Ariana is 6!

Ariana turned 6 on February 7 and her party was on the 9th. The day before she went to a classmate's birthday party at a gymnastics studio with about 10 other girls. But Ariana's party was special because there were going to be boys there! She invited her entire kindergarten class and all the boys were invited. Sadly her favorite boy was unable to attend.

Her party was held at Bounce U, a bounce house haven. It has two rooms of blow up slides, obstacle courses, bounce houses, and even a blow up mountain you have to climb with velco. Just picture 18 kids bouncing off the walls (literally and figuratively) in a room of bounce houses for half an hour, then going into another room of new bounce houses for another thirty minutes and then getting pizza and cake for the last half hour! It was awesome and stress free because the staff wrangle the children, move them from room to room, feed them, and clean up!

This is the first bounce room

This slide requires kids to climb up elastic-band floors. Pretty hard to do the first time.

Caged children (specifically Ariana)

Ariana isn't really running away in terror, she is just trying to get up while her BFF Maya is on her way down.

When Ariana was describing the location and activities for her party she was most excited for the Queen's throne she got to sit in while all the other kids sat along the table. It is great to be the center of attention, but it is better to be the center of the room!

Different from when I was a kid, everyone brings a gift and the birthday kid opens them all when they get home, not in front of the other children. It makes sense because these kids barely had enough attention to sing happy birthday, much less watch Ariana open 18 gifts, but it still seems like a new phenomenon.

It started to snow as we left the party but the roads were already clear when Greg and I left for the train station the next day.