Squish's 8th Birthday - the best ever!

For Squish's birthday I told him we were going to have a family dinner at our place, and that it would pretty much just be a quiet dinner at home with both sets of Grandparents (Mike's folks were flying in that day for his baptism) and that his cousins would be there too. (the ones that live locally.) So, he went to school and I went into action. (Cue"mission impossible" music) I decorated the backyard with a bunch of streamers and Speed Racer stuff, decorated a Speed Racer car cake, and let in the bounce house man to set up what would make this "The Best Birthday Ever!" (At least, that's what Squish said.)




It went from this.....








To this in just a few minutes. I was worried that phone line would get knocked down or over with the bouncing, but it was just fine. My orange tree behind the castle didn't appreciate how often we deflated and inflated the castle, but the kids loved watching it deflate and fill up again. It was a really cool combo bounce house that also had a big slide and a climb through tunnel. We've never had anything like this before and don't usually do "big things" for birthdays.

When Squish got home from school we told him he had to do his homework before everyone got there, so after he was done, I tied a ribbon to the bounce house and told him "I have a really big balloon for you, you just have to find it." I had wound it around in the house a little, to give me a few seconds to run outside and turn on the camcorder. I hadn't anticipated how fast they would be, and oh, the happiness on those four faces!











"This is the life!" Says Mr. W (while doing his homework later than night)...Cousin Ozzie enjoying the tunnel .....

Mike enjoyed the bounce house too...
Mike's folks...


Cousin Cakes












and here's my folks.....









And here's my Mom and Sister....




It was a great party, we had pizza for dinner, cake, and created lots of bouncy memories! The best part was that because it was our first bounce house the man left it for us overnight and didn't come back for it until 7pm-ish the next day! WoooHooo!! By the end I was almost forcing them into it. They wanted to keep bouncing, but it was a really hot day and they were just dripping with sweat. Being the good mother that I am however, (ha ha) I kept saying "No, you can't go inside and play video games! We don't know when the bounce house man will be back to take it to his store! Go play!" (Because he just said "I'll come get it in the morning, you don't have to be home") So I really kept thinking it would be gone any second. Let's just say the boys slept really, really well that night. They did their homework in there, and when I finally gave up and could tell they had bounced enough, they laid down inside the bounce house and played Nintendo DS video games and read books. You might say we got some serious mileage out of that castle.