A Mammoth of a Party

Every year about this time I think...do I really want to do another theme party? And yet, every year I send out the invitations, plan and prepare and swear this will be the last year. But here we are again, almost a decade of theme parties to our name with a giant Mammoth ready to be killed in our back yard.Andy and I set up most of the games and the backyard and it seemed like it was going so well. I sent Andy off to play Volleyball and I went to the store for last minute items for the games and then spent some time praying for the rain from Gustav to hold off long enough for us to have the party. And my prayers were heard.
The cave men and woman arrived in true Caveman Spirit. We had everything from archaeologists, to silky leopard jammies, to the couple dressed as Geico business cards. From the geico caveman himself, to the Flintstones and the Rubbles. And as always, I'm reminded of how much fun adults can have when they let down their hair and let loose for a few hours. The teams were made, the laughter commenced and the memories began...And another year is done...and who knows, perhaps next year we'll do it again.

I apologize that from here on out the pictures will get darker, but I didn't account for it getting so dark, so soon. Here the contestants had to eat a chicken drumstick down to the bone and then try to chuck it into a red ladybug sandbox. You might think this sounds easy...but the bones were slippery and bounced quickly out...some never even came close to going in. I always tell Andy that we never get pictures of me since I am always running the show and then taking the pictures. So this year Andy took them and while he got some of me, we didn't get any of him. When will we learn?
Passing the Neanderthal skull around in our version of Hot Potato was a hit. I never saw those heads go flying more than when these adults thought they might end up with them and get out. It was fierce (perhaps only to be rivaled by our Musical Flower game at The Ugly Bug Ball when Andy's sister tackled a pregnant lady to get one of the last remaining spots).
Here is our hairiest chestiest Caveman throwing his spear through the Mammoth's Belly.
And here is our littlest caveman who decided that he didn't want to be with the babysitter watching Ariel's Mermaid New Beginning and so crashed the party repeatedly.

Fred stood out as one of our most cartoonish caveman. Along with his wife, Wilma (Amy), they reminded us why we loved being kids. The Parks have decided to move to Oregon. They will be missed for more than their ham :) ! We have enjoyed being around this zany duo who love to do just about anything we can dream up and never complain. We wish you the best of luck
Here is our archaeologist taking her turn at spearing the mammoth. Go Cathy. The celebration dances commenced with every style and action known to man. Who was I to judge what was the best. They were all unique and fun.
I wondered though with this team as they dragged their woman off the stage...

And as all cavemen will be cavemen, one team tackled and dragged out Trent Sigler and then did their hunting celebration dance with him being the catch.
In the darkness, the team members competed to draw the most items from the primitive caveman pictograph that was drawn on the cave wall overlooking the food. The we had what I considered to be the hardest game. The teams raced to put together a puzzle which told them to go to the dinosaur sandbox to uncover eggs. Once the eggs were open they struggled to put together a dinosaur without speaking...well, they were allowed to grunt. And as LeAnn, Brianna and Amy showed us, their grunts could be quite loud, quite primitive and definitely got the point across that someone was standing in their light. Definitely not an average submissive cave woman!
Here our resident daddy Caveman looks on while debating if he should grunt his wisdom to help this team along. After all, the Elder's Quorum leader stole the other eggs, lied about it and gave them a slow start :)
And when all was said and done, only one caveman was left. Our tribute to the modern age. One caveman who just couldn't understand why his cave woman was grunting so much about this task...until he tried to do it himself. What a fun night!
then the party ended and the backyard became just a backyard once again.