| The wrap up |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|01:15 pm]
Zoethe
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Ferrett has now written about his birthday party, leaving me to write the run-up and the after-show.
The idea was indeed launched at book group when one member mentioned a kids' party at a bouncy castle place and the ever-awesome  butterandjelly turned to me and gasped, "That would be perfect for Ferrett's birthday!"
And indeed, it was a terrific idea. It was something that he'd never done before - an absolute requirement - plus it was in town, which meant available to more of our friends.
Then it was a matter of finding a place. With the help of the mothers in book group, I located about 4 party places with inflatables. I looked at each of their websites. Apparently there is a requirement for these places to have dreadful websites, because for two of them I could never locate a telephone number and had to use their "contact us" forms in order to try and get ahold of them.
One of the places never got back to me at all. One actually answered the phone, but when I asked about adult parties gave me a flat "no," and hung up. One thought they might be able to accommodate us, but their bounce house had a weight limit of about 150 pounds per person, so really not adult friendly. One was quite receptive, had done a couple adult parties, and thought they could accommodate us, but was all the way down in Canton, about an hour drive south of here.
That left the place that never got back to me. What they did have was open bounce time on Fridays, so bec76 and I ventured out there on a Friday morning.
Yes,this was Zero Gravity. Yes, it was completely awesome. Yes, something had glitched in their "contact us" page and they hadn't gotten my email. Yes, they have added their phone number to the web page since then.
Bec and I fell in love with the place as soon as they took us into the space portal and switched on the flux capacitors. They had us at hello. And, as soon as we convinced them that we really were perfectly fine with the no alcohol rule, we had them with the notion of a 40th birthday party. It was just a matter of sending out invites and waiting for the day to arrive, no worries.
Okay, there were a few speedbumps along the way - major abdominal surgery for the birthday boy and a dear friend, for example - but the party itself was great fun. As as hanging out at our house afterward, playing Rock Band and visiting until 2:30 in the morning.
The July 4 barbecue got scaled down considerably. Late in the evening of the party I had told Bec and Jer (zodarzone) that I would call them to come on over when we got up. But my exhaustion- (and rum-)addled brain forgot that. So I was sitting here in something of a fog, wondering why they didn't show up, and missed their phone call from being in the shower.
Wonderful people that they are, they came over about 3, built my barbecue for me, and then left in time to get Bec to work.
My bad, sweeties. I'm sorry for being a dolt.
Our friend Jim (jumpinfool, but he doesn't actually post) then stumbled into the scene just in time to be put in charge of making fire and cooking meats. Thank you to him.
I was, to be honest, sort of a mess by that time. So much stress finally getting to me and leaving me pretty braindead. But thanks to kisekinotenshi, the condiments and cutlery and stuff got arranged on the table and there was food. And people came and went and ate and visited. Then kisekinotenshi discovered that she had an early shift on Sunday and had to leave to drive back to Cincinnati. That left Ferrett, me, Jim, aiela, and Eric and Kat's 5-year-old daughter for fireworks, Erin feeling too worn out to go. We went, the crowd was huge, we finally found parking, and we watched the awesome fireworks show.
And then there was hang-out time with my daughter before she left for Massachusetts, going to bed way too late again, and being braindead all yesterday.
The synapses, they begin to snap again. A little at a time. Many other people were at the party who aren't mentioned here. I will eventually put up a post identifying you all for each other. For now? Time for another nap. |
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