The Lynns: July 2010

5/9 Beck's Birthday Party

Six weeks before Beck's birthday I looked into party ideas. I wanted to do something with trains. I originally thought about having it at Happy Hollow since it had reopened in March, but then I found out the park doesn't actually have a train ride. I considered Lemo's Farm, Oakland Zoo, the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad before deciding on renting the caboose of the Niles Canyon Railway -- a working steam engine train. By the time I called, the earliest date available was Sunday, 5/9, Mother's Day (the train only runs on Sundays), and the times were 1:30 or 3:00. I picked 3:00 because I was afraid we'd have a bunch of kids falling asleep during the 1:30 ride and I figured kids could get a nap in on the drive out to Sunol for the 3:00 train.

On average 24 people can fit in the caboose although the person I spoke to said they have fit up to 30. I wanted to try to have everyone fit in the caboose instead of having some people in other train cars, so we only invited a half a dozen kids from his class on top of family and family friends. There ended up being 27 of us (13 adults, 14 kids).

I put the party's start time as 2:30 on the Evite, so we'd have time to make the 3:00 train. Luckily, the train was a little late due to weather (it had rained earlier) because one family got there after 3:00. It was cool seeing the train pull up with the steam rising up over the engine.

I was a little worried about the caboose feeling a little claustrophobic since there didn't appear to be a lot of windows and not very big ones at that. The windows were fine. Big enough for kids to see out of, but standing adults couldn't see much. But the cupola definitely made up for the lack of windows. It was practically all window. The cupola is the part sticking up in the back in the below photo. The view from the cupola was like what you'd see if you were riding on top of the train. Getting up to the cupola was a little precarious, just ladders that went straight up, so a few kids did not venture up while my cousin's kids didn't want to leave :)

We passed out snack bags and juice boxes for the kids and had other snacks and drinks for the adults. Instead of passing out goody bags at the end, we passed them out right away because they included these Auto Bingo cards we were going to use for one of the games. http://www.amazon.com/Regal-Travel-Auto-Bingo-Game/dp/B000FPCWYC. The kids had to find four things on their cards (other than the free space) to get a prize. I thought finding five in a row would be too hard since the cards are meant for road trips. I included other things in the bags they could play with on the train. I figured it was necessary since they were going to be in a confied space.

We had cupcakes and then played a similar game on the ride back with a different prize. Overall, I think everyone had a good time, especially Beck, who spent the first half of the trip in the cupola and the second half sitting with his best buddy from preschool.

This is the best photo we have of Beck blowing out the candles. The other photo does not have my arm but still has the pole.
After the party, we went to dinner with Leilani, Hannah, and Zachary. Al was out of town at a family wedding. We ended up at a restaurant that actually had a Mother's Day menu.

5/8 Four in One

Saturday, 5/8, was a busy day for us, especially me. Hansel planned to go on an all-day run that day since the next day was Beck's birthday party. I didn't mind the full plate because it's usually easier to run around with the three kids than it is to stay at home with them.

First, the kids had swim lessons at 9:30, where I spent much of the time making sure Mathis didn't crawl into the pool. I had learned the previous week that showering the kids while carrying Mathis in the carrier is not the best way to go. So that day I had Mathis in his stroller for the shower part.

Next, we went to the Klutz School Benefit Day at the Klutz company's parking lot. The company that produces the Klutz books is based in Palo Alto, and once a year they hold a benefit where 100% of sales goes to the buyer's school of choice. When we got there, I steered Maile and Beck toward the activity tables and the singer performing kid songs. While I steered Mathis in his stroller around the stacks of Klutz books. I bought a couple for Maile and Beck for future road trips and a couple of gifts for their cousins.

After I bought the books, we went straight to Danica's 2nd birthday party, which started at 11. It was a pinwheel-themed birthday with yummy eats and treats. Dave and Winnie came with Sabrina who was almost a month old. As we were leaving, I asked Roberta if she was getting anxious about the arrival of their second daughter. She said she was a little worried about how quickly she might arrive since second babies usually come faster and Danica came fast. [On 6/24, their baby Charlotte was born in the front seat of their car.]

Last after naptime, we went to Maile's school's Spring Fling -- a talent show and picnic. I packed food for us instead of buying to save a few bucks. And, I didn't want to have to wait in any line. The talent show was cute -- piano playing, singing, dancing, hula hooping, and even a kid doing stand up.

5/2 Madeleine's Birthday Party

On 5/2, I took Maile to the birthday party of her classmate, Madeleine, sans Mathis. It was at a paint-your-own-pottery studio. Pottery and Mathis would have been a bad combination.

Mostly girls were there except for two boys. One of the boys was Maile's closest friend in her class, Kevan. After Kevan got there, Kevan and Maile sat across from each other and stretched their arms out to grab hands. It was cute.

Maile painted a container shaped like an ice cream cone. After the kids painted their pottery, Madeleine's mom passed out cupcakes and packets so the kids could decorate their own cupcakes like pigs, like the ones Madeleine's mom made for the birthday "cake" (see below). To go with the pig theme, one of the party favors ended up being a paint-your-own piggy bank.

Even though I didn't have Mathis with me, I couldn't sit still. I left the party for a short while to go to a toy store close by to see if I could find stuff for Beck's birthday party. I ended up finding a road trip game that I could adapt for Beck's party.

Maile says, "The party was fun and fabulous!"

Random April Photos

One day I pulled out some collapsible tunnels for Mathis. I normally store them because they take up room and because the kids usually only like them for a day before they get bored. Here are some photos of Mathis playing in the tunnels. I like the first photo because you can see his two angled bottom teeth, which I thought was cute.