My son is two-years in the making. In that time he’s gone from adoring Yo Gabba Gabba! to exploring with Dora, Diego, and that thieving fox, Swiper. And in the past six months bebeJosito has gone nuts over trains and dinosaurs.

First it was all about regular old toot tootin’ trains. Then it was all about dinosaurs. Then Thomas & Friends. Then the two worlds collided with Dinosaur Train. That’s when my wife and I got the idea to have our son’s second birthday party at a local park. Not because it had dinosaurs, but because it had a train.

First, we had to book a shelter at the park. A few calls and some money later, and we were the proud renters of shelter #4 (i.e. “Party Central”).

Next, I had to acquire the proper attire. An engineer costume for him, and a conductor hat for me. While his costume came with a hat, overalls, and a bandana, mine wasn’t quite complete. I needed a conductor plate to go across the top of my hat.

For this I created a conductor hat plate image, printed it on T-shirt transfer paper, and ironed it on to the hat (FYI, my friend actually printed the image off first, then I ruined it, had to run to the store and buy ink, more transfer paper, and fumble through instructions before finally getting it right).

My wife, sister, cuñado, and niece came over the day before the party. My wife and sister made salad, empanadas, and a cake, while my brother-in-law, niece, and son played with toys, Kinect bowling, and fixed the conductor hat.

On party day I met up with my sister and her family to decorate the shelter around 1PM, and my wife stayed back with the wee man and the food. After about 45 min we had the shelter looking all partied up; just in time for my son and wife to arrive. I threw on my shirt, tied my tie, donned the hat, and waited for the party passengers.

Like any conductor worth their salt, I stuck to a schedule:

Food. 2:15 PM

Games. 2:30 PM

Cake. 2:45 PM

Train ride. 3:00 PM

Water balloon fight. 3:30 PM

Following the balloon fight, our passengers departed the party train, and collected their party favors and child coloring activities.

Mega props to my sister on her first empanada experience, her family on the 100+ balloons they filled, Lynn for printing off the conductor plate (the first time), Wes for the coolers, other people for other stuff, and my wife for making a great spread of delicious food including her first cake since high school.

As for the big guy…

Happy Birthday Dos Jose!

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Wanna wish bebeJosito a happy birthday dos? Do so below or tweet him at @bebeJosito. Oh, did I mention that it was crazy hot? As in 100° F (37.7° C) with a 107° F (41.6° C) heat index. That’s why in the all the pictures everyone is all shiny and looks as though we’ve been exercising for 8 hours.