Party Day!

Will's party was a swim and play outside party. The kids actually spent about 15 minutes in the pool before thunder made the yard a no-swim zone! That was okay because there were lots of other things to do!

Will's guest list included his friends Carter and Gabe and Gabe's big brother Joe. Just as Will comes with three sisters, Gabe and Joe come with two. The result is a lot of kids! And a lot of fun!

When the rains came almost everyone ran inside! The boys grabbed up their monster truck craft and headed for the kitchen table and the girls scrambled into the living room for a game of Apples to Apples!

These three stayed outside to man the grill. You can't really tell from the picture but it was pouring buckets out there. I think they liked it though - maybe it reminded them of their rafting weekends.

I had planned on hot dogs for the kids and salmon for the adults. We moved hot dog prep to the kitchen and cooked them the old fashioned way! The salmon was ready to go on the grill and the grill was ready despite the downpour!

There was more than enough food, even for this many people. The only thing we ran out of was the salmon.

It was so good!




We let the kids eat first so everyone could sit down together. In addition to the Gabe and Carter families, we also had Grandmama and Granddaddy and our good friend Valorie. There were a lot of us!

Then came the cake! White cake with white icing (colored brown because the boy doesn't like chocolate unless it comes in the form of a Hershey's kiss!) with three cars and a big monster truck. Just like he wanted.




Then, the presents!
There was a 4-lane hot wheels race track. . .


and a pirate ship for the pirates who don't do anything (and check out the shirt from Gabe!). . .


and a robot dog!


Then it was time for the water balloon fight. Not everyone played here. Carter watched for a while and then decided to go inside where it was quiet and dry. It became clear very early on that David was the target for all balloons!




When all the balloons were spent the non-resident peeps when home wet!