Friend's Birthday Party

Today we all woke fairly tired for some reason. One highlight to our morning was that we were able to skype with my brother's son Ryan. He was staying at my parents house overnight. The boys were so cute talking back and forth. Even Josh was extremely excited and shared it with an ear piercing scream which I am sure our neighbors appreciated. (It occurred approximately at 7am on a Sunday morning). After skyping with my parents and Ryan, Dustin and I traded places, and I went back and laid down for a little bit. I could hardly keep my eyes open. At 10, I got up and got the boys a snack and put them both down for naps. Dustin and I got ready for the birthday party which started at 11:30 and then got the boys up to go.

The party was in the upstairs restaurant where there is a huge buffet. Our host (and birthday guy), Marcus greeted us and explained we had the whole back area with three circular tables for everyone to sit. As we had imagined, we were the only Americans present as everyone else is from Germany. (The invitation was sent out by e-mail, so I knew some of the women that were coming to the party). Our other friends we know fairly well were already seated at one of the tables, so we joined them. Danny got to sit by Jule their daughter (another girl from class that he has become a good friend). Another family, that I had just met recently joined us as well. This was great because we got to know them better and also meet their husbands.

The buffet of food is amazing as there is everything from traditional Chinese, to Sushi, to Italian, and the list goes on. They also had delicious desserts--including ice cream/ice cream cones and even cotton candy which they prepared right there for you. As we sat down, Dustin and I made the decision to forgo church as Marcus said there was a surprise for the children at 1pm (they have two children themselves that are really close to Danny and Josh's ages) and we did not want to be rude and leave before the party was over.

At 1:00 our host directed the children (and parents) to another room. Two women from Danny's school (actually one is the assistant in Danny's class) had a whole bunch of fun games and crafts for the kids to play. The first game was to push a large ball across the room and back. It was so cute to watch the children as the ages ranged from a little younger than Josh (18 months I would say) up to about 8 years old. They all had a great time doing this and all worked well together. The second game was a take off of hot potato, but this was a present with multiple layers (enough for each child of course) to peel off when the music stopped. There was a small present tucked within each layer. After this game, the kids all created party hats and then finished with another game where they looked for little papers and then got to pick a present out of a bin in the order of how many of these papers they found. Overall, a lot of fun and a great time for the kids and the adults.

Marcus then informed us that we were all welcome to go back to the dinning room as we had the space until 3pm. They had planned the activities, because they knew all the kids would get tired of just sitting in the dining room while the adults visited. Wow, that was great thinking. We all headed back and enjoyed coffee while the kids played with their new toys. Danny even opened up a little more and played with some of the boys there. It was such a great party and much more than what we were expecting.

We headed back home (much later than we planned due to the fun had by all) and went straight to our beds for naps. Tonight, Dustin is riding out on his bike to get our traditional McDonald's dinner, and we will all relax before tomorrow. We have another big day planned tomorrow as this is when we get to meet the Governor of Indiana and the delegation of mayors and the president of IU that he is bringing with him. We are really excited.

Overall, we have had such an enjoyable weekend. It is nice to connect with not only fellow Americans, but also families from around the world.