"Monday Of My Visit........"

Monday was Abigail's birthday, and even though we did do some celebrating of it earlier by opening her presents from me, and she had opened her gifts when they arrived in the post from her Grandma and Papa, too, Patrick and Julie had held back theirs until the real day.  :)

Abigail's birthday dawned bright and beautiful....a little cool, but otherwise perfect!  Patrick had the day off, as did Julie, and the plan was that Abigail would go to daycare as usual (although later in the AM), while we drove into town for her cake and ice cream, which would be shared with her daycare buddies.

We had some down time, so we stopped at the barn where Julie rides, for her to get a short ride in prior to driving into Manistee.

While Julie took her horse back to its pasture, Patrick and I walked to the back of the barn so that I could take a photo of the fall colors.  The woman who owns the stable raises Pintos, some of which you can see out in the pasture.

Back into the car and away we drove to Manistee to pick up the cake and ice cream, and then on to Abigail's daycare.  For some reason, Abigail has really taken to liking Zebras, so Patrick ordered a Zebra stripe decorated cake!  Here is Abigail seeing it for the first time after we walked into her daycare.  Miss Sue, the daycare owner/operator makes sure that birthdays are special, as you can see from Abigail's crown.  Abigail isn't one to wear hats, and her hoods are usually thrown back, so she must have realized how special this crown was.   :)

A close up of her cake.......which was delicious, by the way.   ;)

Another photo of Birthday Girl Abigail and Julie.  By the way, Abigail is wearing another shrug that Granda knit for her.   ;)

The party couldn't start until the school bus dropped several of the kids off, but after everyone was inside, they found a seat at the table and waited patiently for the festivities to begin.  Here they are singing "Happy Birthday" to Abigail.

Paul, who works with Patrick, came to pick up his 2 daughters, and also brought Abigail a birthday gift.  You may have guessed that like Mommy and Daddy, she too, loves horses.  Paul's family gave her a horse named Sugar, who neighs when her reins are pulled down.  Miss Sue also had a gift for Abigail, a soft and cuddly stuffed toy pig.  Both were hits with the Birthday Girl and as expected, both slept with Abigail that night.   ;)

All too soon it was time to leave, but we continued the celebration by going out to dinner.

Continued tomorrow......