Colin's 2nd Birthday Party

What do torrential downpours, wild toddlers, hungry monkeys, thousands of bees, super easy going babies, sweet llamas, and the best friends in the world have in common?  They all attended Colin's 2nd birthday party.

We knew we wanted to have a party with all of Colin's Charleston friends and we wanted it as close to his birthday as possible which meant, no party at our house.  Instead, after some internet searching, I found a little place known as "Bee-City." It's a Bee Farm and Petting Zoo rolled into one and they have a classroom available to rent for occasions like 2nd birthday parties!

Colin woke up excited and ready to party on his special day.

Look who's turning 2!

Bee City was quite the trek for most of our friends and I wanted to make sure to provide them with lunch.  Each child and mommy received a special Honeycomb bag filled with all of Colin's favorite foods (more like the only food Colin will eat). 

Speaking of quite the trek, I didn't realize just what a trek it would become!  Remember those torrential downpours I spoke off?  Well the flood gates decided to open the morning of Colin's party. I was hopeful that it would hold off but just after we left the hotel it started. I wanted to call my friends, tell them not to come, or to turn around, that it's too scary out to be making this long drive.  I was afraid to call anyone because I didn't want to distract anyone while driving, it was that kind of rain.  After stopping twice on the way...no not because of the rain because Genevieve hates. the. car. I found Colin's good buddy Luca, his wonderful mommy, and sister already there.

Slowly one by one every single one of Colin's friends showed up.  The rain settled down so I checked out the scene with my two little ones before everyone got out of their cars.  I quickly discovered that the entrance was completely flooded, I'm talking at least six plus inches off the ground.  I carefully dragged the stroller through the mess and made my way to the main building where find out there was a road we could drive on right next to the designated "entrance" path.  I went as fast as I could back to my friends, to find that they had all already gotten out of their cars, grabbed hold of their infants and toddlers, and were making the journey across the pond.  It was a moment I will never forget in all my life.  All of us dragging kids, presents, etc through water filled with god knows what, did a mention this was a rather large petting zoo??  Gross!  I was pretty mortified but yet filled with happiness at the same time that mine (and Colin's!) friends are just that awesome.

Eventually, we made it into the zoo where the kids immediately wanted to check out the animals.  After feeding a few monkeys and lemurs (cool right?! sorry no pictures, we were all still a little overwhelmed from our journey),  we figured we'd better corral the kids inside to clean everyone up and get some food in them or we would never make it back inside.   

Colin ready in his party hat, an elephant, his favorite animal!

Beau sporting the a tiger hat

Feed me!

Loves his buttery crackers!

Colin & Jake

Miss Molly, Jameson, Luca, Cheyanne, & Beau

Enjoying lunch

Colin with his mini me, Dylan. No joke, these kids look alike, act alike, and their mommas even dress them with the same style!  Little social butterflies.

Dylan & Miss Leslie

Beau!

After lunch the kids checked out the main exhibit...BEES!

Colin had to try to pull out the chord first, he sure is a two year old!

So excited for the bees!

They got quite a crowd.

We wrapped up our time inside (so we thought) with birthday cake!  Colin is a self-proclaimed Cookie Monster so a cookie cake was mandatory. 

Turns out Colin shares mommy's candle blowing skills.  Even together it took us way too long!  Remember this? :)

Before we go any further, I've got to make a special shout out to those super easy babies I spoke of earlier.  Most of Colin's friends have new little siblings as well and they were all amazing on this crazy day! 

Genevieve with Mommy while holding Jake's itty bitty brother, Carter.

Luca's sister, Camilla & Miss Quinn

Cheyanne's big little brother, Jameson

Little Spencer with his mommy, Jessica. Not a little brother, but still a trooper! 

I wouldn't have made it through the day without all of Christina's help, especially with Little Miss G.

After cake, it was finally time to see the animals...oh wait..what's that?  Rain?  Again?!? No sooner did we walk from the classroom to the petting zoo that the rain started again. 

Back inside we went, and someone wasn't too happy about it.

We tried to make the best of it by playing with some precious antiques.  Hey the sign said "Watch your children" not "Do not touch."  I was watching as you can see.

It became apparent pretty quickly that the gift shop might be a better place to wait out the rain. Wood trains anyone??

I know someone who loves them!

The best pic a could get of the crew.

It wasn't long before they got bored of the trains and found the wooden swords instead, thankfully it was about the same time when there was a slight break in the rain so a few of us hopped back outside.  We were happy the kids could actually enjoy some of the petting zoo.

The birthday boy petting a goat.

And then there were the llamas...there were a ton of other animals at this zoo but we ended up spending what little time we had with the llamas.  (It turned out that Colin's friend Jake gave him the book Llama, Llama Time to Share as a birthday present. It has now become one of his favorites!).

Why, hello there Llama

Miss Molly feeding the llama. That blanket would be covering baby champ, Jameson, from getting wet.

Luca LOVED feeding the animals!

"All gone!"

Momma taking a turn. I love sweet Chey's face in the background.

All was well and then this happened....

Poor Colin, all he wanted to do was ride this choo choo.  (That standing water might give  you a little idea of what we walked through in the beginning....)

We were deciding which animals we wanted to feed next when the skies opened up yet again.  Colin was not having it.  He didn't care, it was his special day, and he was going to play in the rain if he wanted to!  All of his friends ran quickly back inside while Colin ran around having the time of his life.  Momma had to put an end to all his fun after hearing thunder.  I was holding Genevieve so the owner ran out in the pouring rain to grab our little man.  After a major meltdown inside the attached restaurant, it was time for everyone to head home.  Luckily the rain settled down again and we had a much less adventurous trek to our cars.

Despite the circumstances, it was a perfect day.  I will treasure these memories, friends, and my sweet baby boy's joy forever.