Wednesday, April 22, 2009

And then it Rained...

So Jay's National Treasure birthday party was last weekend.  And yes, you are right, I SHOULD have blogged about it by now.  But I have excuses!  Tons of them!!  Four soccer games and two practices in the past four days!  A shower that needs to be completely gutted and retiled!  In-laws that visited!!  Jane is cutting two teeth!!  And did I mention those soccer games?  And while I'm on the soccer games, Annie's team came close to winning yesterday.  It's the closest they've ever come.  She scored a goal, it was fantastic.  They were tied until the very last minute when the other team scored the winning goal.  Annie didn't realize they had scored and came off the field SO EXCITED!!  Then the coach broke it to her that they had lost.  You would have thought her dog had died.  She was so sad.  It took me fifteen minutes to get her to stop crying.  Bless her....

Okay, but the BIRTHDAY was this weekend!  True to form, Jay got up at literally the CRACK of dawn.  My kids...they love to celebrate an occasion.  Even Valentine's Day causes a lost night's sleep.  So, we were up EARLY, which suited me just fine since Annie's game started at nine o'clock and we needed to get moving.  The threat of rain was high that day, but as we watched the weather, the meteorologist assured us that the front had stalled out, the rain would not be around until the evening hours!  Good news for the party!

Now, let me just mention here the TIME and EFFORT this party took.  I glued together a jeweled treasure box.  Burned my finger.  Made jeweled goodie bags, made maps of the nature park, and then spent HOURS putting together the actual hunt.  You know, the hunt that was supposed to take place OUTSIDE...at the nature park??  This was probably two weeks worth of work.  But don't worry....it's for Jay.  My first born...light of my life....joy of my heart (as all my children are).  What's two weeks when it means that I will get to see the look of joy and wonderment on his face as we are at the party and he realizes, "My mother...she did this for ME!!"  Clearly...I have lost what little brains I have left after this most recent baby. 

So...right...the rain.  I was quite happy to hear that I didn't have to worry about it until the evening hours.  Ha!  Let Jamie deal with it as he cooks ribs!  That's not MY deal!!  We had presents that morning, did the soccer games, got home and it came time for me to go to the park to decorate.  I checked the radar and not a speck of green was to be found.  So, Annie and I loaded up the car and headed to the park to get all set up.  And when I say "set up",  I mean that we unloaded a small portion of the car, hauled it five minutes up hill to the gazebo, went back to the car and repeated this process no less than 25 times.  We finished unloading as the first guests arrived.  Obviously, I did not allow enough time for the two of us, one being a small person with small arms and short legs, to walk up and down a huge hill four thousand times, arms loaded with party gear.  I began setting up. All the guests arrived!  Then Jay arrived with Jamie, the in-laws and the baby!  Pictures were taken!  Excitement!  Boys running everywhere! Nature trails to explore! Birthday madness ensues!!  Treasure hunt time was upon us!!  It began to sprinkle.  Seriously??

But, we are treasure hunters and we press on!  Back down the hill I trudged to hide the treasure box ( in a thicket of thorns I might add...wouldn't want life to be too easy for those eight year olds!).  Back up the hill and we were ready to begin!  We passed out map, compasses and explained the game.  They were beyond excited, and ready for the games to begin.  We headed out to take care of the first clue.  Running!!  Screaming!!  Excited boys!!  They solved the first clue and decoded their next destination.  Wait....was that a rumble of thunder?  Naaaahhhh...keep going.  COULDN'T HAVE BEEN THUNDER?? As we arrive at the second destination there is a DEFINATE rumble of thunder.  You MUST be kidding me!  

But!  We are good sports!!  Am super mom!  Will just head back to the gazebo and wait for this passing storm while we do cake and ice cream, presents, and the pinata.  The treasure hunt...it WILL prevail!  Only it didn't.  It poured.  And poured.  And poured some more.  It poured for an entire hour.  Suddenly, we were covered in green on the radar and had no hope of it letting up.  
Finally, with soaking wet, excited boys, we decided to pack it in and continue the hunt at my house.  Only first we have to get there.  In the pouring rain.  Hauling load after load in the pouring rain.  And retrieving the treasure box from the thorny thicket that had then become a mud pit.  We all learned why exactly I USE a flat iron on my hair.  After a good thirty minutes of hauling stuff in the pouring rain, I get muddy, wet boys loaded into my car and we head to my house. Oh...and did I mention the pouring rain? As we pull out of the nature center parking lot, the rain slacked up.  As we pull into my neighborhood it is only a sprinkle.  After we get boys and treasure hunting supplies out of the car, THE SUN COMES OUT.  I kid you not.  Now, I have a good and faithful God, so I can only assume that He was keeping one of those wild boys from a broken arm or something during that treasure hunt...right??

We finished the treasure hunt inside my house.  With muddy, wet boys.  I swept up dirt for the next three days.  When I asked Jay if he had fun, he said, "YES!  It was a GREAT adventure!!"  Mission accomplished. 

2 comments:

  1. Love the party idea. Love the cake. Love the treasure box. And LOVED the post!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure those boys will remember this party for years to come -- you too!

    ReplyDelete