Surprise #2

Well after spending a day and a half with my Mom, we decided to let the cat out of the bag and surprise my Dad as well. I had already coordinated with my aunt so she knew we were in town and the plan was to have him home at 5, so we could show up and surprise him. They were heading to my cousins basketball game, so when we walked in the door, my Dad was just shocked. He saw my sister first and we got NO reaction. I immediately thought, he must have known, but my poor sister thought, he just wasn't excited to see us. The truth was that it just took his mind a little time to catch up with what was actually happening. (When you're 60, that's kind of what happens) :} Anyway, when he realized that we were actually in SD to be with him for his 60th and were staying for a few days, he got so excited. He was very surprised that everyone around him was in on the surprise and he had NO CLUE!!! Once the reality caught up with what was happening, this is the adorable smile we got from our Dad:

Hugs all around

It was fun because we got to see 2 of my younger cousins play high school basketball. See my Dad's family has 9 siblings, so you can just imagine how many cousins I have. I think it's 26+. And because of that, there are different generations of cousins. When we were growing up, we didn't really know the littler cousins. So, now it is fun for us to connect on a more adult level and see how they've matured and grown since we saw them as babies. And grown they have. My Dad's side of the family has always been tall but the one pictured above is 6' 7". Isn't the poster cool? It is HUGE!!!! and was up in their gym area of their school.

Here is a picture of both of the boys. One is number 12 and the other is the tall blonde.
Check out that jump!!
Yeah, sorry buddy, you're not getting a hand on that one. (my cousin's the highest one up) It was a really good, close game. They won in overtime!! Yeah S and E, it was so fun to watch you play. You made your cousin proud. :}

We woke up the next morning and my Dad was so sweet. He called us for breakfast and these were his exact words, "I've been up since 7:30 because I couldn't go back to sleep. I was just so excited you girls were here. I don't know what we have planned to do today but I know we are going to be together and that's all I care about." I mean you always know your parents love you by default but to have them express that and to just see in their expressions and actions how grateful they are because of you, it was so special. We went out for coffee and just chatted.... probably for a good 2 hours. Then my sister and I decided to give him his special 60th B-day gift that we made. I created a book that had 60+ pages of pictures and quotes from all 4 of his girls growing up to the present. It also included some pictures of him as a child and also pictures of the grandkids. It just turned out awesome and I think he really, really liked it. My Dad is always so reflective and when we're together we always love to reflect about different stories and memories of our lives. I think this book will be a great keepsake that he can have of all of us growing up and the wonderful memories we've created as a family.

He really liked the book and we went from crying to laughing, back to crying just looking at all the pictures.

After coffee we went to lunch and talked again for a LONG time. We drove around town and saw where my Dad lived and where my Mom and Dad met. It was a real nice day and like my Dad said, " It didn't matter what we did, as long as we were together." He had another surprise coming that evening but I'll put that in a separate post tomorrow.

Freezing!!!! at the Sioux Falls