Minute to win it PARTY!

Throughout the summer and fall, my Phoenix family celebrates several birthdays--numbering at least one (and sometimes more!) a month. In my mind this is an excellent thing--1) it means more time spent with family (something I LOVE), and 2) it usually means good food, drink and dessert!!

Last weekend we celebrated Zachary's 8th birthday--I posted about my present to Zach here. Zachary is like my nephew who's not a nephew (he's my cousin's son), but since we have a really small extended family (I only have two cousins), I pretty much consider him, and his brother Ben, my nephews (along with my real nephew Carter).

Anyways, Zach requested a Minute To Win It themed party--with 12+ kids, the activities got a little crazy, but lots of fun was had by all!

I can't remember the name of this game, but all of the kids got into the action on this one...here's the before picture (see them all sitting quietly, ready with their ping pong balls?)--their mission was to bounce the ping pong ball into the cups of water in front of them.

This was a photo I took during the action--it got a little crazy!

I helped man the "Defying Gravity" balloon game (kids had two balloons that they were supposed to keep afloat for 60 seconds)--it was a tough game and things were slightly chaotic, but thankfully no one was injured and only one balloon landed on top of the bookcases and had to be retrieved. (I was too busy manning my station to get any shots of the action!)

All of the kids brought their swimsuits so they could cool off in the pool after the hard work of the Minute To Win It stations (I think we had something like four stations going at once!) . Here are Zach, Ben and Carter.

My niece Halle enjoyed cooling off in the pool too, but here she is, warming up with Nana (my mom).

And the best part of the night? Hmmm....for me it was enjoying the root beer floats--yummy! Here are bunch of the party-goers enjoying their treat (check-out their fun straws!). That's my cousin Cathy in the red shirt (mom to Zach and Ben--I think she's singing "Happy Birthday"), and my dad is in the background in the navy blue shirt (Hi Dad!).

It was a great party, and I can't believe Zach is 8--I remember I was living in Thailand when he was born and missed all the excitement! What a blessing it is to live so close now and be able to celebrate these special moments! Happy Birthday Buddy!