Brock's wild 9 hootanany

 Dear goodness me. My boy is NINE. That is close to 10! Which means I'm almost 50! In 5 years. But Brock is nine NOW. What. the. heck. So, Brock's choice to celebrate is a camping slumber party in the back yard. Go big or go home. Or go big at home.

 Owl themed: reference to staying up all night, owls being cool, and that Brock wanted dissecting owl pellets to be one of the activities. More on that later. Brock's invite...

 

 One his actual Tuesday birthday, Brock opens gifts with Matt working in the office before I head to work. But you have to open the card first!!

The G'nuts somehow chose the exact lego set Brock wanted, I didn't even prompt them. In fact, I bought Brock the same one (I amazingly exchanged it last minute with another set and scurried it away for Christmas, but now I shall return it to the Lego store)!

Fun create  your own comic from Cali-sows (I don't know what to call Jake Joanne and Nate, so they are now officially the Cali-sows. This is an inside joke). 

And, like being in the middle of the birthday lottery vortex, he magically receives the other Lego set he wanted, I seriously provided no prompts except a Lego suggestion. Thank you Cali-sows.

He wanted rhubarb pie for his real birthday. But I had just made 2 for the Thomas family reunion that weekend, so I didn't want to make a whole other one. BUT I had just enough left over crust and couple stalks left for a wee Murray Blubarb pie (had to add blueberries, not quite enough stalks).

 

Setting up the tent for the boys.

 

Camp set up. The watchful eyes of the Yard-i-corn shall ensure kumbaya.

 

Let the slumber party begin! It is hard to get people here in the summer, everyone always has plans. But thank goodness his besty, Theodor and two other very close friends, Oscar and Rex, were up for the challenge. It was a lot boy-ing.

After a game of capture the flag, the boys begin dissecting the owl pellets. Which are not poo balls, but essentially hair balls from owls that, as master predictors, are full of bones of small rodents and birds. Perhaps doing this on the kitchen table was a mistake. 

 

Two of the boys were grossed out, here you can see Rex's skepticism.

 

But they all come around in the end!

We splurged on the "deluxe" pellets, and got 4 skulls!

yum.

Let me wash that imagined tasted out of your mind with some "Brock Sunrise", Brock's special drink he created for the big day that consists of 7-up, grenadine, and passion fruit juice.

 

Dinner included a pasta bar with shrimp, meatballs, Matt's Magic Marinara, and 3 kinds of noodles. No veggies. Ok, some veggies, but none went into bodies. And a toast to Brock! More soda. Foolish.

 

Now it's time to blow stuff up. Nothing airborne, we got neighbors and trees and children after all. And just a couple to start us out, it isn't even dark yet.

Alice had a great time too!

More fire. Snakes actually. And broken glass. And bare feet. And Nerf guns pointed at people's faces. Sure, your children are safe with us other parents, relax and enjoy your night off.

Time for cake. I did a great job if I do say so myself. Lemon raspberry, Brock's favorite, but it had to be brown which was no easy task. 

 

Previous fridge pic with better color representation.

 

Smoke bombs Brock purchased these with allowance money and they were pretty worth it.

The boys were coated, so I drew a tub for some freshening up before the tent got too gross.

Gawd, the night is going down hill! Literally. They were sledding down the stairs on the nugget cushions. One plant and pot casualty.

 

The revelry outside continues.

Aaannnd, time for some flaming blades. We have the best ideas. The boys delight in their warrior fantasies to an epic battle march entitled "Not at each other! Away from the house! Step back!".

And the smoldering ashes of a party well had. So, I haven't mentioned that it was 93 degrees and reeeall humid. The boys had an enormous pillow fight in the tent, but then after much arguing and Matt and I trying to support Brock (who wanted to sleep outside), they all decided to come in and sleep in the living room. With a movie. I was not surprised in the slightest. So Matt got out of his hot sleeping on the ground night, which I think he was disappointed about. But this turned out to be a good thing. We did not put up the rain fly cuz it was so hot, and it ended up pouring that night despite a no-rain prediction. I am not advocating a sleep over for next year, but I think everyone lived through the night, so thumbs up. At some point in the night every child but Brock approached me for medicine. Ha. I took it twice, three times if you include beer in the regime. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROCK! You are worth all the headaches and chaos! You are magic and kind and brave and so fun. Love you!