Turning 5--It's par for the course.

The Monkey turned 5 a few weeks back. Since we were actually on the cruise during his birthday, we waited to have his party. We went with the whole mini-golf idea: 5 holes, plastic putters, and mini-trophies for prizes. Just like Martha...well, sort of.

All then the rain came tumbling down. The whole week prior to the party it rained and rained. By party day, even though the sun had finally appeared, the yard was in no shape to be played on. And let's face it, I really didn't want lots of little feet tracking mud all over my house.

So we decided to have the party inside. We put the course upstairs using AstroTurf. Each hole had a different theme: a bear hole (where you had to putt around the bears), a hole with a long tunnel that the Monkey had decorated, a bubble hole (complete with a bubble machine), a pinwheel hole, and finally the last hole where you had to putt down the stairs and into a large gopher. (The 5 year-olds did not get the Caddyshack reference.)

Fun was had by all, even if the AstroTurf did make a gigantic mess (that stuff really, really sheds a lot.) There was cake and ice cream and presents and everyone was happy and no tears were shed.

And later that evening, playing with some of his new toys, the Monkey looked up at my mother and said, "I feel 5 now."