OPERATION 8TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

In honor of Landin turning 8-years old on Thursday, October 5th, the entire Idaho school system shut down for 2-days (Okay, not really in honor of Landin's birthday, but it just so happened to work out that way). So what this meant was that Landin, and his best buddy Mitchell who he shares the same birth date with, would not get to be in class with their other buddies on their birthday. In fact, it meant that ALL of Landin's friends would be home that day, bouncing off the walls, and driving their parents crazy.

Da Da Da Dah Ta Da - Melissa and Nicole to the rescue!! (Nicole is Mitchell's mom, and one of my best friends)

So with school out and the kids itching to celebrate their birthday with their buddies in a BIG way, Nicole and I commence with the planning of *OPERATION 8TH BIRTHDAY PARTY* - A complex mission to put on the greatest "special forces" themed, camouflage decked, birthday extravaganza ever seen by the state of Idaho.

Here's how it went down...

4-weeks prior to B-Day:
- Melissa ordered all the necessary materials for one special forces extravaganza
- Nicole and Melissa recruited a drill sergeant to run the boot camp (Sergeant Brice)
- A date was selected for the "birthday mission" and we were off with the planning!

3-weeks prior to B-Day:
- The materials arrived via special delivery and Nicole and Melissa spent an entire evening designing the invitations and cutting out alphabet letters from magazines to paste the invitee’s names "ransom-note style" on the invite envelopes.

2-weeks prior to B-Day:
- Invitations were distributed to the special agent cadets, and RSVPs were noted (we would have 16 seven & eight year old soldiers for the birthday mission)

The week leading up to B-Day:
- A trip to the Army Surplus store yielded camouflage clothing for the birthday boys to wear, along with tarps and camo netting for the obstacle course and mess hall.
- A visit to Home Depot yielded the remaining necessary materials for the various games and events
- Nicole assembled an elaborate scavenger hunt complete with photographic puzzles and secret codes

The night before B-Day:
- Landin and Mitchell celebrated their "real birthdays" at their respective homes, and headed off to bed early in preparation for what was sure to be a birthday party that would go down in history.
- Melissa put the kids to bed and proceeded to stay up until the customary wee-morning hours baking, designing, and decorating the birthday cake.
- The piñata was stuffed and the treat bags were assembled, and Melissa headed off to bed.

B-Day:
- In the cool mist of the morning, the obstacle course was assembled, and the Mess Hall was set-up in the woods (Nicole actually climbed high up into a tree to hang the ropes that would hold the mess hall together).
- The Camo-station was set-up in front of the house
- A Bike parking area was set-up
- The cake table was decorated with camo and patriotic paraphernalia and the cake was set out - Melissa and Nicole dressed their kids for the mission, donned their own camo, and sat down at the soldier registration table to greet the guests.

One-by-one the soldiers arrived, parked their bikes, and came to the camo table to pick up their dog tags, receive their face paint and camo bandana, and join the elite core that would make up the Landin & Mitchell birthday platoon.

What followed was hands-down the best birthday party either of these boys had ever experienced!