The morning of the party I was concerned about the weather forecast. It was overcast and cool still, quite like the day before. Yet, as long as thunderstorms held off, I figured these kids would play outside and get wet in whatever the weather. So, the plan was still on and I was just hoping the weather could cooperate. As I was hauling wagon loads of supplies over to the park shelter to set up, I was getting lightly rained on, so the signs at that time were not looking the best. However, right after the party got started, the clouds parted and the sun came out! It turned out being the perfect afternoon for the party!
As kids started to arrive, they all immediately started playing at the playground and the splash pad. It was the perfect place to have a casual party like this, because there didn't have to be any organized activities. Just let the kids have fun at the park! Evan wanted some Cheetos pretty early on as well (he still pronounces them "bah-cheetos"), and so a few other kids (including Emma and Lena) enjoyed a snack as well. Cheetos were a clear favorite!
After I thought most kids had arrived, we decided to open the tub of water balloons. Boy those went fast! But they had a blast. They also got started right away using the water squirters and then had an enormous amount of fun running around squirting each other, and me and John too! In fact, I got ganged up on by the kids several times, and end up completely soaked! Later, Evan and some of his friends even snuck up and got me like they were snipers! I have to admit, part of why they were getting me is because I did partake a bit. I was dressed appropriately (bathing suit under a swim cover top) because I did also want to have some fun with Evan and the kids at the party. But I had no idea how soaked I would get, nor how much fun they would have ganging up to get me. After the party when I asked Evan if he had fun, and then what he had fun doing, he specifically mentioned "squirting you mommy!" :) So much for drying and straightening my hair that day...it ended up wet/wavy after that water party!
Our original plan was to have some 5-gallon buckets of water out for the kids to refill their squirters over in the grass field by our park shelter, but when John tried to fill them in the park bathrooms we realized it wasn't easy to fill them from the sink faucet. So John decided to move the buckets to the splash pad and let the water fountains fill the buckets for us. It worked out so well...the buckets were nearly always full and the kids got a little extra wet in the splash pad itself too.
Evan came after me with a pair of squirters!
After a good hour of water play, we decided to have cake before people may have to start heading off. The wind had picked up a bit at this time, and the lighter I brought was sorely low on fluid, so it was not easy to light his cupcake candle. I got it lit, and we all sang happy birthday, but right before he was to blow out his candle at the end of the song, the wind did it for him! :( I tried and tried to relight it, but to no avail. Evan initially looked a bit sad (he does love blowing out candles after all), but then he was a super good sport and he blew at the candle even though it wasn't lit. It was the pinnacle moment everyone was waiting for to clap and then get their own cake. I don't know if he did it knowing it wasn't lit or not, but it really showed me a big boy side of him doing that and not getting upset. :)
After cake, the kids played at the playground before some started to leave. Emma learned how to climb up the "spider web", and Evan had fun in the tire swing and slides. Then Evan wanted to do presents. We decided to let him open those gifts from the people that were still at the party. However, it got a bit chaotic and he started opening a few that were just nearby that he had grabbed. Nonetheless, we saved most of the presents to be opened after the party at home.
As we were cleaning up, I realized I had not gotten a single photo with Evan, but of course he was pretty preoccupied with his party blower. It's festive I guess. :) I did manage to snap a nice one of Evan and John though too, and then I hopped into that photo for another one of all three of us. The fun part about these photos was we had the shark watermelon in front of us posing for the picture as well. In fact, right before Mr. Shark made his way to the garbage can, the kids had some fun taking funny photos with him. :)
At home, Evan was anxious to open the rest of his presents. Given the large party we had, he sure had lots of presents to open! I had hoped to try to keep track of who gave him what, thinking perhaps we'd write thank you notes, however given the chaos earlier (or some other reason) not all gifts had cards to know who they were from and/or some gifts had two cards. Either way, we were not able to sort out who each gift was from, sadly. He certainly enjoyed them all though, and for the past week has been playing with most of them. Some we have not yet opened, but it seems each day he finds one of those unopened gifts and wants to give it a try, so I can certainly say he's enjoying all his new birthday loot! And if you don't believe me, why not believe the photos he took when opening them! :)
See a pattern with his excited faces for photo poses?
I feel good that the party went off without any major snafus, and I think Evan and all of his friends had a great time.
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