Party for a princess

Sydney threw in an eleventh-hour curve ball, asking for Barbie paper plates instead of Disney princess ones. And Mother Nature wasn't much help either, drenching us with rain overnight and turning the bouncy house into a wading pool.

But by party time, Sydney was back in princess mode. And a combination of buckets, towels, turkey baster and finally the wet vac got the bouncy house dry and back to bouncing form. And Sydney had fun at her first ever birthday party for friends, which really is all that matters.

The rest of the kids had fun, too, running around the house and yard in search of clues in a treasure hunt. Jeff led the way, and ultimately the kids were rewarded with a quarter. Quite the loot!



Left to right: Ethan, Arianna, Addie, Carver, Lily, Erin (Addie and Lily's cousin), Sydney and AJ.

Ever the Princess, Sydney had numerous costume changes throughout the afternoon. Her yellow Belle dress is nice and all, but it simply cannot compete with the beautiful new gown from Carver and Ethan, not to mention the perfectly matching Barbie fairy shoes from Addie and Lily. Her first pair of high heels!

Amazingly, the dress stayed clean through cupcakes and ice cream. (Or not so amazing, considering that once she blew out her candles, Sydney announced she didn't want a cupcake or ice cream.)

And then it was back to the bouncy house. Mommy forced the costume change this time.

As it turns out, the rain and overcast skies were a blessing in disguise. We were supposed to return the bouncy house immediately after the party. However, the rental place told us that in the event of rain, they would prefer we keep it an extra day to give it time to dry, rather than bring it back wet. Since the rental place is closed Sundays, that meant we get to keep it until Monday.

The cloudy skies also kept it relatively cool inside the bouncy house - something we didn't appreciate until we went in there Sunday when it was sunny and the temperature reached the 80s. Wow! Sydney came out asking for socks because the vinyl surface was that hot.

As much work as it was to haul and set up the bouncy house (for which Jeff gets all the credit), I'm fairly certain we will never rent one again. At least we got our money's worth - three days for the price of one. And for this one weekend, the kids had a royally good time.