Hooray for the non-friend party year in our house! Every other year we let the kids celebrate their birthdays with a friend birthday party. For some reason, when this tradition started, I wasn't smart enough to alternate so I didn't have all four parties in one year. On the party year, I feel a little overwhelmed, I admit (and poor Josh got skipped altogether last year--we still owe him one). But the off year, the family party year, is awesome. That is where we are right now.
So Jack turned 6 on January 29th. Hard to believe I haven't had a baby for 6 years. He's a full blown kid now. He started off the day waking me up at 6:00 am to remind me about his breakfast in bed.
After that was completed, we headed down to open gifts.
He had fun passing out Krispy Kreme donuts at school for his birthday treat. (But I didn't capture that on film.) Then it was on to Stella's Blue Sky Diner for dinner. I have to admit that the food there isn't that great. But you go for the atmosphere. It's a fun place to celebrate a birthday.
After the meal, we ordered good, old-fashioned milkshakes--served, of course, from a high counter down into a glass on your head. The whole family was brave enough to try this out, although I didn't get a good shot of Jack as the camera was freaking out a bit. But you get the idea. (Emmie even captured the experience from the floor angle on video.)
After the milkshakes, our waiter announced to the whole diner that Jack was six and he galloped around the diner on a stick horse with a lovely 10 gallon hat falling over his eyes. He was having a ball. And after the gallop, they served him with an ice cream sundae with sparklers on top.
By the time we got home, Jack was on such a sugar rush, we had to save the birthday cake for the next day. We did eventually sing to him and he got his cake. All in all, I think it was every bit as good as a friend party and way less stressful for me.
