Given that J’s birthday party was almost a week ago now I’ve got no idea why or how I haven’t documented it by now and it’s pointless trying to offer excuses but my minds been elsewhere.
The day seemed to fly by at warp speed leaving me very little chance to stand back and to take it all in. It’s only now looking back whilst finding homes for his many gifts that I’ve been able to reflect upon it all.
We began the day by singing Happy Birthday to the little man whilst sharing cuddles in bed then headed downstairs to watch him open his piles of presents. J loved every single one of the presents that he was given, most of which were themed upon Pirates his current craze.
Our living room very quickly became a Pirates cove filled with Pirate Lego, flags, telescopes, compasses, swords, clothes, games, computer games, lunch boxes, jigsaw, treasure boxes and heaps of other stuff all of which he was more than pleased by.
Having opened his parcels J’s Grandparents then visited whilst we ran around getting ourselves ready for the day ahead. Party guests started arriving shortly after whom we then split into teams sending E and her cousin off with the brother and sister-in-law on the train to soft play. The older kids then piled into our car and we headed towards town to enjoy a few hours bouncing around at Zero Gravity.
The kids loved every moment of their trampoline and foam pit party, they may have been red in the face and dripping with sweat for just over an hour but it was all good stuff and it certainly helped them to work up an appetite for the fast food feast following the bouncing bedlam.
Having consumed way too many calories and having handed out numerous party bags we then headed back towards home dropping kids off here and there upon our journey and landing back with just J and his cousin who continued to play for a fair few hours following the official party.
We somehow ended up with a house of four children who were happy playing whilst Paul and his Father glued fake grass into our garden and I ran about like a blue backsided fly trying to make what was a total tip appear to be at least organised chaos.
We then fed the kids and through a few pizzas, quiches and such like in the oven as Duane, Ali and family arrived to keep up company for the evening. The kids somehow seemed to get a second wind at this point and were happy playing together until late leaving us adult to kick back and share a few much-needed bevies.
Despite going ‘all out’ it’s often the case with kids that one little thing totally transfix’s them somehow. In J’s case it was a mini Pirates of the Caribbean ship very kindly given to him by Duane, Ali & family. I’ve never known such a small toy to keep a kid so entertained for such a great length of time. J has played with his ship everyday since opening it and unlike his other figures which are kept safely on the shelves in his bedroom this polybag and it’s contents now have pride of place on our fireplace and it’s fiddled with at least once every hour!
All in all it was a fantastic day not just for J but for E, all the other kids and us adults too! What better way to throw a kids party than to invite the big kids too?
