Weekend Recap

On Friday night we ordered some Indian food from a local spot.  It was so tasty and everyone enjoyed it.  Then E went down to work on his birthday lego and Q and I watched some Paw Patrol (well, I read my book). 

On Saturday morning it was raining so we went to the grocery store and then Home Depot.

Crazy drivers coming into the store.

Then we dropped E off at his friend's house.  She was invited to E's birthday party but couldn't make it so she had him over for a play date and they went out for brunch. While he was there, Q, Dave and I went to Ikea.  

Dave went to pick up E and then stayed for a bit to visit with her parents;  while he was gone I napped, read my book, and did some baking.  I made this copycat Starbucks pumpkin loaf and it was delicious.  I also used up some apples to make an apple crisp, and made a soup in the slow cooker. 

Dave started painting the pipes down in the basement.

And we played.

After supper we listened to this playlist, and hung out in the living room.

Corn chips eaten out of a toy cup in his little cave.

On Sunday morning I had to go pick up E's birthday cake for his party at the Superstore, and when I got back, the kids got into their costumes and we went to the St. Joseph's Bloor West Halloween Fest.   E just wore an old costume so his costume for this year wouldn't get wet and dirty.  We usually go to this event, but I'm not sure if it was just the weather but it didn't seem as good this year.  We were there for about an hour.

I do love seeing the different costumes!

We got home for lunch and for Q's nap, and then drove up to Rinx Real Entertainment Centre for E's birthday party.  We have always done birthday parties at home but this year we let E choose a party somewhere else.  We chose the Extreme Party package - three different activities, time in the party room, pizza, and french fries.  The activities we chose were floor hockey, laser tag, and mini golf.  There is a minimum of 10 kids so that's how many we invited. 

Check out the board at the front!

Q is ready to party!

First up was ball hockey.  Q did well playing by himself at first and then he joined the game ran around with the boys. 

The boys taking a break before laser tag.  This is a lot of boys and they are loud and excited at all times ;)

Suited up for laser tag.  We brought the iPad so Q watched some Paw Patrol while the boys did this activity.  Dave played a round with them and then I played.  I had never played laser tag before, it is pretty fun (aside from when I ran full tilt into a half wall and hurt my arm, none of the kids got hurt, just the mom).

Back to the room to eat.  We brought some popcorn and cheesies and they were a big hit.  We also brought strawberries, oranges, and mango.  The mango was almost more popular than the french fries.  

Cake time! 

Not excited at all!

This guy hung in their with the big kids.   He was pretty quiet and I think he was just amazed at all of the activity.

After the food we went to our last activity, mini golf.   There was no rhyme or reason to this activity - the boys were all over the map, not really taking turns, not quite grasping the concept of the least amount of hits is the goal, taking big swings with their putter, etc.  But we didn't lose anyone and then it was time for the parents to pick them up.

We brought the neighbourhood kids back with us so we had a full car!

The Rinx spot was great.  It is by Yorkdale so not super close, but not that bad.  We had a coordinator with us all day to help manage the kids and run the activities and he was great.  The food was fine for a kids birthday party and they provide the plates, napkins, and cups.  The activities we chose were fun.  It was pretty easy to book, but if we were to do it again, I would book farther in advance, since this time we were limited on dates and times.  The cost is comparable to other birthday party places, but I think this worked out to be less than some of them because it included the food.  It all worked out well, and I would recommend them.   We did E's birthday invitation through Echoage this year.  People invited to the party have the option (and everyone did it) to make a contribution to group gift and a charity.  E wanted to choose the Terry Fox Foundation for his charity but they didn't have that, so he picked the Canadian Cancer Society.  They look after sending the money to the charity and they send a cheque to us for the group gift.  E may pick another Lego set but we'll see when the money arrives what he actually wants to do.

After we got everyone home, bathed, and put to bed, I went to yoga and then we watched some TV before hitting the hay.  What a Sunday!