Pool & Piñata

Yesterday, my friend, Gina, threw a pool party for her daughter's 3rd birthday. She did a fun snow/pool contrast theme and even made her own snowman piñata! What kid wouldn't have a fun time at a pool party with a piñata filled with delicious treats? We had a blast! 

Here's the piñata Gina made: 

The birthday girl!

Piñata time! Here's the birthday girl taking a swing:

Oliver waited patiently in line.

When it was Oliver's turn to hit the piñata, he freaked out. He went back a few minutes later and kind of gave it a whack.

Here he is in his big moment!
                    

You'd think he would have been more successful since he'd had practice. Haha. One of the big kids finally busted the piñata open. Success!

Oliver was so cute. He grabbed a single Twix from the pile. I told him he could have more, so he picked one more Twix.

RIP, snowman piñata.

Then came time for fun in the pool. I'd never been to the Foothills pool before. It's fantastic! A large portion of the pool is a foot deep or less. The water's warm, and you walk right into the pool (there's no drop, just a gradual deepening).

It was like a splash park in the shallow part of the pool. All of the kids had a blast.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 81: Water Piñata

Yes, I'm addicted to Pinterest. When the kids are asleep, I find myself sitting at the computer, flipping through crafts and children's projects.  Months ago, I found this pin for a water balloon piñata:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957066018804/

All you need to do is fill up some water balloons, tie them to a string (I used yarn), and hang it up outside. Hand your child a bat or cardboard tube, and stand back!

Tip: I found a large package of water balloons in the toy aisle at Walgreen's this week that were on clearance for under a dollar.

It was OK.  Oliver couldn't bust the balloons on his own. He swung at them as hard as he could over and over. He was having fun, but I could also tell he was frustrated. I hit one for him and let him try for a while again. 

Here he is, swinging the broom handle like crazy. Doesn't he look adorable in his new monster jammies from Costco?

After breaking two balloons for him, I decided to shoot a video of the activity. You can tell it just wasn't working out as I'd envisioned. I felt really bad for Oliver because he was so excited to test out the water balloons I'd made.
                                                          

It was a pain getting the balloons filled and tied up. Oliver was practically jumping out of his skin to get at the balloons. I felt excited for him, but the activity didn't live up to our expectations. It gets a D grade.

Don't feel too bad for the little guy. We went in, made more water balloons, and I created another activity for him (to be debuted soon!).