For his birthday party I gave Nate the option to take a few friends somewhere super fun, like Boondocks, or have a lot of friends at a party at home. Being the social butterfly that he is, of course he chose lots of friends at home. I had no idea what I was going to do to entertain all those kids (about 15). One night I was leisurely flipping through one of those ad books that comes in the mail and BINGO!

BYU’s Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum is closed for renovation for the next year so to supplement their income they are doing birthday parties for $35 in Utah County (a little more outside the county)! They will come to your house, bring all the animals, and do a presentation. Their options are reptiles, animal babies, invertebrates, and others. Nate is extremely into science and animals these days so we were done deal-io!

Nate invited 20 of his closest friends and cousins and we had a great time. Each of the kids were given some snake worksheets to keep them busy while all the guests arrived. Worked like a charm (snake charm?).

Then the presentation began. The young handler was very knowledgeable about his reptiles and was really good interacting with the kids. He brought a croc skull, tortoise shell, box turtle, huge iguana, and a ball python. The kids were thrilled and mesmerized and had many questions.

Video links and more pictures are here.

After the presentation they watched bits of VERY loud Star Wars, opened presents, and played.

The menu was: shed snake skin (popcorn), baby snakes (sour gummy worms), adult snakes (gummy worms), snake eggs (jelly beans), and snake venom (yellow gatorade with pop rocks for hissing and steam). The kids thought it was SO great!

After all the kids left, Rob took Nate to Boondocks Fun Center where they played everything from laser tag (Nate’s first time=awesome) to roller coaster simulations (Rob felt sick the rest of the night) to arcade games. Did you know that if you sign up on their website you get an all-inclusive pass for FREE all day on your birthday?! Do I hear a new tradition? Yes, I do!

Nate got so many great gifts from all of his generous friends and family members. He was in heaven. His gifts from his family, though, were tons of Lego sets (mostly Star Wars). He had a fantastic birthday. Thanks to everyone for making it happen and making him feel special. He really is!

ps. Here is his birthday interview video.