*pumps fist into the air*
Well, Dad's 60th birthday was a home run, IMHO.
Things were a little touch and go at first: we had lots of party goers, friends and family members from all areas showing up. The food arrived early, we had plenty of booze and drinks, people brought balloons and flowers, and I brought the collage I did up.
One problem? We were missing Dad!
Dad's best friend Mike schemed to get him out of the house so we could prepare: kept him busy putting in new windows at his house for a few hours. But by the time he was done, Dad decided to take a nap. Then, after Mike and Di (his wife) had showered and gotten into nice clothes, Dad was ushered on his way home by both Mike and a phonecall from Linda. But then he stopped make a bank deposit. And then he realized he left his cellphone at Mike's house, and turned around to go all the way back!
Such a comedy of errors. But it was all worth it as Dad arrived to find the party in full swing, and he was completely surprised! Which is good because while Jim and I were trying to be stealthy, we're not characters in a Tom Clancy novel.
The catered food was wonderful, and I got up first to speak, with a speech lauding my dad that I'd been thinking about for the last two weeks. This enouraged more speaking from my brother Jim, from his ex-work partner Jim Eberle, from his best friend Mike.
Dad was given, amusedly, mostly fine wines for his brithday (6 bottles in total!) but some of the gifts were given at the 'red herring' birthday party on the 19th, his actual calendar birthday, including a device that gets weather updates from a sattelite, the first season of 'Commander in Chief' (my gift), a boxed set of Planet Earth, and a nifty book that I sadly cannot remember the name of or author of (just kow it has something to do with graphs).
Afterwards, I went by myself to a local Karaoke place, as I hadn't had a Saturday off in a long while, and hadn't done karaoke in even longer. Sadly, it was crowded, and I only got in one song, but I did well with that one song, so, no worries. But getting home finding sleep was hard, and I ended up drinking water and Vitamin Water to replenish myself from all the vodka I had. :}
Today, of course, is Mom's birthday, so now I get to go celebrate that. Fortunately? No drinking today. :)
Things were a little touch and go at first: we had lots of party goers, friends and family members from all areas showing up. The food arrived early, we had plenty of booze and drinks, people brought balloons and flowers, and I brought the collage I did up.
One problem? We were missing Dad!
Dad's best friend Mike schemed to get him out of the house so we could prepare: kept him busy putting in new windows at his house for a few hours. But by the time he was done, Dad decided to take a nap. Then, after Mike and Di (his wife) had showered and gotten into nice clothes, Dad was ushered on his way home by both Mike and a phonecall from Linda. But then he stopped make a bank deposit. And then he realized he left his cellphone at Mike's house, and turned around to go all the way back!
Such a comedy of errors. But it was all worth it as Dad arrived to find the party in full swing, and he was completely surprised! Which is good because while Jim and I were trying to be stealthy, we're not characters in a Tom Clancy novel.
The catered food was wonderful, and I got up first to speak, with a speech lauding my dad that I'd been thinking about for the last two weeks. This enouraged more speaking from my brother Jim, from his ex-work partner Jim Eberle, from his best friend Mike.
Dad was given, amusedly, mostly fine wines for his brithday (6 bottles in total!) but some of the gifts were given at the 'red herring' birthday party on the 19th, his actual calendar birthday, including a device that gets weather updates from a sattelite, the first season of 'Commander in Chief' (my gift), a boxed set of Planet Earth, and a nifty book that I sadly cannot remember the name of or author of (just kow it has something to do with graphs).
Afterwards, I went by myself to a local Karaoke place, as I hadn't had a Saturday off in a long while, and hadn't done karaoke in even longer. Sadly, it was crowded, and I only got in one song, but I did well with that one song, so, no worries. But getting home finding sleep was hard, and I ended up drinking water and Vitamin Water to replenish myself from all the vodka I had. :}
Today, of course, is Mom's birthday, so now I get to go celebrate that. Fortunately? No drinking today. :)