Terrifically Thomas: Poppy's Birthday

Last week, my Dad (Jack's Poppy) had quite the MILESTONE of a birthday. You see, my dad has never been one to divulge his TRUE age to anyone...and I mean ANYONE. Usually, you get a fabricated/ subtracted version of the actual number and he can typically convince most...that is, until you hear his oldest child is the age she is...and his youngest (me) is the age she is as well...then, people can figure out that this guy is bat sh*t crazy about that silly number. He doesn't act one bit of his age and can run circles around people half his age so I do not know why it is such a huge issue for him but we love giving him absolute HELL about how old he is.

So what was this magic number?!? 60! Yes, SIXTY, my friends! I remember being 8 years old and getting in bed to give him breakfast when he turned 40... he was in tears. My father has always been young at heart. A kid to the core, he lives life by the mantra of enjoying every last bit to the fullest and never acting his age. I remember him going on trips to Europe, Australia, or even Hawaii every summer and to Colorado, Utah, or other snowy wonderlands every winter to ski. He and my mom were constantly surrounded by their friends at cookouts/ gatherings/ dinners/ parties when I was younger, having a blast with everyone. He taught English at my high school for 30+ years and was the head of senior advisory all the while. Everyone loved him and the spirit he brought to the school or any situation he was involved in. He was the best...he IS the best! I admire him in every way possible...WE always have an absolute blast together - I could seriously go on for days about how phenomenal he is as a father, as a mentor, as a friend, as a person. To be honest, I think it upsets me quite a bit that he is 60 because I do not want to picture my father getting older. Color me selfish, but I want him around FOREVER. I NEED him around forever. Jack is so lucky to have this man in his life and I can't wait for him to enjoy him in the way I have for the past 28+ years.

Poppy in his hat and shirt with his boy :)

Thus, we've known this day has been creeping up on us for a while now. I have honestly been thinking about it since his 50th. His 50th birthday happened during my senior year of high school - remember, he taught at the very high school I attended so of course, I had some crazy plans for making his day one he would never forget. Plus, it would really bust his bubble because he had so many students believing he was only 40...ha! With a 27 year old daughter (my sister) at the time?!? Double "HA"! Anyway, nothing worked out as planned because some serious situations occurred with the death of his mother which required him to be in Florida and me in the hospital with some serious kidney issues. It wasn't the best birthday for him so since then, I have been destined to make THIS birthday a day he wouldn't forget. I talked to him the week before his birthday and he seemed so, sooooo sad about his upcoming "age of doom" so I decided to take it easy on him with the signs around town and what not. He refused to allow me to throw him a party so we did what he wanted to do which was dinner at their house with a homemade meal by the amazing chef we have in my mother.

Which is exactly what we did and it was perfect for him! Mom, however, wasn't as easy on him with the age number...SHE and Cathryn decorated their house in signs and black crepe paper...he even had a special shirt AND hat he had to wear! Shawn was the hardest of all on him about how old he is...it was precious. My only contribution to the "hating" of the number was letting everyone know the actual number and getting his cake. I originally wanted some variation of THIS CAKE (see below):

BUT, every place was giving me a quote of at least $150 (I was expecting like $75-80) so that was NO dice. Tacky yes, but we wanted tacky and foul...he's an old fart! My dad loves ice cream, so we settled on a simple cake from Dairy Queen that looked like this:

Okay, so it's not a total work of art, or some masterful cake, but it got the point across! Like I said, tacky yes, but still hilarious!

Anyway, I cannot find my charger or cord to my camera at the moment (its buried in stuff we moved in the office to nursery transition) so these are the only pics I have for now. Just know that we had a wonderful night celebrating the age of a terrific man. While it may not have been some huge bumpin' party, it was perfect for my dad and we had a sensational time! I cannot wait to celebrate next year with Jack in tow!