7th Birthday Campout

Josiah has been planning and anticipating his birthday party for months. The first words out of his mouth the day of his party were, "Mom, I figured out what to do for my 11th birthday party" (11th because he had already planned his 8th, 9th, and 10th). Whew! Ideas and fun are never in short supply for Josiah. We loved his idea to have a camping birthday party and he picked 4 special buds to join along. 

 Uncle Mike is here for a one week visit from California and his involvement totally doubled the fun!

 We gave the boys their camouflage hats and a compass. As Jason guided them around the village he stopped at each turn and they had to use their compass to go east, west . . .

 Their compasses guided them up a hill from our house where Jason and Mike had set up a target. The boys had a blast shooting the bow and everyone hit the target. We kept joking with them that they were going to hunt for their dinner. When one of Josiah's arrows went in to the grass he said, "I guess I'll have to eat vegetables!"

Next they found fishing "rods" and navigated their way to the pier where they got fishing line, hooks and worms. Now I know to have a successful birthday party for 7 year old boys all you need are live worms. 

 From there we built a bonfire on the beach where the hungry campers cooked their dinner (most relieved they didn't need to catch or kill it).

 Annabelle got so dirty!

We returned to the house for "dirt" cake and more worms. After opening presents the boys watched a movie and eventually settled into sleep in the tent we'd set up on the rooftop. 

This photo is 6 am when I found the boys happily playing soccer cards. They didn't know how long they'd already been up by then. Sleep was not the main event of this party.

 The next morning we had planned to go kayaking but there were some scattered showers so a big water fight and soccer game rounded out the party. Happy Birthday to our happy camper!! We love all the joy and adventure you bring to each day!