Milly’s seventh birthday party was today. She originally wanted to have it at Defy Gravity, a place with a bunch of trampolines. I couldn’t really afford that though, so we invited some friends over for a slip & slide party.
Milly’s chosen themes were Inside Out and Katy Perry, so all the decorations were based on the colors of the emotions on Inside Out. We had a Katy Perry Pandora station blaring from the Bluetooth speaker, but it got a bit racy so it was switched to Taylor Swift. That’s not an endorsement of one over the other; it’s just that the path taken by the uncultivated Katy Perry station was going in a different direction.
Tristen baked a bunch of cupcakes and a cake last night and Torrie came over to help decorate. I put up a lot of the decorations this morning and Tristen finished them up when she got off work. I did some running around to get snacks and such.
Amanda dropped Milly, who had just had a fun weekend with the Lambeth kids, off at about a quarter of two and people started arriving shortly after that. Tristen and I were the only grown-ups who got on the slide & slide at all, but the kids had a great time with it. Tristen was dragging them around on it at one point, then she organized a game of Duck Duck Goose, which was a very fun idea.
Our yard isn’t big enough, given the roots growing in part of it, to have the full slip & slide unfurled, so when I laid it out I rolled up the sides and end of it, which actually worked out pretty well because it caused it to pool up a bit. So not only were the kids running and sliding down it, they were also able to splash around in it.
After everyone got there we let the kids have a water balloon fight. I had bought one of those things where you hook an attachment to a hose and it fills a bunch of balloons all at the same time. Only a few popped early. Brilliant idea. 100 water balloons can go very fast though.
I think the best thing I saw was when one kid, it might have been Lainey, gave Milly one of the last balloons. Milly looked at it for a beat them threw it right back at her. Betrayal can be hilarious.
I grilled a couple dozen hotdogs, which, I must say, were pretty good. All beef franks from Costco, that’s the way to go. While the kids were eating, Nonnie (Tristen’s mom, Laura) came into the backyard in her scuba outfit. The kids weren’t sure what to think at first, but then they started asking questions and she was answering them. Laura’s very funny and engaging, and the kids enjoyed it.
Then it was time for cake and cupcakes and presents. The last present was from me and Tristen (mainly Tristen, to be honest). It was a stuffed Hedwig, which is the owl who delivers messages to Harry Potter. It had a message attached that told Milly she was invited to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Studios and Disney World in December. She read it aloud, but I don’t think it really dawned on her because the response was, if I’m being honest, very underwhelming.
If you ask Milly what she’d wish for if she had three wishes, one of them always involves Disney World. If you ask her what she’d do if she got rich, she always says she’d go to Disney World. If you ask her what super power she’d want, it’s usually flying or teleporting, so she can go to Disney World. If you ask her what her favorite place is, she says it’s Disney World. See a theme here?
So Tristen and I were a little disappointed at the total lack of any reaction whatsoever. But whatever. There was a lot going on and it’s a long way off. I’m sure she’ll be more excited about it as it approaches.
Everyone started dispersing after that until we were left with Zoey, who was spending the night, and the Swain kids. We let them all play for a while then decided to walk them home (right down the street) at about 7:00. Jess, the oldest of the bunch, was impressed that Tristen had a skateboard and wanted to see her on it. She pointed out that the driveway was blocked and she probably wouldn’t be able to go over the grass, but she went anyway and took a nice little windmill spill. She said she was fine, but there was a huge bump already forming on her shin. She did fine going down the street on it though.
As we were making our way down the road a flattened roadkill snake was discovered on the road. I can’t remember who picked it up first, probably Tristen, but Jess carried it down to the house.
The kids started playing some more while Tristen and I chatted with Molly and Jess (the dad Jess, not the kid Jess, though kid Jess is pretty entertaining).
Sometime around 8:00 we headed back to the house with Milly and Zoey. We set up a laptop to let them watch a Netflix movie (Girl vs. Monster I think it was called; it was a Disney movie) while munching on some popcorn. They were obviously not falling asleep, but Game of Thrones was on and I can’t pause it on Sling TV, so I didn’t go quiet them down until after that was over. They had a bunch of Barbies, or maybe it was My Little Ponies, I can’t remember right now, lined up on the bed with them. I told them it was time to go to sleep and there wasn’t another peep from them.
Everyone seemed to have a really fun time. Big thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to the party, grown-up friends and kids alike.
