G's Birthday Party: Baseball!

Gabriel has really gotten back into baseball lately. He loves to go to the park and play ball, so he also wanted a baseball themed birthday party this year. Unfortunately on the day his party was scheduled the weather was pouring rain, 48 degrees and 20 mph winds. So it was on rain delay for a week. We managed to reserve another field on the Great Lawn, and the weather was beautiful. We played a sort of "no rules" game for the first hour of the party. The kids split themselves up into teams, adults helped in the outfield, and there were no outs so everyone got a chance to bat and run the bases. We probably completed five "innings". 

Next up was baseball eats! The Pinetum area by the ball fields was crowded, and no picnic tables were available, but there was a half-circle of benches surrounded by bushes (and a great climbing tree) and mulch, so we seized the opportunity to take over this little encircled area to serve the food and give everyone a place to sit. All of the kids were starving, we could barely get the food set out (which made it a bit difficult for me to be a perfectionist about setting it up and taking pictures, haha). We had cracker jacks, roasted peanuts, green grapes and strawberries laid out like a baseball diamond, baseball pops (oreos covered in white chocolate with red icing stitching), and pigs-in-a-blanket to simulate hot dogs. There were no survivors!

Next up was the pinata! Now that Gabriel is older (thus the average age of kids in attendance is also getting older), it's a lot harder to make the pinata last to the last kid ... it's amazing how much damage they can do with a wiffle bat! The baseball pinata definitely suffered some cracks and a few pieces of candy started spilling out, but Andy was able to swing it around enough to cause enough misses to get through 12 kiddos. When the last whack was administered, it rained candy and the vultures descended on it (naturally there were tears with the invariable uneven distribution of candy). Nothing a little cake couldn't fix! 

Andy crafted a baseball cake, and we served it in mini baseball helmet (Mets and Yankees) ice cream bowls. Happy Birthday, Gabriel, what a wonderful afternoon we had celebrating you!!