Catching up - Ian's 4th birthday party at DinoDigUSA

I have a lot of catching up to do. So first, Ian's 4th birthday party! I originally wanted to have it at The Little Gym, where he is taking classes, but they were completely booked as of October. I swear, the toddler birthday party circuit is a crazy thing. So I went back to the tried and true, DinoDigUSA, where we had his party last year. We went with the dinosaur theme last year, so to change it up this time, we went with the Cars theme. Looking back, I probably should have done Cars last year and dinosaurs this year, but since the entire place is decorated with dinosaurs, we kind of got the best of both worlds this year.

First, the kids colored Cars characters:

From 2008-12-14 Ian's 4th Birthday Party

Then they lined up to go into the back room to do a craft:


They each decorated their own racing flag:


Then it was time to get ready for the dig!

There are a dozen or so "treasures" buried in the sand and each child gets his/her own bucket and scoop to dig out the treasures. Last year, they were toy dinosaurs or "artifacts" and rocks. This year, with the Cars theme, there were Cars toys. It's such a great concept. All kids love digging in the sand. Add to that finding toys buried in the sand that they get to take home and it's perfect! Why didn't I think of this first?!?

But before they dig, there are some rules that they have to follow and they were patiently and clearly explained by our party leaders.


Once everyone was told the rules and was assigned a digging spot and a bucket and scoop, Ian rang the bell and the digging began!


Dylan and Lia were still too young to participate, but they wanted to be part of it, too!



Then it was PIZZA TIME!


For some reason, I don't have pictures of the rest of the party, but there were some games and dancing and music, then ice cream cake. For the parents, we had a sandwich platter and some snacks. The kids had a great time and Ian got a ton of presents!

Tia Cindy, Tio Dennis and Dylan came back home with us so Ian could open his presents. So many presents!


We saved the biggest for last. We couldn't even wrap it because it was so big, so I just draped a tablecloth over it:

What could it be?

What else??? A dinosaur!

Tia suggested the name Leaf and Ian thought it was a great name and that's what we call him. We now have a new addition to the family, Leaf the Triceratops!


Ian has to put Leaf to sleep every night and wake him up in the morning to feed him. Leaf resides in our living room and when we come downstairs every morning, Lia looks at him and growls, "RAH!"