Surprise Party Weekend

This was a weekend for a couple of (so-called) surprise parties, as two people both Vivian and I know celebrated some landmark, decade-turning style birthday parties this weekend.

The first surprise party was held for Chad, the unofficial leader of the Christian singles group Great Adventures. It couldn't have been much of a surprise, as Angie led him up to the garage where we were all hiding wearing a blindfold. For the clueless among us: blindfold = surprise party. We had a flaming grill with hamburgers and hot dogs and a volleyball court cake made with coconut and red licorice.

Vivian and I spent the weekend in Cedar Rapids visiting with my Uncle Ben there. We came at first to talk about our wedding: my Uncle Ben will be performing the ceremony, and he's been through this routine enough times that he gave me and Vivian a list of things to figure out ahead of time.

What we didn't know when we arrived was that last Thursday my Uncle Ben turned seventy, so after we attended a church service on Saturday night, a bunch of our family from town came by to throw a "not so surprised party." We had a good time, and my Uncle Ben got ribbed quite a bit over turning over another decade.

On Sunday, Vivian and I got to visit my Grandma Gibbs. Aunt Carol said that she seemed to be much better today than she had been in a while. Vivian and I visited Arlan and his family a bit before heading on back for home. We drove along part of the Lincoln Highway, having an adventure traveling a few of the less traveled roads along the way home. We also stopped to have a picnic at a park in the tiny Iowa town of Elderon before the final stretch home.

Video from Chad's Party