Birthday Bash of '13

It's been FOREVER since I updated and for that I am sorry. Life, man, I tell ya. It gets so busy and stuff. But between school/work/sports business I had time for a birthday bash!!

I'm officially 17 years old now. In my mind, I'm, like, 12, but I have been on this planet for 17 years now. I am growing up too fast, in my opinion.

Every year at the Durham/Sloan house I have a birthday party. And not just any ol' birthday party. It's a blast. One of my most favorite things of the entire year. You see, since I was in middle school my step-dad and his best friend Butch have created scavenger hunts for me. I love it. It's like being a detective and playing capture the flag at the same time.

For the past 5 years, I invite 12 to 16 girls over for my party. We have cake, play card games, run amok, and then after it gets dark we start the scavenger hunt.

I love playing tag games, so we spent the first hour of the night playing capture the flag OF DEATH. (No one died, don't worry). It took forever because at first there were only 8 of us and we kept putting each other in jail. But my team finally won. *victorydance*

We then consumed a large amount of food in a short amount of time. By then, there were at least 14 girls there. We still had a few hours before the scavenger hunt started so most of us played Kemps (of death), which is one of our favorite card games.

In Kemps, you must get four of a kind. You have a partner and once you have four of a kind you make a secret signal. Your partner then yells Kemps. The trick is if someone sees your secret signal, they can yell counter-Kemps and you lose. You can also make up fake signals to trick everyone. It's really crazy, loud, and fun. My uncle Dustin was really good. Beginner's luck, right?

And then we had CAKE. Ice cream cake because I'm lactose intolerant and you either go big or go home.

It was really good. Sadly, there were no leftovers. Usually I'm eating ice cream cake for days afterward. It was probably a good thing, though.

PRESENTS. I got so many awesome presents. It was great and I was really thankful. Thank you, everyone, so much for all the great gifts.

Finally it was scavenger hunt (of death) time. We broke up into teams. This year I had Char Char My German, Katie, and Petra on my team. The Dream Team, I might add. ;)
 (Over the years I've been on many teams with all of my friends ans it's been a blast. I love my friends and I've always had fun with them. Every year I have a new, special Dream Team, of course!)

We had a lot of fun running around and trying to find the hidden wiffle balls. None of my team lived in Elmwood except me, but they were all really smart. Char Char almost died when trying to get a ball from a roof. Katie was running laps around all of us and Petra was using her handy-dandy smart phone to search for clues.

We did not win, but that's okay. It was so much fun!
 

After the scavnger hunt, all my family left and my parents headed to bed, but not before opting for some pictures.

But we are night creatures, my friends and I. We proceeded to play games. First we played the Clapping game. (Like the Hot and Cold game) and then the Name game. A person picks any name they want (Kirby, Elmo, Mark, Bob) and write it down. The names are collected and read off and then everyone takes turns trying to guess who is who. We played three really hilarious rounds.

I gave every one a tattoo with a sharpie and then we all went to bed. I've never had that many people spend the night before, so it was a tight fit in my room. There were four people all-together in my bed. It was cramped, but we all ended up getting a solid sleep, in my opinion. (I don't know how the girls on the floor fared!)


All, in all, it was a perfect day. I had all my loved ones around me and I made a ton of memories with my bestest best friends and family. I want to thank my mom and Josh for putting it all together. A huge thank you to Josh and Butch for making clues. Also, I thank my friends, family, and neighbors for all making the time to come spend a night with me. It was a great birthday and I was so blessed to spend it with so many great people.

I'm looking forward to next year!



(Below are clues Josh and Butch came up with).

1 Inquire of your chauffeur as to how you can attain a single point.

2 The all-time SB leader could turn 180 degrees to check his stats, or to find a wiffle ball.

3 State Law: Stop Here for Ball.

4 In the tall, tall grass in the southernmost goalpost.

5 What do Mike Powell and Galina Chistyakova have in common?  Find the partner of rods.

6 A dude or dudette dropping a deuce may deploy this to deter you from the door.

7 Twiggish tree by tracks.

8 Shape of Madonna’s famous undergarment…on the corner.

9 Roses are red; violets are blue; but these are pink and purple; I’m between these two.

10 Feet of (non-American) football fans.

11 Locate the most senior homo sapien in your vehicle and request a method of attaining a point.

12 It’s kinda like a swing set for ghosts or something.  Dig in a hole.

13 Don’t get TRAPped behind the potty.

14 Where education and environmental-friendliness meet.

15 A snake with his skin or a killer with his victim’s blood.

16In a retaining wall at C₆H₁₂O₆, H₂0 location.

17 Above the rafters.

18 Where door # ( 3²+(8-6) + 3/2 - 1) should be. Then think Lew Alcindor.

19 Stack of masonry blocks across from The Scarlet Letter author, #203.

20 Ask your driver.

21 It’s like a huge, decapitated mascot.  Maybe the TMNT did this.

22 Like # 17, but the neighbors’.

23 Home at #1.

24 A lone little stump in a line of conifers.

(DRIVER STATEMENTS:

For one point, everyone on your team must run a lap around the track (400m).

For one point, everyone on your team must run the bases on 2 different ball diamonds.

For one point, everyone on your team must slide down the tallest slide in Elmwood.)

Josh: Alli R, Annie, Paige K-10 pts

Butch: Dara, Emily, Paige B-11 pts

Justin: Ally L, Abby F, Brianna-7 pts

Dustin: Gabbie, Petra, Katie, Char-9 pts