The Zip Line

I took Gillian to a birthday party yesterday at My Gym.  Basically it is an indoor gym for little kids.  They have a trampoline and a ball pit.  They play a few games with the kids and at the end all the kids get to go on a zip line.  Gillian was the fourth kid to go.  She wasn't afraid and couldn't wait to tell John all about it when we got home.  

 
John was very impressed with Gillian.  But he of course had to make a big deal out of the zip line he went on last summer.  Don't worry Beansy, you will get to do the big zip line soon enough.

Sky Zone

Last week John had a birthday party at Sky Zone. Sky Zone is an indoor trampoline park. John and his friends loved it. They started on the main court and jumped like crazy boys. 

 

Then they moved to the Foam Zone. Basically the kids jumped on trampolines into a sea of foam blocks. John loved it in Foam Zone. He spent most of the party here. 

John also attempted to slam dunk a basketball. Well, he attempts. 

Overall John had an awesome time. 



Super Hero Party

On Saturday, I took Gillian to a birthday party for her friend Ellis. She was super excited about going to the party, but when we arrived she got very shy. She refused to leave my side. Ellis had Amazing Athletes come and entertain the kids. Before Amazing Athletes started the program the parents were asked to get the kids goodie bags. In the goodie bag was a cape and a mask for each kid. Gillian was Wonder Woman. 

Other girls were Super Girl or Spider Girl. And the boys were either Batman, Captain America, Superman or Green Lantern. It was so cool too see all the little super heroes running around. Unfortunately, my little Wonder Woman did not want to participate in the Amazing Athlete's program. She sat and pouted next to me. She only perked up when it was time for pizza. After eating pizza and cupcakes, Gillian was more like herself and played with her friend Serafina!

Chuck E Cheese

Gillian went to a friend's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese today. She was a little shy when we arrived, but once she got her tokens she ran around like a crazy girl. We tried every game. Her favorite game was a Spongebob bowling game. We must have played it a dozen times. 

Chuck E came out and danced for everyone. I asked Gillian if she wanted to dance. She refused. But then later he came out to sing happy birthday to Turner. Gillian watched him closely. He went to his "dressing room." And she asked "What's he doing?" I said "Maybe taking a nap." Well I was wrong. He came out a few minutes later and she said "I guess he wasn't sleepy. He had to go potty!" I love her imagination. 

Olaf in summer party

Gillian, like every other little girl, is obsessed with Frozen. She loves Elsa and Anna and I just knew she would want a Frozen themed birthday party. I found a cookie cutter for Olaf and planned her entire party around Olaf. I made it an Olaf in summer party. For those who don't know, Olaf is a snowman and he dreams of being able to play in summer. 

Gillian's party was today. Just minutes before everyone was due to arrive it started to rain. So we quickly had to change our plans. We were going to do games outside, but we had to move them inside. Luckily, Daddy had set up a tent on the deck, so we started with decorating some princess crowns and wands. Every little girl needs a crown and we needed wands to make sure that Olaf wouldn't melt! The girls were very determined and made some beautiful crowns. 

Our first game was pin the sunglasses on Olaf. This was fun. The girls really couldn't see with the blindfold on and had a hard time placing the glasses correctly. You will see that there are two that are pretty close.  Well we had one cheater and one little girl refused to put the blindfold on. Personally my favorite is the one in Olaf's hand. 

We then piled up some cups and the kids threw beach balls to knock them down. This was a huge hit. The girls loved it. They all went two times!

After the game, we had three of the girls go an decorate crowns (they were late and didn't get to decorate with the other girls). Meanwhile, Gillian took her other friends downstairs to play. If it wasn't raining, we would have done another game. But we had to make do. The girls got to play for a little bit. And then I told them it was time for pizza. They ran upstairs. All the girls ate very well. 

After pizza, it was time for cupcakes!

The cupcakes were a huge hit, along with some fancy 4 cookies!

Once everyone was done with dessert, it was time to bust open the piñata. The rain had stopped by this time. And we were able to go outside. The girls were patient and waited for their turn to pull a string. They didn't fight over the candy and each took a small amount. Since the rain was gone, the kids were able to play on the playground. They played nicely for awhile. Slowly the girls started to leave until there was three girls left plus Gillian. They played so nicely together, we didn't realize that it had gotten so late. The last girl left around 3! I see that as a sign of a good party. 

After everyone left, Gillian opened her gifts. She is a lucky girl and received a lot of nice things. Daddy asked her "What was your favorite part of the party?" She answered honestly "The presents!" 

Monster Golf

John went to a birthday party at Monster Golf on Saturday. I have never been there, so I asked him to tell me about it. He said "The monsters aren't real. They are painted. Except one, it's electric. And it scared me. But the others aren't scary." I asked "Did everything light up?" He smiled and said "Yes! My shirt glew (that's how he said it)." Today he told us "Remember when I did the Monster Golf? I got the ball in the hole on one try!" Sounds like he had a great time!

reptiles

I took John to a birthday party on Saturday.  It was for one of his friend's in his class, Thomas.  Thomas had a reptile party with Rizzo's Reptiles.  John was very excited about seeing the reptiles.  "Except for the tarantulas!  I don't like them." he told me.  When we arrived there were quite a few of the boys from John's class there.  And they all gathered around Mr. Joe from Rizzo's Reptiles.  He told us that he would be showing us animals and some we could touch and others we couldn't.  The first animal Mr. Joe took out was two small corn snakes.  He put them into Thomas' hands and Thomas walked around and showed all the boys the snakes.  A couple of the other boys held the snakes.  John touched them, but didn't hold them.  Next, Mr. Joe took out a tarantula.  John was not happy to see the spider.  He stood up next to me and didn't want to even look at it.  Lucky for us, the tarantula was not passed around and no one got to hold it.  Then Mr. Joe took out a hedgehog.  He was all white and super cute.  He asked the boys if they knew of a famous hedgehog.  Someone finally said Sonic the Hedgehog.  Since Sonic is super fast in his video game, Mr. Joe put down the hedgehog to show us how fast they really are.  Well he wasn't too fast.  John and all the boys laughed.  We got to see a baby alligator, a blue tongue skink, a California king snake and big bullfrog.  John got bored after the skink.  He kept asking "Are we done yet?  They should have told us how long this would be."  I had to keep him quiet so he didn't upset the birthday boy or his parents. 

Finally it was time for the last animal.  Mr. Joe asked for some help from a couple of the dads.  They stood there while Mr. Joe put a huge constrictor in their arms.  It wasn't a boa constrictor.  I don't remember the type, but he was a constrictor.  The snake was really big.  John stayed in the back of the room with me.  He kept whispering "I'm not going to touch him.  I'll stay with you."  Mr. Joe let the boys hold the snake by laying the snake down on their laps.  After a few rows of boys got to hold the snake, John got closer and closer.  Finally it was only the parents and a couple of kids left in the basement, and John was brave enough to get close.  I am so proud of him.  He faced his fear and held the snake.   

    

The Birthday Girl

Gillian's birthday was Saturday, so we celebrated at school on Friday.  I brought in pizza, cupcakes, cookies and goodie bags for her class to celebrate.  Gillian consistently asked Daddy and I, "Johnny come to my party?"  We made sure that John was included too.  When I arrived, Gillian was already wearing her birthday crown that her teachers made her.  The kids ate all their pizza quickly.  I think they were just excited to get their hands on the cupcakes.  John and Miss Margaret walked around and handed out the cupcakes.  The kids sang Happy Birthday to Gillian.  It was perfect.  They are at the stage where they yell more than they sing.  But it was perfect.  The kids ate all the icing off the top of the cupcakes and only a few of them actually ate the cake.  I snuck out while Gillian was distracted washing her hands. 

 

Daddy picked up the kids from school and Gillian was still wearing her birthday crown.  In the car on the way home, Gillian was singing "Happy Birthday." Daddy assumed that she was just singing "happy birthday to me." But when he turned around he noticed that she had placed her birthday crown on her knee.  She was singing, "Happy Birthday to knee."  Next she moved the crown to her foot and sang it "Happy Birthday" too. 

Saturday was her birthday, and I woke up early and put her presents on the kitchen table.  I was downstairs working on the computer and I could hear someone up and walking around the house.  I assumed that it was John (he is my early riser), but soon I heard two sets of footsteps walking down the basement stairs.  Gillian and John were on the stairs.  I hugged my little 3 year old.  I noticed that she had two new My Little Ponies in her hand.  I asked her if she just woke up by herself.  John said "No.  I woke her up.  I was real gentle."  My sweet little man woke up his sister to give her the presents he picked out.       

16 hour trip

Today we went to Lorenzo's birthday party. Lorenzo is Daddy's cousin's son and today was his fourth birthday. They live in south Jersey about an hour and half from our house. We told the kids that we would be in the car for a long time and to pick some toys for the trip. They were good in the car for awhile, then John got antsy. "Are we there yet? We have been in the car for like 16 hours!"

The kids had a great time at the party. John made friends with the other kids while Gillian stuck to Mommy's side. There was a couple of musicians that came and played music for the kids. They played freeze dance. John came in second. He was so disappointed that he didn't win. It was so close. He also answered a question for the musician and got a guitar pick. He then seemed to think that it would be appropriate to ask the musician "Can I play the guitar?"

It was almost time to leave and I told John "Five more minutes and then we are going home." He replied "But I didn't even get a party bag!" And then he went back to play with the kids. Don't worry. The kids both got goodie bags. The bags were a great distraction on the car ride home. Daddy carried Gillian in the house and took off her coat. As he pulled off her shoes, he noticed that she had something stuck in her leggings. It was a box of crayons from her goodie bag. She said "I have no pockets." She had no pockets so it seemed logical for her to stick her new crayons in her leggings.