Ok, since you are all dying to know and e-mailing me with "what happened??" "I have to know!"--here's the story.
The "plan" was a swimming party at Lifetime Fitness from 5pm-7pm for Lauren's 5th birthday. Pizza, cake, presents first, then an hour in the indoor pool. Now remember, its already chilly here, so swimming is such a big deal this time of year.
It all started out so beautifully....See picture 1.
All the kids come with their swimsuits and goggles on...we are heading up to the party room at 5:10...guess what...TORNADO WARNING...complete with SIRENS and EVACUATIONS TO THE LOCKER ROOMS! No, I"m not kidding. The party hadn't even started yet...AND GET THIS, we have to separate into BOYS and GIRLS to go to the appropriate locker rooms.--See Picture 2 & 3.
We are finally "released" from the locker room. We head upstairs to the party room. We have pizza and drinks. The party lady begins to cut the cake...and guess what...another TORNADO siren. So we load up all the kids again, seperate boys from girls, and head down to the Locker rooms again. To pass the time, we play charades, Simon Says...you get the drift. Then the lady comes on over the loudspeaker and tells us we CANT leave the locker room there is a tornado within 10 miles of the gym. SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm "locked" in the gym locker room with 15ish 4 year olds, their siblings and a few moms and dads (remember, none of them were allowed to leave, unless it was at their own risk?!?!?) ...Oh, and did I tell you my Aunt and Uncle and 2 cousins are visiting from Salt Lake City and are living in Germany, now, and have NEVER been through a tornado...yeah, seriously. So after about 20 minutes the tornadoes move on out and we had back to the party room for cake...I decide to forget opening presents and decide to let the kids swim for the rest of the time because its been so crazy.
ARE YOU READY?
CAN YOU THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE THAT COULD HAPPEN?
THE LIGHTING DETECTOR KEEPS GOING OFF, SO THEY WONT LET US SWIM!!!
Try explaining that to 15 four-year olds, wearing swimming suits and swim goggles.
So my party people quickly blow up the bounce house, pull out the parachute and scooters and the party continues to the gym. So the kids had to forego the swimming, but got to play in the gym instead. See picture 4.
In the car on the way home, still having not opened presents, Lauren says..."This was the worst birthday party ever." Yep, it pretty much sucked. But...most of the kids didn't even know what was going on...no one freaked out over the tornado, cried, or complained (too much.).
