Moving to Seattle: Birthday party

Birthday parties for four and five year-olds always make for an interesting day. Cake, ice cream, juice boxes, presents and parties magically turn relatively well behaved children turn into a wild coyote pack. Today was no exception for Pauline's fifth birthday party at the Seattle Zoo Carousel Room 1. At some level, I can't stand this type of event because the kids get wild and uncontrollable on their sugar highs and all the excitement. At some point 3/4ths of all the children spend a few minutes crying (Genna cried when she thought I left her in the party room; Jonah cried when he got on the carousel - thank goodness he was able to get off the carousel before it started). The parents stand around attempting to make small talk, at best, short conversations, while watching their children become overly excited and hoping they don't get seriously injured (or run away and get lost, as in Jonah's case). At the end of the event, if kids are exhausted and there were no injured children or total meltdowns, it's usually considered a success. I have to say that Pauline's party was above average. Although the timing was difficult - during the middle of Jonah's nap - the party was short and full of organized activity: juice boxes, carousel ride, cake, gift exchange/game, carousel ride, red light/green light game, go home. It was actually perfectly timed commensurate with a five-year-old's attention span.