Surprise, surprise

The surprise party for Dave was a big success. He was genuinely surprised (Lynsay did a good job of setting it all up without him knowing), and a good time was had by all. It was great to get to hang out with a bunch of friends that we don't get to see all that often, because we're kind of all spread out along the East Coast.

Michael, Jay, and Mike, before the birthday boy arrived. We got to the bar probably 45 minutes before Lynsay was due to arrive with Dave, so we spent the time starting with a few beers and catching up with everyone.

Everyone was decked out in Buffalo Bills gear, and even though we were in Charlotte, we didn't have to worry about getting beaten down by Carolina Panthers fans. Why? Well, because the party was actually at a Buffalo Bills bar! The owner is a Bills fan from Buffalo. Oddly enough, almost every single member of the staff that we interacted with (waitresses, etc.) were from the Buffalo area as well (and were obviously Bills fans, too). So we were with our own kind! :)

A banner that one of our friends made for Dave. It was pretty impressive.

I missed the opportunity to get into a good position to take a picture when Dave first came in (I was too busy trash talking Sarah Palin with a friend of ours that lives in D.C.--I know, shocking coming from me, right?). But, Dave's mom--who had traveled down to Charlotte with us since she lives in our area--hid down by the bar until he had been there for a few minutes. She wanted him to have TWO surprise moments. This pic was taken when he first saw his mom. She hadn't flown in like 15 years, so Dave was pretty shocked to see her there.

My Bills cookies! Hell yes.

Jay, Dave, and Michael with the banner

The very cool Bills cake that Lynsay had made. I really wanted to make one with my new skills, but there was no way that would have survived our plane trip. So I had to settle for making the cookies.

With Michael and Jay. Like my new Edwards jersey?

A couple of Dave's friends bought him a Marshawn Lynch jersey. He was pretty pleased.

Dave and Michael with our gift. Michael is pointing out the different players' signatures that we got for him. Back in July, when we went to the meet and greet, we took a football with us and got different players to sign the ball for Dave. Paul Posluszny actually wrote "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DB" on it before signing his name. So awesome. Anyway, I think Dave liked it. I caught him looking at it a few more times throughout the night, and even today. :)

The girls! Lynsay (the master party planner and Dave's awesome wife), Sarah (Mike's wife), and me.

Of course, we couldn't go to a Bills party and not bring "Koch." Don't know the story of Koch? Check out this wedding recap blog post. Anyway, Jay had to try on the legendary Koch jersey for a few minutes.

With a friend from high school, Emily. Oddly enough, she lives in Charlotte now and coincidentally, is friends with our friends. It is such a small world.

Dave and Michael (now Michael's wearing Koch, haha).

Great party. Though, we were all laughing because we were all more than ready to go home by midnight. We did get up early, but still. Lots of cracks about us being old now.

This morning/afternoon, we went out for breakfast at a little mom and pop place in town. The food was good, but the service was pretty awful. It took FOREVER (How hard is breakfast food? C'mon!!). But we made the best of it and ultimately enjoyed ourselves.

Today has been more low key. The guys played darts in the garage, and the girls have been inside watching shows on TLC. I even napped a little. In a little bit, more people are coming over and we have a bunch of food and drinks. Dave is going to BBQ later. We have to enjoy the limited time we have left with everyone, but we also can't stay up too late--have to get up early again tomorrow morning (around 5:30) to catch our flight home.

Weekends are never long enough. Even LONG weekends!!