BeauPOOLooza V Pictures

So we had our annual BeauPOOLooza party to celebrate Beau's birthday. And this year, like always, was a blast and another great party is in the books.

But missing were two key elements that have halmarked past BeauPOOLooza's. First was, since he is 5 and all and might actually start remembering how everyone behaves at his birthday party we did without the keg this year. More notably missing were the keg stands. After all, we do have to start setting some kind an example. Not to mention that Beau is starting to speak much clearer and his teachers will probably understand him when he tells them about what he did at his birthday party. Oh, but no worries. We still had beer. It is an end of the summer pool party.

Also, missing for the first year ever, was rain. In fact, I think this is the first time I threw an outside party and it didn't rain. I kept waiting for the dark clouds and monsoon like rain but it didn't happen. I mean in the past, me throwing a party was a sure fire way to help the drought. My power must be weakening.


So aside from keg stands and rain everything else was in keeping with the BeauPOOLooza tradition: games, pool, good times.

The cake:


The "I survived BeauPOOLooza V" t-shirts:


I have to admit my proudest moment of the day was when I asked Beau why he wasn't wearing the bathing suit I laid out for him (It was Hawian themed). He pointed out that the one he was wearing had sharks on it and , it matched his party. See? That is why having a theme is so important Pookie. It gives you structure. And kids? They need structure. And I can tell. He will be able to write one heck of research paper (or blog post), you know, as soon as he learns to write because Beau? Beau already gets the importance of theme. How many 5 year olds can say that?

Beau with the drawing "tall" Anthony (Beau likes to inappropriately describe people with their physical attributes before their name. Just so there is no confusion.) did on his back.

The Dolphins vs. The sharks relay races:





The "Sea Horses on Land" relay races:
You had to make horse sounds and gallop, or risk disqualification. Also note that the games we play are completely dictated but what kind of stock they have at the Dollar Store. I got lucky this year that they actually had dolphin and shark floats. I kinda had to use a little creativity for the horse heads Beau insisted on getting.



Sea Horses on land became well, sea horses.

They also worked well as oars for Beau's boat.

Carmella and Reina give Livi "tatoos"

Beau and short Patric (once known as Baby Pat)

The adults.







Blowing out the candles


Well, this party pretty much always marks the end of summer. And I'm okay with that. Beau and Carmella go to the meet and greet tomorrow and Monday, oh blessed Monday, school begins.

Bird-brained Dreams and Birthday Wishes

It is almost time for BeauPOOLooza V. Crazy man turns 5 on Monday and his party is next Sunday.
Beau has been talking about his birthday since the day after his birthday last year.

And he has a long list of birthday wishes. Because when you are 5 birthdays are all about the presents. Wait. Who am I kidding? Birthdays are always about the presents!

And Beau?

Yeah, he has some birthday requests.

Unfortunately it is unlikely he is going to get any of them for his birthday or, well, ever-- or at least not until he is an adult and can purchase them for himself and he isn't living with me anymore. (Please Jesus say Beau will not be living at home as a an adult).

Beau's Birthday Wishlist:
1. A Bald Eagle.
When I explained that you are not allowed to own Bald Eagles he decided he wanted a parrot. If you don't know Beau LOVES birds. He has several bird books and carries at least one with him everywhere he goes. Almost every conversation we have is about birds.

So it is really no surprise that he wants a bird. But me? I don't want a bird so we are not having one. I told him parrots were too big and way too expensive.
So then Lala told him about parakeets. They are little parrots, Beau explained to me. No, I told him. We are not having any bird. We have Lola. She is enough pet for us.

But Beau persisted with, "I want a pet of my own."

2. A Pet of My Own. Like maybe a rabbit, a hamster, or a turtle (cause according to Beau turtles don't poop.)

And again I told him no.

So he began to devise a plan to get rid of Lola.

I am going to feed her bad food, he said. He lit upon this diabiolocal plan because I have told the children that dogs cannot eat the same food as them, that it will make them sick. While some people food does make dogs sick I mostly told them this so they would not feed table scraps to the dog because nothing is worse than a dog that begs. Marlow.

Instead though, he ate Lola's food. Poor dog. She is so confused on exactly who is the dog and who is the kid in our house.

At any rate we are thinking of getting him fish. And by fish I mean a gold fish and most definitely NOT a koi pond.

What?

A koi pond?

Right, and that brings us to wish number 3.

3. A Koi Pond.
I have no idea why Beau even knows what koi pond is but that is what he asked for. Ryan said no. I am thinking that he wants one because he thinks he can fish out of it.

4. Fishing pole. A professional fishing pole.
We pointed out that he has a fishing pole. But apparently it isn't the right type.

5. Bike
Okay, so Pop and Lala bought him a new bike so this one he actually got. But he does really want a road bike because he wants to ride on the road with me.

6. Bike Jersey and Gloves.
Like me. And this one he might actually get because it is reasonable and I saw some at Roswell Bikes.

7. His own house.
Just a little one, he said. In the backyard.
And I do kinda wish I could afford that but no, he isn't getting his own house either.

8. A real 4 wheeler.
Not like the little kid one he already has. You know. The one he got last year for his birthday when he was 4 but a real adult one.

So far that is all he has asked for. And hopefully having a goldfish will make him happy cause he ain't getting any of that other stuff.

And by the way, we are at Hilton Head. So at least he is happy about that, cause Beau? Beau loves the beach. And me? I love the beach too.

BeauPOOLooza IV

Our wild thing turned 4 Saturday.

We call Beau's birthday Beaupalooza because his birthday parties have been such wild and crazy bashes--I mean for a kid's birthday party.

His first birthday I had at the house and had about 20 kids and 40 parents. It was just your run of the mill play yard games--A little Croquet maybe?Badminton anyone?-- and run around and just be silly party. The party started at 11 am and the last guest left at 1 AM--see that? It is not a typo. That's right, it was a 12 hour party for a 1 year old.

The next year I did a repeat of the run around and be crazy party but started the party later at 3pm. This was the year Beaupalooza was coined. I even handed out t-shirts a la frat party style that said Beaupalooza 2005! And again, the last guest left around 1am. And in true frat party style a few of the guests returned the next day to cookout, finish the keg and eat leftover birthday cake. A 2 day party for a 2 year old.

Last year for his 3rd birthday we had a Pirate bash at the pool-- again the party found its way to my house and finished up, I guess, around 1 am. I seriously don't remember.

So this year we just had a regular old pool party with silly games and running around, and oh yeah, swimming.

And yes, again, the party ended at my house with the last guest leaving around 1 am (you know who you are and we love you and we wouldn't want it any other way!)

I should also tell you that it rains every year for Beaupalooza but always clears up just enough for the party. As mentioned here it really does rain every time I plan a party outside. It even rained on the morning of our wedding.

Our wedding was in the garden at my parents' house. It cleared up and proved to be an incredibly perfect and beautiful day but some of the guests did have to help dry off the chairs. Anyway, my point is that universe tries to get me down by raining on my parties but it never works! I don't even cry anymore when I wake up on party day and it is pouring buckets.

On the subject of buckets. . . I had buckets for every kid to decorate. I made the mistake though of giving the boys their other party favor--swords--at the same time. So the boys were not the least bit interested in my little craft. They wanted to fight. So I decorated their buckets for them.

I gave all the girls mermaids and they were interested in decorating their buckets. I actually had to take the buckets away and make them go play. So, for the record, girls like to do crafts at parties and boys like to fight.

The tennis courts became the battlefield as the kids chased each other around with the swords and the bubble guns Poppy brought.


New this year to Beaupalooza we had some fun games and prizes.

We had the Shrek vs. Donkey relay race. I think the Shrek team technically won but it didn't matter because EVERYONE wins a prize at Beaupalooza.
We had the biggest splash contest. I can't remember who won for the 4 and under group but Carmella and Harrison had to have a jump off-- twice. Harrison proved the biggest splasher but again, it doesn't matter because EVERYONE wins a prize!!!!

After a fancy meal of hotdogs and potato chips we had a dance contest. My CD with the Hustle, the Macarena, the Electric Slide, the Chicken Dance and Cotton Eye Joe would not play.

Which is quite unfortunate because I had spent 2 hours the night before watching Youtube and perfecting the Hustle and Napoleon Dynamite's version of Cotton Eye Joe. You can view it here to get an idea of how it might of looked. Just substitute me in a bikini and some roller girl shorts doing these cool moves:

Sigh, I know you are disappointed that I wasn't able to break that out. I do it so good too. But no worries. The time I spent practicing was time well spent as I now have a new dance to showcase at Pookie's wedding.

So instead of all my organized dances the kids broke it down and wowed us with some never seen before freestyle:
Beau and Livi won for the littles.

And I think Austin was the clear winner for the older crowd.

Again EVERYONE got a prize and this time a tatoo.

Then more swimming.

Cake!

And popsicles:
And then the big present. . .

And then ensued much squabbling over, and falling off of and getting little fingers run over.

And then there was much crying and whining as we put the cool new toy in Poppy's car and put an end to all the fun.

We packed it all up and took it back to our house just before it began pouring. Beau opened one final present and after some more playing with every single toy I have in the house and a picnic of pizza the kids piled into my bed for some Scooby Doo videos. And I finally got to sit down and finish a cocktail and a conversation--all firsts for me that day.

Great party guys!

Thanks for coming and be sure to mark your calendars for next year!

Oh, and you can view all the photos from this year's Beaupalooza by clicking right here.

Oh, and last week's totals:
Run: 40 miles
Bike: 61 miles
Swim: 2000 meters (oops, too short)