Tommy's Birthday!

Tommy's finally gotten on board with the extended birthday scenario. THANK HEAVEN. Now he knows how fun it is!

Here is his (and my) fave gift from the birthday weekend:

artwork by one mr. hampton houser harper. love it!

The fun all started Thursday night when the family and friends convened to celebrate the nativity of one Mr. Smith. It also was a reunion for Mama and her posse!

MOOOOTHEEERRR! explaining to the children that loki was under the bed cowering in fear

The children were also kind enough to lend me a hand with the birthday candles:

and maneee mooooooreeee!!!

present time! mr. smith is going to mr. mason's bachelor party in vegas soon so he gets $40 in $1 bills from me hahahhahahaha i'm funny. it's for the slot machines. no really.

Friday night - we do Mr. Smith's favorite thing in the world: we go eat sushi. I have decided that I'm at that point in my life where I'm not going to pretend things anymore and so I have a confession: I really don't like sushi. I mean, I can eat some, and it's fine - but you'll never in a million say I'm craving sushi. My last craving was for a Twix bar, you see? But! Mr. Smith loves sushi and I love me some Mr. Smith. So I eat before we go! It all works out!

tommy gives a thumbs up for his... um. well. dinner. he gives a thumbs up for his dinner.

and a mah-WAH! kiss from the birthday boy! whee!

shawn and jenny are front and center to have fun on mr. smith's big day!

He was showered with gifts. Mostly of a vice-like nature. I'm glad our friends know us so well.

tequila, stella and a humongus bottle of wine. kristina gave him a vegas survival kit complete with tums (for hangovers), advil (for hangovers) and cough drops (for screaming at strippers), bandaids (for slot machine blisters) and water (for dehydration).

Next, oh boy oh boy oh boy! We go white water rafting! I haven't been since college!

see? me as a co-ed fresh from massey hall. i recognize a few faces present - jill quillen, jo white waisley and tracey chambers to name a few!

Kristina has been insisting that we should take advantage of our local resources and go white water rafting. A few months ago she arranged a trip for us, and Mr. Smith, Krisitian, Rob Cash and me take off! - present day!

me and ki ready to paddle through the rapids

We travel to our launch point via bus. It was just like Leadership Blount. Only mildewier.

the WHEELS on the bus go ROUND AND ROUND, ROUND AND ROUND, ROUND AND ROUND. ALL through the TOWN.

mr. smith and i prepare for the challenge

rob, the some-what savvier rafter among us (ahem, but worse navigator WHAT? WHAT'D I SAY?), and ki smile pretty!

i didn't have any sandals that strapped in the back and since the thought of wet tennis shoes ON MY FEET horrified me, i borrowed some insanely large chacos to wear in the river. good call, i must say.

I had been rafting twice before, and as I said, the most recent trip was in college so I'm going to have to go with I was pretty green about the whole experience. I never remembered being scared, or feeling that I was in danger until we got a lecture pre-paddling this weekend on the various ways you can drown or die whilst rafting the Ocoee. I was ok, and definitely still up for the challenge, but please imagine my horror when I see this:

um... behind the group... look behind... see it? that's a sheer drop off. the bus (speedy preemptive thrill ride up through twisty turney single lane road to prepare one for the rafting adventure, BTW) leaves one at the head of this adventure with little more than a helmet, paddle, soggy life vest and a "your guide will be right with you!" out the side window of a departing school bus.

It leaves one with not much confidence.

But then - WHEW. We walk our raft to the bottom of the falls and take off. Actually, if I had taken notice before panicking - there's a sign that prohibits running down the falls. Double whew.

here we are carting our raft down the side of the falls

here we are waiting to put in

mr. smith in the boat, waiting to paddle furiously (wedged in; see his feet? think reverse riding a horse. my butt is SORE - i was determined NOT to fall out. i did not!)

kristina waiting to paddle furiously

Despite my initial malaise, then my ensuing terror, all was well. No pics of the rough stuff (girlfriend was BUSY, ahem) but:

here is a part of the ocoee we were given permission to float in. it was nice. check out my ginormous shoes and itty bitty feet between tommy and rob.

I am DREADFULLY remiss in not getting a photo of the whole crew - it was the four of us plus Sue and Rich (on their first date - adventurous!) plus our guide Joy.

joy (with the arrow) and ki. joy was truly delightful! she would be all in the middle of a story like this: "...and that's how my boyfriend and i met. i know i could have gone to school - RIGHT FORWARD TWO!!!! LEFT BACK TWO!!! in florida, but i wanted to move up north to be with him here instead of tamp- ALL FORWARD!!!! ALL FORWARD!!! DIIIIIIIIGGG!!!!! take a break! so we're glad we're here. where are ya'll from?" it was super fun in a disconcerted way. i loved it. oh, and after the nice, tranquil, sleepy, floatey time on the river i asked sweet little joy how to get back on the boat and she grabs me cute and sweetie pie like and says, "hands on the boat, yes? kick NOOOOOW!!!!" and she hauled my butt in the boat. it was also convenient that she was in massage school in chattanooga because i landed in the floor of the boat and shrieked "charley horse! charley horse!" and she goes, "oh i see it" and rubbed it out. multi-tasker!!!

We end the day with supper at Papa's Italian Bistro. In case you are wondering, it is (not) Cleveland, Tennessee's finest for lobster ravioli (ask Tommy). But the best for pizza and beer!

happy birthday, mr. smith!