Our Life in Michigan...: Fortress Party

This past Saturday we got our first ever paid babysitter at our house...big step for us indeed! All went just fine with the 13-year-old and according to her, Eben handled the separation well...surprisingly as Eben has been very clingy to Mommy lately.

So what did we do on our night of freedom? We enjoyed a nice dinner first and then attended something called the 16th Annual Fortress Party at Dane's program director's house (Zach). What is a Fortress Party? Well, it is a party where Zach transformed most of his home into a giant fort made of sheets and themed rooms. So we walked in and all we saw were paths/mazes made of sheets. He covers up as much of the structure of his house as he can (sheets and blankets on the ceiling and floors too). Hard to explain so I took pictures (kind of a long post, haha):

This kind of shows the hallway sheets - narrow paths leading to each room. (and a little peek at my belly :)

The pathways were lined with Christmas lights so we could see.

First room - Pompeii Prom. There is a volcano on the left, it is smokey/fogged, folding chairs surrounding the dance floor, a punch fountain when you enter, and an ash-covered mummified couple cuddling on the ground...must have been victims of the volcano.

Pompeii High class of 79 A.D. photos on the wall.

The Lucky Spa (with flash)

It actually looked like this with black lights, soothing fountains, and a crazy Japanese Kabuki video - like super weird Japanese artistic expressive video...can't even begin to explain it.

In a hallway we encountered what reminded us of the movie SAW. There were these four strings hanging from the ceiling labeled left leg, right leg, left arm, right arm; and on the television was a puppet that would move the limb you pulled. Where is the puppet located???

There were stairs around the corner and there he was at the top - a HUGE puppet.

This room was themed like the inside of a car. It had projectors behind the sheets projecting on three walls of driving in traffic. They literally drove around town for an hour with three cameras, one pointing out the windshield, and one out each front side window (they were synchronized for the projection). They set up 4 chairs, made a cardboard steering wheel and dashboard, and had a clock radio playing. So, when you were sitting down in a chair, you felt like you were driving around Ann Arbor. They even did a hit and run (fake), which we missed. Pretty clever.

Signing the yearly Fortress Party sheets.

Up the River Jail - he set up a jail with inmates and all. But the best part was the main room of the jail had a place to make mugshots of ourselves and finger printing. See below for our mugshots and crimes.