Starting Thursday, we embarked on a whirlwind birthday celebration for my oldest. Normally we don’t spend four days celebrating a birthday but sense she had a field trip, family fun night, party and then her actual birthday all on separate days, it became quite the event.
We started on Thursday with her class field trip. This year they really branched out and we got to go to the Science Center in Des Moines. While there we watched an IMAX movie about pandas and explored the many areas of science available within the walls of the center. The day was wrapped up by meeting some cold-blooded friends including a salamander, two turtles and a pair of snakes.
The next day, to celebrate her birthday with her class, I brought her favorite pepperoni pizza and slushies to share. The kids all seemed pretty excited and she was grinning from ear-to-ear as they sang happy birthday and said thank you for the goodies and treats.
That evening, it worked out that the Monroe PTA had scheduled Family Fun Night, a couple of hours of games, crafts and inflatable house fun. The girls ran around collecting toys, playing games and seeing friends until we had a couple of hands full goodies and were ready to crash.
The first two days were just building up to our big Chuck E. Cheese party on Saturday. With 12 girls in tow, my loving husband steered a borrowed bus in the rain from our house to West Des Moines for the party. While the girls loved every second of being able to sing and dance on the “party bus,” I think it was a little more stressful for my husband, who did a fantastic job even with the bumps and stops along the way.
My oldest had been requesting a party at Chuck E. Cheese since she saw another kid do the ticket blaster on at their birthday party. Her wish came true, and when we done eating she got to climb in the blaster and collect as many tickets as possible, especially the bonus tickets which netted her an extra 1,500 tickets.
Trying to make life easier on myself, I signed up for the all access passes and let the kids run wild playing games and collecting tickets for about two hours. They climbed, threw, drove and maneuvered on all of the games, probably more than once, giggling the whole time. A few of the girls even hit the jackpot and gathered dozens of tickets to use on prizes at the end of the party.
With prizes in tow, we headed back home on the bus, still singing and dancing the whole way. The girls all seemed to have a good time as they told their parents all about the party as they left.
That evening, we had a small celebration with family and took it easy after our big day. We finally got to actual big day, her birthday on Sunday. Since it was also Mother’s Day, we decided to have a little family fun, visiting Zombie Burger and the Science Center, since my youngest was feeling a little left out from the earlier trip. An exciting bonus that happened while at the Science Center was my oldest losing her fourth tooth. We rounded out the day with a trip to McDonald’s and playing with all of the new presents at home.
My Mother’s Day wrapped up with my two girls cuddling that night, the perfecting ending to a fun and crazy weekend.
Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com