May the Fifth be with you

At the request of the small child celebrated here, would you please press play before continuing on? If you saw the look in his eyes as he tried to figure out each and every scene during this soundtrack, you would already way past the "bummm bum bummm bum bum bum bummmmmm bum" part already.

Click here.

There was really no discussion about what the theme of Lil E's 5th birthday would be. It was assumed -- correctly -- that it would be Star Wars. And when I asked if he'd like to make it a costume party, I don't think he could get a word out. His eyebrows shot up, his eyes went all saucer-y, his mouth dropped, and he capped it all off with a slight nod.

And so it was decided that we would host a Jedi Training Academy at the temple otherwise known as my parents' backyard. Since it has already been a firefighter training academy (shhh, we've got a thing going here), construction site, a bouncy ball dance hall, and unintentional swamp (which made for one soaking we, frostinged first birthday party), we knew that it would take little more than a raise of the hand and stare indicative of real Force concentration by a mommy and grandparents to make the transformation.

[Many soul-stirring geeked out, funny photos to follow after the jump.]

The first step was deciding which of the wee ones were primed for Master training.

The second step was to watch our family and friends take daring steps with the Rebel Alliance or turn startlingly toward the Dark Side.

These are my parents, friends. Retired people who go to Home Depot after they get ham-and-cheese omelettes at the Greek diner. 

The third step was to take 7,000 of Lil E's ideas that involved importing real, live Storm Troopers, lasers,  some kind of AT-AT Walker, blown-up Death Star bits and a token Ewok in a net trap into an obstacle course that would simulate the stunts and skills every Jedi needs.

That course involved an exhibition of light saber skills, winding through a laser field, hi-yah-ing through a brick wall, rescuing a displaced Yoda from a tree, surviving a trash compacter shake-up,  and crawling through a tunnel to safely re-board the X-Wing Fighter.

The fourth step was to award each trainee their medal of mastery and the opportunity to make their own light saber.

The fifth step was to celebrate with cake and wishes for many opportunities to knock the helmets off those pesky Storm Troopers.

The sixth step was to duel, duel, duel. Take a break to buddy up. Then duel, duel, duel.

The final count was seven Lukes, four Leias, a Clone Trooper, two Vaders and an Amadala. 

But the best number was Five, smeared in icing across the face of my own Master Luke, marked up in grass stains on his knees and the half-smile of a blissful boy completely in his element. There is a lot ahead of him, I know. But piloting all that waited while we pretended to take on the universe for one fabulous day.

Even in the presence of the darkest, most obliterated worlds, Lil E will press the button on his light saber, hold it high in triumph and yell out, "GLOW IT UP!"

And that day, we all played along...and played along...and played along. Until we were happy and exhausted.

Comments

[Aisle 424]

Oh my dear lord, you are the best mom ever for hosting this kick-ass birthday party. I'm sure Lil E doesn't needed this pointed out, but it's appropriate this was his 5th birthday because Luke's X-wing call sign in his assault on the original Death Star was Red Five, and the best movie of the series was Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back.

[Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass)]

Thank you so much, Aisle 424. I take this very seriously from you.

Lil E will LOVE that you pointed out even more ways FIVE is significant.

[Mat]

Last year when my oldest turned 5 he too had a Star Wars party, shared with his 3 year old brother, and they too loved Jedi Training. However, I had much less help and it was not a costume party and thus it was not nearly this cool looking. This was a super cool party Jess.

Since you shared the music with us (and not to be out-geeked by Aisle 424, though kudos for pointing this out!) here is Luke checking in from his X-Wing right before the assault on the Death Star:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/6163/redfive.wav

And one of my favorite parts of the first movie (and by first I mean Episode 4)... Han's heart growing three sizes that day (though he was certainly never as heart-shrunken as the Grinch) when he comes back and gets Vader off of Luke's tail...
http://www.members.tripod.com/SoundBytes1/star_wars/swclear.wav

[Amy Sue Nathan]

I hope Lil E's life always has such a snazzy soundtrack.

Oh, how I sometimes miss having little kids!