The Surprise!

This past weekend was the ever-anticipated SURPRISE 35th BDAY for J De Los Santos! His wife, my dear friend, Nikki, had been planning this event for the past few months. She got Tom in on being a con for the whole surprise leading J right to the event! Tom had so much fun feeding J lines on the phone setting him up for the weekend, for which he had NO CLUE anything was up!

Surprise #1 was the arrival J's "present" which had been on backorder (this is the 'story') and the tracking that Nikki got didn't have a valid link in the email to know when it would arrive. We were expecting a phone call about 10am Saturday from Nikki's mom at the bar saying the "present" had arrived. When the phone rang at 9:15am, we looked at eachother with eyes the size of pizza's! They were here - uh-hum, I mean "it" was here!

We (me, Tom, J and Nikki) walked down to the bar to get the present, but J had to be blind folded walking up the driveway and into the bar. Nikki got into her position behind the bar with her camera and Tom stood next to her with the DVD video camera, while Diana (Nikki's mom) and I walked J into the bar. He was sat on a seat right next to and facing "the present." When the blindfold came off, and a familiar voice charmed, J's face lit up like a the NY Times Square Christmas tree! It wasn't just ANY present, it was his best friend Jason! (or 'breast friend' as it was later pronounced throughout the night). Jason made the journey up from Atlanta, GA to surprise J for his birthday. What a great present!! After breakfast, the guys (J, Tom, Jason and Ryan) went disc-golfing to a new course about an hour away. Tom knew he had to get J back to the bar by about 4pm for the second surprise... a party! Tom had faked phone calls with me, took their time golfing, drove the speed limit, and even stopped to buy fireworks on the way back to the bar.

In the meantime, Nikki and I prepared a spread of food, including a birthday cake complete with a set of 3D boobs!! hahaa...Too funny! We got showered and decorated a little just in time to sit for a minute with guests when the boys drove up....

Surprise #2 was The Party!! We had balloons blown up in two big garbage bags, which were thrown in the air on top of J as he walked into the bar and we all screamed HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Again, he had the grandest smile on his face and I think he was floored by his wonderful wife's preparation to give him a wonderful birthday!! Lots of food was consumed, the pickles were especially juicy, and I enjoyed talking with J's step-mom about babies, cookies and my crab dip that she loved.

As you can imagine, the party started early, with surprise #2 around 4pm.... beer already consumed on the disc-gold course, and even more beer to be consumed throughout the night... I got quite the kick out of watching my friends get more and more drunk, slurring words, attempting to make sense, and showing off their skills to the video camera as I chuckle with a smile and agree with whatever they say. no point to really 'discuss' anything at this point for fear of a debate... haha! Around 11pm everyone decided it was time to light off the fireworks. They were really pretty, loud, and a ton of fun. I got video of some of them, with shots of the guys across the parking lot deciding which to light off, or lighting 3 at a time. Some people got really cool snap-shots of the fireworks. I have a couple here, and also some other fun, random shots I caught!!

J putting on his light-up glasses

The wife who planned, organized, and pulled off a Surprise Party for her hunny!

The Three Amigos... J, Tom, and Jason... taking shots (and not the only one of the night...)

Kristen (taking a "break" from the beer) and myself (the ONLY sober one)

Cool fireworks! (and loud, too)

This is just funny! J was eating one of his "boobs" from his cake, Tom is video taping him, and Jason is in the background with TWO beers in ONE hand! Talk about some talented men! :)

The party eventually made it's way back down J & Nikki's backyard for a bon-fire. I was ready to crash (like 5 hrs ago), but I managed to keep my eyes open and my head up. After catching some random babble at the bon-fire on the video camera, I called it a night. I think it was around 1am when I went to bed. Tom said he crashed in bed about 3am, and the birthday boy, wifey and Dave were up until 5am! I woke up at 9am ready to pack up and get to McDonald's in Crivitz (an hour away) for a breakfast sandwich before they start serving lunch. Soon after I was up, everyone started moving around the house....slowly. hehe :) As the morning went on, breakfast plans changed so we could spend the last few minutes with Jason and Ryan before they had to head back to Neenah, and onto Milwaukee to catch Jason's flight home.

Once Tom and I got home, I was pretty tired, so after getting laundry and the dishwasher started, I took a 2-hr nap and it felt great! We both would love to have at least one more day for the weekend, as I am sure the rest of the party would as well! :) All in all, it was a fun weekend full of surprise and enjoyment!