Obstacle Warriors

My little Sporty Spice finally got to have her birthday party last weekend.  We've run the gamut in parties, having had them at Sweet and Sassy, Golden Grip Gym, and even a princess party at home.  This year she wanted a totally athletic party and was all about being a little ninja.

Obstacle Warrior in Dallas fit the bill perfectly!

 There was no waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive.  These ninjas were ready to roll!

This little 7 year old was scaling these obstacles with a rope and jumping down...

climbing up this wall...

and doing the descending monkey bars.

Brooklyn was the first to get to the rings...

but Malee was the first one to get all the way across them.

Reagan did well, too...

and Tucker was this close to scaling the warp wall!

Look at those long legs!  Who is that kid?!  She made quick work of those obstacles.

Miss Cami got in on the fun after observing for a few minutes.  She climbed this rope wall many times and then went down the slide.  Thank goodness daddy was happy to spot her every time around!

Charlotte was a little more tentative, but started trying out new things.

Lauren and Lila palled around quite a bit together.

Lila and Addison did their best making their way over the second pit...

while sweet Lauren stayed back in the first pit to help Cameron.

After they made it through, Lauren shimmied across the second pit with such ease!

The littlest ninja, Miss Harper, amazed us all afternoon, especially when she jumped through the Spider Wall in 5 seconds!

Big brother played dodgeball most of the afternoon, but did try his hand at a few things.

Before we knew it, all of these girls had entered the dodgeball arena!  They weren't scared.

Get it girls!

After playing for an hour, we rounded up everyone and met in the party room.

We ate Campisi's pizza and were so happy that Madison and Gigi were there, too.

"Happy Birthday dear Lila!  Happy birthday to YOU!"

After cookie cake, these ninjas couldn't wait to get back out there!

They were cracking me up!

Round 2, let's do this.

Little sister was all smiles at this party.  So fun to see everyone, of all ages, having a good time.

Jackson loved having his friend Tucker there, too.  They could do most every obstacle, but said these floating things were tough!

Cami was thrilled just to hang out on one of them.

"Hi-ya!"  Don't we just scream fierce?

Such a fantastic afternoon.
Thanks to everyone who came to wish our favorite ninja a happy birthday!

Undefeated!

 I love this team. Love these girls.  They give 100% every single game.  We've been on plenty of sports teams and never seen success like this.  I can probably count on one hand how many times they have ever lost.  In order for them to have more competition, they played in a league against mostly 2nd grade teams.  Going into the last game they were in first place and undefeated.  

Did they hold onto their title?

If this little girl had anything to say about it, they sure did!

All of the Bumblebees played well, but I focused on #12.  

She was in it to win it on both defense...

and offense.

They played a solid game, only letting the team get on their side of the field a couple of times.  When it did happen, Miss Defense, Lila Hays, was all over it.  There's no way they were going to get a clean shot on the goal.

The Bees won 3-0!   Great game, girls!

They were thrilled to have their 1st place trophies in their hands.

Way to go, Murphy Bumblebees!  You're the Champs!

Coach Dad couldn't be more proud of the way #12 has played this season if he tried.

Her mama is pretty proud of her, too.  Congrats, Lila, on another fabulous season!

Jared's Freedom Festival!

Jared has been wanting to do this for years.  He has never really enjoyed working at his law firm.  After 10.5 years he finally decided to take the plunge.  He's going out on his own.  So many people are excited for him!  We threw him a Freedom Festival at Urban Rio and lots of friends came to wish him well on this new venture.

Scott and Andrew are some of his biggest supporters and came to hang out with us, along with Lyndsie and Maria.

We had old baseball friends there, like Amy and Brian.

Friends from Hunt like Tara and Cayce and Sarah and Kyle...

Friends from soccer, like Carolyn, Lisa and Carla (and their hubbies).

Team Next Level - Hayley, Adam, Taylor and Price.
Always makes the night more fun when these girls are around!

Friends from baseball, like Larry and Julie, Angie and Jason, 

and Karen and Glenn.
It was such a fantastic night and showed Jared that he's got so many people rooting for him to succeed.  You got this, babe!

We're going to the Zoo, How about You?!

The kids were out of school for a rare four-day weekend.  We decided to brave the crowds and go to the Dallas Zoo with some good friends.  I'm so glad that we did.  The weather was perfect and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

First up--elephants!  I love the seeing the biggest hold the youngest.  Nash adores Jackson.

In fact, Bubbster was a big hit with both the little kids.

These kids were ready to go find that baby elephant!

It was so cute!

Pretty sure it was going for a walk with it's mommy and daddy, too.

Next up, the giraffes!  They weren't hungry while we were there, so we just got to admire how pretty they are.

We checked out the ostriches...

said hello to the cheetahs...

and then got a real treat by watching this beast pace around his enclosure while roaring every now and then.  Very cool.

It's so funny to me, but climbing on these fake elephants was almost as neat to these kids as being on the real thing! 

They love it!  The only way we were able to convince Cami to leave was by telling her that we could go see the gorillas.

Thank goodness this big guy was out and about!

The big kids were begging him to come see them.

Sure enough, a couple minutes later, he walked right up to the glass and took a seat.

After lunch, we bought tickets for the train.

We had one train car all to ourselves.

This little girl was fading, but still wanted to see more animals.

She loved seeing these guys!

And thought that the fake hippo in this river was the real deal!

We caught a glimpse of Dallas...

and then got to see the apes...

and big alligator!

We thought we were going to end our afternoon with the flamingos...

even Jackson was tired:)

Alas, Cami remembered the children's area and said, "let's go to that place where I can get my feet in the water!"  I love this picture.  Cami hanging with Brentley and Nash hanging with Lila.

There were a ton of kids in this area, so Cami preferred to sit up high.

She took a few turns down the slide, hopped inside this big egg and got into the nest.
And then we were done!

Another fun Friday at the zoo.
 When we go back next time, we will get to see the brand new hippo exhibit.  We can't wait!