Last Saturday was Dane's 9th birthday. He hasn't had a party with his friends since he was 4, so we decided it was time to throw "the big one". It seems we're always on vacation or at Grandma and Grandpa's when his birthday rolls around and it just gets a minor nod from the family.
We invited, secretly, all the boys in Dane's class to a surprise party the day before. We all gathered at a warehouse that rents out inflatables and has several operating all day in their warehouse. For a flat price per child, they could jump to their heart's content for two hours, which they did. I packed along a cooler with chilled drinks for the hot and sweaty jumpers. Then I loaded them all up in a borrowed van (all 13 of them) and took them back to our yard where Don met us. We had put the awning up the previous evening and moved the deck table underneath it, finding some lame excuse for Dane, which he willingly accepted. Don had Papa John's pizza for everyone and we ate, then had cake and ice cream and opened presents.
Dane was thrilled and all the boys seemed to have fun. It's a birthday he won't soon forget.
On Saturday, his actual birthday, we went to Six Flags as a family. The children all had free tickets because of a fund-raiser in which they participated during the year, and Don and I managed to get discounted tickets. We rode rides, changed into bathing suits and played in the water park, then rode more rides until the park closed. We stopped at the nearest fast food restaurant to the Park on the way home for dinner and the children changed into pajamas and were sound asleep in minutes. We got home around 1:30 a.m., just in time to begin celebrating Father's Day.
It really was a great time. We felt so blessed. We all were in agreement about what rides we wanted to try and stayed together the whole day, moving from one fun activity to the next, satisfying everyone's sense of adventure. Daelyn got to drive his own bumper car, which made his day, and Dane and Deanna got to try out some fun roller coasters, not to mention the awesome slides at the Water Park. No one got sunburned, we were having too much fun to stop and eat, but we took the time to split a funnel cake and savor the moment (and the powdered sugar).
Traveling with Don just gets better the longer we're married. And the children really seem to want to meet each other's needs. As with the rest of our summer, it just felt magical.
On the way home, fighting the construction on the highway in Augusta, Don missed our turn-off and, in an attempt to double back, ended WAY off course. Deanna woke up and asked where we were. We tried to explain but she finally got the picture and began to laugh. I looked over at Don and, even in the darkness, I could see his eyes twinkle.
"So, honey, do you think you'll be able to find our driveway," I kidded.
"I'm not sure," he responded. "I may need to drive around the block a few times."
If I ever, momentarily, forget why I married this man, days like this bring it all back. Not only did he give me these wonderful children, whom I love to be with, but I can't imagine anyone else in the world with whom I'd rather grow old.
I'm not sure it felt much like Father's Day on Sunday, but Saturday felt a lot like Mother's Day.
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