Party for 52

I didn’t sleep as soundly as I might have, but still woke around 715am feeling rested and ready to go just the same. Mindy asked that I wake her by 8am if she wasn’t up already. I headed downstairs, started a pot of coffee, and began my exercise regiment. Once again, the sky was crystal clear and sun shining brightly. I leashed up Ykraps for our morning walk and hit the streets by 730am. It was noticeably warmer than the past two mornings. In fact, each has been about five degrees warmer than the prior. It was warm enough this morning to be without a jacket, although I did wear one.

While sipping my first cup of coffee I checked the headlines and the forecast. Today’s expected high was 78 degrees. It was just after 8am. I took Mindy her coffee and let her know that it was time to rise and shine. She joined me downstairs minutes later. But before coming down she put a few loads of clean laundry away. We spent about half an hour sitting on the deck. Once again, it warmed up nicely. The sunshine felt terrific.

We reviewed everything we had to get done in preparation for the party. I left for my run around 9:30am. I stayed inside the subdivision not feeling much like dodging cars. I returned from my run by 10:05am. Mindy had me blowing up balloons as soon as I walked in the door. I immediately got started on my to-do list afterwards. I hung the piñata, carried up the coolers and the folding table from the basement, and then set-up the cornhole game. I had to glue one of the corn bags since it had a tear in the corner. Mindy ran to get ice and a few other miscellaneous items while I hit golf balls out back. When she returned I stocked the coolers full of drinks (soda, water, and drink boxes). Mindy went to fetch her mother while I showered.

They returned around 12:30pm and began readying the food for serving. Mindy made it easy by having the empty dishes labeled with their ultimate contents. We had loads of goodies. We made baked beans, buffalo chicken dip, potato salad, and we were planning to grill burgers and dogs. Mindy had the usual party foods, too, like a fruit, veggie, & cheese tray, as well as chips & dip, and an array of sweets. All the bases were covered.

Ashley, Lindsey, and children showed up around 1pm. Lindsey didn’t stay. Instead she headed back to her mother’s to finish her laundry. Ash, Olivia and Lil’ Rocky stayed behind. Mindy had me doing a number of things in final preparation for the party. Soon guest began arriving one after another. Before I knew it we had a house full. Mindy entertained the children with organized party games and then did gifts. That was my queue to fire up the grill.

Before long, I was grilling 32 burgers and 24 hot dogs. It was a bit of challenge keeping all the burgers shuffled about the grill without burning a one. Although, Gloria asked that I burn her hot dogs on purpose.

Everyone ate who wanted to, and then Mindy did the birthday cake thing. After some playing outback the crowd slowly began to thin, and by 7pm most of our guests had departed. Renee stayed behind and helped Mindy & I get the house back in order. Renee is a real sweetie, and also available for dating. Contact me if you’re interested. I might be able to broker some sort of deal. J Renee must have left around 8:30pm.

After Renee left, Mindy put the kids in bed. Mindy and I stayed up until 9:30pm sitting out on the deck. We went to bed and watched Family Guy until 10pm.