Happy 30th Birthday!

This past weekend was Marcus's 30th birthday. Birthdays have always been a bigger deal in Marc's family than in mine, and Marcus particularly enjoys milking his "birthday boy" priviliges for all they are worth. He decided to be "birthday boy" (meaning he calls all the shots throughout the day) on Saturday instead of his actual birthday, which was Sunday. We had a low key day on Saturday...Marcus slept in late, then we took the kids Christmas shopping and went out to lunch. Then we came home, put the kids to sleep, and Marcus watched the Florida game while I made homemade lasagna for dinner (birthday boy's request). After dinner, Marcus went out to get a movie and play video games while I bathed the kids and put them to bed. He got home around 8:00 and we watched the movie he had picked out (it was G.I. Joe, and it was better than we expected it to be).

So when Sunday rolled around, Marcus thought his 30th birthday had already been celebrated. Little did he know that I had been planning a surprise party for him for over a month :) Marcus thought he was going to spend the afternoon helping our friend, Al Pollard, pick up a bunk bed for his 3-year-old boys from a house down in Pelham. Al picked up Marcus around 2:45 and they headed south of town. Al asked Marcus if he wanted to stop and play some video games, since it was his birthday and all. Marcus agreed, still not suspecting anything. They pulled up in front of the laser tag place where I and the other guys were waiting. Unfortunately, he spotted my just-washed-and-waxed car in the parking lot, so the surprise was busted a minute or so before he walked in, but at that point I didn't really care.

The six of us sang Happy Birthday and ate Dairy Queen Reese's Blizzard ice cream cake, and then played laser tag for two hours (five games). I'd never played before, and it was a TON of fun. I was very grateful to Aunt Wendi (who is in town job-hunting for a couple of weeks) for watching my boys so I could participate in the party. All-in-all, it was a big success, and definitely my favorite of the three surprise parties I've done for Marcus's birthdays. My only regret is that I forgot to take pictures!

On a final note, here are some words from the birthday boy, in the form of an email he sent to me and the guys who came:

Hey everyone,
Thanks for the great birthday surprise yesterday. I had a blast! Highlights of the afternoon/evening...

• being surprised by you guys at the Game Zone in Pelham (though next time Rachel will have to park her car somewhere other than right in front of the store :)
• ice cream cake (love it!)
• 2 hours of laser tag
• feeling like a kid again while racing around a fluorescent maze shooting people (Brad had my number though with 16 hits in just one game).
• John Mark fake writhing on the floor for ~1 min while Rachel and I continued to shoot him
• getting a group of 10-year-old girls (on my team) to chase down Al (on the other team)

Thanks guys for really making my birthday.

Marcus