Monkey Madhouse Madness

Today was Frankie's big birthday celebration, and the day was a smashing success. I wish all of you could have been there. Since being seperated by an ocean makes that pretty much impossible, here are some of the highlights from the day:

Frankie woke up bright and early, and came downstairs to some festive birthday decorations.

Before breakfast, she found a tiny Hello Kitty doll hiding in the flower vase.

Frankie got her favorite breakfast: pancakes and bacon.

After breakfast, Frankie and I played a few games, Matt threw her around "Cougar-style," and Frankie and I zipped to the store and picked up her birthday cakes. Here's Matt, getting in the party mood by seeing how many noisemakers he can stuff into his mouth.

For lunch, I created a sandwich to Frankie's birthday specifications. Behold, the "Deluxe Elvis." Once in a blue moon, Frankie will ask me to make a grilled peanut butter and cheese sandwich, which we have affectionately dubbed "The Elvis." (I'm sure Trevor will interject that a true Elvis sandwich should have bananas on it, but why spoil the deliciousness of a fried sandwich with the inclusion of healthy fresh fruit?)

The Deluxe Elvis is a slightly modified version of the original Elvis: it's a fried sandwich with peanut butter, jelly, nutella, and bacon. I know... It sounds gross, but it's actually pretty delicious. Dasterdly unhealthy, but yummy.

After lunch, Frankie opened her present:  a princess Jasmine doll that she had been eyeing. I love the look of absolte glee on her face here.

Then, it was on to Monkey Madhouse. Here's an overview of the place. It has a coffee bar at the front near a parent's sitting area. The playplace is in the back. It has slides, a ball pit, a playhouse, and all kinds of equipment to jump around on.

Frankie, digging the Madness.

Ball pit!

Man down!

This is Frankie, about an hour into the party. The look on her face is equal parts joy and exhaustion.

Posing for the camera, sassy-style.

The pictures of Monkey Madhouse make the party look pretty sedate, but it was really wild in there. There were 22 kids, and about 20 parents. The kids were laughing and screaming, music was blaring, and the parents were all chatting. The noise and activity level was high. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, which made me really happy.

I buzzed around chatting with the moms while Matt manned the "Dad Table." I'm pretty sure that they talked the whole time about rugby, soccer, Go Karts, or Top Gear.

In the last half hour of the party, we moved into the "Party Room" for a snack.

Here's a shot of most of the party guests, enjoying their snacks.

The birthday girl.

Cake #1: Hello Kitty

Backup Cake (We had so many kids, one cake wouldn't feed them all!)

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Frankie.

Me and my girl.

Frankie's loot.

After the snack and the singing, we cut the cake and put it into take-home treat bags for the kids. Apparently, the "take-away-cake-in-a-bag" thing is a British tradition. The kids don't actually eat birthday cake at the party-- They take it home instead. (Weird!) 

After the party, we had dinner at Frankie's favorite reminds-her-of-America spot: McDondalds.

We got home and ate a little cake.

Frankie opened a few presents. (And showed great restraint by deciding to leave half of them unopened for after the Paris trip.) Odd side note: We opened seven presents, and six of them were art supplies. (??) 

At the end of the evening, she took a birthday bath with a special request: Extra bubbles.

So, it was a pretty darn good birthday. Frankie and all of the other kids seemed happy, and it was good to see all of the moms and kids from the Dearham school again.

Now... The party continues, jet-setter-style. Six hours until Paris!! (Yeesh. I'd better get to bed pronto.)