Happy Birthday Mr. Nate

I threw a big surprise party for Nate's 35th birthday. Asher spoiled the surprise of course, "Dad, don't ask me about your surprise party because I'm not gonna tell you anything," but Nate still couldn't believe all of his friends showed up or that all the food I'd made was just for him. He'd imagined a small family gathering and bought my cover story of needing to prepare for a Young Women's banquet (no such thing). 50 people came to feast on "Cafe Rio" pork, sweet potato enchiladas, lots of guacamole, strawberry shortcake and lemon meringue pie. I'd envisioned an ironic "Over the Hill" party but black party supplies are mighty hard to come by in Seoul. 

Jensie was in on it from the get go and got a picture of Nate pretending to be hunched and decrepit. We'd hoped to blow it up to poster size and play "pin the cane on the old man" but alas, not realizing Jensie's silly pictures had a purpose, someone kindly deleted them from the camera's memory card before I could act. I'm telling you about it anyway though because I'm still so pleased with the idea. We did manage black balloons and Asher filled Mason jars with rocks and dirt. You know, 'cause Nate's older than rocks, older than dirt. Get it? And his hat OLD hat made up for most of what we were lacking.

I gave a cash prize to the person who came up with the best "Nate's so old..." joke. This is Nate "roasting" himself as he chooses a winner. The winning joke's not really appropriate for our family blog, haha. Here are some of the prize contenders-
Nate's so old...
When he was born the Dead Sea was just getting sick.
He chiseled 'BFF' in Methusula's yearbook.
The Big Bang screwed up his teenage years.
He took his driver license test in a chariot.
His hometown is Pangea.
My personal favorite? A slip of paper covered in faux reformed Egyptian. As in, Nate's so old he can read this!

I spent so much time enjoying the party that I forgot to take any more than these two pics, but we had a great night--made even more special with the arrival of my parents and grandparents (who are in town for Natalie's graduation). It was a great night to celebrate that old man of mine. Happy birthday, Nate. I love you.