dino party!

yesterday we had a "school friend" birthday party for Q at the delaware museum of natural history.  after weeks of stressing out about it (we're going to have too many people!, omg, no one is coming!, and back and forth like that) it was finally time to party.  we could only get into the museum 30 minutes before the party to set up, so that added to the stress.  to ensure that we could get it all done in time, we ended up getting to the museum 45 minutes before it opened.  so we played outside.  i even tried to get nice photos of the kids sitting on a big rock, but i should know by now that that's not possible.

we also played with the assorted animal sculptures to kill some time

almost time for the party!

this is everything we brought with us

then there was much frantic setting up. we hired Q's frog room teacher ms. diana to watch the kids so both jeremy and i could focus on the set up.  it was crazy, but we got just about everything done before guests started to arrive.  but i didn't get to take any pictures of all the decor, because peeps started showing up.  and a small room filled with 5 year-olds gets insane fast.

Q models his first project - his explorer hat

i had stations set up at each table for the kids to do dino-themed projects.  the first three projects were explorer hats, dino coloring pages, and some dinosaur cut-outs made from that cool black paper that you scratch and cool colors come through.

you can kinda see the room and the decor.  it was really dark in there - no windows

on an adventure

what the activity stations looked like

another shot of the room

the museum did not allow much in the way of decor (no balloons, no streamers, no confetti, no pinata, nothing hanging on the walls, or ceiling) so we were limited in what we could do.  i got some inflatable dinosaurs to bring some life to the room.  mr. t-rex was a big hit.

pretty purple dress

goody bags!  well, boxes actually

then we had a live reptile and insect show

first up was a bearded dragon

then some sort of tree frog

there was also a tarantula, but it did not come out of its box (thank god) nor did i want to get close enough to photograph it.  but it was there.  trust me on that.

last came the ball python

caroline wasn't afraid to touch it

snake demonstrates why she's called a ball python

then on to lunch

dinosaur fruit salad

swamp dip (aka guacamole)

the cake.  we got it from BJs.  they did the orange and purple.  i added the green and the dinosaurs.

"fossil" sugar cookies

this is only a "half" cake from BJs.  the whole cake serves 75!

blowing out the candles

still....

daddy was cruel and put the candles too far apart :)

and just like that, it was done.  i thought it went well.  kids seemed to have fun.  parents said they did too.  then we had another quick thirty minutes to clean up the joint (much easier!)  caroline peed in the nature nook.  and then we were done.  breathe.

oh wait.  we're doing another party next weekend.  yay.