14 August 2013

Happy birthday, Nut Brown!  He is now six years old instead of almost six.  We had a fun party that included a hot dog and potato chip lunch, a mad hunt for clues to thwart an alien invasion, and the final destruction of the alien technology in its secret hideout; followed by cake and presents.  The alien invasion was precipitated by its use of mind control pills to take over the human race.  The two groups who were trying to defeat the invasion each pursued a separate path: one group to find the secret communicator device that would open the alien's secret lair and the other to find the weapon of doom to defeat it.  For each clue, a brave soul in the party had to eat a mind control pill, which would temporarily render them unable to speak.  However, they would hear for a moment what the alien was thinking, and would have to show the other group members so that they could guess where the next clue was.  When a group member said what he'd heard, the binding was broken and he could talk again.  Basically it was a treasure hunt with charades: one group found the garage door opener, and one group found a stick to break the pinata.  Together they opened the garage and beat the pinata to pieces, and then gobbled their loot: mind control pills rendered harmless by the alien's defeat (skittles).  Lots of fun.

One of my favorite moments was when I started the game after lunch by announcing theatrically, "I have bad news!  An alien invasion is imminent!  They are trying to take over the planet!" and a five-year-old turned to his mother and said worriedly, "Mom, what are we going to do?"

On Nut Brown's actual birthday, he asked for hamburgers for dinner, so we went to Red Robin.  There were several other people having birthdays there, and when he saw that the waiters would sing and bring you ice cream, Nut Brown made sure to tell the waiter that it was his birthday too.  Our waiter was a little overbusy and Rose Pink kept turning to me to say, "I hope they bring something for Nut Brown."  We all wanted him to feel special and have a birthday serenade.  Eventually they did come out and sing.  I wish I had a photo of the expression of delight on his face.

Nut Brown is so wonderful. We are so fortunate that he is part of our family.