Brian wanted a Star Wars party this year. We are not Star Wars experts, but at least Patrick has seen all of the movies. Our goal was to create different training exercises for the young jedis. As Patrick described the task he was quickly informed by one of the kids that young jedis are called Padawans. We were in over our head at that point. The Padawans successfully completed the obstacle course, which included running around chairs, crawling under a table, climbing up a ladder on a bunk bed, and then shooting a basketball. A different kid quickly pointed out that Padawan's don't play basketball--that's lesson #2 if you're counting. Next we threw water balloons to test the Padawans' strength and accuracy. Their target -- a car 5 feet away. After that we had them work on their lightsaber skills by attempting to bounce a balloon with a lightsaber without letting the balloon touch the ground. The balloons fell quickly so the lightsabers were quickly used to attack other Padawans. This activity was cut short due to the only rule of Padawan camp--No injuries. The kids pinned the computer on darth vadar, attacked a pinata (check out the melee that ensued once the candy hit the ground), and made their own pizzas. Sure the pizza thing is random, but the kids liked it. We finished our games by playing Patrick's favorite game--the possum game (see picture above). The goal is to not move or make a sound. The first one to do so is "out." Padawans need to be quiet in order to efficiently attack their enemies and parents need a break from 10 loud kids running around (lesson #3 - 10 kids are too many). Emily made a great lightsaber cake (see above) that was yummy and the boys had fun. Luckily two parents stayed to help with the party and no one experienced injuries. Even though the party left us with headaches, the boys all seemed to have a great time.
