Reese is a Decade

Of course you can't get to Christmas without celebrating Reese's birthday. Even our elf on the shelf, Sam, knows that. Every year Sam is in our tree making sure Reese knows the special day has arrived. And this year was all about double digits.

It was also supposed to be about snow, but the weather had other plans. It was in the 60s on December 11, and that meant that our trip to go tubing at Perfect North was less than perfect. The slopes were snowless and closed, and we had to come up with a Plan B real quick. With a little help from the staff at Perfect North we headed to a place that wasn't really on our radar - Full Throttle.

In case you can't tell, Reese is somewhere in that helmet above. That's right, Full Throttle was an indoor go-kart racing establishment. We would never have sought this out, but as it so happens, the Bowes family apparently has a need for speed.

It should not come as a surprise that Sarah was ready to put the pedal to the metal. Reese was a bit more cautious, and soaked in all the safety video tips. On her very first lap she demonstrated perfectly the hand signal you give to the person behind you that they can pass because you are going very slow. Sarah saw the signal, roared past, and never looked back. By the third lap, however, Reese was feeling much more comfortable behind the wheel and no longer used the pass signs.

What made it even more fun is that we were literally the only ones there and could have stayed there driving all afternoon. But we had tickets to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo and didn't want to miss our entrance window. The zoo was a lot of fun and the lights were beautiful. They had a number of food trucks as well, so we were able to eat outside and enjoy everything the zoo had to offer. 

This was a travel birthday year for Reese, and while we couldn't make dedicate a whole weekend to celebrate, we still managed to make sure she felt special. It is still hard to believe she has left the single digits behind. But the fun wasn't over because the very next morning we went to the mall to get her ears pierced. For Reese, this was probably the highlight of the whole birthday experience. 

She was very brave and didn't flinch when the piercing gun went into action. Even better she was very good and dedicated about the cleaning routine. No scary ear infections for her, which was another sign of her getting older and more mature. She is definitely no longer a little baby.