Justus turned 9!

Because Oct. 5th was already a jam packed day, Justus lucked out.  His birthday celebration got spread out over 3 days!  The Saturday before his birthday, we had his friend birthday party.  He asked for an Indiana Jones birthday party and we delivered!  He and his friends went on the "Search for the Holy Grail." 

 We used the park near our house to host the event since 10 4th grade boys simply don't fit in my house.  When they arrived, they had to run the gauntlet to prove they were worthy of the quest.  They raced from one end of the park to the other keeping an egg on a spoon.

Then they had to find the ancient necklaces buried in the sand.  On the necklaces were hieroglyphics that they had to put in the correct order in order to figure out where the first part of the treasure map was.

The next clue told them they needed to find the ingredients for a scorpion-bite antidote mixed in with the spider guts (a borax solution with food coloring).

The final portion of the treasure map had to be purchased with 50 pieces of gold.  The gold coins had been scattered throughout the park similar to an egg hunt.  Once they had all the pieces of the map, they could figure out where the grail had been hidden.

And it was a mad dash to the final destination!

Once the search was complete, we had an Indiana Jones style feast.  We ate:
- a snake sandwich (I baked pilsbury dough in the shape of a snake)
- chilled monkey brains (strawberry/banana jello with crushed pineapples and cut up strawberries)
- fried caterpillars (cheetos)
- butterfly wings (bbq chips)
- alligator eyes (grapes)
- spider sacs (black olives)
- chocolate beetles (chocolate covered raisins)
- jungle juice.

The party was a TON of fun and really, not a lot of work.  I borrowed most of the ideas off the internet and spent a few pennies at the dollar store.

Monday night we had our family celebration with a real cake and candles and presents. 

On the day of J's birthday, Rob and I were able to sneak over to have lunch with him before I headed off for my first day of teaching.  After school, J helped with the book fair right up until the time we picked him up for his football game.  Rob was able to stay for most of his game before he headed off to teach his Tuesday night class.  We are so glad we made memories with him to make his day special.  We love celebrating our Justus!