The daycare was closed today for teacher inservice, which meant that most of the parents had to take a vacation day or work out some other arrangement with work. It also meant that all of the kiddos were free for a birthday party and one set of parents took advantage of this. When else can you throw a party on a weekday and get most of your son's friends?
The birthday boy was actually one of Thomas' good friends at school. With the recent classroom moves, they haven't been in the same class which was a huge bummer to the boys and to the parents. They see each other at outdoor playtime, but it's not the same as all day play time.
And since the daycare is closed, Henry also got to come along to the party. Luckily he had a friend there as well - one of his classmates is the sister of one of Thomas' class mates. So many friendships and siblings to keep track of! I have most of the kids figured out, but I have no clue on most of the parent's names...
But back to the party! They had the party at Bouncing Bears which is chock full of inflatable pieces they kids can bounce, climb and slide on. Unfortunately, it was also spring break, so the place was packed! My kids were super overwhelmed when we first got there. I found a little slide in the midst of the chaos that I thought Henry would like to hold on to and let them chill there to warm up to the excitement.
As you can tell from the photos, they both were a bit in shock. After 10 minutes or so, Thomas finally slid down the slides. Then he finally started seeing his friends running by and having fun, so he got on a few of the slides and such. He was really getting into the swing of things, but Henry was stuck with his momma. There weren't really any small things for him to play with that weren't swamped with kids, so I made him chill out with me. Poor guy gets no fun!
Then it was cake time! Thomas was super jealous of the cake - he loves Cars! Obviously the birthday boy does as well, as soon as he finally got all three candles out, he grabbed Lightning McQueen off of the cake. Personally, I'm a Mater fan, but to each their own!
Henry was super worried he wasn't going to get any cake because he was cruising around the table instead of sitting at it. Don't worry, I shared some of mine with him. His brother certainly wasn't going to be sharing! ;)
After cake time, most of the classmates headed home, but we ended up staying to hang out with Thomas' best friend (one of two I think...). He was so wired on cake and frosting that he was all over the place. He did have a small incident in the first half when he got brave and tried to go down the biggest slide in the place, but apparently got scared. I finally noticed the pile-up of kids trying to climb the slide and saw a toddler near the top trying to work his way down. After retrieving him, he steered clear of the big slide and even got all panicked when he thought his buddy was trying to climb up it. But other than that, he had a blast!
Henry had a ton of fun after the party as well because he found a plastic bottle to play with. He had so much fun with that thing - remind me why we buy them toys...? All in all a great time was had by both boys and I am sure we'll be frequenting Bouncing Bears once Henry is a little bit older and steadier.