The rain. Part two. Joel turns 40!

The Beam's celebrated Joel's birthday with us. We were planning on going out to dinner but the clouds came in so we enjoyed dinner at home. Followed by cake and presents. The kids blew out the candles. Neil and Rebekah were called as Joel opened their gag gift. Denture cream, reading glasses and large print crossword puzzles to name a few items! We hung out and went to bed early. The weather report was finally in our favor. But we still had to get through the weekend. More rain in the forecast. 

On Saturday, Gavin and I got up and made breakfast. I think Joel and I slept through the entire night. If it had rained at all, we didn't know it! I had a surprise party planned. As far as I knew, it was still a surprise and we were still on! 

The Beams were off to the grocery followed by a secret trip to moms condo to drop off party stuff. We went to Costco the day before and already had other stuff hiding at moms! Her job was to marinate the chicken! (Thanks for the use if your whole fridge!)

In the meantime I was in the basement organizing the piles of stuff we moved frantically on Wednesday. Joel called friend Dave who is an architect and lives in hard hit Longmont. Sometime during the conversation Dave said he was sorry they couldn't make it tonight because the roads out of town were closed. Busted. His wife julia quickly called me apologizing saying Dave didn't know the party was a surprise. The cat was then out of the bag. Joel's grin said it all. Then he said mike slipped a few weeks earlier but he didn't know when the party would be. He thought it was Friday night but that came and went so maybe it was cancelled due to rain! Joel also said once in the past two weeks I had him check my phone for something and an evite popped up on the screen. Three strikes. Darn!

At least now we could prepare without being secretive! Joel took Gavin to a 4 year old birthday party at 2:30 and his party was to start at 4:30. The day was sunny and beautiful. Neighbors were venturing out to cut their tall, green grass!  We continued to prepare. 

4:30 came and folks arrived. We had about 30 people at the house and had a great time. Great weather. A BBQ and home made ice cream! Success!

After everyone left and the kids were to bed, we sat in the couch and it started raining! Pouring, again! Joel took first shift from 10:30 to 1:30. Now it's my turn. The rain has again stopped and it has been about 30 minutes since I last ran the pump. Weather report seems to say we are in the clear until the morning. Sun rise, if we see it! Signing off.