Ryan’s Birthday – A Year Without Drama

For those who were reading my blog last year, you may remember this time period was fraught with family angst and drama of unreal proportions. I was partially responsible, of course, and Ryan’s birthday was less than pleasant. A year later and all the drama has subsided and it was really lovely to be able to celebrate his special day without the specter of controversy looming over our heads. The only sad thing about Ryan’s birthday this year was that Sean couldn’t be here to celebrate it with us. Unfortunately work commitments pulled him elsewhere and we were left to our own devices yesterday. Where did we end up? To that mecca that all children long to visit, Chuck E. Cheese.

Long has Chuck E. Cheese been the one place I never wanted to take the kids to eat. It was always crowded and even normally well-behaved children act like their hopped up on an illegal substance when they walk through the doors there so we avoided it like Christmas fruitcake. Well, this year, Ryan wanted a party and since we homeschool, Chuck E. Cheese seemed like it would be an okay place to ring in his 7th birthday. And you know what? It was! We got together with my sister and her daughter, and a couple of other homeschooling families that we know and boy, did we have a great time!! One thing the people at Chuck E. Cheese know how to do is throw a party and make it incredibly easy on the parents. I really didn’t have to do anything except hang out with our friends and enjoy Ryan’s birthday. It was a blast!

the party started at 10 and everyone played games for about 45 mins. Iain’s favorites were the ones that are almost like slot machines. You drop in a token and hope you’re going to get a bunch of tickets in return. Well, Iain managed to find a machine and hit a rhythm and before we knew it, there was a puddle of tickets at Iain’s feet. Score! Ryan really liked a skee-ball game called “Dunk the Alien” and he played that one time and time again. By the end of the party he had gotten pretty good at hitting the largest scoring target and was quite proud of himself for that.

When we sat down to eat pizza, all the kids got along beautifully.

They all sat nicely and had the funniest conversations with each other! My niece was particularly involved here. I think she ate more pizza at this party than she ever has in her life!

Then Chuck E. Cheese himself made an appearance and led all the kids around the room in a big conga line. The smaller kids were really into it. The big kids like Iain? Not so much. LOL!

Chuck is no Mickey though and probably could have been a little more pumped up for the party. I guess it’s not too much fun dressing up like a big rat.

We got a cake for Ryan there too so he could blow out the candles.

Then when all was said and done, we all packed up and headed over to our house where the kids continued to play hard for the next couple of hours before everyone went home.

After a small break, and mental recharge for me, we traveled ’round the corner to my sister’s house where she had prepared one of Ryan’s favorite meals (mini corn dogs) and some blue frosted cupcakes. Look how CUTE these cupcakes were!!!

She did an AWESOME job decorating them!!!

Ryan sure did enjoy it:

Until he got a stomachache and we had to go home. But isn’t that how a birthday should end? That way you know you had a good time and ate a lot of good food!

It was a really wonderful birthday and I’m so glad we chose to have it at Chuck’s place. It made Ryan feel like a million bucks! Worth every single penny.

Hope all is well in your world!