The Lee Family: Sofia's Birthday Celebration at Medieval Times!

A few weeks ago, I asked Sofia what she wanted to do to celebrate her birthday with friends and she suggested going to Medieval Times. It's always been hard to get friends together for Sofia's birthday since many people are traveling or out of town at the end of July. She told me the names of 8 friends she wanted to include and I sent out an Evite to see who would be available so I could buy tickets. Sofia ended up with 5 friends able to go and it was an interesting group of kids, since they are from all areas of Sofia's life. Of course she invited her best friend, Liam and we actually asked him weeks before sending out the Evite. I told his mom he would likely be the only boy, and she said he was fine with that. Sofia really wanted to include Antonio and Natalia, the "crew" from our neighborhood, but both were out of town. She invited Emily, Chloe and Abby from soccer, but only Emily could make it. In asking them, she felt bad not including everyone from her team, but I told her she was closest to those girls and it wasn't a problem. She also included her smart, nerdy friend Liliana from school, who is really just a sweet, interesting girl who knows her 80s music! She included her CES friend Emma, who is nervous in groups she doesn't know, which made the first part of the party a little rough for Emma. I asked Sofia to be sure to include Emma the entire evening. Finally, she asked Victoria, who we don't see as much as we should but who is a super cool and fun girl. Although she is younger than Sofia, she's an only child so she acts much older and more mature. The interesting part of Sofia's group, which I didn't really realize until everyone arrived, was that no one really knew each other. Liam and Liliana are in the Academy with Sofia, but don't really know each other. The rest were just meeting for the first time before we headed to the show! It was interesting to see where Sofia pulls from for her friends and she is obviously a single friend kind of girl, rather than an entire group of girls! In fact, I think she's most happy with Liam, since they share similar interests and Liam is super outgoing and chatty, more so than any of the girls in the group.

After everyone arrived, we loaded up in CK's truck and my car and headed to Medieval Times. I bought the tickets over the phone and decided against paying an additional $18 per person for birthday cake and decided instead to do cake and ice cream back at our house after the show. Weeks ago, while we were walking through Brookshires the grocery store at the lake, Sofia found a cake decoration that she fell in love with. It was a beach scene and super cute. I took a photo of it and asked Market Street to make it. We found the beach chair, palm trees, umbrella and other beach stuff in a cake kid on Amazon (of course). While we were there, Sofia picked out her birthday cake plates and napkins and an "11" candle. So, we were all set for her big day.

We arrived at Medieval Times and got our green crowns and took the group photo, which ended up being really cute. I also got a photo of the kids clowning around by the sword, which turned out really cute too. We made our way to our seats and got ready for the show! Emma and Emily had never been to Medieval Times before and I was really excited for both of them, since I knew they would have a really great time! The show started and our food arrived and Emily leaned over to ask about the silverware! I told her she had to eat with her hands, which obviously amused her. When our chicken arrived, Olivia had a little difficulty eating. She was sitting next to me and is our girl who does not like getting her hands dirty or messy. If she does, she likes to wash them off immediately. She had a bite or two of chicken and then realized her hands were really messy and greasy and wanted me to wipe them off. I used both of the wet wipe towelettes they provide and then had to feed her myself, like a bird! Sofia was sitting at the far other end of the row and was sitting next to Liam. Every time I looked over at her, Liam was talking away, they were both smiling and laughing. She looked like she was having a great time.

The show went on for just shy of 2 hours and our knight won! About halfway through they announced the birthdays and included a wish for "young lady Sofia Lee." She was surprised and loved it. Olivia made videos of the fighting and ended up getting really into cheering for our knight. Early on, she was a little uncertain because it looked so real. Once I explained they were acting and pretending to be stabbed, she really got into it. The whole group was super excited our knight won and they all loved the show, especially Emma and Emily! We headed out and realized the 7pm show-goers were heading in just as we left through a group of doors! We loaded up in the cars and headed home.

Once home we sang Happy Birthday to Sofia, ate cake and ice cream and Sofia opened her presents from her friends. Emma got her a gift card for Barnes and Nobles, Victoria got her a Visa gift card, Liam gave her one of his favorite book series "The Chronicles of Prydain," Emily gave her "The Complete Book of Dragons" book, a really cool dragon eye locket and a "This Girl Loves Dragons" t-shirt, Liliana also gave her a Barnes and Nobles gift card, a homemade dragon book mark, homemade cotton candy and a dragon stuffed animal! She loved it all and they were all perfect gifts for Sofia! Her friends stuck around and played for a bit, but slowly started to head home as their parents came to pick them up. It was such a fun birthday with a great group of kids.

Sofia decorating her birthday cake