Amazing Girl**Amazing Party

 

So, Cynjyn's birthday comes in December every year. Imagine that. She wanted a party this year and we debated on a few themes.  We thought about doing the death to childhood party that we did with Taz.  We thought about doing a Christmas theme party.  In the end Cynjyn really wanted a scavenger hunt to be involved in the party, so we settled on an Amazing Race party.  I whipped up the invite in Photoshop and we settled on a date.  Weekends are busy and we wanted to do it during the daylight, but that just wasn't going to happen, so we opted for a Friday night at 4:30.  It was supposed to be "over" at 8, but everyone was having too much fun and ended up calling their parents to stay longer.  She had a good mix of kids, three from church, her best friend Becca and the rest from school.  All in all 10 kids.  Her friend Adrienne asked her if she could do this every weekend!  Taz had invited some of his friends over to spend the night, so we had them help. Since it was a race and at night and the kids had to cross busy intersections, we had each of his friends "shadow" a group, meaning run with them to make sure they obeyed the traffic laws and had a "body guard" to help protect them.  So, Garry came up with the clues and the tasks they had to perform at each stop and we put them in envelopes with the Cynjyn's amazing party race logo on the front.

Here is a group picture of the kids before they started.  We literally put everyone's name in a bowl and drew for partners.  Taz was the clue giver at two stops and they had to find clues in the mail box at each stop. Garry moved it since they were on foot each time.

They had to identify 5 states by their color on the map at the school that Taz painted a few years ago for his Eagle project. 

Then they had to got to Taco Bell and each order at least one item and eat it (that took care of feeding them dinner.)  I took a picture of each group at TB.  Here is Becca and Adinda.

Gus and Sean, yes really! Gus and Sean (for you Psych fans!)

Adrienne and Dustin.

Vanessa and Emma.

Grady and Cynjyn.  Garry had talked to the shift manager the night before and he gave them their clue after they ate.

After TB, they had to go to Von's and buy a treat to bring home (that took care of snacks after we returned home).  They each had to ask a stranger in Von's to let them take their picture with them too.  They got their next clue at the water machine from Taz.

They had to go to 7-11 and buy a candy for each of them (that took care of their party favor) and the cashier gave them their next clue.  Cynjyn and Grady were in last place at this point and the cashier was funny.  He was cheering them on and telling them to hurry and run fast and keep up the fight!

When they got home, they could choose between two tasks.  Build a marshmellow and toothpick tower 12 inches that can stand for 5 seconds...

or solve 4 tangram puzzles. 

Lastly, they had to go to the park by our house and cross it using only 2 boxes to touch the ground with.

We had a mat for them to land on at the end and Phil (I mean Garry) welcomed them and told them what place they were. 

Becca and Adinda came in 1st.  They got a little baggie filled with a dollar bill, a Sacajawea dollar coin, a presidential dollar a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin and two 50 cent pieces.

Cynjyn and Grady 2nd.

Gus and Sean 3rd.

Dustin and Adrienne 4th.

Vanessa and Emma 5th. 

After sharing their snacks at the table and visiting (I also had mini red velvet cupcakes and mini cream puffs for her bday treat.) they played the stick game. 

They really liked that game and played it a few times.  Then they played Norwegian nosedive and I got no pictures of that :(

They ended playing couch of power and they played that for over an hour.  They really liked it. As people started leaving, Taz's friends joined in on the game.  It was a really fun birthday party.  The only bad thing was that a cold front had come in and it was really cold outside, but all that running helped to keep them warm!

 

Happy Amazing Birthday to Amazing Cynjyn!