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The Party

 Katie had her 13th birthday party at the local roller skating rink.

I love when the kids want to have the party at some place other than the house.  I don't have to plan food, games, or activities - it's all done for us and we just show up.

 The roller rink does a great job too.  They put Katie in a glass booth with crumpled up coupons for free treats and then turned on a fan that blew them all around her.  Any that she caught and put on the box at the front of the booth, she got to keep.

 The pizza, cake, ice cream and gift opening were all done in a blacklighted party room.

 They even provided the birthday cake......with a number 7 candle on it.  

We quickly discovered that there was another birthday party going on in another room for a "Kaitlyn" who was turning seven.  Not only did we have her cake, we had a few of her gifts, and the treat bags for her guests.

It didn't take long to get it all sorted out.  New candles were provided, gifts were sorted out, happiness prevailed.

And not just happiness, but hilarity.  My mother had given Katie a gift bag with presents in it while we were in Georgia.  Katie decided to save it and open it on her birthday.  My mother intended to let me know later that she had included a bra in the package, but it slipped her mind as a few weeks had passed.  When Katie pulled that out of the bag, (and promptly shoved it back in the bag) with a 14 year old boy sitting next to her, that became the humor highlight of the party.


The other main attraction at the party was the laser obstacle course.

 Katie's trip through the maze.

The kids would go into a vault one at a time, and try to work their way past a maze of laser beams.  They had to carry a large glass "diamond" and trade it out for a different diamond on a pedestal at the other end - Indiana Jones style - and carry the "real" diamond back to the door of the vault.  The scores were based on how many laser beams they broke and how long it took them to make it through the maze.

Katie had chosen Red Lobster as her birthday party restaurant so we (just the family) headed there for dinner and she opened her final gifts from us.  Emily had picked up gifts for Katie while in Hawaii as well as making her several items from duct tape.  

Red Lobster doesn't give a free dessert for your birthday any longer, which was a disappointment, but they did sing to her which was nice.  We could have ordered a dessert but we were stuffed!

Happy Birthday, Katie!
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