We had about 45 minutes in the climbing room. The kids got all harnessed up and then took turns climbing up the walls. Poor Austin was so excited to go climbing- too bad his new Heelys did not make good climbing shoes.
He loves them and has been wearing them all over the house (argh!) and everywhere we've been for the past few days. I guess persistence pays off b/c he's been asking for 3 years and he finally got them.
Hosting a party with ten 8-year old boys can be really crazy! Let me just say I was SO glad that it was not at my house!! They definitely had lots of fun, though I wished I had a blow horn a few times.
Here's Austin's friend Anders, from our old Provo neighborhood. We're sad we don't get to see him too much, but very happy that he could come to the party!
Noah was a virtual Spiderman on the wall. He and his family go rock climbing together, so he was no stranger to the ropes and harness. He even brought his own gear! I wish all the boys had those climbing shoes b/c it makes climbing much easier. It was fun to watch him scale the wall (the difficult side) so easily. He's small like Austin and so flexible and agile.
After we finished in the rock climbing room, we went to the party room to have pizza and cake. Each of the boys' chairs had a balloon and some party favors were set at each place. They all chowed down on hot pizza, root beer, and sprite. Then, we opened presents.
Austin was so spoiled! He got so many fun presents- and all of them were so perfect for him. Some of his gifts were: Bionicle and Camelback for hiking, Indiana Jones Legos, binoculars and headlamp, crossword and wordsearch books, a model car, Connect Four game, Transformer, another Bionicle and Star Wars book, and Hot Hoops game. Besides the Heelys we gave him, Jared had picked out a Star Wars X-wing fighter model for them to put together.
Nana and Papa gave him a cool remote control ATV and he said, "I didn't even ask for this and I love it!"
Finally it was cake time. Usually I get really into the kids' cakes. For this party I was imagining a volcano-like mountain of a cake with a small figure climbing up the side. When I let go of that pipe dream, I thought it would be fun to do two round cakes and make an "8" cake for him. Not too original, I know, but still festive. But when my To Do list grew this week and the cakes I baked on Thursday didn't rise (?) I gave up. I made a plain old round cake for him and bought (gasp) store- bought cupcakes for the other kids. If you know me, I don't really believe in store-bought desserts of any kind, unless we're talking Cheesecake Factory. It was one of those moments that I let it go and told myself, "The party will go on." And the kids certainly didn't seem to mind!
The crazy 8 year old boys had a great time with their cupcakes. The 1/2 cup of frosting that topped each one was just too much fun. They were smearing it all over their faces and downing half the cupcake in one bite. They all seemed to think this was hilarious. Then, when I took a picture of a few of them, they all kept doing it then saying, "Look at me!" Ah, to be 8 again.
Of course, Ashley caught right on to that and had to copy the big kids.
Dad and Olivia were a bit more mellow. They sat back and watched the chaos going on around them. Once again, can I say I was glad not to be in my own house? The boys ran around like madmen and I just sat back and smiled!
After they finished their cupcakes, they all attacked each other (and Jared) with the little Nerf footballs they'd gotten for party favors. I wish I had their energy! They laughed and laughed, and Jared was such a good sport- maybe it reminded him of coaching BYU Rugby??? After all that climbing, running around, and laughing, I am sure they were exhausted. We cleaned up the room a bit, but happily left the rest for the staff to finish up!
4 comments:
Wow, your story about Austin's bday party sounds like my house everyday, especially when the neighbor-boys come over.
It sounds like such a fun party and the rock climbing wall sounds like a PERFECT idea. I love it!
Harrison has been begging for Heely's, too, but his feet haven't been big enough yet. Austin looks like such a little man! I am so excited to hear about his baptism. I seriously cannot believe that he is 8 years old.
What a fun thing to do for a birthday party! You're brave to take all those boys, but I'm sure they loved it.
That is the coolest rock climbing wall I have seen. The ones at our place aren't nearly that big!
That looks like fun. Happy Birthday Austin!
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