I'm A Big Kid Now!!

This past weekend I turned 33, and I celebrated like every adult woman should - by throwing myself an 8-year girl's birthday party!!

And it was awesome!!

There are several rules that should be followed when throwing yourself the party of an 8-year old.

#1 rule - NO BOYS ALLOWED!  
I'm not anti-men by any means, and I love my husband and my boys with all my heart - but sometimes you just need girl time, so I took this rule very seriously.  While Dave stayed home with the kids I hit the town with 7 of my closest girlfriends and we giggled and laughed and filled the car with tales of extreme estrogen and it was glorious.

#2 rule - I'LL TAKE FRIES WITH THAT!
When I was growing up my idea of a huge birthday treat was going to McDonald's... my tastes have grown up a little since then but sometimes nothing beats a great burger joint.  So we hit up Red Robin - a place with truly magnificent fries and where even at 33 you'll still get balloons and be sung to by the wait staff (which I would have been REALLY okay without) but my fish n' chips made it worth it.

Me and my girls at Red Robin

Did I mention they make you wear the balloons on your head while they sing to you?

#3 rule - EMBRACE YOUR INNER CHILD!
Ever since my sister went roller skating for Valentines Day I'd been longing to let my inner skater child out to play ~ luckily my girlfriends were all up for it too and so we went prepared to laugh at ourselves (and each other) and no matter what, stick together for moral and perhaps real life support too.  Turns out skating is a little bit like riding a bicycle... you never really forget but you might start out a little wobbly.  That doesn't mean you won't feel every muscle as you work away around the rink... 'cause oh my... you will... my hips, my knees, my ankles all protested loudly but I reminded them they were pretending to be 8 and that shut them up enough to keep going.

Ready to get our skate on!

I had no idea that roller skating rinks were becoming so popular again, or perhaps they never lost their draw and I was just oblivious... the place was packed out with all ages represented and all clothing "styles" too... we had a good time laughing at a group who'd come in "disco" attire courtesy of goodwill.

My girls represented well too:  Enjoy their best skating poses.

Amy the "Atta-Tude"

"Punky Bruiser" Halverson

Superaina

"Cole-inator"

Tricialicious

and yours truly - the birthday ballerina!

It was so much fun.  We enjoyed the music, the people watching, we marveled at the group of people break dancing in the middle of the rink with the crazy skills, and the little7-year old kid who was out-skating everyone else and weaving in and out of people doing all sorts of fancy tricks.  We laughed, we ached, we made fun of ourselves and amazingly enough we managed to go the entire night without falling flat on our behinds.  I call that a success!!

Fabulous cheap entertainment - thanks Oaks Park!

#4 rule - DON'T SKIP DESSERT!

After all that exercise skating,  I felt we more than earned the right to eat dessert.  So on our way home we stopped at Yo Top It, a new frozen yogurt joint to reward ourselves for doing so well.

Hello lovely - you were delicious!!

It was the perfect end to a great night out.  Who knows, maybe I'll turn 8 again next year too!