Last day of vacation

Our last day of vacation was July 4th. We celebrated Independence, Thanksgiving, and a 40th Birthday! I know no one else can say that! I didn't journal this day so it may be a little hard for me to remember all the events. We started the day with pancakes and bacon which I enjoyed very much. After breakfast, we immediately got to work preparing our Thanksgiving dinner. Each year we have a Thanksgiving dinner together since our entire family can't be together to celebrate the actual holiday. It is usually on a Thursday just like the real thing, but this year it ended up being on the last day of vacation. While dinner was cooking, Brenda decorated our eating area with black in celebration of Brad's 40th, the kids swam and had a water balloon fight, and everyone else was busy secretly planning Brad's party. His actual birthday isn't until Oct, but we also celebrate upcoming 40th's (male 40th's in particular) as a family during summer vacation so the birthday individual can be inducted into the M.O.T.H. Society (Men Over The Hill) by Grandpa - More on this in a little bit. Our eating area was outside on the porch which overlooked the lake. We ate all our meals out there becasue there was not an eating area inside the condo. The only problem with this was the flies. They were very annoying and they flew inside everytime the door was open. Too bad it took us until the end of vacation to buy a fly trap.

Our theme for 40th's is Mark 12:30 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." We celebrate by doing things that relate to Brad's heart, soul, mind, and strength. Ed and Brian took heart. The girls took soul. And the young adult guys took care of mind and strength. Brenda had also planned and created a scavenger hunt for the end. The scavenger hunt idea came from 2 things: Brad getting lost in the middle of the night trying to find our condo and the young adults + Brad staying up late one night making fun of Alabamians in Wal Mart. It was a little crazy with all the last minute planning. Did I mention that I ate A LOT of cookie dough during this time? I was addicted! :)

Finally dinner time! We ate Turkey, dressing, corn, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, rolls, strawberry gelatin salad, olives, stuffed celery....I think that's it. Funny how it takes hourS to prepare and 10 minutes to devour!

After clean up the games began. Well, actually, we started with 1 serious thing. Ed and Brian started with "heart" by sharing about the things we all love and appreciate about Brad. Then came "mind." Since Brad is a geothermal engineer that builds power plants, we made him use his "smartness" by challenging other family members to games that required brains. Brad and Justin: math problems. Brad and Erica: sudoku. Brad and myself: word search. Of course, I lost!

Next came "soul." Brad also owns a business called Silver and Blue Outfitters. It is a Nevada Wolf-----Pack (2 seperate words - make sure it is not 1 word!) sports store. you can check it out here if you want: http://www.silverandblueoutfitters.com/store/

***Side note: Brad if you get any business from my advertising

I want some commission :)!***

Anyway, he is a maniac fan and is a booster at the University. We were giving him a hard time because the grand opening of his store in the local mall actually occured while he was away with us. Because of his love for the Wolf-----Pack, us girls made up a dance to the school fight song. Ed sang it while the band played from Barbie's laptop. We made pom poms with toilet tissue rolls and tissue paper and had signs. We raided his suitcase (everything in it was Nevada Wolf----Pack stuff) and we wore his clothes as our uniform. Other people at the condos probably thought we were looney! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of this with my camera. I will post some later if I can get my hands on them.

Now for "strength." The guys challenged him to all kinds of sport things. Brad and Ben: blongo. Brad and Nate: golf ball driving off the end of the dock into the lake. Brad and Jarred: push-ups. Brad and Davis: air soft gun target practice. Brad and Matt: wiffel ball.

Once back inside, Grandpa came out of the bedroom wrapped in a bed sheet and wearing a parrot hat. He was using a cane fishing pole with a flag attached (remember it was the 4th) as a walking cane. He pulled a homemade scroll made out of toilet paper out of his pocket and began the induction ceremony. Next M.O.T.H. - my husband in 15yrs - unless a female family member marries a way older man between now and then. Oh wait, it may be Nick, Becky's (cousin) new husband. This idea started a couple of years ago when Brian turned 40. When Carter saw these pics he said, "he's the master," about Grandpa!

We had so much fun and shared so many laughs, but the fun was just beginning! The grand scavenger hunt was last and boy was that the BEST! Since this post is getting kind of long, I will share about that in my next post.