Surprise!

We threw my dad a Surprise 60th Birthday Party and he was surprised. You see, my dad works about 6 hours away from his wife, my mom. After all these years being married, they still enjoy seeing one another as often as they can. They are a wonderful example!

My brother had come up with the idea to throw my dad this party, which he would never suspect because he's not the type to want or expect anything like this... we're not much alike in that sense. Well, the key was making sure my dad went home that weekend and didn't want my mom to meet him 1/2 way. That turned out to be the easy part. Since my dad's birthday is around (this year was on) Mother's Day, my mom told him she was going to have everyone over for Mother's Day. My dad didn't realize she meant EVERYONE. He thought she meant her family.

When he got home late Friday night, he wasn't too surprised to see my family since we had gone to Dallas to pick up a van, it only made sense that we drove 2 more hours to see them for the weekend. Shortly after my dad had gone to bed Friday night, my brother and his family arrived. When my dad woke up and saw another vehicle outside, he didn't know who it belonged to, but he soon found out. He was glad to see them. A couple of hours later, my sister and the rest of her family showed up and my dad didn't know what to think then.

Well, we did as we usually do, we started getting things ready for the Mother's Day cookout. K went fishing with my sister's youngest daughter, her step-son, and her husband. While some fished at the pond, a few of us ran to the store to pick up a few things and of course, you can't get my brother and sister together without a sword fight in the middle of the store... it's always fun with them two around.

Shortly after we got back, I asked my dad to show me how to get to Wal-Mart so I could pick up some things for my mom for the cookout. I needed an excuse to get him out of the house because they needed to decorate and some of his family were coming in and we didn't want him to know. So, we went shopping. My dad is not a shopper. Although we were only gone for two hours (it takes 30 mins. to get to the store) my dad was ready to leave and was worried about everyone having to wait on us to get back. I wasn't sure when my dad's family was going to be there, so I did everything I could to stall, including parking on the side of a small road so he could look at my GPS and try to figure something out.

Well, needless to say, we were gone long enough. As we drove up, my dad noticed the unfamiliar vehicles, but had NO clue who they belonged to. As we walked up to my mom's house and turned the corner, everyone shouted "Surprise", sang Happy Birthday, and started shaking their maracas. My dad's brother and sister had made it before we got back. He was completely surprised. In my 30 years of living, I can't recall my dad ever having a birthday party. This was the first time ALL my parent's grandkids had ever been together at the SAME time. Here's a picture with my parents and my siblings with their spouses and kids. M wasn't able to stay, so he's not in the picture.

May is a busy month for our family. We have 4 birthdays and Mother's Day! Although the party was for my dad, my mom surprised everyone that has a birthday in May with their own cake that my Aunt made. They were good too!

My uncle Mike (my dad's brother) holding L, my aunt Michelle (my mom's sister-in-law), my sister-in-law and brother, their son (walking by), and my sister and me being goofy... none of my parent's kids like to miss a photo op.