My Parent's 70th Birthday Extravaganza!

Ray and Carol Rodenbeck's 70th Birthday Celebration

My family has a big weekend planned to be together celebrating my parent's 70th birthday (Mom 4/6, Dad 4/10). Yes, they are just 4 days apart in age. My sister, Lynn and her family (dogs included) were going to be in town from Kansas City to celebrate with us. Since this was closer to my mom's birthday, she did most of the decisions when it came to what she wanted to do. It was quite and adventurous plan as you will soon see. My oldest sister, Shelley, and her family (including dogs) were there along with my family. That made for a total of 14 people and 5 dogs (sorry cats, you were not invited).

SATURDAY 4/5/14

I had a race in the morning. You can read about those details HERE. I came straight from the race to grab my family and head out. The first thing on the agenda was a picnic. We all met up at Castlewood Park for a nice picnic. We got a nice spot along the creek with enough picnic table space for the lot of us. It didn't take long for the water fun to commence. It's hard to say who started it. Max is a likely candidate, as he always finds a way to test his limits and beyond to fall into whatever water source is around. Although my dog, Penny, isn't shy about jumping right in. I was trying to abide by the rules and keep her on leash which meant that I was knee deep in it quickly as well. It was a little cold, but in a refreshing way. Lunches were eaten and soon we were ready for more.

My mom wanted to hike the Castlewood Lone Wolf trail. Good choice. It starts with a steep climb straight up to the top of the cliff. Some of the kids got courageous and thought they'd try to race to the top. Most of them didn't make it much past half way before slowing to a walk. I think my daughter, Phoebe, actually was the winner to the top (proud pappa)! Penny was just full of energy and we ran up and down and up and down from the front of the group to the back. The kids did their best to get close enough to the edge to terrify their parents.

There was plenty of running, jumping, dog sniffing, climbing, and other activities going on. We stop for a group photo that is always impossible to keep everyone together and still long enough to take a good one. The trails eventually comes back down the hill and has a little bit along the creek. My adventureous family hopped down into the creek and was walking along the gravel banks. We eventually got to a spot where we couldn't go further. I had found a plank and used it to secure a walkway up the 4 foot embankment over a section of the creek and back to the trail. The dogs were not so sure of this and most had to be carried or lifted over. We were back at our picnic area and enjoyed some more water time. We moved to one of the big fields after a bit. Some of us played some kickball while others just enjoyed sitting out in the sun. It really was a beautiful day to be at the park. It doesn't take long for thirst and hunger to motivate a group to move on.

Emily worked on the dinner for everyone, Lynn got the salad together, and Shelley had made the cake. My son, Max, and my nephews, Austin and Jacob, had some paintball fun in the woods behind my parents house while we waited for everything to be ready. Target practice is fun I guess, but moving targets are better! I came up with a game for me to be their target. My goal was to capture their flag, while their goal was to shoot me first. Simple enough. We did a round for each of them. I got fairly close each time, but they managed to hit me before I could get there. It was well worth the few welts/bruises and the kids had a blast. Time to eat. Food was all good and the cake was designed exceptionally by Shelley. We got my parents a Missouri hiking book, a birdhouse shaped like a camper, trekking pants for each of them, a backpack, and a Camelbak. They loved it all and we even got a fashion show by my dad with his new pants. It was hilarious. If I were better at guessing sizes, my mom probably would have joined him in the fun. The rest of the night was spent together catching up and talking about the days activities. The kids played some version of flashlight tag. We had a fire going out on the deck. Penny got a little too close backing up and singed some fur on her tail. Dad caught that just in time before it was really bad. We called it a night before it got to be too late because tomorrow had more on the agenda and we would need a good night's sleep.

Sunday 4/6/14

Everyone got ready, had a good breakfast, and met up at Creve Coeur for the Go Ape! Zip line and obstacle course! The kids played on the playground and played 4 square while waiting for our reservation time. 10 of us were adventurous enough to take on the course. Ray, Carol, Charles, Jacob, Austin, Summer, Emily, Max, Phoebe, and myself. The other watched, cheered, encouraged, and took pictures. We went through the safety demonstration and through the mini practice area. Poor Emily is so afraid of heights that even trusting the line for the practice area wasn't easy. I wasn't sure what was going to happen once we got up to the real platforms. Rope ladders and small platforms really made things interesting.

The safety lines for the ladders and tarzan swing actually felt like they were pulling you down which was strange to deal with. Despite some screaming, Emily made it down the zip to complete the first site. The obstacles were challenging, but everyone was getting more at ease being up in the air and trusting the safety lines. Max, Phoebe, Summer, and I were even testing our courage to the limits. We would try to clear some crossings without holding onto ANYTHING. The surfaces had a tendency to want to swing out or twist out form underneath you, so it was harder than it looked. The landings were hard for most, and ended up getting drug along the bark crash zones. It was good for a laugh for the others and no one got hurt. I wore my Garmin to keep track of speeds when zipping. I got up to 21.3 mph. Not too shabby. I was so proud of my parents for getting through the entire course with very little trouble at all. Emily was the one that probably had the biggest fear to overcome and she did GREAT!

I was really so incredibly proud. That got everyone hungry and worn out. The weekend wrapped up with another gathering at my parent's house. We all grabbed some lunch and visited for a bit. Lynn and her family had to head back to KC. I had to return the kids to my ex who had been nice enough to let me have the kids for all of this on her weekend.