Josh's Never Ending 13th Birthday

This is a little late, but how could I pass up reflecting on Joshua's first teenage birthday! Trying to find the time for all the events was a challenge with so many things going on....so we just partied for a week.
Since the parade was the weekend before his birthday we had an afternoon/evening party. Josh invited his 3 closest friends and we went to Portland to an indoor water park. The day was cold and pouring down rain, so they got wet inside instead of out. They had a great time. The last time we brought Josh here for a party a few years ago, he was afraid of the slides and barely put his face in the water. He's made alot of progress this past year in overcoming many fears. I brought the boys home and they ate pizza, played video games, foosball and played the keyboard. By the time Josh got to bed that night he was one tired young man!
His actual birthday was on the following Monday. Since he had a band concert that night, we opened gifts and went to his favorite Mexican restaurant before the concert. We told him stories about how long it took him to be born and how his birthday should have been on the 10th instead of the 11th. He was slow then and boy was that a true of how he is now. We practically need to start waking him up the night before to get him up in time for school. (hee hee)
Well, this being his 13th birthday, we have the tradition of doing up the special book that Debi did for her girls (we do the boys version too). I had so much fun making it, then Richard and I went and decorated the motel room. Of course, true to form, everything I did had to be color coordinating. His book was covered with big black and white checkered racing fabric. So, I wrapped all the presents in red paper, black bags with silver and black ribbons. I got silver, black and red balloons and they looked really cool all over the room. Josh and Melissa had very similar reactions to the whole thing. Richard made up a story telling Josh he wanted to take him to get a bite to eat. As they were driving, I called and pretended to be Richards boss, asking him to go on a call to fix an ATM machine. We played it up really good. Josh wanted to stay in the car, but Richard finally convinced him to go up with him. It all seemed on the up and up because the room was right next to a conference room that had a long table with lots of chairs. We had talked about it on the phone, so when Josh saw the conference room he didn't think anything of it. Richard put the key in the door and started to go in. Josh tried to stop him telling him it was a private room and it was somebody's birthday. Josh wouldn't go in....just like Melissa!! It was very funny. Richard finally convinced him it was HIS birthday. Josh finally believed it when he saw Dad's shaving bag sitting on the sink. He called me right away to tell me thank you. He was so excited!! Josh and his Dad had a very special night, swimming, eating out, playing games and of course reading and doing the book. I was sad that this is my last child to do this for. Thanks Debi for getting me started on this!!! My baby is growing up..........