Vivien's only specific request for the party was to have a pinata. Our perfect slice of watermelon was constructed from the recycle bin. Émilie and Vivien glued on all the colorful finishing touches, including the seeds.
The "Cake"
I sent Vivien a picture of a similar "cake" sometime during the winter when I was having a watermelon craving. I told her it would be the cake I would choose for my birthday but my birthday is so far out of watermelon season that it would never happen. With a wonderful summer evening, a watermelon cake and all of my family together I couldn't help but secretly consider this my birthday party.
We had a very fruity dinner with grapes, cantaloupe, and many watermelon variations.
The watermelon slushy was just okay but the kids loved its presentation. One round slice of watermelon rice crispy was not near enough for our family. The red velvet centered cake bites were dipped in green chocolate melts, hand brushed with food coloring gel and completely delicious though they tasted nothing like watermelon.
Chimichangas were Vivien's other request but with a slight change. Justin, Vivien and I had Panini grilled chimis instead of the fried ones and we loved them! The others were not convinced.
There was a tornado warning that interrupted our dinner as it buzzed loudly on all of our cell phones in unison. We didn't want this to mess up our outdoor plans so we hurried outside and faced the wind head on to continue our fun.
The first activity was to pick an item from the kitchen (bowl, big spoon, cup, jar ring, etc) and to balance a water balloon on the item while running as fast as they could to the trampoline, go around it and run back. If they dropped the balloon and it popped they were out, if it didn't pop they could pick it up and continue. We did allow a one finger hold on the top of the balloon since the wind was doing it's best to blow the water balloons away before the kids could even begin.
Derek was the winner. It is quite obvious in Levi's face that he was not happy about this!
When they all got back and Derek thought he was going to be awarded a winner's prize I told the others they could now chase after Derek and throw their water balloons at him. I knew that Nathan and Hyrum would have fun with this game but I did not expect such complete involvement and laughter from my teens and young adults. They were all involved and having real fun. Not one of them showed an eye-rolling, this-is-immature attitude or hesitated when I explained what would happen. This is why I love being with them. They all make life so enjoyable!
Our next activity was to beat up the pinata. Without any pinata worthy trees in the yard we used the next best thing: Derek. With his height and a long piece of conduit we had the perfect set up.
Those who wanted to took a turn being blindfolded and attempted to smack the pinata while Derek teased it out of their way.
Our cardboard constructed pinata proved to be sturdy enough to handle the beatings of the younger, female family members. However, with Derek and Justin and their weapons of choice taking a whack at it, it had to give in and spill the contents.
We had Mentos, M&M's, granola bars, fruit snacks, gum and tootsie rolls all over the yard.
The sky was dark and ominous, the wind was ferocious, the rain drops a bit inconvenient but none of that stopped our laughter, silliness and fun. We don't need great weather to have a great time together!
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