I simply cannot believe that Ryan is 5 - seriously, where has the time gone? He is turning into the most amazing little man and I am so proud to be his Mom.
This year we had three birthday parties to celebrate his big day - the week before in Missouri with my family, on his actual birthday (12/5) at our house with Grandma and Grandpa Fleming and Aunt Sarah, and a party today with a few little friends.
After last year's zoo extravaganza, I had a hard time coming up with a new place to host the party (because I will gladly pay for someone else to set up and clean up!) until I remembered that the
Denver Firefighters Museum hosts birthday parties. We'd never been there before but the last few months both Ryan and Jack have been obsessed with firemen, so I figured it would be a popular spot.
The museum is located in Denver's original fire station (built in 1909), meaning there are some pretty significant historical items there. I was pretty worried about reining in the 5-and-under group, but the museum was actually set out pretty well.
We started upstairs with educational displays and activities and a party area. My little destructos were more interested in redecorating the safety house than planning a safe escape...
Friends in attendance included David and Andrew, Sebastian and Oscar, Katherine and Anna, Ava Grace and soon-to-be big brother Atlas. He just adores Ryan and Jack and they always look forward to seeing him.
The museum doesn't offer food service and the only time slot available was noon-2, so I put together an easily transportable, kid-friendly lunch menu - chicken salad sandwiches on mini croissants, PB&J, Cuties, carrot sticks, and my favorite party idea to date - a make-your-own-trail-mix bar.
There were a variety of nuts, raisin, craisins and other dried fruit, coconut flakes, honey-roasted sesame sticks, and Ryan's favorite, "hummingbird eggs" (AKA chocolate covered sunflower seeds). I put out paper cupcake liners and everyone was able to pick the pieces they liked the best.
Ryan requested an applesauce cake, so I found
this recipe with the most divine cinnamon cream cheese frosting. He was really excited when I stuck 5 candles in one little cupcake (hey, a firefighter museum has to be the safest place to set a fire, right?).
Once we finished eating (and wiped off sticky fingers!), museum volunteer Bernadette lined all the kids up to go downstairs where other exhibits and the kid-sized costumes are housed (Atlas got a head start while the other kids were eating).
Remember the "significant historical items"? Yeah, Ryan's hanging off a piece of the NYC World Trade Center... (and not listening to directions, unlike Anna and Ava Grace).
Because he was the birthday boy, Ryan got to dress up as the Fire Chief and help Bernadette demonstrate some important fire safety lessons.
The most important - and easily accessible to sugar-amped preschoolers - lesson was Stop, Drop, and Roll. Anna, Ava and David volunteered to show off their rolling skills.
The kids were then free to explore the rest of the museum. They were not interested in the vintage horse-drawn fire wagons or the historical fire moments in Denver history, but the did love the costumes, the fire pole, and other make-believe elements.
Andrew, in particular, was really excited to "drive" the fire truck. Clear the road - clang clang clang!
The museum even had respirator masks for the kids to wear - I really didn't expect either of my boys to put one on, but not only did Jack put one on (he's grouchy here because he doesn't want me to take his picture)...
...and photobomb my selfie with Ava... [Luke, I am your father!]
but he wore the full costume around for a good half hour!
Finally it was time for everyone to head home for naps. Atlas gives the best hugs!
Everyone had a great time (well, maybe not Grandma and Grandpa who volunteered to pack up all the food and tidy up the party space) and Ryan said it was a good party, so my work here is done... until next year, of course!
View all photos of the day's fun here.
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