This is a story that tells itself...and this one can pretty much tell its own tale with pictures. It doesn't need a lot of input from me.
Except this...birthday parties were nothing like this when I was a wee squeaker.
But, times they have changed. I don't say this with any trace of pride, but leaving alone my childhood birthday parties, my kids didn't have any big parties either. I don't know exactly why but, aahhhhh, why can't life come with do-overs!?!
Regardless, that's life and you know what Omar Khayyam said about it:
"The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
Fun Facts: Omar Khayyam was born in Naishapur, Khorassan (in the northeast area of modern day Iran) in the latter half of the 11th century.
He was a student of the Imam Mowaffak of Naishapur. One of Omar's fellow students, Nizam-ul-Mulk, became the Vizier of Alp Arslan the Son and Malik Shah, the Grandson of Toghrul Beg the Tartar, who ruled Persia and found the Seljukian Dynasty.
When this man became Vizier, Omar asked if he could live under "the shadow" of his schoolmate's good fortune, to spread word of the advantages of science and to pray for him. Omar, once a tent-maker (is there a joke in here?) was given a yearly pension and proceeded to study many subjects, becoming especially proficient in Astronomy.
The Malik Shah appointed Omar Khayyam to help reform the calendar, and he and severn other learned men created the Jalali era system which bested the Julian calendar's accuracy and came close to that of the Gregorian. Omar was also a poet and philosopher.
When he died at Naishapur in the year of the Hegira, 517 (A.D. 1123), he was praised as one who was unrivaled in science. However, he was not universally respected. His bold ideas threatened some segments of society, including the more conservative Islamic sects (why is that not a surprise?). Although not an ambitious man by most standards, he enjoyed the pleasures offered by the world and did not strictly adhere to the precepts of religion.
He wrote hundreds of poetic quatrains, but 'The Rubaiyat' with which most Westerners are familiar is only a small portion of his writings. They were 'liberally' selected and translated into English by Edward J. Fitzgerald, and several versions of these translations exist. Some Persian writers have expressed concern about these admittedly 'free' translations, which Fitzgerald himself called 'transmogrifications.' Many of the verses were paraphrased, and some of them cannot be traced to an original quatrain.
The first version of Fitzgerald's translations appeared in 1859, and Fitzgerald himself made changes in a later versions in 1868, 1872, 1870 and 1889. Several other translations have been published, many with wildly different interpretations of the poet's original verses. A 'new' translation by Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah was published in 1968, under the title The Original Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam.
And now that I've writ, let's move on. The party was here, at La Petite Playhouse...
"The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
Fun Facts: Omar Khayyam was born in Naishapur, Khorassan (in the northeast area of modern day Iran) in the latter half of the 11th century.
He was a student of the Imam Mowaffak of Naishapur. One of Omar's fellow students, Nizam-ul-Mulk, became the Vizier of Alp Arslan the Son and Malik Shah, the Grandson of Toghrul Beg the Tartar, who ruled Persia and found the Seljukian Dynasty.
When this man became Vizier, Omar asked if he could live under "the shadow" of his schoolmate's good fortune, to spread word of the advantages of science and to pray for him. Omar, once a tent-maker (is there a joke in here?) was given a yearly pension and proceeded to study many subjects, becoming especially proficient in Astronomy.
The Malik Shah appointed Omar Khayyam to help reform the calendar, and he and severn other learned men created the Jalali era system which bested the Julian calendar's accuracy and came close to that of the Gregorian. Omar was also a poet and philosopher.
When he died at Naishapur in the year of the Hegira, 517 (A.D. 1123), he was praised as one who was unrivaled in science. However, he was not universally respected. His bold ideas threatened some segments of society, including the more conservative Islamic sects (why is that not a surprise?). Although not an ambitious man by most standards, he enjoyed the pleasures offered by the world and did not strictly adhere to the precepts of religion.
He wrote hundreds of poetic quatrains, but 'The Rubaiyat' with which most Westerners are familiar is only a small portion of his writings. They were 'liberally' selected and translated into English by Edward J. Fitzgerald, and several versions of these translations exist. Some Persian writers have expressed concern about these admittedly 'free' translations, which Fitzgerald himself called 'transmogrifications.' Many of the verses were paraphrased, and some of them cannot be traced to an original quatrain.
The first version of Fitzgerald's translations appeared in 1859, and Fitzgerald himself made changes in a later versions in 1868, 1872, 1870 and 1889. Several other translations have been published, many with wildly different interpretations of the poet's original verses. A 'new' translation by Robert Graves and Omar Ali-Shah was published in 1968, under the title The Original Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam.
And now that I've writ, let's move on. The party was here, at La Petite Playhouse...
It's quite a business. Very controlled and regulated, they host birthday parties for kiddies all day long.
Quinn and Max were celebrating their birthdays together today. Here's the happy and excited kids getting registered for The Big Day!!
There's a whole mini-warehouse full of stuff for kids to do. From the toddlers up to the more active and demanding 7-year olds and up.
A three-story (at least there were three levels to it) climbing maze of fun and thrills.
And The Slide of Death...or at least, in my case, The Slide of Life-Changing Semi-Permanent Injury. More on this sadistic and devilishly benign looking instrument of torture later.
There were plenty of fun things for a bunch of kids to have fun on.
Hahaha, no, it wasn't a cage. I know that's the first thing that popped into your evil little mind, wasn't it!?! Hahaha, I understand.
Birthday Boy on the move!!
He has a determined look on his face, doesn't he!!
OK, I might as well explain The Slide of Pain and Embarrassment now since it has come up in the regular rotation of pictures.
Amy kept on taunting me to 'try' the slide. She'd been down a couple times and kept on pushing me to 'Get in on the fun!!' and, like the absolute fool that I am, I said OK. Reluctantly.
So up we go, Kristi, me, and Amy.
Then, while we're at the top Amy says, "Let's have a race!" and, well, I didn't let the dare go by.
And we were off. In retrospect, I didn't really need to push myself forward by grabbing the sides and shoving off to a really good start.
And I literally flew down that doggone slide.
What you're seeing here is roughly the moment of impact as I came back down to earth after having been completely airborne for, oh, about 3-4 feet.
Pilots say any landing is a good one if you can walk away. That's the least I can say about this landing. I was able, barely, to walk away.
Look closely at Kristi and Amy's faces...you can see the surprise on both of them as I went faster and flew farther than anyone ever has on that slide.
Obviously Amy was crying because she lost the race. Those couldn't be tears from laughing so hard at her injured and potentially permanently maimed father.
I believe her joy and delight in my aerial antics was only exceeded by her enchantment in watching her children play. But not by much.
I am still regretting that dumb little move of mine.
But let's get back to the kids...they was running everywhere.
See what I mean when I called this the Slide of Terror!!
Well, at least Max had figured out a safe way to come down.
Not content with having helped ruin my back, Kristi cajoled Max into risking his life.
Watch out, Max!!!
Ahhh, chalk up another one for The Slide of The Devil.
His ol' noggin required some serious head rubbing.
But he recovered and went back to going down backwards and facedown again. The safe way.
But soon, too soon for some and not soon enough for others, the call came to gather in the Birthday Room.
The room was set up and ready for the kids.
All this is pretty much self-explanatory. The kids gathered for some healthy snacks and some delicious Pizza Pie and then cupcakes all around!!
The Birthday Cupcakes...
While Quinn understood the concept, Max had some difficulty with the candles on his Cupcake. Every time the candles were lit he immediately blew them out. Like four times before we were able to sing Happy Birthday.
Then it was time to dig in.
When we got back home, the kids finally got to open their presents.
I think Max had the most fun playing with this paper string.
Playing with the Play-Doh Hair Styling Salon Kit.
All in all a very successful Birthday Party. No tears, no anxiety, no drama. A lot of fun and a small bit of pain, some of which still lingers on. That makes it, in my book, a resounding success.
A good day. A good time.
Life is good.
Hooah!!
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