Happy Birthday Lexi!

This year is the first year that we got to have a really nice birthday party for Lexi. We set out to find the best place to host the party and invite as many of her friends as possible from school.

I have been to a couple children’s parties at Chuck ‘E Cheese’s and I didn’t want to have a party there. It wasn’t that they were that bad as much as they weren’t that good. The two separate parties that I attended were nearly the exact same experience from my point of view: you arrive and deliver the child’s present, all the kids gather waiting on tokens, kids receive tokens and take off to play games, Chuck E shows up and mingles with the kids, we all eat pizza and cake, say our “Thank Yous” and “Happy Birthdays”, leave.

For Lexi’s party we wanted something different. Not just for us but for the kids also. We had talked with one of Lexi’s previous teachers about a place where they allowed kids to jump and play on a series of inflatable bouncers. Of course this conversation took place many months before Lexi’s party, and by the time her birthday came around we had forgotten the exact details of the place. However, as luck would have it we came across a place called BounceU that was along one of the roads that we travel often to go shopping. We stopped in and checked on party information, and our minds were made up that this is where we were going to have Lexi’s party.

Lexi’s party was great. Everyone that came had such a great time, including some adults. The kids ran and jumped and played the entire time that they were allowed on the equipment. It was really great to literally watch these kids work up a sweat playing on these things. Here are some pictures.

This picture shows Lexi at the top of a set of stairs for a giant slide. She is the perfect little traffic director. It is funny to note that when we first arrived Lexi wanted absolutely nothing to do with the slide. Luckily a staff member was with us the entire time and was already assisting other kids on the slide. We told her to just carry Lexi up and make her go down the slide on her own. After she went down once it was hard to get her to stop.

This is a slightly different slide then the first. To start with, this slide is much smaller then the first. The first slide was easily twenty feet or more. This one was along the lines of ten feet. Also instead of climbing up a set of steps off to the side, the kids climbed through a series of pillars, leading up to a ramp, and then down the slide. Poor thing is dripping wet. The kids were having such a great time running around the entire place. All together there were between six and eight pieces of equipment in each room.

After play time was over it was time to get the rest of the party underway. In the corner of the party room there was a throne for the birthday girl.

Here is a good shot of her enjoying her pizza. I think that pizza is the universally accepted children’s birthday party food.

Of course it wouldn’t be a birthday party without cake!

Lexi’s birthday party was a complete success. I was really glad that some many kids showed up. There was a time I was worried that no one would show up, and she wouldn’t have anyone to play with. Thankfully that didn’t happen.