Bandon & Back to School!

For Labor Day weekend we HAD to have one last summer hurrah so we traveled to Bandon for a wonderful weekend.  Friday also happened to be Ella's "official" birthday so we first drove to Newport and went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for her special day.  We had a lot of fun checking out the sea lions, otters, and sharks.  Then we hit the road and continued down 101 to Bandon....it was a gorgeous drive! The weather at the beach was great for the Oregon Coast....70's, slight wind.  We had fun looking at tide pools, lots of starfish, and finding cool rocks.

Then back to reality...school started today.  Ella was beyond excited for her first day of kindergarten...up around 6 AM!!!!  I wanted to take her today but she really wanted to ride the bus so when we were running late she informed me that this never would have happened if she had ridden the bus this morning.  Sheesh!  We got to school and I dropped her off with no tears...from me, I was never worried about her!  I must say I was pretty impressed with myself since the night before when we were reading Twas the Night Before Kindergarten  I totally teared up and this morning she told Daddy not to cry or worry, she'd be fine and couldn't wait to start school (which of course made him cry!!)  She practically pushed me out the door after we got there, but I did manage to get a few photos before that.  :)  I love how independent she is, but come on, mommy needed a little "moment" this morning! ;-)  Addilyn loved waiting for her at the bus stop and they were both excited to see each other! :)

 Our grown-up 6 year old!

Jake & the Neverland Pirates Birthday Party for Miss Ella!

Ella loves the new Disney Jr. show Jake & the Neverland Pirates so that was our birthday party theme this year!  It was really fun to plan and ended up being a great party.  Since the show is so new there isn't really any decor or party supplies that you can buy, but I did find lots of generic pirate stuff at the $ Tree & Oriental Trading Co.

When the kiddos first arrived we needed to make sure they looked like pirates so we had bandanas and tatoos ready for them.  They also made pixie dust necklaces which Izzy wears on the show. While they waited for their turn to get transformed into pirates they worked on making their own treasure maps with these cute maps & sticker sheets I got at Oriental Trading Co. and snacked on "Pirate Booty" & tropical fruit Capri Suns.

         

Then it was time for games!  

Andy set up some wooden planks in the backyard and we played "walk the plank" (which was really just Mother May I)  and the first kiddo to the end of the plank earned a gold doubloon (a gold coin for you that don't speak pirate) which is what the kids on the show are always earning after completing pirate tasks. :)   We played this several times since we only had 3 planks, but the kids loved it. 

Next we played "Find the Missing Coconuts!"  I hid 3 coconuts in the backyard and the first 3 kids to find them got a gold doubloon and then they got a turn to hide the coconut....we played until everyone had had a turn to find one and hide it.  The highlight for them seemed to be when they got a turn to hide the coconut themselves. :)  Last game we played was "Cannonball Toss!" We just lined the kids up across from their partner with a black water balloon and yelled, "Ready, Aim, Fire!" then we took a step back from our partner and did it again.  The last set of partners to still have their  "cannon ball" won and got gold doubloons! 

After the games Andy took the kids on a treasure hunt around our house with a map he made.  They loved it!  At the end we had hidden Ella's dress-up trunk which looks like a big treasure box.  Inside I put small treasure boxes with each kids name on it and the party favors were inside those.

Time for cake & presents!

Fun with friends and family!

It was such a fun party and everyone loved it!  

Happy 6th Birthday Ella!!  :)