Grant's 5th Birthday - BATMAN!

Grant is our super hero kid. He is in his element, when in costume, or playing with his super hero action figures, reading about them, or watching them on T.V. This year, he chose Batman (although he secretly loves Robin more) as his birthday party theme.
Five years old. I am always a bit shocked by every birthday milestone for each of our children. Has it really been five years? That seems so old!

We had the awesome pleasure of having our entire family - both sides - in town for Grant's party. He also invited his favorite buddy, Grayson Hayek. They met each other in preschool last year and still can't get enough of each other!

Clockwise, starting from front left: Kaylen, Mary, Elaina, Grayson, Thomas, Grant, Ivan and Glynn
We had a couple of activities: The first one was a scavenger hunt through the house, to find a prize hidden by The Riddler, one of Batman's evil enemies! I introduced the game and had Kaylen, my 10 year old neice, read each riddle. Look at lil' Batman (a.k.a. Grant) ready for action! Mid-party, he privately asked me if he could put on his batman costume. How could I say "no?!" Grant IS batman. :)
Riddle #1: "Riddle me this, riddle me that. Who's afraid of the big, black BAT?" And, of course... riddle #2 was awaiting them, behind the bat! They had FIVE riddles to solve (since the birthday boy is 5) that would bring them to each clue... the final one leading them to a picture of The Riddler himself and a stack of Batman coloring books and crayons.

When the scavenger hunt was complete, we had some down time in the playroom. At the appropriate "cued" time, I hit PLAY on the DVD player. The Batman theme song came on as The Caped Crusader himself (my brother, David!) swooped down from the staircase. The kids were so surprised! Batman rounded up the kids, telling them that they had been chosen for the Bat Academy but had to prove themselves worthy of wearing the mask. He handed them each a secret weapon (a roll of T.P.) and on the count of three, they took off to "tie up" the bad guys (both grandfathers!).
Get those bad guys!
A successful mission! Bad guys captured! Each of them had earned his bat-mask.
Grant and his Uncle David
Before long, Batman was on his way back to Gotham City.
He bid "farewell" and was off, with the swoosh of his cape!
Next, it was time for cake!
Hey!!! It's Uncle David!!! Weren't you Batman?!?!
And, of course... presents! Here's Grant with his new handmade Batman pillowcase from Nana Carole. The big thing he asked for this year was his own Razor Scooter (just like Ivan's, but blue!).Here's our entire Anderson/Fields family clan - all in one place for the first time since our wedding day. Pretty cool. Thanks for coming, everybody!
The rest of the day was just spent enjoying family time together...
I love how happy Elaina looks here, even though Grant and Thomas are "Hulk smashing" each other right beside her!
The guys, playing Batman Lego on the computer - notice the women are not anywhere nearby!
It was a beautiful day... the boys are awaiting Uncle David's (the swamp monster!) approach!
Cousin Glynn!
Mary
My cute husband, grilling the burgers!
It was a great weekend and pretty relaxed too. Just nice to have everybody together. Happy Birthday, Grant!