Partypalooza

We celebrated Will's 5th birthday on Saturday and had a Kentucky Derby party on Sunday.  I have decided I may be crazy!  At least I was smart on one point - because I didn't want to have to clean the house twice in one weekend, we had Will's birthday party at the local bowling alley, or tenpin as it's called here.  Bowling is assumed to be lawn bowling, and Will is five, not seventy-five!

The kids had a great time.  The package included chicken nuggets, chips, and drinks, so I only had to provide dessert.  Will had been wanting a King Cake since I had made one for Mardi Gras and I was happy to oblige.  A couple of days before the party he told me he wanted to have an apple pie, which was fine.  I did ask him why he changed his mind, as he had been quite gung-ho about the King Cake.  His response was that apples were healthy!  I told him not to worry about that, but I was happy to oblige.  Apple pie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream was a hit!

The kids were hysterical bowling.  I had no idea how competitive they would be, but they were still great sports.  Here a few pictures from the event.

Watching his bowl

Celebrating his strike



Chowing Down



Will was excited about inviting his entire class, but our general rule is you can invite one person for the age you are turning.  We also let Nath invite a friend so he wouldn't get too bored.  Will had a lovely group of friends come.  The girls were pleased to be invited as well, cheekily telling me it was because they were his girlfriends.  Apparently that description was accurate!

Yep, it was right on the lips

And not to be outdone....

This one ended up on the cheek



At least they're both sweet girls - and cute to boot!

Sunday after church we skipped the usual morning tea and headed straight to our house to finish the last minute party details.  Pretty soon we had our food spread ready - Hot Browns, Grilled Chicken with White Barbecue Sauce, a few greens, and for dessert - Bread Pudding and Derby Pie.  Yummy, but not exactly on my diet plan!  I did cheat a little bit and it was worth every bit of sugar!  I think everyone enjoyed the food.  One person remarked it was like being in a foreign country.

Since the Derby ran about 7am local time we DVR'ed a program called Run for the Roses.  The description stated it would be a history of the Kentucky Derby and would include a replay of the race.  Apparently that mean a replay of the last 200 yards - pretty helpful.  So I grabbed my iPad and gathered everyone around.  All in all it was pretty funny.  I had to look up separately Call to the Post and My Old Kentucky Home.  They group was fascinated that each state has it's own song.  I never thought about that being interesting. 

One of the other things I had a hard time finding were red roses.  Every time I asked a florist for red roses they handed me a dark, burgundy type color.  Apparently in Australia that is what is defined as red.  I was frustrated and trying to decide if fake roses were better or should I go with red Gerber daisies.  Finally, during my final shopping trip, we found red roses in the local grocery store!

It ended up being a nice party.  The kiddos all played together in the boy's rooms and outside, letting the parents just hang around and spend time together.  Sorry I have no pictures.  I've decided you need someone else to document a party if you're hosting.

It was a fun weekend, but boy were we exhausted on Monday!  We haven't done much at all this week, just relaxed along with the usual boring things.  Hopefully we'll have some fun this weekend!