A Fantastic Not-Such-A-Surprise Party

On Friday Trevor's mom came over to stay with the girls while he and I went to Grand Rapids for the night. It was our first time leaving Marta overnight, but we weren't perplexed by it. (Trevor is never perplexed by this. I guess I should note that I wasn't worried, and he was his usual never-worried-about-anything self.) She's 18 months old in a week-and-a-half and is fully weaned and sleeping through the night. She was fine, Berit was fine, everyone was fine.

We went downstate to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday with a surprise party at The Crush nightclub in The B.O.B. Sixty of her friends came and we had an amazing time, even though she knew about the party more than a little bit. We can never, ever surprise her. 

During the party the guests got together in groups and performed skits for her and including her, as we've all spent the past 20 year performing in skits, shows and festivals that she's hosted. Who knew that her current position at Spectrum Health would have the majority of Greenville's finest doing the can-can, dressing up as politicians or pretending to be on game shows? Well, we dished it back and she loved it. 

Afterward, most of the guests stayed on when The Crush was opened to the public, then a smaller group kept the party going upstairs on the dance floor. At the end of the night/morning, when it had been Time To Go for hours already, I looked at the remaining people and was pleased to note that it was just our family -- Mom, Den, Andrea, Nick, Trevor and me. (Dave had to leave once the bar was open to the public since he's not yet 21.) Without meaning to, we had outlasted everyone else. I thought it was appropriate.

Trev and I were staying at the J.W. Marriott and walked there afterwards with my parents, for whom we had gotten a room as part of the birthday fun (four floors away, thank you very much). But we decided we were starving (a great surprise for me, as Trevor is never hungry and I always am) and went across the street to grab a bite at a diner that was obviously closing but welcoming nonetheless. When all was said and done, we had slept in until 10:30 a.m. -- the latest I've slept in FOUR YEARS (though we still only got a handful of hours' sleep, after all the revelry of the night before) -- and walked to breakfast where we ate a cinnamon roll the size of the plate it was on (which was big) and made plans to open a bakery/brewery once the kids go to school. Why not?

It was a great overnight getaway and much-needed by both of us. Pictures of my shoes to come.

P.S.: Regarding my previous post about the drive down, Trevor again surprised me by pulling out a book of his own and wanting to read it while I drove, giving me the chance to listen to my audiobook. I know some of you told me to bond with him the whole time, but the drive was three hours long and we did end up in a gratifying discussion about some of the stuff he was reading. So it was great.