Summer Birthday

We threw Lily a Little Bear Beach Party for her Birthday this year. Lily LOVES the beach - and what better place to party? Didn't have to plan any games or entertainment and decorating was minimal. We knew the kids would make their own fun at the playground and the beach. What we didn't know was that all of Southern CA were headed to the same beach the same day. It was perfect beach weather, and I have never seen it so crowded! Parking was a challenge. But once everyone had dropped off their stuff - found spaces and hiked over we had a pretty good time! 

Well, it's a good thing I wasn't too worried about decorating because there was nothing out there available for the theme I chose - so I ended up making what I wanted from scratch.

Here's the invite I made:

 

And the favors: (I forgot to take a picture beforehand - so this is leftovers)

The birthday cake:

 

We got some balloons, but it was so windy they almost blew away. I didn't really bother to set everything up cute because of the wind, and because it ended up taking so long for everyone to gather - I didn't want the cake to melt in the sun. Such is life - nothing ever turns out just like you imagine it... Still - my little girl had a great day, and is asking about her next birthday already! 

Here are some more fun pics from the party! 

  Candle-licking cousins.

The favors were mostly treats - including teddy grahams and gummy bears - a big hit with my fruit snack fanatic daughter.

Gummy bears! Audrey was interested too.

I was impressed by how nicely Lily opened her presents - she didn't get upset when I encouraged her to open another rather than getting each thing out of it's package to play with it right away. Best of all she thanked each person so sweetly for each gift! Hope that habit continues!

I made a stand up Little Bear for the kids to take pictures with.

Lily just wanted to hold his hand, and talk to him - so it was hard to get a picture with her facing the camera.

Audrey was a little unsure - either about Little Bear or being sat in the grass.

Evie is awesome as always for photos. She's going through this phase right now where her mom just has to say "Whatever you do - don't stand next to little bear and smile!" and she'll do exactly that. "Whatever you do - don't go stand on the other side and hold Little Bear's hand!" I can just hear her infectious giggle looking at these shots! She is too cute!

Isaac wanted to hold his hand too! They had a lot of fun with it.

Mike got in there with Audrey - he is so cute with her. She's a joy to everybody.

Finally got shot of Lily's face by setting up this little lawn chair!

Little Bear and I - we're buds!

Getting ready for the beach! Audrey kept lifting up this umbrella pole like she was Wonder Baby. Love her little toothy grin!

Down at the beach:

I tried to get Audrey to wear a pair of Lily's sunglasses - this lasted long enough for one quick shot.

Lily really got into the sand this trip! She was crawling all around in it on her belly. She kept getting it in her mouth and trying to wipe it off her tongue with her even sandier hands.

Evie showing Lily a sand worm.

Lily played by herself in this hole for the longest time! At one point a lifeguard ran right by her head with a rescue board -- she was oblivious.

This grin looks more gritty than cheesy to me.

Me and my girl playing in the water. Mike took the initiative to take some photos of us - I was thrilled! -- I hate to ask. He told me later Rebecca had suggested it - Thanks Rebecca! I love this one of us holding hands.

It was a great day despite the crowds. It is rare to get our whole family out to the beach. Hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did!