Ethan's Birthday Extravaganza

I am officially WAY behind in updating this blog with all the goings on that are going on!  Hahaha.  I mean, we've got Father's Day to cover, Ethan and Grace going off to camp, and the day-to-day happenings of summer.  Not to mention the fact that we celebrated Ethan's 14th Birthday Extravaganza extra early this year!  And since June is the last month of the first half of the year -- and I know the kids will be eagerly awaiting the printing of our blog book 2017, volume 1 -- I'm bound and determined to get EVERYTHING caught up and up to date before the month is over!

To kick off the recap fest, I'm kicking it back to a week ago today, when we celebrated Ethan's 14th birthday.  Things to know about his big day:

• His actual birthday is June 25th, which is this coming Sunday 
• He's on this High Adventure trip this week and won't get back until Saturday night
• He REALLY wanted to celebrate early 
• AND, since his {surprise} big birthday gift this year was an "experience" rather than a thing, it was a time-sensitive necessity to present it to him before the 17th of June 

So, with that in mind, here is how his Extravaganza went down.  For weeks and weeks and weeks, I've been teasing Ethan with the clue "Flag Day" for his big surprise.  I like to go as obscure as possible when giving hints to presents because I obviously never want to give the actual surprise away.  When I realized that {quite serendipitously} the only day we had available to celebrate his extravaganza was ACTUALLY Flag Day, I could hardly contain my excitement!  Hahahaha.  Because I was a little worried that he may have figured out what my clue meant (an Amazing Race charity event that our town puts on every summer), I decided to organize his extravaganza into a red herring that would hopefully throw him off the scent.  ;)

What that entailed, was putting together our very own family Amazing Race to celebrate his birthday.  And, with Scott's help, I managed to make it all happen in 4 days' worth of preparation.  {Spoiler alert -- the extravaganza was SUCH a success, that I have all the kids now requesting their OWN for when their birthday comes around.  Hahaha.}  It seriously was a BLAST and everyone had fun.  Not to mention it helped to fill up the entire day while we waited for Scott to come home from work a little early.  It was totally epic and Ethan loved it.  And all his gifts.

Part of the fun of the celebration was that the actual day we were going to be celebrating was ALSO a surprise.  I had told Ethan for the last week that he would know it was the day of the party when he came downstairs in the morning and saw that the mantle had been changed and decorated to pay homage to him.  I know it was killing him not to know exactly when it would happen, but I think it also created a lot of excitement and anticipation.  When last Wednesday rolled around, he came into the Family Room to discover a newly decorated mantle, complete with an Amazing Race flag bunting, pictures from his life, and an invitation to his party.  And he was stoked.

{I had been setting stuff up for our road trip all day the day before and must have had that July 14th start date in my head.  Ethan was so confused when he came down and saw I had put the wrong month on the invite.  Hahaha.}

One of Ethan's birthday traditions has become getting Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast the morning of his big day.  This year, I knew it was the PERFECT place to unveil the very first clue to get his race started!  He was genuinely surprised and tickled pink when he opened up the box of donuts and saw the Amazing Race "envelope" I had taped to the lid.  {Here's where I have to insert my appreciation for Pinterest and more specifically the momof6 blog with her Amazing Race themed birthday party paraphernalia!  We used all her templates for the route info and other cards, and just created our own challenges to use for the Detours, Road Blocks, and U-Turn.}

He really was so excited.

For each clue envelope of the race, he would be completing the task with the sibling who's present he was trying to earn.  Scott and I had a ton of fun coming up with the challenges and trying to make sure they would take up the necessary time before Scott could get home and finish off the celebration with us.  {Just as a disclaimer -- Scott wrote up all the clues.}

Route Info: Go Fishing!

Congratulations! You have been selected to compete for your birthday gifts by completing your very own personalized version of The Amazing Race!

For our first task, it’s time to “Go Fishing!” Change into your swimsuit and travel by foot to the pool. Once you arrive, your task will be to “fish” for pennies that have been scattered throughout the pool. Once you collect all 15 pennies, you will then be required to place them in the correct order on the side of the pool. Your beautifully stunning mother will verify that the order is correct when you are finished and you will receive your next clue. So grab your swimsuit and “Go Fishing!”

WARNING: If you ask your beautifully stunning mother to verify that the order is correct and she deems the order incorrect, you will be required to do 1 lap lengthwise in the pool (there and back). If your order is wrong a second time, you will be required to do 2 laps. This pattern will continue until you are able to accurately place the pennies in order.

Unfortunately, the weather was NOT our friend that morning and we weren't able to go to the pool.  We had literally just started loading up in the car to drive down to the pool (in the drizzling rain because Ethan didn't want to wait) when there was a gigantic crack of lightning and roll of thunder that effectively forced us to revamp our plans.  Fortunately, I managed to salvage the situation with a creative solution to take things to the tub!  Hahaha.  I filled up my bathtub with water, scattered the pennies (one from every year of his life) inside, and then instructed him to search for the pennies IN ORDER using his goggles under the water.  Alex was his "helper," and after it took him about 5 minutes to find his 2003, the rest were found in a much more timely manner.  The whole challenge took about 10 minutes after which Alex presented him with his gift and the next clue card.

 After finding each penny, he had to get out of the tub, cross the bathroom, and tack it up to a chart using poster putty.

 The last one!

 {FYI -- I think he said this particular challenge was one of the most fun he did.  Hahaha.  :)  }

Alex got him a "Pop Socket" for his iPod.  Ethan was surprisingly excited.

Next up was a Road Block because I really needed him to do something that would take up most of the afternoon and occupy him while the baby was napping so that I could work on the cake.  The challenge for this portion was to complete a 500 piece puzzle and then decipher a code that Scott had created using the finished picture.  He worked on it in his room, with Sophie and a few others helping, while I got started making an Amazing Race themed cake that ended up taking longer than it did for him to finish that puzzle.  Hahaha.  I knew I should have picked a 1000 piece-er!  Hahaha. 

Road Block: A Puzzling Situation

Make your way on foot to the dining room of your house where you will encounter the Road Block of this leg of the race. For the Road Block task, you must put together the 500-piece Pantone puzzle. Once you complete the puzzle, your mother will share a code that you’ll need to decipher using the pictures and words from the puzzle. Once you have deciphered the code and verified it with your mother, you will receive your next clue.

WARNING: You will not receive the instructions for the code until you have actually completed the puzzle.  

{There were Pantone numbers and colors all throughout the puzzle.  After texting Scott a picture of the finished puzzle, he sent the "code" he needed to decipher --

First two numbers of “Vivacious”

3rd number of “Mandarin Red”

Last two numbers of “Scuba Blue”

Second to last number of “Hot Pink”

Last number of “Mimosa”

Second number of “Greenery”

Last number of “Kiwi”

First two numbers “Imperial Purple”

Second number of “Serenity”}

Each number correlated to a letter of the alphabet and ended up spelling out the phrase, "Say Cheese!"

 Sophie got Ethan some water balloons -- always a crowd pleaser.

Route Info: Say Cheese!

Congrats on deciphering the code … your next task is to “Say Cheese!” by completing a photo/video scavenger hunt, after which you will receive your next clue.

To complete this task, you must take photos or videos of 14 unique things that represent your life over your almost 14 years. The photos/videos can be taken in your house or around the neighborhood. Once you have collected all 14, you must text the photo/video evidence to your dad, who will verify your work. When completed, your dad will give you instructions for your next clue. The 14 things are the following:

1)      A pine tree or pine cone (or something from a similar type of tree) representing the tall firs of your birthplace in the wilderness of Oregon

2)      Hair ringlets from your first haircut to represent your beautiful curly locks of hair that you had when you were a toddler

3)      A stuffed teddy bear representing your best bud Bubba (extra credit if you take a picture of Bubba himself)

4)      A picture of someone putting on a puppet show to represent your love/obsession/addiction to a certain scene from The Sound of Music

5)      Your siblings making a human “B-Y-U” to represent some of your time living in Provo (extra credit if all siblings participate, including Isaac)

6)      A cat (can be real or a picture) to represent the Cougars

7)      An arch at a house that represents some of your time in St. Louis

8)      A picture of the St. Louis or Kansas City temple from our time in St. Louis

9)      A picture of a bird (ideally red) to represent all the Cardinal fans in St. Louis

10)   A photo re-creation of a mock Quidditch game, representing your love for Harry Potter. The photo must include at least 3 “players” and they must be at least be dressed or equipped to look the part of playing Quidditch.

11)   A medal from one of your 5K runs you’ve done in the last couple years

12)   Three sweatshirts that you wore almost every day to school the last couple years

13)   Video of Isaac dancing to the Backyardigans theme song, representing Isaac joining the family. Yes, it counts if it’s that remix version that makes him go crazy.

14)   Video evidence of the most recent filming with budding YouTube star Jane Felicity

WARNING: Your father takes photo/video scavenger hunts incredibly seriously. He will judge this mercilessly.

Next up was a Scavenger Hunt!  While I finished up the cake, Ethan and Grace (and the others) scavenged up all the pictures and videos Ethan needed to complete this portion of the race.  Once they were done, they had some down time to kill while waiting for Scott to get home, and queued up another episode of "Dance Moms."  {Don't Judge.}  Hahahaha.

 "B-Y-U"

 Quidditch Match.  Hahahahaha.

 Grace got Ethan a new basketball, since we lost the one that he liked to use.

The finished cake!

Detour: Parkour or Park It  (DEPARTS AT 4:00 P.M.)

For the Detour, which will begin at approximately 4 p.m., you can choose either 1 or 2

-          In 1, you will be required to race against your asthmatic, out-of-shape father in a Ninja Warrior style obstacle course created together. If you fail to outrace your father, you will need to continue to race each other until you can beat your old man. Once you have vanquished your old man, you will receive your next clue.

-          In 2, you will be required to perfectly park the minivan 20 times in a neighboring parking lot. In between each parking job, you will need to lap the parking lot before parking again. Once you complete the full 20 parking jobs to the satisfaction of the judges, you will receive your next clue.

WARNING: Don’t get hurt in the obstacle course and don’t hurt others driving that car. No really, don’t do it. It’s not worth it.  

Scott was able to get home around 4, and from there we took the Detour -- "Parkour or Park It." ;)  I knew this would be Ethan's favorite task of the whole race.  Haha.  Obviously, he chose the driving task.  Little did he know that we were already planning on giving him a U-Turn after his first task so that he'd have to go back and do both.  Hahahaha.  After parking the van "perfectly" in an empty parking lot 14 times (we dropped the 20 down to 14, since that is how old he is turning), we headed over to the park for Isaac to give him his gift and then skedaddled across the street to ANOTHER park where he competed against Scott in a "Ninja Warrior" type course using all the equipment.  It was awesome.

 Hahahahahaha.  I had "Isaac" pick out the Go Fishing game that Ethan freaked out about a couple of years ago when Jane got it for her birthday and he insisted that he had always wanted one and it wasn't fair.  Hahahahaha.

 U-Turn

Those dastardly Tweedles Jane and Alex, used a U-Turn on you. You are now required to go back and do the detour task that you chose not to compete. If you completed Ninja Warrior, you must now complete Ninja Driver. If you completed Ninja Driver, you must now complete Ninja Warrior.

WARNING: Don’t hurt the Tweedles on this. They’re actually innocent bystanders, but they have a catchy name just like teams on the Amazing Race have, so we went with it. Just play along.

This was so great, because Ethan went first, and Scott actually beat his time for the first round!  After completing it a second time, however, Ethan handily won and was ready to accept his next gift.

Jane was his helper for this challenge and got to be the official "timer" of the course.  After Ethan beat Scott, she handed over her gift of a water shooter for the pool.

Route Info: Crack the Code

Your next task is “Crack the Code.”  You will need to complete the task by finding your 2X2 Rubik’s Cube and solving it.  Once you have solved it, you will need to unscramble the letters on each face into possible words that will crack the code.  Each colored face has 4 letters on it that can be unscrambled into multiple words.  

You will then need to head to the pool with your possible words to unlock your final gift.

WARNING: Only one word cracks the code, so you will likely need to try multiple options.  Good luck!!!

After getting his final task of the race, it was time to race back home for him to crack that code!  Thankfully, his Rubik's Cube skills kicked in even though he was worried he might be a little rusty.  After solving the cube, he then had to go through each side and figure out all the 4-letter-word-combinations that could be made from each color.  With his final list in hand, we loaded into the van to drive down to the pool for him to crack the code on the bike lock for his last tangible gift of the extravaganza -- a brand new bike!  He needed one for the real race and since I had rolled over his old one with van a few years ago, I figured it was high time to replace it.  Hahaha.

 Cracking that code!

Route Info: Pit Stop

Proceed on bike to the pit stop, located in your Family Room. This serene home with calm, obedient, and respectful children is the site of your next pit stop. Make sure you check in at the pit stop with your beautifully stunning mother.

WARNING: If you fail to arrive at the pit stop, your gift will be shared with someone else.

 Racing us home from the pool!

 And discovering his final surprise gift.

He was pretty excited when he found out that in just a couple of days, he and Scott would be competing in a REAL Amazing Race around town!  It was seriously such a blast celebrating his birthday, and it was made even better by seeing how much fun he had, too.  With the present portion of the extravaganza out of the way, it was now time for cake and ice cream, followed by some pool time and Five Guys for dinner.  It may have been one EXHAUSTING day for me, but it was totally all worth it.  :)

And that's a wrap!  Stay tuned for Scott and Ethan's Amazing Race adventure from Saturday...