Thatcher's Birthday Party

On September 9th Thatcher turned One. The following Sunday we helped him celebrate at Lake Chabot Regional Park. It was a really neat wide open space. Lots of grass to run and play in.We were one of the first baby friends to arrive, and had fun helping set up the toys on the lawn. Holly really had fun playing with the net and balls and running around in the open.It had been quite a few weeks since we last saw Thatcher. His mom is a third grade teacher and she started back to school , so she hasn't been able to join us on our Monday playdates. It was a lot of fun to see them again.When we left home we thought it was going to be a cool day, in Berkeley it was. But here in the Oakland Hills, The park was super sunny and pretty hot. Luckily I had a change of cloths for Holly and was able to dress her in something cooler before her hair was all full of sweat. Holly knows how to play hard!Here is our little birthday boy dressed up in his birthday crown. He has only just taken his first few steps. It is so fun watching all of Holly's friends grow up with her.Holly really enjoyed playing in the grass and it was a bit hilly so it was a lot of fun for her to run up and down the inclines. Then she started ti notice and investigate all the blades of grass.She tried to make friends with the older kids. This little girl was playing with the ring toss but Holly had more fun trying the rings on like a necklace.They were more like a deceiving little halo upon her head. She had fun with Tanta Kat and liked putting the ring on her head too.Soon she was up again and kicking around the Soccer ball. Mostly she was chasing it around after Tanta Kat would kick it towards her.But then Holly's little BBF Chloe came and stole it away. We were excited to see her, and it was fun for both the families to be out and about.Here little Miss Chloe is hugging her Daddy. They are both wearing matching Micky Mouse shirts. It was simply adorable.Holly wanted Chloe to come and run and play and chase her around the park, but she was a little sleepy and wanted to cuddle with Daddy.We had fun chatting with Eric, we don't get to see the Daddy's out and about except for the weekends, so it is always a treat when the girls have their Daddy's to play with.Holly tried to coax her into running off, surely they will be causing all kinds of trouble soon enough, but for today she was pretty adamant about staying put.So off Holly went to join the big boys with the Soccer net. They had another ball and she was more then happy to chase after that one too.I think she loves being out in the open like this. There is so much room for her to run without worry of getting into the street or hurting herself, she likes to "Go, Go, Go!"In the background, down the hill you can see our picnic area in the distance. The party was set up here with yummy food, and snacks . Thatcher was so lucky to have so many friends and relatives here at his party, grandparents on both sides of the family.The birthday boy was busy mingling and making the rounds greeting everyone, but he took a break to sit and play with us.Kat is really good with the little babies, they all love her. I think it has something to do with how she is always down and on there level, interacting with them on there own turf.Here the Birthday boy is showing off his new standing abilities. Giving his Mommy's leg a big hug.Here my little munchkin is with her Daddy. She is excited to get to play with him at the park. I think Daddy is pretty excited too.He decided to go for a walk while we were waiting for more guests to arrive. Mommy stayed back to chat with the other guests.It is really good practice for Holly to walk on all types of different surfaces and slopes. Her, Daddy, and Tanta Kat decided to head down to take a look at the lake.Holly got to climb steps and run and explore all types of new places. I think Daddy enjoyed following her along and taking a walk too.This was a great ramp for Holly to walk up and down, it was really steep so she needed a little bit of help. Down the ramp was a little boat dock.She was so excited to see the water. The lake had boats to rent, but we weren't sure that it would be safe to take Holly out on one. She might get too excited and want to climb out into the water.Here she is climbing back up the ramp from her walk, she is ready to get back to the party and her friends, but she had a lot of fun hanging out with Daddy.Back at the park with Chloe the older kids were trying to get a game of Soccer started. The girls kept running through there playing field.Meanwhile the grown ups were trying to find a fun place to hang up the pinata. I thought that was a really neat idea for a party, and all the kids were super excited about it.While waiting, two of the older boys were playing with the ring toss but the girls picked up the rings and ran off with them.Next they decided to take the net. These two gremlins were causing all kinds of mischief. But they were both just having too much fun.Look at how strong Chloe is holding up the net. She actually took it and walked over to the side walk and decided to completely run off with it.Not before dumping it over Tanta Kat's head. They thought that was just the most hilarious thing they had ever done. Those two crack me up. Update: Here is a Video Chloe's mom took of her wandering off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FKYakxBjsYHere is Holly taking a mommy break. She likes to run off and play, but then she wants to be reminded that she has the safety of mommy's warm arms to run back to whenever she needs them.Of course that recharge doesn't take too long and she is off again exploring a new part of the park. She found these rings and trotted over and then signed help.So Tanta Kat lifted her up so she could "hang" on them and play. She gets so much joy out of the simply things. Not just being able to hang on the rings though.But to make a request and be understood and then to actually get what she has asked for. She is so proud of herself, and she is a really good communicator.She tends to be quite persistent and sometimes when I am saying no she gets frustrated thinking she isn't communicating her needs correctly, because why else would mommy ever deny a request?But on this day, she could pretty much do whatever she wanted. There was a wide open park for her to play in, and very little room for her to wreck and real havoc.Besides, what an amazing stretch she is getting here. You can see though how her shoulders are rounded forward so her arms are not relaxed in there upward extension.Outstretched like this she looks very different, then the picture I posted a few weeks back with Chloe hanging on the slide arms over her head. But we keep stretching and she slowly loosens up.The Pinata was finally ready. the older kids were raring to go. Of course the birthday boy got a chance to take a whack. He is so cute wielding that bat.Next Holly and Chloe took a turn. I am not sure either of them really got much of a swing in, but they understood that everyone would get a turn and they wanted theirs.Holly was ok to watch as the older kids one by one took a turn each. Three hits they got. Then it dawned on me, kids and bats, maybe not the best combination. They were getting lots of good swings in but that pinata simply did not want to crack.In the end, when they were really wailing on it Holly got scared. it was Thatcher's mom who finally cracked it open. here are a few video's. It wasn't until I watched these back that I realized how Violent it really was. There are four in total.

Holly watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkfDA1e0PNo
Little Boy Tries: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHlgYskhrSA
Little Girl Tries: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6REoY6RGrwM
Thatcher's Mom Wails on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhL_5MRzeek

In the end we had to rip it open, and Holly didn;t like that one bit. Poor Pinata.
We headed back down to the picknic area and took a sneak peek of the cake and had a snack while the kids scurrided around like mad men picking up all of the candy that finally fell down to the floor.Here we are lighting the candels and getting ready to give the Birthday Boy his cake. Amazingly it was actually a Sugar Free Vegan cake. I am not sure how she pulled that off, the cake part was banana and it was delicious.Here after blowing out his candels Thatcher gets the first slice of cake and doesn't hesitate to dig in.Holly was eager to try a nibble and taste of mine slice as well. I think she really liked it as she kept asking for more. Witht hat persistance we talked about earlier.She decided to give thatcher a run for his Money on the messiest cake baby of the day. In the end she won out and got to gobble down a good portion of my cake. This part was so much fun that I decided to dedicate a Wordless Friday post to it. "Holly Vs. The Cake".Thacher was certainly a worthy opponent, and I think he might have won except Holly had a bowl to herself which she was able to pick up and lick.He certainly did a great job devouring that yummy cake and in the process probably had a lot of fun. I eventually cleaned up Holly, though her shirt wasn't going to get clean.We left shortly after the cake. It was late in the day and Holly had not had a nap yet. It was just minutes out of the park before these two were fast asleep in the car.