Birthday Hangover

I slept TEN solid, glorious hours last night.  Hard, deep sleep, where my muscles were actually sore from lack of movement.  My body needed to catch a breath from all the festivities of the weekend, celebrating Noah's 13th birthday.

Luckily, his birthday actually fell on Saturday, which hasn't happened in some time.  It also started EARLY, as he had an Upward basketball game scheduled to start at 8:30 in Owensboro, about an hour away.  This resulted in me being up well before the sun, preparing for our day.

Truck packed and details done, I finally dragged Tim out of bed 30 minutes before wake-up call to decorate his door.  Noah awoke to this....

We rushed ourselves out of the house on a Saturday, as if it were a school day, hitting the road to make it in time for warm up and to save enough seats for the family I hoped would arrive.  Tim, Tina, and I all sat "big and greedy" sighing thankfully as familiar faces started to arrive and fill our spots.  By game time, a third of the bleacher was there to cheer on Noah.  He came back from prayer with a big smile and took time to hug each member.  At the end we even got an "Austin hug" as Noah scored the last shot at the buzzer, changing the score to 23.

Our caravan then headed to Shoney's for a breakfast buffet feast.  Knowing we'd take up the back half of their room - and that I had a hungry teenage boy - I was kind enough to call ahead and warn them.  They had mounds of eggs, biscuits, gravy and bacon awaiting.  They even surprised Noah with a hot fudge sundae and a song at the end.  We laughed that his first stop though was the strawberry shortcake!  All of us ate well beyond our fill, knowing we'd soon work it off. 

Stuffed and happy, our mini parade weaved our way to our final group destination - Laser Tag!  Even Mamaw and our littlest, Allen, joined in the fun.  We wondered how he'd do, only being 4, but he surprised and outplayed most of us.  At one point, I ended up teaming up with him and laughed way more than I shot. 

He'd crouch down on his tiny frame, and in a shouting whisper would say, "Move, Move, Move!" while frantically waving me along.  Whenever we'd successfully attack he'd say, "Man down!" and once when I shot him by accident, he pouted, "You can't shoot me, Aunt Heather, I'm the hero of this game!"  I do think he enjoyed it thoroughly, as he asked his mom, in the midst of another round, if he could have his happy birthday here tomorrow.  Sadly for him, his celebration isn't until October!

Noah, the birthday boy, aka "Voodo" was thrilled he won three of the four rounds.  I was just happy I didn't have a negative score, like my Aunt Becky!

The highlight, for everyone except Haylea, was her escape from the laser tag hallway.  Not realizing the glass door was shut, she barrelled down the hall, excited from the match.  One big cartoon splat later, her face left an imprint on the door, and all of us peed our pants in uproarious laughter.

We opted to play so much of our allotted time, that Noah had to speed race through his gifts and cupcakes.  He did pause long enough to gasp, mouth wide open, at the surprise Harlem Globetrotter tickets inside what he thought was only a card.  At the end, Noah and Tim decided to just wear their cupcakes, instead of eat them.

    

The crowd dispersed quickly, as another family had the room reserved next, but Noah was happy to head to home.  The night before Tim had given him a new shotgun and he had clay pigeons calling his name.  They spent the last hours of daylight tossing orange disks into the sky and blowing them into smithereens. 

We had a final stop at a little convenient store on the outskirts of our county, that happens to make the most yummy burgers and cheese balls around.  True to tradition, Noah was master of the remote, as we enjoyed our grease feast in front of the tv.

All said, I think he had a very happy and memorable 13th birthday celebration!  At least this exhausted Mom hopes so.