It's not just a party...

When I first awoke this morning and saw the hotel clock said 4:08 a.m., I thought, is this how 40 starts? My bladder can't make it through the night?!

But then the day got better.

We arrived Up North Friday night. I let the guys get settled at the hotel and I went out to my twin's house to help get thing set up. You know, the typical birthday thing, hanging streamers and 40th birthday thing-a-majigs.

Due to the rain, we couldn't set up anything outside until today. So we headed out to Raylene's by noon and were ready to party by 1. At one point early on, dark clouds rolled in and it sprinkled a bit, but then it was mostly clear skies for the party. Or, as Jim prompted the boys to say: "It's not just a party, it's an extravaganza!" Here are some highlights in pictures.


I was so pleased that my entire family could make the trek Up North. I mean really, teenage boys probably have something better to do than spend the day with their 40-year-old stepmother. But they didn't. And that meant a lot to me. Top right, stepson Casey concentrates on his throw in Lasso Golf. Above, Clay serves up a point in volleyball. Now about volleyball... Raylene and I played, too. After awhile I thought, why am I diving for the ball? Is it worth it to hurt my brittle bones this early in the day? No.


About this extravaganza thing... We got this idea in our heads a month ago or so that we wanted to have sort of a carnival atmosphere. So what the heck, why not rent a cotton candy machine? Above, Raylene enjoys some Whacky Watermelon cotton candy. Notice her beads (which we both wore) that say "Behold the ageless wonder." That's us.


Above, Carter plays the role of a "carnie" quite well while manning the spinning wheel game. The object was to spin the wheel and then earn a big prize by landing on the 28 or 40. Carter was ready to blow that air horn when someone won, but getting the wheel to stop on one of two numbers out of 50 is a lot harder than one would think. Eventually, I said they could land on their birthday, too. Finally, when my mom got up to spin again, we said she could land on any number that corresponded with one of her kid's birthdays. Keep in mind, she had 8 kids. The odds were in her favor. She landed on a 22 (my sister Rayna's birthday). BEEP! The horn sounds. We have a winner!


Let the games begin! Above, Clay tries to pass off a Lifesaver on a toothpick to Casey during the "Lifesaver Toothpick" race. Their team lost and all the "big boys" said they didn't want to play any more games like that with family -- that's for playing with girls. Note to self, this next generation doesn't quite get into this goofy stuff like we did as kids.


As one final challenging game, we devised an obstacle course/relay race of sorts for the two teams. A person had to toss 3 bean bags into a bucket, then answer an '80s trivia question from Raylene or me, then spin around a bat twice, then drop three clothespins into a jar. Then run back and tag their next teammate. Above, hubby spins around while my dad acts as the "official" for the game. My team won, by the way.


When it came time for presents, I finally got to give Raylene her surprise book I created with pictures of us since childhood. She loved it! That still wasn't her best surprise of the day, though. That came earlier in the day when her son, Tony, who is in the Army, surprised her by coming home for the party. We hadn't seen him since Christmas. What a gift. Above, we hold up dresses we wore as babies. Our mom gave us each a box of special items covering everything from baby books to report cards to graduation gowns. No wisecracks that those are antiques, OK?

I will say that capping off the day by playing kickball in the dark, marking bases with glow sticks so we could see them, and shooting off fireworks, it's been quite a hoot turning 40. One might say it wasn't just a party, it was an extravaganza!