Slumber Party

Charlie decided he wanted to host his very first sleepover party, in honor of his 10th birthday. Seven boys in our family room did not appeal to me, so we turned it into a campout! Let's get this party started!

Drinking Tang (what's that? apparently kids today have never heard of the stuff...) after the water balloon fight~
Then we moved on to archery~
and bags~

Isaac taking a shot~

Donny~

Chris~

Cole~

Mary enjoying the first watermelon of the season, while I prepare dinner~

More bags while daddy fires up the grill~

Getting a quick hug between burger flips~

Dinner time~

Even though we have a nicely screened-in gazebo, the boys wanted to eat in the fort~

Or under, as it were~

Sam S. taking his turn at the bulls eye~

Mary testing out the tent~

While Sam takes aim~

Presents~

Isaac made this cool card~

Time for silly string~

This is war~

A casualty~

And another - Mary has to get in on all the action~

And the ultimate boy activity...fire~

We took out an extra insurance rider for this party~

There's something a little "Lord of the Flies" about this - it's a good thing there were still some adults around~

Fiyah~

Maybe this is what Sam was talking about~

A highlight was what Sam S. aptly said looked like "the devil doing his business" - snakes~

The next morning, after playing Capture the Flag and Ghost in the Graveyard until 12:30, they were up and playing freeze tag at 7:30am! They slowed down enough to refuel with donuts, sausages, strawberries, and hot chocolate~

And were on their way home around 10:30. By far, the best birthday, yet! It worked out well having them sleep in the tent. I was a little worried about it getting too cold, but after the boys insisted they wanted to sleep outside (no matter what) we borrowed some pads for under their sleeping bags, covered them with every blanket we own, and they all said they were plenty warm in the morning. Of course, it's hard to go wrong with fire...