Go Bruce, It's Your Birthday!

This past Saturday, we celebrated Bruce's 50th birthday. Martha and Justin had planned a great surprise party for him at their house, and Ingrid and I weren't going to miss it.



We arrived at the house early in order to surprise Bruce, who was out running errands with Justin. The plan was for Justin to call the house shortly before getting back home. And just for good measure, we parked up the street to avoid our car giving away the surprise.



Martha ordered tons of food for us to enjoy and Ingrid wasted no time helping herself to a plate. Please don't forget to save some for the birthday boy, everyone.



Well it looks like there's enough to go around. This table only shows a fraction of what was available.



We eventually got the call from Justin that he and Bruce were almost home, and everyone took their positions in the living room. Of course, that call came right in the middle of a delicious plate of pizza and salad. Thanks a lot, Bruce... you act like it's your birthday or something.



The sisters took their positions on the couch and on the floor. Granny was clearly very excited about the surprise.



When Bruce came in and saw us all sitting in his living room, he was totally surprised and couldn't believe we had all made it out for his birthday. I'm confident he had no idea about the party because I think he would've dressed nicer if that were the case.



With the surprise part out of the way, we all got down to business and tried our best to put a dent in the loads of food Martha had arranged for.



This was actually the first time I made it out to Bruce's house, and it was great! Not only was the house beautiful, but he had this awesome salt water pool (I tasted it).



That's right, Bruce... Get closer since you don't have your glasses on. It says "50"!! You're an old man now. Happy birthday.



Later in the afternoon, Ingrid and I cozied up on the couch to watch some football with Bruce and Karl. One thing that I'm loving about Ingrid being pregnant is that she's always sleepy and naps frequently. Before her pregnancy, she never took a nap, which is one of my favorite things in the world to do. Now, we're two peas in a pod... or in this case, two peeps in a seat.



I woke up from my nap with Karl busting out shots of 1800 for everyone. What a great way to wake up! Let's get this party started!



This is the first shot of many, many more for the four of us and we easily polished off the bottle before the end of the night.



In between shots, Bruce opened gifts. A bottle of Moet is a great way to start the gift opening.



Someone got Bruce a card with an old Japanese song printed on it that he (and others) began to sing. You can hear it in this video, and yes, that's me talking.



For those who don't know him, Bruce is an extremely likable guy and a lot of fun to be around sober, but with a little alcohol in him, he becomes super fun. And after a few shots of 1800, Birthday Bruce emerged and began repeating, "It's my birthday! It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" while dancing around. It was great. Here's a video of Birthday Bruce at large.



I'm not sure what he was doing, but I caught Birthday Bruce in his backyard alone, doing this. Hmmm....



Toward the end of the night, Birthday Bruce entertained himself and his guests with some great karaoke. I'm sure we could have just left him there alone all night and he'd be just fine.



If you can bear it, here's a video Birthday Bruce in karaoke mode. Good times. Ingrid and I has a great time and were impressed with the wonderful party Martha put together. Thanks for everything, Martha. I hope Ingrid does something like this for me when I turn 50 (please remind her). Happy 50th Birthday, Birthday Bruce!