Indiana Jones Marathon / BBQ / Sleepover

FRIDAY: Prepping for this event started last night when I went to Stater Bros to pick up some food for today's BBQ and breakfast for Sunday morning as I know several folks plan on spending the night. After getting home I continued to clean up the house but soon was tired and went to bed knowing I was going to get up in the early AM to finish cleaning and prepare for the marathon.

SATURDAY: I got up at 7am this morning and started to clean. Folks were coming until 12pm but with some coming from long distances I figured some would show up early so I wanted to get everything done. I finished cleaning around 9:30am (well almost finished as I had to clean the bedroom and master bathroom but Harry was still sleeping so it had to wait). I then moved on to my next project, surround sound. I have been wanting to set up my surround sound system since we moved in two years ago but just never got around to it.. but I figured this was going to be a big event and we want to have it sound great so I got all the equipment out of the garage, cleaned it off and hooked it up. I finished around 10:15am and moments after my buddy Chris showed up (he drove from just north of Santa Barbara). I tested the surround sound and it worked so everything was ready to go.

About 15 minutes after my buddy Chris arrived Harry woke up and I was able to get into the bedroom/ master bathroom and clean. But as I was cleaning the bathroom more people showed up as it was getting closer to Noon. So I was greeting people while running back and trying to finish cleaning the master bathroom. Finally after greeting Leo, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Ron and Shenah I was finally able to finish my bathroom and I was done with the cleaning.

Now it's noon and the party is in full swing.. Chris, Leo, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Ron and Shenah were already here and within the next hour Megan, Jared, Troy, Andrew and Michele arrive and I was starting to worry that I wouldn't have enough room in my TV room for everyone to sit. I had already moved another couch in there and tons of pillows for those sitting on the floor but I think we were going to max out all the floor space as well. While we waited for others to arrive we played some Wii.

So around 1pm we started to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and I started the BBQ. I would go back and fourth between watching and cooking. Food was done about 1 hour into the movie so we paused it so everyone could grab some lunch. Also just a side note all of my guest brought some great chips, cookies and drinks.. we were well stocked. So everyone grabbed some food and then went back into the TV room to continue our viewing of Raiders. About an hour into the movie my buddy Luis arrived and grabbed some food and joined in the movie watching

Once that was over Michele had to leave for work and we started Temple of Doom. This is my favorite of the Indy movies so I really wanted to see this one. Two hours later the movie ended and Jared, Andrew and Megan departed the marathon.

We then started The Last Crusade and about a half hour into it Leslie showed up and joined in the fun and I headed out to pick up some Pizza which is just five minutes away from the house but took me almost and hour to get so I pretty much missed the second half of The Last Crusade. And by the time I got back the movie was over and folks were just hanging out.

So we had some pizza, chatted, did some shots and went out back to do some stargazing, as it gets really dark out here and you can see hundreds of stars. After an hour I asked if folks were ready for The Crystal Skull and folks were up for it so we headed back into the TV room and watched the final installment of the Indiana Jones series. Those left to watch the final movie were Chris, Leo, Luis, Leslie, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Troy, Ron, Shenah, Harry and myself.

After the final movie we all went outside as it was even darker and stargazed for a bit before coming back in and doing more shots and just hanging out. Some started up the Wii, others snacked and chatted. Around 3am Ron and Shenah decided to head home but Chris, Leo, Luis, Leslie, Anne, Jen, Aaron, and Troy decided to stay the night and crash at my place. And they were all still going strong, unfortunately I was not and was ready for bed... so I made sure everyone had pillows and sheets and knew where they were sleeping before hitting my own bed. Told them all I would get up the next morning and make everyone breakfast.

SUNDAY: Well I got up around 10am and headed outside to see everyone up (excluding Troy who seemed to have gone home at 4am), they were watching Family Guy Star Wars. Found out that they all went to bed around 4am and woke up at 8am and have been waiting for me to get up to feed them :)

So with the help of Jen we made bacon, sausage, scrabbled eggs, hash browns, toast and OJ for everyone. While this was happening they started to watch Galaxy Quest so we all ate our breakfast and watched Galaxy Quest. About half way through the movie Leslie decided to head home and once the movie was over the rest decided to pack up and head home ending a 23 hour party.

When ever you host a party you rarely get to truly enjoy it. I missed some of Raiders, got to see Temple of Doom, missed alot of Crusade but did watch all of Crystal Skull but all in all I had a great time. I love hosting parties and don't do it that often. Got to socialize with some new and old friends. This group of friends are fairly new, I meet most of them from Season Five of the Guild but it's a great group of guys and gals... and I hope our friendships continue to grow.  Most came from long distance to be here, north of Santa Barbara to south of San Diego and that means a lot to me. I've talked to a few of them and they seemed to really enjoy themselves and can't wait for the next marathon which I will be in September/October and will be either Lord of the Rings or Star Wars (Original trilogy). I'll keep everyone posted.

A special thanks to Chris, Leo, Anne, Jen, Aaron, Troy, Luis, Andrew, Jared, Michele, Megan, Leslie, Ron, Shenah and of course Harry for making last nights marathon / BBQ / sleep over a huge success.

You can see more pictures from the Marathon/BBQ/Sleepover HERE