Grant asked us if he could have a birthday party at our house this year and invite his friends.  Party planning isn’t really something that I consider a strength or even something that I am interested in.  I would have rather just written Grant a sizable check, but he really wanted to have friends over.  Lucky for me, Carol took the lead to organize the party.  After tossing around several ideas and checking into costs to have a party elsewhere, we decided to go with a bounce house and have the party in our backyard.  Grant indicated that a bounce house was a great idea.

Grant wanted to have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed party, so Carol found party favors and decorations.  An unforeseen business trip meant that Carol had to take care of the majority of the final party preparations. My main role in preparation was to help get the house organized and set up the night before and the day of the party.

The party started at 2:00 in the afternoon and the forecast said that there was a 15% chance of rain which, in Florida, can mean 100%.  We didn’t really have a plan B, so we hoped for the best.  We were very lucky that the rain held off and the afternoon ended up being sunny and hot.  The anxiety that I felt about not having any games or activities planned was unfounded as the kids had a great time just bouncing, running around in the back yard playing tag and taking turns on the horse swing.

After the party was over, Grant said it was the best birthday party ever.  And he hadn’t even opened his presents yet.  He was even more excited after opening up the presents from his friends and family.

Here are some pictures of the day and a video compilation of the four of us in the bounce house after the party was over.

And then we had some family time in the bounce house. Things got real crazy then, with forward and backward flips, somersaults, and a canine finding its way into the bounce house.