My First "Friend's Birthday Party!"

Several weeks ago, I received one of the most exciting pieces of mail that I am ever likely to receive.

My first invitation to a birthday party!!


It was done very smartly...two of my friends joined forces to have a big event at a place called The Little Gym. It was easier, and I'm sure more cost-effective. I spent the weeks leading up to the big day anticipating it like crazy, and also spent some time shopping for my friends. We got them each, what I believed to be a great present, and headed out to The Little Gym, not knowing exactly what to expect, but sort of having a general idea, due to my time at Jonah's Treehouse (A refresher HERE and HERE)

One of the coolest parts was that all three of us (Mom, Dad and I) got to go and spend the night together, which is a rarity, but always great.

And much like I had hoped, I simply had a BLAST. There were a few moments where I got a bit overwhelmed, but that happened to a lot of the kids, even the two birthday girls at a few points. In general, though, we all had lots of fun...it was well-organized, and ran like a well-oiled machine.

We opened up with a bit of free-play while everyone got acclimated to the place, and I got to run around on the tumbling mats....


Soon after, we all sat in a circle with maracas and sang a song while playing them. Mom is a great singer, and we had a lot of fun!


Later, while the staff was setting up for the next game, I got to try out a hula hoop for the first time. I believe that the hula hoop should be somewhat smaller in order for me to get the fullest usage out of it, but in general it was fun to run around with it and swing it around!

We go to play this game where we were all walking around in a circle while a song played...the song talked of possibly being chased by some kind of animal, which one would typically find unnerving, but for some reason we found insanely fun. The music would start off slow, and then build to a quicker pace, meaning we would run...and then they would say "Freeze" and Dad and I would freeze...it was really funny. Dad is such a goof.

During the next free play, I spent some time working on my balance with Dad on the balance beam...I think I'm getting pretty good, but it's pretty tough with how narrow the beam is. But I think I'm coming along.

The staff brought out this giant soft round....thing. All the kids got to line up, and lay down on the round thing, and, it's kind of tough to describe, but the staff rolled it from one spot to another while we laid down on top, and then we rolled off at the end......Oh...My...GOD THIS WAS FUN! As soon as I was done the first time, I ran right back to get in line...it was GREAT!


Really...I could have spent the entire rest of the night doing this...I can't even tell you...oh man, I am out of breath right now just thinking about how fun this was...

And then it happened...the staff brought out the next game...and there it was...my mortal enemy.

The parachute.

Now, if you have been following the blog, you'll know that there were many things I liked about Jonah's Treehouse...and one thing that I didn't like...

The parachute.

Don't get me started. I have no idea why I don't like it...yeah, I can crawl around on the bed with the covers over my head, but the parachute has always bugged me out. It makes no sense, and I make no excuses. Mom and Dad both saw my hesitation, but I decided that I was so hopped up on age-appropriate activities that I would go for it and face my fear.

At first, it was great....we got to hold the ends of the parachute and wave it around...this I was OK with...in fact, it was awesome...Mom thought so, too.

Then, they let all of us sit on the parachute, and run around while the grown-ups waved it around...again, this was fun, and I enjoyed it....

...until they started walking in a circle, pulling the parachute along with them. I felt on my butt, my legs went right out from under me...and I lost it...All the horrors came rushing back, and I wanted out right then. Luckily, one of the other Dad's was in a better spot to grab me than Mom or Dad was, so he helped out and asked Mom if she wanted him to grab me, and he did...so I was out...I was done...

But then, everyone went under the parachute...the last step in facing this fear. I figured, just because the last game we played with the parachute didn't go well, doesn't mean this has to...

So I did it...I went under with Mom and Dad and it was totally worth it! I did it! I beat the parachute, and had fun in the process!!!

Our last organized game came with a giant inflatable thing that we got to stand on and jump around...one of my best friends from daycare saw me from the other side of the thing, and came over to jump with me...it was a lot of fun, but I wasn't quite ready to let go of Dad's hand yet...

After this, there was a bit more freeplay while they set up for dinner and cleaned up the last of the games...they had lots of balls to play with, and were blowing bubbles for us to run around with....they were easily the best bubbles I have ever seen, since they hung around for awhile in the air...I have to ask where they got those bubbles...

Finally, this led to dinner (PIZZA!) and even a juice box...the entirety of which I drank after only having had one bite of pizza...my only comment? A breathless, "JUICE!" as I finished my first of what I thought to be many juice boxes...turns out I only got one...Lame.

We also got to have some cake, which was a lovely Dora the Explorer design...it was purple, and I am here to tell you folks that purple is delicious.



This led to a brief sugar high, and some more running around before we wrapped up for the night...A lot of it was spent chasing around one of my best friends...she also was a little hopped up on sugar...it was a little ridiculous.


We got a little present at the end which was a Little Gym water bottle, and a puppet that we got to pick. I picked a white kitty with a pink ribbon around its neck...its simply adorable.

Man...that's it...what a night! Can't wait to do it again!! Whose birthday is next, people?