Well I couldn't let this time pass with out writing a little bit about how we celebrated Matt's birthday!He is 27 and I think he isn't quite sure about how that makes him feel yet. Aging is really just a number though and he says he still feels like he is in his teens! With energy to tease and run after Kenyon and mow the lawn and go for a game of basketball sometimes too! (Well maybe not all on the same day!) Anyway let me tell you how the celebrations began.
Friday, Matt took work off, what's a birthday without a 3 day weekend after all. We were determined to get busy on looking for a car for him since his red car went out a while back. Anyway after a liesurely morning we all got ready to head to Springs in order to look at a particular dealership, that had an ok priced truck that we had our eye on. Matt and I were going to test drive it while Kenyon played at Grandma's house. After dropping him off we headed up to the small dealership and asked to test drive a couple of the trucks. Matt and I talked it over and inspected the outside of the trucks as well as the inside, we thought everything looked pretty legit. So we went in to negotiate, but were told that the price was non negotiable. Which was very surprising, we understood their side and after seeing the vehicle reports and upkeep records we felt pretty confident. We decided to go for it. Signed on all the lines needed and asked some last minute questions. We were then handed the keys to our new truck. Everything was great until Matt got into the neighborhoods around his parents home. We parked and he told me to get into the truck and listen. As we applied the breaks at the various stop signs we could hear a sort of grinding. And it didn't go away. We called the dealership and explained the issue and were told later to take it to the tire place across the street from their lot at 8am. We were really nervous. I could see the business of Matt's thoughts in his eyes. We were really confused as to what could have caused this noise and why we didn't hear it during the test drive.
We tried to stay calm and had made plans earlier in the day to go to a sky sox baseball game. The tickets were bought and thank heaven because we needed to get our minds off of the truck. We had dinner and talked and then I realized that we had nothing for the next day! And that the traditional birthday breakfast in bed would not be possible if we had to be at the car place so early in the morning. :) I was not happy about these things. We couldn't do much at this point though, so we all went on with our plan and headed to the game.
This was Kenyon's first baseball game and he was super excited! He came ready with his baseball shirt on and his glove! However, I don't think we explained what a baseball game was all that well because as the game was about to start Matt told him to "get ready and put your glove on" because the game was starting! Kenyon did just that and then as the players were called to the field he started to march down the stairs!! Matt caught him and asked where he was going and Kenyon said so very innocently, "I'm going to go play?!" He was a little confused (and so cute). Anyway we tried explaining what was going to happen but then of course as he is looking out on the field there are little kids in uniform out with the players tossing the first pitches or standing for the national anthem. Kenyon only looked and asked, "Why do they get to play?" or , "That's not fair." Again we tried to explain but I am not sure it ever really made sense to him. One day it will! In the end he did have a really great time and we cheered on the home team, although they lost miserably! We danced and yelled for them to put in another pitcher, sang with the songs and using our expertise about baseball critiqued the technique of every player. The Sky Sox could have really used us on their team! We saw the team mascot and Kenyon liked him, as long as he stayed far away. Of course you can't go to a game without some snacks (according to Matt) and Kenyon picked popcorn and hot chocolate! He loved it saying, "I love this popcorn and salt!" He actually danced and was really getting comfortable standing on the seat until some older men behind us asked him where he learned to dance so great! Kenyon just stared at them and slowly made his way into my lap. When those older men left he noticed some little girls dancing and playing and he turned around in his seat to watch them. Later he told me that the two girls were his girlfriends. I told him he couldn't have a girlfriend until he was married! We laughed and had a great time. The game of course was horrible but the fireworks made it worth waiting around for! Kenyon loved the green fireworks! It was very late when we got home but were very lucky to be able to stay at Matt's parent's house. We went to sleep after chatting.
Unfortunately as we lied down the truck was not far from our minds, especially Matt's. The stress was coming back. We prayed that everything would go okay the next morning and that we would feel reassured with our decision, hoping for good news from the mechanics.
The next morning we made sure to listen for the grinding noise on our way to the mechanic, and sure enough it was real. We explained everything and waited for around 45 minutes and didn't do much else until we saw the dealer show up. We walked over to hear what was up. We were told that they didn't hear a noise, that the light that was flashing at us was just a broken sensor and that we would have to take care of it and that they had found a broken/loose drive rod, which they would pay to have fixed. We wanted to be sure that they could hear the noise though and so Matt took the dealer for a ride to show him that we weren't crazy. He returned a believer and told the mechanic what he thought it was, the mechanic then asked for a ride with Matt. Just a few minutes later they came back with some other options for what it was. The guy said they would take another look under the hood and continue to work on the other issue.
So here we were with no real idea of what was going on and feeling very unsure of ourselves. The previous night we prayed everything would go smoothly today and that we would feel reassured, and so far none of that had happened. We couldn't deny the fact that we wanted the truck, but we just didn't want it in that condition. So what is a person to do?
We marched right over to the dealership and gave the car back---of course it wasn't as easy as it sounds the guy turned into something we hadn't seen before. He was angry and said he was trying to do what he could---and that he was doing so in "good faith." Anyway we struggled with the guy about what we owed. He started to say that the lady that takes things down to the county to be done had already picked up our papers and the work had been done. And we glanced over to where we had signed papers and said to him that we saw our folder on the table and that there was no way someone had picked up and filed the paperwork after we had left the previous day at 4:40 on a Friday. The guy was stumped and tried to pull another fast one and charge us for 2 days of having the car-- again we were stunned b/c we again had the truck from 4:40pm, drove it to Matt's parents house and then were back up to the shop at 8am. That isn't even 24 hours. The guy then said that we had over 100 miles on the car and was going to charge .99 per mile... we stopped him then and explained that we stayed in Springs that night and that Matt had reset the odometer. We went over and wrote down the miles and got our things out of the truck. We settled with the guy and then started walking.
We went to the Mc. Donald's down the street and waited for Matt's dad to pick us up. I felt so bad for Matt. On his Birthday this is what happened. Crazy and Frustrating! I just had to make it better.
So I called Nayeli and Lori to see about the party we had been planning originally. Asked for their help in calling everyone and explained that Matt was so not feeling like a birthday boy. After a while we headed home from Springs. At home we all got showered and Matt got a nap. While he was napping I worked on a story about what the plan was that night and about our going to my mom's house for cake and ice cream. I was trying to clean and get things ready for everyone to arrive and not wake Matt up and make him suspicious at the same time...well I ran out of time, Matt woke up and I still hadn't gone to the store for the cake and ice cream and whatnot's. The time was coming and I was trying to figure out how to get him out of the house so that he wouldn't be here when people arrived. Of course he was hungry and wanted something to eat, and then got on the computer and checked his favorite sites. Time was running out and we had to go but I didn't want to give away the fact that I had planned something still and then Grandma Carrie and Grandpa Glenn came. I answered the door and quietly told them to come back in 15 minutes, and then Matt came to the door and they got to talking about the truck issue we had. At this point I was at a loss. I still hadn't gone to the store!
As soon as he came in I told him he had to get Kenyon and go for a walk because I had planned something and he better play along! He just smiled. I told him to go through the alley and I would come in the car to get them. As he left I called those that were waiting around the corner and told them the door was open and that I had to go-- I tried explaining why we were so late but it didn't matter at this point. And as I was on the phone with Lori and Kevin, guess who they happened to pass, Matt and Kenyon!
So I got in the car, picked them up, answered all of Matt's questions, and went for the items at wal mart. We came back and thanks to all the help from everyone had a great "Almost Surprise Birthday Party" for Matt. I think he had a blast and this was the first year that I had gotten this close to actually surprising him! I will keep trying of course!
Wow this was long-- sorry, a lot happened though!
