Keane Walking with the Dinosaurs

Here is a little slice of our birthday celebration for the Keane Bean. As many of you know, Keane is obsessed with dinosaurs. Actually, I think that obsessed is an understatement. He loves to watch them on TV, (Prehistoric Planet on Discovery Kids is an amazing show--clip at the bottom), imitate them (as you can see to your left), sleep with them and play with them. This obsession is fueled by the fact that giant plastic dinosaurs are only 88 cents in the novelty toy aisle at Walmart. Needless to say, we own pretty much every species. Some of you may think that this picture is nothing but a photoshop creation, perhaps by my new and ever so talented brother-in-law J. Christopher Schroeder, but that thought is false! If you have ever witnessed Keane become Keaniesaurus, you would know that this is what he really transforms into. Yup, volcano and all.

So we decided to take him to a show called "Walking with Dinosaurs" that was coming to US Airways Center. (Below is a little taste of what the show was like if you are interested.)

We didn't tell him our plan though. So we dropped Cash off at Grandma Linda's and headed out. We hit up Red Robin for a little birthday dinner.

Here we are! Sorry Cash, we still love you. We were just afraid you would be too meaty of a temptation for Tyrannosaurus.

When they came to sing to Keane, he was completely taken aback. It was really cute and they were all laughing at him. He was focused on his free sundae when all the sudden they began to sing and he jumped a little, then looked up at all of us with a little bit of a shy, surprised and flattered face. Glad we got a shot of it.

Then we were off to the show, the kids still not knowing where we were going. As we parked the car, Lucy began to catch on but we told her to keep quiet until Keane figured it out. We settled in our seats and Keane was very excited to see what he thought was going to be a basketball game with Uncle Tyson as the star. Ah yeah, it was all playing out perfectly to be a great surprise. The lights went down, and out came the narrator/paleontologist, and the gig was up. He giggled with delight for seriously 10 minutes straight, finally realizing that he was about to meet all of his treasured dinos in real life!!! Even during the really frightening parts, he was giggling, even though big sis was in serious tears at one point. The show was terrific. The sounds, the music, the sheer size of these things was amazing. Well worth the money, and a night that I am sure he will never forget. Happy Birthday my little paleontologist!

The first video is during the intermission. He is talking about all the dinosaurs that may be appearing in the next act, and then working with sis to excavate some bones from a dinosaur egg he got for his birthday. Thanks Grandma Linda! The second video is a little clip from the show. We were not allowed to bring our video cam into the show, so these are just with our little one. There are a ton of good ones on you tube if you want to check them out.

At the completion of the show, he completely lost it. I mean like, the gasping for air, not even able to form words type of crying. I think that he knew that his precious, scaled, large-toothed friends were gone forever (except for the toy aisle at Walmart and his two dimensional tv screen). He cried for a solid 40-45 minutes. I thought it was kind of cute, because it was his own little 3 year old way of saying that he had such an awesome time, he couldn't fathom the thought of the night ending. So in the car, after we were all buckled in and waiting to pull out of the parking garage, I turned on our camcorder and flipped it towards the tear flowing, spit spewing, air choking toddler in the back seat. I said "Did you have a good birthday Keane?" With a look of rage and desperation in his eyes, he proceeded to tear his arm rest completely off of his booster seat, and throw it straight at me. Priceless. We are still working on getting that video off of the camera and onto the computer. It is a digital camcorder but we can't quite figure out how to do it yet.

Above is a little tribute to Keaner's favorite dinosaur. . .ALLOSAURUS! This is a clip from his favorite show. Just to warn you, there is a part where he eats a baby dinosaur. I know it is graphic but come on people, it is the circle of life okay??? It was either this or diplodicus mating rituals. If you have toddler boys (ahem. . .Jana, Amanda, Nikkii, Colleen. . .) this can also act as a babysitter. Your boys will want to play this over and over. Hey maybe it will help you get the dishes done. Although I am quite sure that I am the only one of you with dishes in my sink.

SIDENOTE: Yes I do have other members in my family and I do love them all equally. I have just chosen to spotlight Keane a little because of his recent birthday. More of EVERYONE to come soon.

Notice the size of the smile greatly increases post dessert. I think this is true for every girl (especially mine!)