This guy turned 70 on November 18th.
What do you do for your dad when he turns 70? You take a road trip and surprise him by telling him Happy Birthday in person! Six out of eight of us kids made plans to head to Washington State for a quick weekend surprise trip. All of us from Utah drove up together. We left at about 9 pm on Thursday night. Lee spent a bit of time on conference calls. So we tried to be quiet for him.
After driving all night we stopped for breakfast at around 7am somewhere in Washington, I can't remember the name of the town. But this cafe was wonderful and famous for it's eggs benedict.
We had planned with my mom to show up at their dinner at Golden Corral at around 4:00 on Friday to surprise my dad. But we were already 20 minutes away from their house by 9:30 in the morning and didn't want to waste the whole day waiting around to surprise him. So, I called my mom and told her to come to Costco where we would each take turns surprising him.
She said that he would most likely go to the book section first, so we had Jared stationed there first. It was so funny! Jared walked up to my dad with a book about Abraham Lincoln and asked my dad if he had ever read the book before. My dad didn't even recognize Jared and sat looking through the book with him for quite awhile trying to see the publish date. Finally he said no that he hadn't read that book and started to walk away when he finally looked at Jared and realized who it was! These pictures are fuzzy because I took them off of the video that Lee was shooting, but you see the reactions at least. I have the video on YouTube here.
Next it was Lee's turn. He started walking behind Dad and Jared while they were talking. He decided to just wait and see when Dad would notice him there walking with Mom. He finally turned around and saw Lee there. Here's his look. The video is found here.
Then they kept walking and Tracy surprised him next.
After Tracy he asked who else was there. He even jokingly called out "Erin" a few times, but they just laughed it off. Until I came out around a corner and surprised him. This picture is him saying, "now this really is everyone, right?" We said that yes this was it and that we just took a quick drive up from Utah to tell him Happy Birthday. He was thrilled and we were happy to get to spend some extra time with him and Mom.
That evening a birthday dinner had been planned at the Golden Corral with Grandma and Grandpa and a few cousins and friends. Uncle Lynn had faked that he was sick so he could go and pick up my brother Dave from the airport. The traffic ended up being so bad that we were waiting around at the Golden Corral for hours pretending that we just needed to keep eating so that Dave could get there and surprise my dad. Lee really took one for the team as he went back to the dessert bar again and again. He knew he was in trouble when Dad stopped eating before he did. :)
Finally they got there! Here is a picture that I was taking of Mom and Dad when Dave got there. He kept saying "cheeeeeese" really loud right behind them and it took awhile for them to realize who was there.
Dad finally turned around and noticed who was there. :) You can see the video here.
After that everyone came back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and gave Dad a few birthday presents and cards from grandkids. I don't have a picture of it, but that's when Jamie walked in the house after being picked up from the airport by my parent's friend, Meledie. Finally everyone that was coming was there! We ended up staying up late talking or falling asleep on the floor and it was so fun being together just as siblings. No spouses (who we love and missed), no kids (who we love and weren't gone long enough to miss too much. Ha ha!), and nothing we needed to be at. We were just together. It would have been perfect if Thad and Tera could have been there instead of across the ocean!
The next morning we (reluctantly) got out of bed after being up half the night. But we perked right up when we heard that Aunt Sharon was making us a nice breakfast at her house. She made Dad's favorite, biscuits and gravy, and boy can that woman cook! It was so good!
After breakfast we all got dressed and showered and headed out to spend the day together. My mom borrowed my cousin's 15 passenger van so that we didn't have to be in separate cars. It was so nice and we had fun!
We headed over to Deception Pass where there was a cold, drizzly rain falling. Someone had the great idea to drop us off at one side of the bridge and meet us with the van on the other side. We were all soaked by the time we got across, but we saw a bald eagle and an otter or something playing down in the water below.
Then we headed to the park down below the bridge where some friendly people in kayaks did some rolls in the water for us. We cheered them on and then turned to see Dave laying flat on his back where he had slipped on the wet grass. Ouch! Glad he didn't break anything! He sure did land hard though and knocked the breath out of him.
After we were all thoroughly soaked we headed for the city of Anacortes on the San Juan Islands to look for something to eat for lunch. We all wanted to find a good fish place since we were surrounded by sea water. We ended up going to Anthony's, a modern, upscale restaurant with amazing food! Lee ordered some oysters on the half shell for everyone to try. It was my first time and other than putting too much vinegar on my first one they were very tasty.
They brought Dad out a creme brule with a candle in it for his birthday. It was tasty!
While we were waiting for our food Dad started playing with his new iPhone. He figured out how to use the panoramic feature on his camera and had some fun with it. The first picture has a few weird squished heads if you look closely, but it's not the worst one that he took! Ha ha!
That evening we came home and played some games and ate treats before heading out to the ward chili cook-off. Dad kept saying he really wanted to go see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. So, we ditched the ward party early and hit a very late showing of the movie. I thought it was great, except I had a terrible headache from lack of sleep. Some caffeine fixed me right up and I enjoyed the movie. Lee and Jared slept through half of it.
Lee needed to get back to Utah by around 6:30 Sunday night. So, we got a few hours of sleep and then took off at around 3am to head home. We had some nasty weather for the first part of the trip and dealt with some icy roads for a bit, but then it was smooth sailing and we made it home in great time! I can't believe how easy it is to travel without kids! You forget!
We made great memories on this trip. We had fun together, laughed together, teased each other, and celebrated a great man together. My dad is amazing! It was fun to give him exactly what he wanted (even if he didn't know he wanted it) for his birthday!
