Amelia's birthday celebration

Amelia celebrated her 9th birthday on July 6th of this year. On that date we were in the middle of the Caribbean returning to Florida from our cruise, so Amelia's birthday party was delayed until we returned home. Finally Amelia got to celebrate her birthday with several of her closest friends in early August. The party took place in two venues, with the first installment at Gattitown and the second at our house.

On a recent Thursday evening we picked up four of Amelia's closest friends - Mary Grace, Zoe, Elle, and Lydia - and headed across town to Gattitown. Gattitown is a pizza parlor/amusement park with games and midway attractions for the guests. The girls immediately bolted for the Frog Hopper ride. Below are Mary Grace, Elle, and Zoe on the Frog Hopper.

After some fun on the Frog Hopper, the girls (plus John) headed to the midway attractions. Elle and John both really enjoyed the game pictured below, where the goal was to whack the hammer hard enough so that the balls bounced up into the dog's mouth (the dog's mouth is pictured along the back wall). They both earned a lot of tickets by playing this game!

 Then next were the bumper cars. All the kids loved slamming into each other on the bumper cars! Amelia is pictured below with Lydia in the second photo.

After the kids enjoyed the midway attractions, it was time for pizza.

And after dinner at Gattitown we returned back to our house, where the girls settled on a large air mattress in the living room to watch a movie. They watched "Enchanted" and seemed to have a good time.

Then later we paused the movie to sing to Amelia and enjoy some cookie cake!

What a fun birthday for Amelia with her closest friends! Happy 9th Birthday, my sweet Amelia! We love you!