For Tyler's fifth birthday, he requested an Octonaut party. Octonauts - "Explore! Rescue! Protect!" - a tv show, book series, and game that teach about marine biology - Tyler has learned alot about the ocean from this series. We found the party supplies online.
We were super busy and didn't reserve a park months in advance, so we ended up back at Joaquin Park, at the same sight where Tyler's 1st birthday party was held. Anne Marie helped me decorate. I was pretty time-challenged with having to stop and nurse Tyrien often. I long for the day when we can throw a party at our own house instead of at a park - we'd be able to decorate the night before instead of the morning of, and wouldn't have to spend time packing up supplies and driving them to a park. It was raining early that morning, adding to the challenge. It was a mad dash, but we pulled it off.
Tyson had mentioned the previous year that he didn't get to enjoy the party when he has to spend the whole time grilling food, and last year, almost everyone we invited attended, so we decided to order pizza instead. But this year, not nearly as many kids came. Funny how that works! I'm thinking the park seemed too far away to people who don't often venture west of I-10.
One of the challenges of Tucson birthday parties, especially since Tyler started going to Catalina Day School, is that some guests arrive on Tucson time (anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes late), while others arrive exactly on time or even early.
To mitigate this, I set up one table with butcher paper and crayons for kids to draw on while waiting for others to arrive. This was a hit, but the paper actually filled up faster than I expected, so the activity was quickly over.
I also filled clear cups with blue jello with gummy sharks and eels in it - this turned out to be a great activity while the early birds were waiting for the latebirds to show.
I intended for guests to participate in a scavenger hunt with multiple missions, in the style of the show. Unfortunately, I didn't realize some of the early bird guests, so soon after Easter, immediately began collecting the hidden objects before even joining the party, and had also begun digging through the polymers to locate those hidden objects as well. I used my lifeguard voice to lead the kids through a round of "Captain Says" to try to establish a sense of order. I delivered one mission, then, as Tyrien was alerting me that he wanted to nurse yet again, I gave up on the orderly mission plan and let all the kids search for everything all at once, instead of dividing it up into mutliple challenges. So...the main activity ended up lasting only about 10 minutes, instead of 45. I called Tyson to check on the pizza ETA, and heard his shock and incredulation that the activities were already over.
I made the cake using custard cups, colored twizzlers, and a regular cake pan. My dry run cake was german chocolate and came out great. But I thought it would be easier to frost it orange if I used a yellow cake. My actual birthday cake then came out dry and fell apart. So despite my best efforts to plan ahead and have an easy to assemble cake, the actual cake ended up taking a great deal more time than the practice cake. Sigh.
I'll track down a picture of the cake and add it. Tyler was thrilled with how it looked!
Can't wait for the our next birthday party! Hopefully it will be at a house instead of a park!
Other random pictures from Spring of 2015:
The Avian Flu Egg Shortage:
Cost of eggs skyrocketed, and due to the shortage, eggs that normally would not be distributed made it to the shelves:
Cyclovia 2015:
Tyler did a fantastic job of riding his bike for a total of 13 miles over the course of the day, including riding it on 4th Ave, next to the street car. This was terrifying to me, but he did a great job. Tyson biked with Tyrien in a chariot. We bought a chariot of our own for future bike rides, but by the time it arrived, it was already hot! Can't wait to use it in the fall.
Tyler climbed a rock wall at Cyclovia:
Here's a random picture of cute little Tyrien...
Friday nights at the Keith House were wildly entertaining:
Between our long commutes, extra long hours at work (sometimes being out of the house from 6:35am until after 8pm), nursing Tyrien, swimming and soccer for Tyler, and getting our house ready to go on the market, we just didn't have much free time this spring. We've neglected our friends and our fitness. But Tyler was accepted into BASIS Tucson, a school well known for it's homework requirements, so we are very inspired to move closer into town, shorten our commute, and dedicate that free time to exercise, nutrition, education, and family time. Can't wait!
