Let's Party!

When McKinley's birthday rolled around in February she was grounded within an inch of her life and her most of her friends were out of town at a church retreat. I know, we're mean.

Anyway, we decided to do a 13 1/2 birthday party. Instead of a cold February birthday she had a warm August one. I must admit, I was worried about 16 13 & 14 year olds descending on my house, but I carried on.

The cake was hand picked by the half birthday girl from the Family Fun website. I was relieved. No piping, easy as pie. Well, cake.

A beach and ocean cake. A towel under the palm tree with a beach ball and an umbrella.A life saver (hee hee), a beach ball, and a seashell.And of course a school of fish.And what beach scene is complete without a bonfire? We were so glad to find chocolate rocks at Wal-Mart. Sadly because of the circumference of my rock ring, she only turned 7. Hey, that might work out well for me...As the friends started arriving I was worried. They weren't swimming, they weren't jumping, they weren't even swinging...they were comparing cell phones.As more people came the cell phone circle moved to the end of the driveway.Eventually we did get them back in the backyard and swimming and jumping commenced. I've never been one for limiting the number of people on the trampoline. The way I look at it, the more there are, the harder I laugh.After the sun went down, the cake was consumed, and the presents were opened, it was time for Sardines! We'd gotten the idea from our neighbors when they had used our yard a few years ago. McKinley tried to carry the meeting on to explain inside the pool house but we moved it inside to a less distracting place. Besides, 16 kids in one small pool house doesn't quite work out. Oddly enough, it was just the beginning.So who knows how to play Sardines? It's a lot like hide and seek....but different.

For Sardines it has to be completely dark. Everyone should be in dark or camoflauge clothes. We even had some with black under their eyes! It's best to have a nice sized area with lots of hiding places available. I don't think it would work in a house. Well, at least not with 16 people. We used our yard, and three neighboring ones. Because of the dark, and the street being involved we paired the kids off. It also ended up that every other one had a flashlight. A pair stayed outside and the rest headed to the living room. I suggested some hiding places and then made sure I knew where they'd be. I would wait a few minutes, and then release everyone else. The pairs ran around the neighborhood looking for their friends. When found instead of the game being over, they would join them, until 16 people were all in one spot. The first hiding place was our pool house bathroom.

Can you believe there are 16 kids in that picture?!?! There are!We were able to find 7 really good hiding places and kill an hour and a half. Everyone had a blast, including me!So my worries about having that many teenagers at my house were pointless. I was so proud of McKinley's choice of friends after that. She has surrounded herself with nice, kind, and adventurous kids.And some true goofballs!***And now for the PSA---if you plan on doing a game of Sardines in your neighborhood think ahead and call your neighbors to warn them about people dressed in black, wielding flashlights, running through the houses, and getting close to windows. But do tell them what time the party is over, or they could get too comfortable!***