The girls have been requesting new bikes for many months since the ones they have were outgrown a long while ago. Kate and Allison's bikes had 12-inch wheels and Erin's had 16-inch wheels, which were great sizes for them nearly four years ago. Part of our hesitation about getting new ones were that the twins were still using training wheels, but in the spring each of them left the trainers behind for good. By that time I thought we might as well wait until the fall. At first I thought we should pass Erin's bike down, but sometimes the twins rode it and even that one looked too small for them.
As their birthdays approached we surprised them one afternoon by taking them all bike shopping. We didn't have much luck at the first shop but at the second we hit the jackpot. The twins' new bikes have 20-inch wheels and Erin now has a 24, which should last them all several more years. By the time they outgrow these I have a feeling they'll start hinting to us about cars.
Somehow, very strangely, apparently eight years have passed since the day Erin was born. I'm not exactly sure how this occured in what seems a whole lot less than eight years. I think I was just getting comfortable with her being 7 and now the twins are talking about their seventh birthday.
Erin has read and loved all seven Harry Potter novels, and after she finished each book, she watched the corresponding movies, and the last movie is due out shortly. She is all jazzed about seeing that final movie and she wanted a Harry Potter birthday party at our house. I thought this was a good idea but since I guessed that many of her friends haven't read the books, I convinced her to widen the scope of the party theme to include magic in general.
This made for a pretty simple party to plan and execute. First up, lunch, because I took lots of math in school and I know that K + P = H, (where K= kids, P=pizza, H= happy). And some fruit and munchies served in plastic magician hats.
Next up, magician for hire. I didn't know any magicians so I chose one who came highly recommended (on Yelp). He had the kids laughing and engaged, but his magic tricks were fairly cheesy and John and I weren't overly impressed. At one point he brought Erin up and dressed her a bit like Harry Potter before she assisted him. And he got some other kids in the act too. Nevermind that his secrets were often pretty obvious, the kids had fun.
After the show I brought out a couple of boxes of cheap magic tricks for the kids to try out themselves, and they had fun with those and/or playing in the backyard together until it was time for cake. This fantastic castle cake was made by a friend:
After the cake John turned on a Tivo'd collection of Pixar short films, because he remembered the first film was about a magician, and the kids laughed and explored their goodie bags of magic tricks and tips, magic wand, and halloween Mad Libs until their parents picked them up.
Erin started talking about plans her next birthday party quite a while ago. Her birthday is in october, so I guess her tendency to procrastinate really only applies to chores and homework. Early in the summer when I asked the twins what kind of birthday party they wanted they answered resoundingly and unanimously, "A swim party!!!" There are a couple of problems with that idea. Their birthday is in september and september weather around here is notoriously iffy. It could in theory be 90F, but we've had several outdoor birthday parties where it rained hard the day before, or the morning of, or in the evening only hours afterwards. Lots of close calls. We haven't had a party rained out yet but betting on one which would be warm enough for swimming didn't sound so good to me.
Oh yeah, and we don't have a pool.
But I knew of several local private pools in the area and I called some of them to see if having a swimming party could be possible. The best venue for such a thing, I decided, was a pool located near their elementary school, but they closed for the season on September 1. We decided to have the party today, about 2 weeks ahead of their birthday which would give them what they wanted and also make it more likely to have a warm, sunny day.
And the weather today cooperated pretty nicely. Despite temps of 100F earlier in the week, today was very comfortable. We had two hours of time reserved at the pool, including lifeguards to watch the kids so the adults could relax a bit also. The pool is a U shape with one entire side only 3.5 feet deep. Perfect for lots of young swimmers of various ability levels, and those who wanted to could venture to the other side and the deeper water.
We threw in a few beach balls and dive toys and squirty fish and it everyone got busy having fun.
Besides having to tell some kids not to run around the pools, the lifeguards mostly sat quietly.
There were 20 or so kids and plenty of room for everyone to do what they wanted to.
Then after swimming for about an hour the kids dried off and we all had lunch in the picnic area, followed by singing happy birthday to Allison and then Kate. Each one had their own swimming pool cake made up of cupcakes and of course just as we got the cakes out some wind picked up and kept blowing the candles out. Keeping the sides of the cake boxes up and John's trying to shield the candles with his hands were only marginally successful, but in the end I don't think they cared that they had a little help with the candles.
After cake many of the kids got back into the pool. And a little while later, It Happened...
Only I don't think it was a Baby Ruth bar. So the swim party was over, at about the time it was supposed to be anyway, but this really wasn't the party conclusion I was hoping for. There weren't any babies in the pool so who knows who was responsible for the event, but it made for a memorable end to a memorable birthday party. Even Danielle (our ex-nanny) came to visit.
Back at home the girls had a bath and then read through their cards from their friends and opened a few presents. And they talked about what they'd like to do next, on their real birthday in two weeks, which will be something small and with only family. Whatever we decide to do, I hope it's doodie-free.
My oldest friends Susan and Trish (who would be quick to jump in and remind me that of the three of us, I'm technically the oldest) and I have been emailing back and forth semi-regularly over the past 6 months or so about when we'll get together next. Susan lives a couple of hours away, Trish lives many more hours away, we all work and Trish is always travelling abroad for her job. Because of all this, getting together requires significant coordination. In the past several weeks it became clear that all of us were free this holiday weekend so Susan suggested we all come to her area to celebrate my birthday and the 4th.
My girls were thrilled with the plans since they love spending time with Susan's daughters. When we arrived on saturday morning Susan got them busy making a cake for me. Susan's daughters are older and I offered a deal to them ahead of time: teach my kids to swim this weekend and there will be a financial reward in it for them. As it turns out, they took this offer very seriously and as soon as the cake was in the oven the girls were in the pool, with each of my girls assigned to a big girl and the lessons began.
At first I stood outside and watched over everything. But it was really warm out there and John and Trish and her husband Hugh and Susan were all inside having nice, cold beverages.
"Does one of us need to be outside all day with them?" I asked John. "I don't think so. The big kids seem very focused on our kids. I think they'll be fine."
The lessons went on for hours. Eventually the girls took a lunch break and also time to decorate my cake.
But then it was time to cool off again in the pool. And very much to our surprise our girls really, really, really made some progress in swimming. Erin swam across the width of the pool, unassisted, in the deep end, several times. Allison swam almost all the way across the width of the shallow end, and Kate also got close. So yes, we paid them a reward even though there would be more swimming to come tomorrow. John grilled up dinner,
And my cake was served, complete with a little old lady and her walker, fashioned out of paper clips by John.
It was a casual, low-key birthday with way too much food and drink and very much missed old friends. It couldn't have been better.
