THE BLOG OF ETERNAL STENCH: THE Party of the YEAR!

Me and the Birthday Boy!

...at least so far!

I have been a busy bee this past week, trying to shove in photo shoots so Jeff and I can pay some bills, all the while finishing last minute preparations for Dad's Surprise 60th Birthday Bash!

A little bit of a background for those who weren't privy to my stress or that of my mother's stress as well. The idea to host this party formulated well over a year ago when it dawned on us that indeed, Dad was approaching the big 6-0! *gasp* Though, in honesty, things really didn't start rolling until he had his quintuple bypass surgery back in November. Do we remember that?! Ha! I'm still trying to forget it... Though, that's when we realized we needed to HOST the Granddaddy of all events (no pun intended towards Dad's advanced age).

And, looky, looky, looky, how convenient it was that Mom and Dad had started on the pavilion project. Now, let's see if they can have this bad boy finished by end of March. Knowing Dad, that wouldn't be hard. Well, boy did we have things wrong. He had a good pace going after he recouped from his surgery, but he started slowing down at the end of February, much to our dismay. That's when the surprise element of this birthday bash started losing it's luster. More hints from various family members started rolling in about "Say, John, when are you going to have that finished?", "Sure would be nice to get that thing through", etc, etc. So, needless to say, he became suspicious. I end this background info summary with the statement that my Mom is also a Schwencke. If you know of a Schwencke. You'll know one thing. They stink at secrets. Enough said.

So Saturday, the big day, rolled around (though Dad's bday wasn't technically until Sunday, 3.29). Guests started showing up around 5pm and Jeff, under the ruse of playing golf, was keeping Dad away until 5:30, though it ended up being more like 5:45pm - we were all subject to Dad's lottery stop whim.

We all donned our fake mustaches, me with my what could be described no less as a 'porn stache', headed to the gate to greet the birthday boy. So we waited, and waited and waited some more. In actuality, it was only about 10 minutes. But 50 people standing at a gate with fake mustaches on for 10 minutes seems like an eternity. Anyway, finally a rumbling from the road. "Is that him?" some of the kids started saying. "yes! I see his truck, everybody get ready!" In they rolled, "SURPRISE!!!!!" - I think we got him. Regardless that he knew something was up, I don't think he had a clue of the magnitude. It was awesome! And I truly don't think he knew that Ashley and JR would be in town, as they were in town only two weeks prior.

After herding the group back to the pavilion it was time to PARTY!!! BBQ, a fantastic speech by John Hoyt (one of my Dad's best friends and my godfather <--said in a raspy Italian voice), PRESENTS, cupcakes (yum), BEER, MARGARITAS and last but not least, the best part, karaoke!!!!!! Who knew it could be so much fun!

I broke the ice with the karaoke machine (because in my defense, NO ONE was going to go if someone didn't make an ass out of themselves first) and gave a sad, squeaky, pitchy version of Rod Stewarts "Maggie Mae". But it did it, and the crowd started coming in! Michael Wren, Angie's boyfriend, blew us away with "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon - fantastic! Though, he had some practice since he does play guitar and sing in a band, I believe! No fair!

The Schwencke ladies made an appeareance, featuring Morris, various cousin groups, Calli & Colleen with the 4 Non Blondes and the Mighty Veselkas performed, it was all fabulous. I was bummed to see it end! But, as they say, all good things must. End that is. *sigh*

Dad loved it. Which was all that mattered. And the best is still to come. In May he's cashing in on his present. A 12-day Alaskan land/cruise package that him and my Mom are going on. Not to mention the fabulous camera that his company bought him that he'll be able to take some fantastic photos with.

Can you believe I didn't take one photo?! I know! I relied on others around me. So here are some pics from my Mom's cam.