Splash FUN

Our nieces, Leece and Madison, have birthdays that are only about a month apart from each other. My SIL, Tara, used to do two separate birthday parties for them, but has realized that it is completely too much work to do them back to back like that. She did a joint birthday party this year and it was a total HIT! Leece turned 4 and Madison was turning 2. The party was Saturday, June 2 at their house in Charleston and we packed the car as much as we could on Friday night before the party, got up early on Saturday, threw the boys in the car in their pjs, and hit the interstate going east. We stopped for a quick breakfast in Columbia and made it to Charleston in great time. We actually got there right in perfect time to get the van unloaded and the boys changed in time for the start of the party. We were, unfortunately, no help at all with party set-up for Tara...maybe next time! Luckily, MaSha went down early to help out.

Birthday Girls!

Decor:

The invitation said to wear swimsuits but knowing that it was in the backyard, we weren't sure what to expect. I guess I was thinking that there would be some baby pools and squirt guns and such. I was blown away to see the HUGE bouncy slide with water! WHOA! In addition there were baby pools, beach balls, water squirt guns, and anything else you can think of that would make a fun splash party. It was seriously awesome. The boys were so excited.

THE SLIDE!!!!

Lots of fun water toys around the yard

As soon as kids started going down the slide, Stokes jumped right in and was ready for the action. Surprisingly, William was a little timid and did not want to go down. He was happy enough playing in the baby pools, using squirt guns to water the tomatoes in their garden, "mowing" the grass, and chasing bubbles and beach balls. Ryan started out in the baby pool, but I just knew that he would love the slide, so later on in the party, I took him with him in my lap a few times. I also ended up getting William up there with me and let him slide down in my lap to get him warmed up to the idea. He wouldn't go down without me the first few times, but eventually he got brave and went down on his own....and then there was no stopping him. Even after the party ended, all the guests had left, but the slide people hadn't come to pick it up yet, so we maximized the time. The kids just kept going again and again, and it didn't take long for us adults to have our fun on the slide, too. Seriously, it was really so enjoyable!

William "watering" the tomatoes

Ryan in baby pool

Leece

cake time!

See that cut on his lip? We had a little party foul incident.
Stokes didn't wait for the little guy who went down the slide
in front of him to move off to the side before he went down
(totally against the rules that we had established) and Stokes
bonked heads with the other little guy and got a bloody lip.
The other kid was OK, and no stitches were needed, but
it was a close call!

Chillin'...

Cousin fun

sweet birthday girls!

Madison

Leece

Ryan

The best I could get

Stokes, the struggle is real

When the slide finally got picked up, we had totally gotten the full use out of it that we could and we got all the kids bathed and in pjs. We had a relaxed dinner at the house and thought we'd have a bunch of sleepy kids with all the playtime, sliding, splashing that they did without any naps (except Madison - she took a nap!). Not so much the case. Stokes and William kept flip flopping on whether they wanted to sleep in our room or in the room with MaSha and they weren't as quick to fall asleep as I thought and hoped that they'd be.

MaSha and Ryan

playing in pj's

modeling her new rain boots

Anyway, Tara and Matt did an awesome job on the party and we all had an incredible time! The boys, Thomas and I had a blast. Leece said multiple times that it was "the best" birthday party! I'd say she liked it, too!