The Real McCoy's: Matt's Big 3-0

I don't know how I did it, but I did. I threw Matt a SURPRISE birthday party and he didn't find out until we shouted, "Surprise!" as he walked in the house!! Here's how it all went:
Matt doesn't get many weekends off, but he requested his birthday weekend off, so I started to plan the party when I found out about it. That day, we hung around the house, went for lunch and then Dan & Judy took us out to dinner. After dinner we went to the Festival of Lights in Hamburg. We got to go on a reindeer drawn carriage ride...which was cold, but fun! All the while, Cindy and Jeff were back at our house getting decorations up, setting up the house for the party and greeting people as they came over. If it weren't for Cindy and Jeff, the party would not have been as great as it was! It definitely wouldn't have been a secret!!
So, on our way home from the Festival of Lights, I kept texting Jeff & Cindy to let them know where we were and our ETA (estimated time of arrival). Judy looked nervous all the way home, but the rest of us kept our cool. When we got to our house, the entire street had cars parked on it and Matt said, "Whoa. Look at all the cars. I wonder what they're doing here." To that I answered, "I guess somebody must be having a party." And he dropped it at that. We parked in the driveway and Matt took Jack into the house as we all followed him. When Matt got to the top of the stairs, everyone inside yelled, "SURPRISE" and started singing happy birthday to him. Charlene Bryant got it all on video, which she posted on facebook if anyone is interested in seeing it. Matt seemed surprised!
Then, after we settled in and started to visit with people, we got a new visitor: President Ronald Reagan...back from the dead!!! He looked pretty good for being dead too! It turns out it was Dale McKerrow playing a joke on Matt. (I knew all along, because Dale called me the day before to see what I thought of the idea.) Matt had no idea who it was because Dale did such a good job acting like Ronald. It was great!!!
After a while, Matt had to open some gifts. He got some great things...chocolates, the movie Lonesome Dove, and the coup de gras (sp?) .... his signed Magglio Ordonez baseball from Jeff & Cindy.

Overall it was a great time! There were almost 50 people there, so it was a bit packed, but fun. We even got to meet Char's parents for the first time!!! They stayed with us that night too, and then we all went out to lunch the next day after meeting. I think Matt really had a good weekend off. And so did Jack & I.