Under the Sea Birthday Splash
We were knocked way off our normalcies around here since March so we didn’t get to planning the birthday party until about 2-1/2 weeks in advanced. If you know how these things usually go around here, the planning starts mid February with the theme, decorations, invites and food all sorted out by mid April (about 8 weeks in advance). I’m going to play the COVID Stress card, as we were busy home-work-school-ing — so some sort of everything, with everyone in the house, just like everyone else. But amidst all of the all of the weird stress, Ellie and I were able to knock out a plan fairly quickly. She even helped design fun the digital invites, that sadly went out by text because we missed the mail by date.
The Pre-Party
Because Grandpa Doug and Grandma Robin were not going to be able to make it over they surprised us all with a party while we camped together the weekend before. They even had an ice cream cake hidden in their camper freezer. Of course after Ellie and Jackson opened their gifts they just wanted to build their new lego sets right away.
The Post-Party
Since all of the parties were over by their actual birth date, we let the kids decide where they wanted to go for an outing. They originally chose Reptile Gardens, but they were sadly closed on this particular Sunday. So after church we headed up the hill to Bear Country. With it being so hot in the afternoon, we were surprised to see so many animals out. We even got to see the young and rambunctious bear cubs who were out chasing and wrestling each other. After that we headed up the hill a little bit farther to Mt. Rushmore, which was still under construction. So all we were able to do was to pick a few noses and take a few pictures. Then we headed back into town for some pizza at MacKenzie River Pizza — Jackson’s choice.
The Sea of Details
Because of the social distancing, we chose to have four parties with fewer people at each. The kids loved this idea. We had planned to have a water fight at the three during the week but unfortunately the weather only played nice once. It didn’t seem to hinder the Ellie and Jackson, who were just so excited to actually see their friends.
You might not think this from the photos but we also kept the decoration to a minimal after scouring the dollar store for streamers and balloons to make an octopus and jelly fish. Then we had a paper craft session to make a bunch of unique fish to tape up on the walls. The birthday banners are always easy to make with our home printer. Ellie was a great party planner and helped to get all of the seaweed, bubbles and fish up.
For the three parties during the week with friend, we just planned to do cupcakes and ice cream. Sadly they were not our best cupcakes or frosting as they seemed a bit over cooked and the frosting didn’t set up very well. Overall Ellie did a great job at decorating the cupcakes. She is turning into quite the cupcake decorator.
For the family gathering on Saturday, we planned a whole lunch which included Crab Sandwiches (chicken salad on croissants), Coral Reef (cheetos), Drift Wood (chippies), Sea Shell Salad (pasta salad), Sea Weed Salad (coleslaw, by Ellie’s request), Sea Cucumbers (cucumber slices), Octopus Tentacles, (pepper slices), Shark Bait (watermelon), and Ocean Water (gatoraids). We were really glad that our family could join us to help the kids celebrate.
Dottie even got in on the birthday fun. She helped us with taking down the decorations. She is such a funny dog sometimes.
We know and understand that times are really crazy right now, but it doesn’t keep these kids from growing up. We are thankful for the time we have had to grow closer as a family in the past few months. We have also missed our friends and family something fierce and are so grateful that we were able to have any kind of celebration at all — let alone four!
More Splash Pictures
