially up next after lunch. To be honest it was a little cold since the heater had just been turned on. Merrick didn't care though. He swam his heart out.
Merrick chose dinner next, gyros from Gryo2Go (which we ate across the street at a picnic table at an empty business park) and homemade ice cream cake with funfetti cake and cake batter ice cream.
After dinner the girls went to bed and Merrick got to stay up and watch a movie with Mom and Dad. Unfortunately we watched a movie from my childhood, Top Secret, that, while rated PG, turned out to be pretty inappropriate and twisted. It was a low spot in an otherwise great day.
I don't know if Merrick would have chosen to have a pandemic birthday, but I think it ended up being a pretty good one. Definitely one that won't' soon be forgotten.
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