Yo Ho, Let's Go... To A Pirate Parrrrrrrty!

I don't know how many posts it will take to finish blogging this party... my new tactic is to just blog until I run out of time, and then continue my next posts where I left off the next time I find time to blog!
We'll see if that works ;)

I was sooooo excited for Jack's fourth birthday!  Dave and I were so certain that we would be throwing a train party, but since we had done a train party for his first birthday and wanted to do something new, we kept tossing ideas at him trying to get him to focus on something other than trains.  We were thrilled when he became fixated on the idea of having a Jake And The Neverland Pirates party!  Of course, when Dave suggested the idea, Jack liked it but he still wasn't sold on it... so we twisted it a little bit!  Dave told him that we could switch Jack for the Jake and have a Jack And The Neverland Pirates party!  That did it!  From that point on, every time that show came on TV, Jack would get so excited and say "That's the kind of birthday party I'm having!"  He decided that he wanted a "peppermint Neverland cake" and that there had to be a pirate ship and a treasure chest and that he would "probably want to have a new bike for my present"... and of course, you know that we wanted to give him exactly what he wanted!  I, of course, was thrilled that he wanted a "peppermint Neverland cake"... peppermint is my favorite, and I had already started brainstorming Neverland cake ideas!  But first things first... the invitation!

(thanks to Ang for helping to change the "Jake" to "Jack" since I didn't have the time to do that part! Oh yeah, and for snagging my camera at key moments of the party so that I could be the lady in charge and still get the pictures!)

Luckily, since we didn't have a kitchen in order to prep for the party, my mom was wonderful and let me take over her kitchen to make the cake!!!  We spent so much time there and my boys loved being at grandma's house so much... they destroyed the house daily, though- toys were everywhere!!!

I took a video of Jack seeing his cake for the first time... pardon the quality as I took it on my phone.  (also I couldn't figure out how to use my usual video host for a video from my phone so I had to use youtube.)  He was being a dork that day and talking in a baby voice...?  But anyway, here was his reaction!

And, the final result!!!  By my favorite cake that I've made!  It's mostly fondant, but the fish and the palm tree stems and the details on the treasure chest are icing and the waterfall is modeling chocolate.

I think he liked it... what do you think?

Of course, what pirate parrrrty would be complete without a pirate ship?!  We had learned just days before the party that the ship that we had reserved had sustained damage the weekend before and we wouldn't be able to have it for Jack's party.  We were so bummed, but we had to have a ship so Dave searched around and found another, different one... and we were so excited when we saw the ship that was delivered! The door was a little high, so we put a picnic table there to help the kids climb in and out by themselves, but other than that, it was perfect!

And it was so much fun, too!!!

More bouncer/slide pictures later... I'm out of time!  To be continued...

Note: it ended taking four posts to finish the party! 
For the second post, including the Treasure Hunt, go here
For the third post, go here
And for the final post, go here.