the start of something new

Henry's fourth birthday marked the beginning of a new era. Friend birthday parties.
We had his first ever friend party at the Ropp Dairy Farm. It's in Normal, about a 15 minute drive from our house. I've been there a few times; once or twice with just Henry the summer before William was born and then a few times during the fall with both boys. It's an actual dairy farm, so there are milk cows, lots of calves, some tractors and barns and an assortment of other animals like kittens, goats and a turkey named Tom.
This summer at the pool I met a mom who has 7-year old twins. The subject of children's birthday parties came up and she mentioned that her son and daughter love that little dairy farm so much that they have had three consecutive parties there (their fourth, fifth and sixth) and they were gearing up to celebrate their seventh birthday there as well. I decided to check it out; outdoor picnic tables, milking cows, hay rack ride, bottle feeding calves and climbing a haystack in the barn - sounded like the perfect summer party for 20 4-year olds, plus Henry was excited about it. So it was decided.
Henry sent invitations to all of his classmates from preschool as well as Charlie and Gabe and we hosted a Saturday afternoon party at the dairy farm.
The setting:
picnic tables shaded under huge trees. It was beautiful and breezy.
My mom came to help, she and I got to the farm early to set things up.
We stuck with the pirate theme from Henry and Caleb's shared party with family.


A real working dairy farm. They make yummy cheese everyday.

Henry and Charlie, waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive,


We played a game of duck, duck, goose while we waited for all of the friends to come,



We rode a hay rack through the cornfield,

We got to meet a brand new baby calf, born just three days earlier on Henry's birthday. The sweet woman, Carol, who owns the farm and runs it with her husband, changed his name to "Henry" in honor of the birthday boy he shares a birthday with.



We learned how to milk a cow,


We fed the babies their mother's milk with bottles. They were gigantic.


We even pet Turkey Tom
{but only from behind; we learned that if you make eye contact and he sees his reflection in your eyes he may get angry and try to attack that "other turkey". Yes, I still let the children touch him. What was I thinking? Their parents were there...},


And pet the goats,

We sang "happy birthday" to Henry and then
we had yummy Janet's cupcakes emblazoned with plastic pirate rings
and the children each chose a flavor of ice-cream from the dairy case inside,

Henry didn't blow out any candles. It was a super windy day. Really it was lucky for the end of July; it wasn't hot or humid. But we were in the country with little to block the wind and it was super windy. So no candles. But no heat stroke either.
We took some silly pictures,

Sandi painted this photo board. It's amazing! I emailed her a picture of Henry's pirate beach towel and from that she painted this. Impressive doesn't even begin to describe her talents.
And climbed the big hay pile in the barn,

Then Henry thanked his friends and we said goodbye,


We had cellophane bags for the fish; parents helped their children scoop some into a bag and then tied it with ribbon. An appetizer and a favor in one.
We survived!
The first friend party was fun. There were no tears, there was no vomiting, there were no injuries and no hurt feelings {unlike my first friend party when I turned four and rudely announced to Kyle Smith that I "already have" the toy he proudly gave me-also the reason we didn't open presents until we were home}.
By those standards alone, the party was a success.