Thursday, January 8, 2009

Terri's Roller Disco Birthday Party - Part 3 of 3

Welcome to the conculsion of our coverage of Terri's 40th Birthday Party!
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We all took a little break from skating to enjoy some cake.
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Then it was time to get serious.

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The limbo contest was no contest - Laurie and Terri were declared the Ultimate Roller Disco Limbo Queens of Sacramento. Well, the title is a bit exaggerated, but we did win a free soda at the snack bar!

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Hmmm, this looks close...

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But another angle (provided by Chris Strange) shows that I cleared the bar with millimeters to spare.

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Judging by the explosion on the screen, Phillip is having success in the arcade, too.
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But in the biggest challenge of the day...

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Laurie and Terri took on 5 other girls, all nearly 1/3 our age...
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...and Laurie came in 4th!

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Laurie's big finish, just a few hundreths of a second shy of the winner. Laurie was truly the Michael Phelps of my birthday party!!

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A victory pose!

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Brande and Chase enjoy the arcade.

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Celebrating... the fact that we haven't broken any bones yet.
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Meanwhile, Phillip's a winner, too.

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It was a great party, and we all had a great time at the rink! Except for this unfortunate kid (not part of our group) who crossed paths with Derek.

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At least we can say that (almost) everyone at the rink that day had a great time.

Thanks again, everyone, for the good company and birthday wishes on the big day! I'm thinking a yearly event might be in order, if we recover from this one by then. And that's a big if.

:)

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Terri's Roller Disco Birthday Party - Part 2 of 3

Welcome to Part 2 of our coverage of Terri's big 40th Birthday Extravaganza!

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Ready to roll: the stage is set for our total supremacy.
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Can you dig it?? Chris, Mike and Sydney show everyone how it's done.


The Alff kids start out slow...

But soon Deacon gets in the groove.

Laurie, Nathan and Jacob keep on truckin'.

Dancing Queen! Jana's got the moves.

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Elias shows some far-out skating skills.

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Dy-no-mite!!

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Jon and Chase boogie on down.

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Down!
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Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
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Laurie and Jacob hang out at the snack table. Little did we know that it was all part of Laurie's intense regimen in preparation for the events in our next post.
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Come back soon for our exciting conclusion!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Terri's Roller Disco Birthday Party - Part 1 of 3

From 1/1... Nothing says "I'm turning 40 today" like a trip to the roller rink!!
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And not just any roller rink... Sunrise Rollerland was the Studio 54 of Sacramento back in the day. And I have the vintage jacket, purchased in 1979, to prove that I was there.

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We were warned...

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...so we made sure to have emergency vehicles (air and ground) standing by out front.

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Boy, this place looks bigger (and the floor looks harder) than I remembered!

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Laurie and her boys arrive!

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All the necessities were in place.

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Grammie tells Susan, "I tried to stop her, but she won't listen to me any more!"

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I was honored that USC fan Micah missed much of the Rose Bowl to come to my party. My own dad didn't miss the game on the day I was born!

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Maren gets her wheels.

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It felt great to be up on skates again!

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Part 2 coming soon... Terri's party guests rule the rink!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

12-31-08: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

Happy New Year, everyone!
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Yesterday we celebrated the big #75 with Grandpa!
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SURPRISE!

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A perfect cake for the 75 year-old hippo collector.

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New Year's Eve revelry takes its toll on the kids, but not Grandpa!

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Opening presents!

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From Grandma... this looks promising.

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We watched the ball drop in New York, then broke out the silly string! Elias and Uncle Derek collaborated on these Silly String Art Photos.

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We saved the best for last for Grandpa! An opportunity to clean a huge mess created by silly string and confetti was a fitting finale to his 75th birthday party.
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More birthday/New Year's fun to come in a bit!