Hoppolino Happy Birthday Party / Geburtstagsparty bei Hippolino

Today was the day of Nikolas' great Hoppolino happy birthday party with Lukas and Thomas. This is something that Nikolas has wanted to do for a long time, and he woke up early and was ready to go...at 6:00 AM. Four hours later, Hoppolino finally opened, and we were able to start the celebration. Just like other visits to Hoppolino, this one included lots of sliding, bike and scooter riding, trampolining, climbing and racing around. This time, however, Nikolas had friends and so we didn't need to be racing around with him!

What started with just an outing to Hoppolino for the three boys turned into an almost all day event, with far more fun that just Hoppolino. Because it wasn't an officially booked party, we weren't allowed to bring any cake with us (and while the snack bar has apple strudel, it's not exactly birthday cake), and so part two of the party was back at our place for cake and ice cream. Making the cake was an adventure in itself, because as you may remember, cake mixes don't really exist here and I wasn't about to bake a cake from scratch. Luckily, the same company that makes the brownie mix also makes a chocolate chip muffin mix, and so with two boxes of muffin mix and a lot of worrying about baking time, a good enough cake was created.

After cake and ice cream and present opening, it was time for more play. The sun came out and the afternoon warmed up, and when Lukas' and Thomas' parents were both there, the party moved outside to the park across the street for baseball, 'super hero' running around, swinging, and searching for ants. Peter and I had gone back and forth many times about what a birthday party for Nikolas in Austria should be, but as it turned out, two guests for a day of play was a perfectly great celebration for a four year old.