Pirate party success!

We here I am, on the flip side of the joint 6 yr old party.  We made it.  With our sanity (well most of it) intact.  The pirate party went relatively smoothly, only a few (ok.. half a dozen) falls on the steep driveway or path. We remembered to do most things, although I did forget to place the X on the treasure chest, which turned out not to be an issue anyway, as Legoman and his posse of grade 2's had already discovered the chest earlier and led the treasure hungry buccaneers straight to it after the last clue was unearthed (literally, it was buried in the barren veggie patch!).  


The day started off slowly, as any day does that you are up at 5.50am.  That was thanks to a very excited Voltorb who then began his well practised mantra for the morning. "Is it party time yet?"  No Voltorb, it's still dark outside!   There was much to do, yet the children were still asking for breakfast, really guys? Today?  C'mon..  


But all the boring setting up was done.  Actually some of it was quite fun, I had treasure hunt clues to hide and bury, plus I decided it would be funny to put in a fake treasure chest before they found the real one.  Just making extra work for myself, I'm adept at this.  The jumping castle man arrived (late) and set up the two castles.  Now my boys were excited, because they weren't before, honestly.  With less then an hour until the guests arrived, and yes I do recall every moment as I was being constantly badgered about the impending arrival of presents (I mean friends).  The late jumpy castle man opened up a whole new can of worms, in fact I had, of course, predicted this.  


Around 30 children, plus parents were incoming, T minus 10 minutes and counting.  JC man was still setting up.  Our road is 600m long and one way only.  You can't see other cars until it's too late and you (or the other car if you're lucky) are left to reverse either back up or down the whole winding, steep way.  I quickly rang a friend to organise them to stop the traffic at the bottom as soon as she arrived, but there was just no time.  Coder had a light bulb moment and decided to ride his bike down.  With phones we then became those council workers with the 'stop' and 'slow' signs, Coder let cars up until up JC man was ready to leave, he then stopped traffic until I gave the all clear.  Other then the few distressed text messages I got "Lots waiting!!!!" and "Hurryyyyyytt" it ended up being very successful.  After the JC man saw the first car come up he inquired if they were all going to come up here to park.  Weird.  Where else would they park?  "Come on kids, lets walk up this 600m steep gravel driveway! I don't care if you're 3, let's go!"  But he did get a wriggle on as soon as he put two and two together.  Because 2 + 2 = 400m reverse.


Once coder had hitch hiked back up to the top, he whipped into his pirate costume.  I also was a pirate, a pov pirate with a makeshift costume.  It seemed everyone had fun.  The treasure hunt was a hit!

Maps we burned.

Ready for hiding.

Enter at your own risk!

Coder

Me

Cutest pirate ever! 

 At first he had them with promises of 'most awesome pirate' team.

 They weren't fooled... and soon defected to the 'good pirate'.

 Running to the spider shed to find our next clue.

See? the good pirate always stops to lend a helping hand.

 The two teams had merged now and were all headed towards the treasure.

 Found it!

 The treasure! Pirate pouches filled with chocolate coins.

We got to keep the left overs.

Cake, obviously.

Waiting for the candles to be lit.  Unfortunately there was too much wind.  The boys were great sports about it and pretended to blow them out.

 The present pile was impressive...

Intoxicating even!

It had been a long afternoon, the boys could not wait to open their spoils, no I mean literally, they were asking every minute if it was time for people to leave yet! Such hospitality. 


We have never had so many cars up here, including our cars there were 18!

Voltorb insisted he wear his pyjamas so he could be a pirate skeleton.  This ended up being quite helpful at bedtime.  We were exhausted and at least one of them was already ready for bed!

Skeleton with his loot.

Pichu slept for the whole party. I would normally wake him up if he naps too long, otherwise he isn't ready for bed until 8.30 or 9pm.  It was worth not having to worry about him though, and last night we just relaxed and watched Masterchef together.

Just an average week

We are having a party!  Well, Voltorb and one of his best friends are having a joint party at our place on Sunday.  Just 30 or so children, plus parents, nothing big. hahah... sigh.  Well he didn't have a big party last year and he wont be having one next year, possibly ever again.. depending how we are feeling by Sunday evening!  

There are party bags to organise, decorations to make, treasure hunt to plan, food to source and cook. Plus there are a few bad patches on our road I need to get at with a shovel again.  I have had a few attempts at smoothing out some big bumps and gaping crevices, but it's a long road! So of these things, party bags are not finished, decorations have not been started (except the pre-made purchased things), treasure hunt has been extensively talked about, but not planned.  Luckily its a joint party, and my fellow organiser, Mel (Coal Valley View) is doing most of the food.  But I have made meringues last night,  and brownies and banana bread today. 

On top of these things, Legoman has not been 100%.  Tuesday I had to pick him up early from school, Wednesday he had off and I took him to the Doctor.  Viral.  Of course.  Coder was working from home that day, so at least the little boys didn't have to miss out on our Wednesday morning music session at Richmond.  They love being able to play with unusual bit and bobs.  Really cool drums and bongos, bells and maracas.  Even buckets and scarves! 

So Wednesday was a little hectic, we dropped Voltorb to school, came home, quickly potted a birthday present for a friend, all the while Pichu was (over)feeding the chickens and getting chook poo all over him because I had accidentally locked them in the shed over night and they had to roost all over the place in the dark.  But that's another story!  Music started at 9, it was 9.05 when I finally had clean hands, a poop free Pichu and Oshawott with shoes on.  Off to music.  Then morning tea with the Birthday girl, home to swap a grumpy Oshawott with sick Legoman, tried to get Pichu to nap in the spare 10 mins I had.  No thanks Mum.  Great.  Back in the car to the Dr.  Viral infection confirmed, vitamin C, water and rest.  For me? Yes.. thanks Dr...  Oh right, for Legoman.  At home I had an hour to whip up some meringues, unstack/restack the dishwasher, and make lunch before heading out to get Voltorb from school and take him into Salamanca for Art Class.   Pizza for dinner, home at 5.30.  Nice surprise, Coder and Legoman had been cleaning! Then it's eating, home reading, magic words, spelling, pyjamas (no time for a bath tonight boys!), stories and bed.  Between 5.30 and 6.30 Coder also vacuumed and shampooed the lounge room carpet.  

Breathe...  all in a days work.

Today they are both at school, although once he realised he was going, Legoman suddenly had a headache.  Nice try sunshine!  The little boys and I are at home today, cooking, cleaning and hopefully doing some party decorations ( I have skulls to make!).  Soccer and hockey training this afternoon, home be around 4pm.  Luckily the slow cooker is making dinner tonight.

Here are some photos from music.

Pichu declares its home time, dragging my bag along with him.