friday the 13th

sharing a birthday isn't so bad, except when it comes to parties. b said we shouldn't do my surprise birthday date ON my birthday, since it's jack's day too and he shouldn't have to get a babysitter. okay, understandable. but by the same measure, i am not willing to throw jack a birthday party on his actual b-day because it's MY day too and i don't need the stress. :)

therefore, this year jack's birthday party happened on july 13. which also happened to be FRIDAY the 13th. uh oh. i'm not superstitious but when b got a flat tire on the way to work AND it started pouring rain on my way to set up for the party, i almost changed my mind.

jack and his friend emery are exactly one week apart, so emery's mom megan and i decided to throw them a joint birthday party. july = summer = pool party, right? not so in washington. silly me. this whole week has been gorgeous and hot (ha, hot...80 degrees) and the weather forecasters predicted the same for today. we woke up to clouds and by the time we packed up the car and drove to pick up some balloons, it was hailing and thundering & lightning. thunder. in seattle! that's not something we see much of around here -- rain, sure, but thunder? no way.

we were going to do the party at the pool in my old apartment complex, but there weren't any covered areas and it was pouring rain. megan and i decided to try our favorite, typically vacant park instead because they have a covered picnic space, but when we showed up there was a 30-child baseball team huddled under the enclosure, waiting out the storm. of COURSE there was. the rain was starting to fade and we were pretty much out of other options so we made the best of it.

we opened up the back of megan's car, spread out all the food and decorations and turned it into a birthday party food truck.

the baseball team left at 11:30 a.m. so we got the tables for a half hour. everyone ate and played at the park and ran around and i think they had a good time. i just liked being able to chat with all my friends and watch the kiddos play, so in my opinion it was a success. 

so much for my pool toy party favors. 

i'm not lying when i say all of jack's friends are girls.

megan is the best party planning co-pilot -- even with a new baby. we rocked that thing...and we were the only ones in our bathing suits. haha. we both deserved naps by the end.

phew! sure glad birthdays only come around once a year. :)