The birthday party that almost wasn't....

I've been doing birthday parties for a long time.... (Obviously for the last 7 years... but I can take credit for planning some pretty swinging suprise parties for family members prior to that). I've never been burned like this one. Here's the story of the birthday party that almost wasn't...

This year we were going rock climbing at one of the local sporting goods stores. Two and a half weeks before the party I called to confirm my reservations. I was told everything was fine and so I spent the next few days getting the invitations together and mailed....

I spent hours researching cake ideas, party favor ideas--OK, in reality I spent hours over the last month researching these ideas, but I fine tuned things in the weeks leading up to the party (this is how it ended up looking... many thanks to my friend Tamara for making the cool fondant people!)...

Fast forward to one week prior to the party... My friend Rachel goes to the sporting goods store to climb with her boys on Saturday evening while their little sister is away at grandparents. Imagine my shock when she calls me at 7pm to tell me that the rock wall is closed... PERMANENTLY!! I had not received any phone calls concerning my party! This is Saturday night... I've got a party scheduled for the following Sunday. To say I went into panic is an understatement.

Then, Felix got sick... He spent two days home from school with some version of bronchitis (that he still hasn't totally shaken and too much running will send him into coughing fits that bring him to the brink of throwing up). It was looking more and more like we wouldn't be having a 7th birthday party this year...

I called anywhere I could think of, and of course most everything was booked up for today...

With Felix slowly on the mend and back at school we decided to go thru with a party and just head over to the local park. Spent time calling people and reorganizing for the day...

An incredibly windy day made it impossible to light candles, so Paul helped us improvise. We all sang happy birthday and then Felix blew out a match he was holding. Not perfect, but a good memory to have... just wish I had the photo!! :)

The kids all enjoyed playing tag and star wars and they were just happy to be together, all in all it worked out well, but it was still stressful!!

Happy Birthday Felix! (Well, in one more week... :)!)