A week before, Dad and I talked about how we wanted to do Grandpa's birthday this year. We decided to see if we could get a room at Bonaventure in the cafeteria and have a party with him in there. Dad did some of the ground work and he said after talking to the Bonaventure staff that it would be easier to have it outside rather than indoors. We wouldn't be able to have everyone in the room at the same time because of the change in the Covid rules, food was going to be difficult to organize and no one wanted to wait until it was their turn to visit with Grandpa on his birthday.
I emailed everyone explaining what we were going to do the first time and then had to send a new one with the updated changes. Dad and I went during my lunch time one day to scout out where we could have it. The weather was going to be in the upper 80's/lower 90's so we would have to have it in the shade somewhere before noon. Everyone sounded like they liked the plan and were all going to be there. Tracy told us she wasn't going to come but Kevin and Karla said they were...probably because it was going to be outside.
We came up with a food plan that would be easy to do since it was going to be somewhat of a "mobile" birthday party. I talked to Dad about what kind of food to do and he said something like ordering or making sandwiches and bringing chips, fruit and some sort of a dessert like a cake or cupcakes. I looked into ordering sandwiches from Maconis, Safeway, Walmart or Costco but it just seemed like we could make them cheaper if we bought the stuff ourselves.
Dad gave me about $60 so Mom and I could go to the store on Saturday after I got back from the Vancouver Meet and Greet with Bev to pick up the supplies we would need for sandwiches. I had cupcake making materials so we didn't need to get anything like that. I had planned on using my Oreo cookie cupcake batter and frosting I got a few weeks back. I asked Mom to come out to Lacey so we could pick up everything and she said she would. We took care of Erika's dogs since she and Zach were out of town and after we went shopping and went back to my house and unloaded all the stuff.
We picked up three French bread loafs, two kinds of cheese, three different meats from the deli, squirt mayo, onions, tomatoes, lettuce and mustard. I bought two bags of chips just in case and everyone was suppose to bring their own drinks. I told Mom I would make the cupcakes that night and if she could come over the next day to help me make the sandwiches. She said that sounded fine.
That night, after dropping Mom off and checking on Alicia's dogs, I made the cupcakes and got everything else ready to go. We found out Grandma might have been exposed to Covid so we told her to stay home just in case. She didn't like it but she did it anyway. Mom came over the next day around 9:30 so we could get the cupcakes frosted and the sandwiches together. We didn't have a ton of time to get everything put together and get the tables and chairs ready so I gave Ben the job of getting the tables and chairs into the Escape while Mom and I got the food ready.
We made a huge mess and used a lot of plates, utensils and bowls. I told Mom I would do the dishes when we got home later. We got everything into the Escape, got the sandwiches made and put onto platters with saran wrap. I got a text from Erika asking where I was and I told her we were coming. We were suppose to be there before 11 a.m. but that didn't work out. Mom and Ben drove separate just so we had her Expedition to put stuff in later and Ben had to go to a race shift around 1 p.m. We were only 10 minutes late.
I parked as close as I could to the area we planned on setting up in and feverishly got all the tables, chairs and food out and set it up on the table clothed tables. Dad went and got Grandpa and wheeled him up to one of the open tables. We served him first because he was the birthday boy and then well all dug in. We spent a good half hour eating and carrying on. Karla and Kevin sat near Grandpa and told him weird stories. Mom and I cleaned up as we went so we didn't have a huge mess at the end.
We had cupcakes and Grandpa opened his gifts. Dad told me that he needed some new T-shirts so I got him a few of those and some Jolly Ranchers. Ben had to go so he could make it to the track on time and was happy that he had a chance to come. Grandpa was about done so Dad wheeled him back upstairs and we told him that some of us would meet him up there to help set up his computer Mom and I got him a few weeks ago. Everyone helped me put all the tables and chairs back into the Escape and got ready to head upstairs.
All of the sudden Tracy showed up. She didn't give us any warning that she was actually coming up but she came up because she needed new tires. She wanted to show me her tires but I really didn't care all that much because we were here for Grandpa. I grabbed her a sandwich and a cupcake and went up to Grandpa's room to help Dad, Doug and Jenn with Grandpa's new computer. He has been computer-less since September 2020...so almost a year. We were all trying to remember Grandpa's log in stuff. Dad had talked to the internet people in Yelm and figured out all of that stuff. We did manage to get on, logged on to all of his stuff to make sure it worked and even got him an Olympian subscription.
Once we got all of that set up and the computer secured on to his table, we found out that it wasn't going to work because he couldn't reach the computer and his hands were so shaky he couldn't use the keyboard. The way he sat in the chair was going to be a challenge as well. Sadly, this set up wasn't going to work. We had to figure out a new game plan. He did appreciate that we tried though. I had some stuff I had to do so I told him happy birthday one more time and headed home to clean up everything and put stuff away.
We really weren't sure if we were going to celebrate another birthday for Grandpa. He wasn't doing so well last year at this time but with some persistence and Dad making some hard decisions for him he was able to get better and put in a much better situation. I was thankful we got to celebrate his birthday with him this year.
Happy Birthday Grandpa!
Next Adventure: Yard Sale Weekend
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