Kevin's Birthday Party Day

This morning, we went to Courtney's for a late brunch before leaving for the science museum in Raleigh where Kevin's party was being held. Steve felt that Kevin needed to run off some energy, so they did some running around the restaurant parking lot, then did some stretches. I couldn't believe how far Kevin's little legs could stretch!

Leia and Annie and their parents arrived about the same time as we did. The kids were very excited to see each other (as were the adults)! Also, when the rest of the party guests and parents arrived, it was great to see them as well!! All were old friends -- friends who knew and loved Karin.

What an awesome museum! The exhibits are fabulous! It was hard to get the kids to leave the museum to go to the party room!

We found his cake! :)

The party began with some dinosaur puzzles,

then some dinosaur toys to play with a volcano.

The first take-home activity was a reverse coloring of a dinosaur project.

Once the party got underway, Leia (pictured above with Kevin) said, "Isn't this turning out to be really awesome?"
The leader gathered the kids to talk about dinosaurs -- when they lived, what we know about them, what we don't know about them, etc.

The kids did an excavation to find dinosaur "eggs."

Once they found them, they had to pick them open to find the dinosaur.

The leader brought out some animals for the kids to experience -- all reptiles, thus related to the extinct dinosaurs. First was a Ball Phython. :-0

Most of the kids were eager to touch it.

And some of the adults too!

Annie was beginning to get sleepy!

The leader had more trouble holding on to this little critter than the snake! A baby alligator! After it grows too large, it will find a home in an alligator zoo.



A Bearded Dragon. What a sweet face! :)

These are Hissing Cockroaches. And they really do hiss!!



Their last project was another excavation type of activity. There were given a list of possible fossils in the dirt given them on a paper plate.

I asked her what type of education she has to have this job of party leader as she is excellent with the children, talented as a teacher and keeping control, has vast knowledge of the animals, and is a great party host. She is a PhD in neuropharmacology. She does research on drugs for Parkinson's and Alzheimers, etc., plus teaches at a local university and has two young children.

Finally it was cake and ice cream time! Kevin blew the candles out so quickly that no one caught a shot of it.

Kevin assisted the leader in handing out the loot bags.

After the party, we joined the Thompson family at On The Border. It was such a gorgeous day that we let the kids play on the lawn while we chatted dreading the moment to say goodbye.


Tonight, Kevin helped me make two batches of banana oatmeal chocolate chip muffins to take to school tomorrow for his BD treat.

I brought a second beginning reader book which he opened as a gift today. We (rather he) read it at bedtime. Again, he was very excited that he could actually read a book himself! :)