Birthday Fun And Games

One of the few drawbacks to the timing of our trip to Australia was that we were away for Julie's birthday this year. Now that we were back home again, though, it was time to celebrate that event, better late than never!

And so Saturday night was Julie's Birthday Bash at our place. I'd planned a series of games for her and I to compete at, with the winner of each one getting a prize that Vicki had picked up for the occasion. I'd also set it up such that Julie would get one of her birthday gifts from me after each competition... which was pretty considerate of me, since I intended to win all of the prizes and didn't want the birthday girl going home empty-handed! Vicki didn't want in on the games, but did generously agree to act as the official photographer for the evening.

First, it was a best-of-5 foosball tournament:

Through a freakish turn of events, Julie somehow won 3 foosball matches in a row, and claimed the first prize.

Then it was time for a hard-fought best-of-3 Concentration match:

A bit of brain-freeze on my part allowed Julie to win 2 games of Concentration, handing her the 2nd prize of the evening.

Next up: a best-of-3 8-ball tourney! I figured I'd clean her clock at this one, as we've owned a pool table for the past 14 years:

Julie actually managed to sink the 8-ball 3 times in a row... unfortunately for Little Miss Smarty Pants, 2 of those times she wasn't trying to sink it! I won this competition 2-to-1, without once having to sink the winning ball. Now that's what I call a successful strategy!

While we were shooting pool, Cooper cooled his heels outside, drawing the undivided attention of a certain someone:

My favourite activity of the night was something I'd created, called "Secrets & Lies". The idea was that Julie and I would take turns picking a Topic card and then telling a personal story about that topic, either the truth ("Secret") or a made up tale ("Lie"). The storyteller first placed a "Secret" or "Lie" card in an envelope on the table, and then the other person had to decide which type of story it was:

I came out on top of this competition, being able to spot Julie's lies (and truths) much better than she could identify mine.

We did one more game after that (no photo available) that was cut short when Julie drew first blood in it, but by then we'd already had a fantastic evening and moved on to calmer pursuits (talking about upcoming book plots).

All in all, it was a great party and the birthday girl seemed to have a terrific time. So  I guess it was worth the wait, after all!