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What do you get the guy who has everything, doesn’t really want anything and won’t give you any idea about what to buy him for his 70th birthday? A surprise party because he hasn’t had one since he was a little boy, and that was a long, long time ago. And because he’s the kind of guy who loves to surprise other people and pull jokes on them, and the whole world would love to get him for a change. So we did. Me and Super Cop and HandyMan…with a little help from mama, whom we’ve decided could never be a spy or a world champion poker player because she stinks at playing secret squirrel games. That woman can’t lie worth a hoot, which is a good thing I guess, unless you’re trying to lure daddy to a surprise party.

Daddy turned 70 Sunday, so we invited 75 of his friends and family members to join us in surprising him at the local community center for a little cake and ice cream, and dinner. And we darn near pulled it off. He said he didn’t catch on until he and mama were about fifteen minutes away from the community center where mama had told him they were attending a potluck for which she had baked cookies. Things just didn’t add up, and by the time he pulled into the parking lot, he had figured it out. I figure if we managed to keep him in the dark until the last minute we did good because there are a whole lot of blathering windy people in our family, including me, which is why I didn’t call mama and daddy in the week before the party, because I just didn’t trust myself. Apparently, Aunt Betty did the same thing because she didn’t trust herself either. Big Aunt Betty, not little Aunt Betty. There are two, and one is big and the other is little, and we have called them that for years, and they don’t mind. Really. HandyMan grilled some burgers and dogs on that honkin’ big grill he has. We had two kinds of cake, chocolate and white. We had a lot of laughs and someone went home with a gallon and a half of pickles because she can’t read and someone else went home with a bunch of sodas because he can’t do math. Here are a few pictures:
We have the arrival.

Or as I like to call it: Hula is a piss poor photographer.

There were hugs.

And guess who grabbed the baby right away. As in before his glasses adjusted to the inside light.Hello! Other family in the house, too! Hey, dad! Over here. Remember us? The people you raised? The people who THREW this party for you? Yeah, when you get a minute you might greet your guests.

He wasn't the only one who wanted to get his hands on the little fella. I'm not naming any names(MAMA!) but SOMEBODY wouldn't turn loose of Special Delivery once she wrestled him away from daddy.As in put the death grip on him and walked away with him "to show him to someone else" when I tried to take him from her three hours into the event. Uh-huh, oh yes she did, girlfriends. I snapped this photo during the 1.3 seconds she was NOT holding Special D.

Some of daddy's guitar pickin' friends came. And lots of family. Did I mention daddy had eight brothers and sisters? These two sisters came.The woman in the middle? That's little Betty. And here's Big Betty. I love her. She's the one who laid a big 'ol hug on Hubby during his first family reunion with this bunch and sent him into a Holy mother of Elmo my family isn't into touching what did you just do seizure. I really love her.

See this table? There was enough hot air there to raise the Hindenburg. Those are daddy's work buddies. Well, now they're retirement buddies. Boy, did they have some fun times when they worked together. More fun than should be allowed at a plant where they handle radioactive materials.

HandyMan did all of the cooking. Hubby helped by smashing his finger in the grill. This is the "Enough With the Camera Already" picture. I threatened to give baby brother a swirly AND a noogie if he didn't smile nice and pretty like his big sister said right now, dang it. And I told Hubby to get the heck out of the way because we weren't making friend egg sandwiches with pickles and mayonnaise for 75 people so his cooking skills were not needed.

He eventually got around to blowing out the candles.And as I looked around I realized that what's going on in front of the camera isn't always as interesting as what's going on behind it.

Gotcha!