Wetdown
June 3, 2006
Ten days before the party, the weather.com forecast said there was going to be a 40% chance of rain the day of the party. Tom wanted to get a tent "just in case" and I said "Bah! There's still 10 days to the party. The forecast will change. Besides, we have a big house--we can fit 60 people if we have to. It will be crowded, but we'll be fine." He called to find a tent anyway...but there were none to be had. Later in the week, we checked again and the forecast called for a 20% chance of rain. Yea! It looked to be a perfect day for a party! The day before the party, we were up to 80% chance of precipitation. EIGHTY! The day of the party? A 100% chance of rain...
Details
I don't even know where to begin. Really. There's just SO much to tell...except that we had a rule: "What happens at the party, stays at the party" -- so not all the details or pictures will be posted here!
A great time was had by all and apparently, this was the block party of 2006!!
Overall, we have to say that the party was excellent. The weather? Not so much. The rain held off all morning, so we were hoping against hope that luck would be on our side...but alas, about 4:30 or so, the sky just let loose! I happened to be in the middle of a tour (showing people the house) so didn't even know it had started raining--but was interrupted by a frantic search for towels to mop up the floor (from everyone coming in and hauling stuff in--the bar was on the porch and had to be relocated to the garage--through the kitchen). Not all 60 people [who RSVPd] showed up, which was a good thing, as the house was pretty full with all that were there (but it was a bad thing, as we had WAY too much food). Thankfully Tom had planned ahead and had cleared out most of the garage, so a lot of people congregated there as well. Speaking of food, it was DELICIOUS...and we have lots of leftovers for this week (in addition to sending stuff home with people)!
The hardest part of the day was not being able to spend as much time as we wanted visiting with everyone. We made the best of it, but there was always something going on in another room (or outside, or in the backyard) that you were missing out on. That said, everyone (as far as we could tell--and have been told) had a blast. There was a lot of drinking (I was in charge of passing out tequila shots every half hour to a diehard group of about five), a lot of laughing, and...as it ended up, a lot of dancing! I'm not quite sure how it started, but later in the evening, when the guests were down to the hardcore friends and neighbors, people started dancing. And dancing. And it got louder. And louder. Then it got even crazier--there really isn't much room for dancing on the first floor (and the CD player we had down there crapped out), so we kicked the kids out (they were upstairs playing games on the XBOX), sent them home, and took over the living room! Furniture was moved, CDs were rifled through, the 80s music started, and everyone got a little crazy. I swear, it was a mini nightclub up there (when you see some of the videos, you'll see what I mean). It wasn't something we had planned or thought about or even expected (by any stretch of the imagination), but it happened and it was fun. FUN!
Things started to wind down about 2am and by 2:30 everyone was headed home and we (Jim and Beth, our friend Jen who stayed the night, and us) were all in bed by 3. (We haven't been up until 3am in who knows how long!)
Pictures
So, finally, here are the pictures BEFORE the party and the pictures DURING the party! There are no AFTER the party shots...just imagine lots of beer bottles, empty liquor bottles, and miscellaneous party paraphernalia strewn about.
Videos
You can see the movies here, at DropShots. Since the videos technically span over two days, the newest ones (from early Sunday morning) appear first. So, start with the Saturday night ones and they'll go in order.