Not far from our Kids’ house is a place that goes crazy with lights and decorations! Their theme is the Chevy Chase movie, “Christmas Vacation.” They play excerpts from the movie over your FM radio, and have scenes with him in the pool, buying the tree, Cousin Eddie in his RV, and of course all the excessive lights!
Peter’s Party
With a birthday the day after Christmas, everyone tries hard to make Peter’s birthday special. This year the party was great! As per his request, it was Dinosaur themed. Becky made an awesome cake with Dinosaurs made out of chocolate, and painted with her new food color airbrush.
Lots of thumbtacks were taped to the wall, then balloons taped up just touching them. The kids would throw Hacky Sacks until they very loudly popped all the balloons!
There was “Pin the Tail on the Dinosaur,” which was made a little more interesting because the kids just raised their obligatory face masks up over their eyes as blindfolds.
And of course it ended with cake and presents. Now Peter is officially seven years old!
Prehistoric Putt
We were told this Mini-Golf place was different – and it was fantastic! Firstly, it is indoors, which makes sense when it is freezing outside.
The first hole set the tone for the afternoon… Instead of using your putter for the first stroke, you climb up on a small platform, sit in a chair on a zip line, and throw your ball at the hole as you zoom past it! Great fun!
Other holes were equally unusual… like one where you bounce your ball off the table into a series of cups, or run it through a tilting maze.
This was a golf – pinball machine. Below is one where you hit up the severely sloped back wall, and hopefully into the Dino’s jaws. If you did, the ball ran through a stair step pathway, into a long trough, and then a right angle turn and right into the hole. I did that, and it was the only decent shot I had all day!
This may have been the funniest. You shoot your ball up the tiny ramp on the left, then it rolls through the clear tube and down the pin ball path on the wall. Then comes the fun – you slide down the big tube, and end up in the foam pit. We thought we might loose Cherryl there forever! It was a lot like swimming in Molasses… without the taste.
Between holes you work your way around huge Dinosaurs. Many holes had little spinners to add challenge to the game.
Somehow this big guy got my ball… but I was brave enough to retrieve it from those fearsome jaws.
Best Bday Gift
Peter’s coolest gift was a new guitar… He’s playing very well, and has outgrown his small one.
Peter’s new 3/4 sized Guitar in the center
Just like cute kittens, cute Grandkids have almost as much fun playing with the huge Guitar Box!
Parting Shot:
A new subdivision is going in behind our Kids’ house… this shot is a metaphor for the new year…
When life throws you a curve, just go with it and move on!
Your blog encapsulated our own experiences yet with less obvious snow , i tobogganed with my six year old g-daughter Abigail , daughter Jenna and two ragamuffin sons came for two nights and I threw my traditional seafood feast . Christina put on one of her own for her family too . She babysat to her great delight her 13 month old grandson and four year old grand dog as well .Looking forward to seeing you both again in a week !
Great to hear from you! Glad you’re having some great family time. FYI, we are leaving AZ on Thursday for a couple of weeks. Will you be back before that?
Great pics of the “miniature” golfing. Looks fun. Becky’ cake fit right in!! Cute. Have fun!!
Wow! Coolest birthday party ever! And yes, the kids in the box are so like kittens. 🙂 There was a dino exhibit at the Bishop Museum I went to, last visit to O’ahu. You and Peter would love it!