Birthday Party Drama

Okay...so you know we don't do anything 1/2 way, right? We had this great pirate party planned for the kids and their friends. We had rootbear bottles labeled Pirate Ale, sweedish fish for bait, treasure chest pinata, treasure hunt planned, and other pirate related activities. We arrived at party location, a lodge with playground in the rain at 11am (2 hours prior to party), to decorate. There was no electricity. By 12:30, we finally had electricity. With the electricity, came the fire alarm going off. We had to get the fire department out with the firetruck (kids thought this was very cool!) to turn off the alarm. They brought the wrong key so they manually cut power to alarm and allowed us to go in to start decorate while they went back to get the correct key. While decorating, a horrid gas smell and smoke started to fill the room. When the firemen returned, they deemed the place off limits. The kids are trying to tear up. It is now 1 pm, party time, and people are arriving! All worked out, though. One party goer's father worked at bowling alley, and they squeezed us in between multiple parties! So, we still have some pirate ale and pirate related snacks. We ate 2 vegie trays, still have hotdogs in freezer, and our pockets are an addtional $150 lighter......but our kids got to see us handle things gracefully. AND, they had the BEST party ever according to their friends. The boys exclaimed that bowling with pirate swords was awesome!