A Burn Barrel Birthday

We had a fantastic time celebrating Liam's 8th birthday today.  He laid out the plan for his special day (in great detail) and we were able to deliver.  Whew!

After his prescribed breakfast of champions - blueberry-banana pancakes with chocolate chips - Liam had us head off on a "cool hike with education placards" (his very specific request).  I figured the Mer Bleue Bog would fit the bill so off we went.

If nothing else, it was memorable. The first half of the hike trekked us through ankle deep swampy mud while we were dive bombed by swarms of hungry mosquitoes. This section was more like a trail run.

We managed to find a dry place that was relatively bug-free for our picnic lunch.

We all really enjoyed the 1 km boardwalk through the peat bog and we did learn a lot from the informational signs.  The wind managed to blow Liam's sun hat off his head and into the bog (there were some ugly tears) but Seamus spotted a "swamp rat" (well, at least a swimming mouse) so that kind of made up for it.

After his hike, we headed home where Liam and Seamus built some new Lego vehicles.

We finished off the day with a burn barrel BBQ and some birthday cake and gifts.

A fun and exhausting day was had by all.  Now we all need a hot bath to wash away the layers of sunscreen, bug spray, sweat, mud and smoke.   We are dirty and stinky, indeed!