Happy 6th Birthday Bubba!

Well, Bubba's sixth birthday party{and first party with school friends} was a success! The kids all seemed to really enjoy themselves, Bubba had fun, the cake and goodies were devoured and the pinata was smashed, so all in all, it went as well as we had hoped for!

His party was last Saturday and luckily the weather stayed gorgeous. {If I had to give only one compliment about Italy, it would be the weather is amazing. For over 3 weeks now, it's been in the upper 60's, low 70's with clear views of the mountains. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing and there is a slight breeze. It is truly perfect.} It never did rain like the forecast showed. Saturday was spent with friends, Sunday was a lazy day at the house. We played with new toys, had a NERF gun fight and took it easy.

Obviously Monday and Tuesday he had school, then Wednesday was his actual birthday. They are allowed to bring homemade treats, so we opted to spend Tuesday evening making dirt cups. Wednesday morning I volunteered in his classroom; we ate dirt cups and talked about life-cycles of plants. Wednesday evening we had quesadillas with refried beans, nachos and grapes for dinner (birthday boys' request) followed by a Skype session with Nanaw and Papa while we sang Happy Birthday and dug into more dirt cake.

The birthday boy wasn't really sure what he wanted for his birthday but he ended up with a ton of cool gifts that were very ''him''. Games and accessories for his leapster explorer, a few nerf guns, a board game, several books, a scooby doo backpack and the "big" present from mom and dad: a new outdoor slide.

I get that this seems like a ''toddler'' present...but take a second look at how BIG this slide is.... for some reason, all the kid slides we see since being in Italy are this big. Rather that the typical Little Tikes slide with 2 steps and a platform, they have 5-6 steps, then the platform. This slide is taller than bubba at the base and it supports up to 176lbs! The kids love it!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBA!!!

-----
in all honesty, it's a joint gift for Bubba and Pooks (whose birthday is mid May). All four kids wanted the thing, but we had to rationalize it a bit. While I love my kids and I would like to say ''Oh cost isn't an issue''...realistically, cost is an issue especially when outdoor toys here in Italy are so costly! Not a single place online would ship a slide (and honestly none of the US stores had such a big one to ship) so we bought one from a place just down the street. Because of the sticker shock, I'm just gonna share the price (tacky I know but we were floored!) This bad boy was €143....roughtly $185.00. FOR A SLIDE! Hence why it's a joint gift. Is it worth every penny? Yes it is extremely solid, made by a reputable world known Italian brand and the kids have a lot of fun on it. But it's definitely not something I would have just bought on a whim. Oh and here's another fun tidbit, the Chicco outside playhouse that the kids really, really, really wanted was €495 or about $645.

Much to their demise, that one stayed at the store.  We are however on the hunt for a gently used one (though as you can imagine, they sell fast over here!). So basically if you're reading this as somone who is PCSing to Italy...bring all your outdoor toys. If you think you might want some before you get here, buy them stateside. Even if you change your mind once here or you don't have the room, you'll be able to sell it in a heartbeat!