Double Digits

Someone just had a birthday!  It's hard to believe that our little Bean has entered her second decade of life.  And that we've been parents for 10 years now.  She has taught us so much (and hopefully, we really are better people now than we were 10 years ago.) and made life so much bigger than it was before she joined us.

 

 

This year, we did Secret Agent Training with a few friends for her party Friday evening.  Her birthday cake was super easy--I just wrote Happy Birthday in Pig Pen cypher.

 

 

When the guests first arrived, everyone had to be checked in and finger printed for the ID cards.  Then, they got to work on decoding a message that told them what they would be doing during the next couple hours.

Then, it was on to the missions.  They had to retrieve stolen jewels while avoiding the laser security system and obtain important documents on the other side of water balloon "landmines".

They got to take a break for nourishment--mac and cheese and fruit.  It's hard work being a spy.

Then, it was time to learn to be a master of disguise.

I wonder if this crowd could blend in anywhere? 

 

They finished one final mission--spying on enemy territory to find code words which unscrambled to tell them where the secret to happiness, AKA "The Cake", could be found.

 

After cake and ice cream, they had a little more time for just hanging around.

They did a little more spying, pulled out some of the new birthday toys, and just ran around outside.

Such a great group of kids.  I'm glad that Bean has made such nice friends over the years.

Bean didn't actually turn 10 until Saturday.  She had already gotten the biggest part of celebrating out of the way, so we had a mostly mellow day at home.  They played, we had more cake and ice cream at lunch, and watched the Muppet Movie during nap time.  Then we headed to a swim party for Bug's baseball team.  Bean had agreed to going to that on her birthday, and when we got to the pool, I think she was more than happy that she had.

 

 The pool was huge--one of the only 50 m pools in our area.

And it had 3 waterslides--the kids were in heaven!

Daddy-o and I even tried them out.

Plus, the deep end allowed diving, which is always a plus.  Our pool doesn't have a deep end, so once swim team ends and we don't have access to a pool with deep water, the dives have to be shelved until next year.

There was also a fun kiddie pool area. 

At least, bean and Bug thought all the spraying water was fun.  Peanut was not a fan and refused to go down the slide.  He's getting better in the pool this year and has more confidence in himself and the fact that he won't melt if his face gets wet, but this was asking a little too much of him. 

So we let these two have fun instead.

All in all, I think Bean would say it was a good birthday.