Party on! We celebrate Daniel...

 


Daniel's birthday party was a huge success. Despite rain making swimming impossible until the very end, family and friends braved the torrential rains and wet tourist-filled roads to help us celebrate Daniel birthday.

As usual, it was time for Mom to go slightly overboard. The train cake was really fun to make - and eat. Daniel and his friends would stare at it and talk about it and try to think of ways to touch it without getting caught. The burgers and hot dogs anchored a simple menu, and Carol Lee's deviled eggs were gone before most of the other guests arrived (You snooze, you lose!).

The kids did crafts at the craft station, where Dan gave his first of many kisses to the lovely Lexie. Lexie has stated many times that she's going to marry Daniel. Despite her Mom Shannon's admonishment against kissing boys, Lexie didn't seem to mind Daniel's attention. Dan, Dan ... let them chase YOU, honey. Work to do there...

 




The kids also played "Pin the Smile on Daniel", even though Mom forgot the lips. So we cut up slips of white paper, put on some lipstick and improvised. Dan kissed the lips after pinning them to the poster. He sees lips and kisses them, apparently! The adults also had fun with the lips - perhaps even more than the kids!


 



When it was finally time to eat the cake the kids were so excited they tried to help Dan blow out the candles. Ice cream with whipped topping made it a truly decadent and so-full-I-must-unbutton-my-pants experience.

Samantha and Jared helped Dan open his many gifts - everyone was so generous. Daniel, of course, wanted to play with everything RIGHT THEN, but we dissuaded him from all except the radio controlled boat. Which I think was more a gift for Dad than Dan.

Dan's friends and cousins were given tubs of chalk and goodie bags (filled with a coloring book, crayons, stickers, candy and a few other odds and ends) to thank them for joining us.

It was a terrific day, and we will remember it forever. Thank you to all who came and all who sent their best wishes for a good party. It worked!

The cake:



Okay. Did you notice the very unfortunate misspelling error caught by my father before most of the other guests arrived?


The party: