July Birthday Party

We have lots of birthdays in July on Austin's side of the family. Kate's is one of them, so she has thrown a big party the last couple of years. This year's was quite extravagant, but it was also extremely hot, so many of the things later in the day ended up not happening. This was okay with most of us though since it was already so busy! We started out going to Fort Fun, where the kids rode Go Karts, Bumper Boats, Paddle Boats, and played Laser Tag and in the arcade. I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was when we first got there and the kids hardly had to wait in line to do the things they wanted. I was also surprised that if a kid was too short to drive on Go Karts or paddle the Paddle Boats, an adult was allowed to go with them, even if that adult didn't have a pass. 

The kids were most excited about the Go Karts, but love doing anything with their cousins, so they had fun the whole time. Natalie said her favorite part was the arcade, though I'm not really sure why. I guess it was just the novelty of it. I took Natalie on a swan boat and Austin took Heidi. They saw a heron in the lake and spent most of their time paddling around by it.

We finished off our time there riding Go Karts again. No one picked me to drive them- but that's okay. I'm probably much better at taking pictures than at driving like crazy in a go kart.

After Fort Fun, we met at a Mexican restaurant. I only took a picture of Leif because he got a huge steak, which he couldn't finish (though he did finish it the next day). We also had a dish with octopus in it which almost everyone tried. It wasn't too bad compared to octopus I've eaten before. After lunch, we went to Austin's parents' house to play games, have treats, and open presents. Asher got lots of fun things including this ax throwing game, which all the kids have been enthralled with. It would be better as an outside toy, but they've mostly only played it inside so far because of how hot it has been. The boys have taken it out in the early morning to play, but they always bring it back in for the rest of the day.