Birthday Bonanza

We had quite a fun weekend! Two birthday parties on Saturday and Halloween festivities at the base on Sunday. We were excited for the first birthday party because it was at one of those bouncy castle places...and the boys have never been before. The LOVED it and were sweaty and red-faced by the time we left.

Later in the afternoon we (the boys and I...Geoff had a work weekend) went to a place about 30 minutes from here called Camp Cowboy.

The theme was pirates.

Lucky for us, the boys' pirate costumes from two years ago still fit (kind of). The party was crazy! There were horses in corrals everywhere. Then it was time for pony rides!

...or donkey rides:

I was in shock at the difference one year makes. Just last year the boys ran away screaming and and crying from a horse. When they called W's name for his turn on the pony, he dashed over without even hesitating.
Here are the boys watching the other kiddos ride after they had a turn.

While we were eating dinner, a surprise guest arrived. A goat!

I wish I had my video camera. I was laughing so hard at this goat. It was if he was trained to be the star of the party. He was chasing after the kids, the kids were chasing after him, a couple of dogs were chasing him...and he loved every minute of it. The boys just stopped eating and stared (with their mouths open) at a large group of screaming kids running after the speedy goat. J looked at me and calmly said "Mommy, I just want one more hot dog (he already had two) and then I will chase the goat." Like he chases goats every day.

Next up, pinatas:

During the pinatas a pig arrived and was sniffing around the horses. He wasn't as interested in the kids like the goat.
And then I heard a lot of noise and saw this:

Wagon rides too! Sorry for the blurriness. I learned that it is very difficult to manage taking pictures when Geoff isn't with me to help. I was so busy with the boys and their gear and getting dinner that I definitely had trouble getting any really great photos.

Here is J hiding from a pirate:

I can't forget about the birthday cakes. They were amazing. They didn't even look like cakes! One was a pirate ship with nutella buttercream frosting...oh my.

The other was a treasure chest cake...I will have to find out who made the cakes! You can kind of see it here:

They were both really fun parties. I think I might have been more exhausted then J and W that night though.