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The last few weeks have been nothing if not hectic. On May 22nd, we celebrated Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bob’s recent marriage, and over Memorial Day weekend Tom, Katie, Kelly, and I threw a surprise 30th Anniversary party for Mom and Dad.  Between preparing to celebrate, actually celebrating, and (oh yeah) work during the week, it’s been pretty crazy.

My siblings and I have been planning a surprise anniversary party for Mom and Dad for a few months now, but it wasn’t until Katie graduated from Illinois and finished finals at OSF that we could really get to work. (I say “we” when in reality it was Katie and Kelly who did most of the work.) Katie and Kelly both spent a couple days at my house in the week leading up to the party landscaping, cleaning, and generally preparing. Katie worked especially hard, with at least one ten hour day by herself. (It didn’t help that Mom was asking questions about why it was so important for Kelly to be there too…)

The girls planted a bunch of flowers around my yard and laid what we believe totaled to twenty-five bags of mulch. On our first trip to Lowe’s, Kelly and I didn’t really think we’d need more than six or seven bags, and besides not much more than that would fit in the back of my new SUV. I ended up making a number of additional trips, and one of my neighbors donated an additional three bags that he wasn’t going to use. Everything ended up looking great.

On Saturday, May 29 (the day before the party), Katie arrived early at my house to put on the finishing touches. I drove out to Princeton to pick up Tom, who took the train to avoid driving his car. After returning to Bettendorf, we went downtown to pick up Kelly from the River Music Experience, where she was watching a friend’s concert. It was around this point that Tom and Kelly started to pick up on the increasing stress levels displayed by Katie and me.

After everyone was back at my house, we finished decorating and getting things in order. Our final late-night attempt to pull speaker wire through my crawl space was probably the only thing we didn’t get done, but that ended up just being an excuse to play my stereo inordinately loud.

Sunday morning, Katie was up at the crack of dawn. The rest of us were not, but that was ok. Tom and I went to pick up the fresh food and other supplies while the girls took care of last-minute cleaning and determining serving and table centerpieces with Marsha.

Since the surprise was to happen at 3:00 p.m., our guests started to arrive at 2. Grandma and Grandpa were the first to arrive, along with Barb & Dan, Jon, Christie, & Emma, and Matt. Gary & Marilyn, Nick, and Hannah arrived shortly after, followed almost immediately by Dale, Marsha, and their son Tom. (John couldn’t make it for the main party due to his gainful employment on the Channel Cat.) We shuttled all the vehicles to the nearby parking lot of the Bettendorf Family Museum, and waited for Mom and Dad to arrive.

Around 2:45, I gave Dad a call. Telling him I wanted to fire up the grill, I asked how far they were from my home. Since he told me they were finishing up some shopping at Lowe’s, we asked everyone to head outside for the surprise. Unfortunately, it was threatening to rain, and it was clearly pouring across the river in Moline. We waited nervously for the signal from Kelby and Tom, who were waiting inside, watching the front yard.

Kelby came out to let us know that Mom and Dad had arrived, and Tom went out to greet them. We needed them to come around the outside of the garage for the surprise to work. After an agonizing (two-minute) wait, they walked around and we all yelled “Surprise!” The look of shock and surprise (and horror? Lol…) on Mom and Dad’s faces was priceless.

If they had taken but a few more seconds, it would have been disaster. Almost as soon as the surprise was sprung, the downpour started, and we all made our way into the garage to wait for it to subside. Luckily, before long I was able to fire up the grill and start making pork chops for everyone’s enjoyment.

After a lovely dinner of pork chop sandwiches, spinach salad, applesauce, fresh fruit (from Aunt Marilyn), and fresh vegetables, everyone naturally ended up inside. Mom and Dad told the story of their meeting, first dates, and eventual engagement, as did the other married couples.

The party started to wind down about this point. Most of the family left, leaving only my immediate family and the Holmes, who by this time were bolstered by John’s presence. We continued to enjoy the festivities and fellowship well into the night.

This is getting long, so I’ll keep my recap of Margaret and Bob’s party brief. I drove out to Des Moines with Nathan on Friday afternoon, meeting up with some other friends (Matt & Andrea and Jason primarily, but there were a bunch of Deere people there.) for the Iowa Cubs game that evening. After the I-Cubs victory, we met up with my cousins Kelly, Rick, Christie, and her husband Shawn at Johnny’s.

The next day, Matt, Andrea, Jason, Elizabeth, Nathan, and I went to breakfast at Chef’s Kitchen, a lovely little diner on Beaver Avenue. Brunch is always a good way to recover from a night out, and the food and service at this establishment were great. Jason and Elizabeth did us a great service by recommending it. (We thought for a moment that Nathan might invite a new friend, but alas, it was not to be. Andrea especially enjoyed giving him a hard time about it.)

After leaving my friends, Nathan and I went to check into the hotel, where we immediately ran into Sara and Adam. Since neither Nathan nor I had showered, we exchanged hellos and went to our rooms. Unfortunately, my first room (Room 420… hehe) smelled terrible and was not the suite I was promised, so I immediately requested another room. After settling into the second room, Nathan and I meant to go shopping for some items we forgot. I noticed on the way to the lobby that there were legitimate suites in the hotel, unlike the “suite” to which I was assigned. We complained and moved again—Nate to his second room, and me to my third.

The reception itself was wonderful. Held at Biaggi’s, we enjoyed ninety minutes or so of drinks and hors d'oeuvres. It was very nice to catch up with the extended family, especially as everyone seemed to be doing quite well. Dinner was excellent, with a number of delicious dishes. The ziti al forno was delightful.

Sunday morning, Bob and Margaret hosted a light gathering at their beautiful home. After saying our goodbyes, we also stopped at Shawn and Christie’s nearby home—also lovely—before making the trip back to Bettendorf… and beyond.