As if July 3rd wasn’t a whirlwind enough (at least in our house!), we added a surprise birthday party for Carolyn as well! Abigail planned the whole thing, including their surprise arrival at our July 3rd party, decoy events on Saturday to throw her off the trail, and even had to fake a migraine on Sunday so we could decorate the venue for the party! Trust me when I say, we’re still recovering from almost-weeklong festivities.
As usual, Andrew spent the entirety of July 2nd power-washing the life out of our patio. It’s a tedious job, but man, did she look good after! If only I’d snapped some photos…
The following day, we started with the foam party in the park across the street. It’s so fun for the kids and we wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Afterward, we were able to walk down the block to a friend’s house to enjoy the first couple hours of their party before ours began! It was great to finish decorating early and enjoy a drink with friends before hustling back to get our appetizers out.
It was so fun to have the Johnsons join our party this year!
The parade went a little further this year, so we got to stand at the end of the driveway and still enjoyed the entire thing. (Usually we have to walk up a few houses to catch the end before it peters out.) Bonus: the end of the parade route = very little candy.
My phone was being used for music, so I didn’t take any photos. (Who am I kidding?! I always forget to take photos at these things. Ugh.) Thankfully, my sisters-in-law did, and these are they.
The following day, on the actual 4th, Andrew headed out of town to a Layer family reunion with his dad, and Maelle and I stayed behind to have fun with her cousins! And fun we had! Between Ben’s birthday dinner on July 1st through Carolyn’s party on the 6th, I don’t think Maelle went to bed even once at bedtime. By the end of it, we were all exhausted.
On Friday, we went to the community pool and at Aunt Carolyn’s for dinner and s’mores by the fire. On Saturday, Maelle and I spent time at home cleaning up from our party and then enjoyed a pool day with the Hazbouns, followed by dinner and playtime at Gram’s.
On Sunday, after much effort, Abigail and I broke away to begin decorating at 42 North for Carolyn’s party. (Up to this point, she was fairly satisfied that Abigail’s surprise arrival and their pedicures and lunch were all of the additional birthday celebrations, and that we were simply going to have a family birthday dinner together that night, like we do for everyone.)
Once Andrew turned up, I passed the decorating duties to him so Maelle and I could arrive at the pool with Carolyn as we’d planned. Thankfully, she didn’t suspect a thing, and we were all able to get cleaned up and back to 42 North to surprise the birthday girl!
The birthday party was a huge success! Abigail did such a great job planning and decorating–the room was beautiful. She thought of everything, from fancy paper products to playing The Little Mermaid (Carolyn’s childhood favorite) on the TV in the room. We had a super fun week with the Johnsons here and can’t believe we’ll see them again in only three weeks!
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