A Palm Springs Surprise

Grandma Andree has been planning this for months - a surprise celebration for Grandaddio's 60th birthday with family and friends from all over. There was no way we would all be able to pull this off, we thought. He'll see right through it, he'll know something is up. Won't he?

The plan for us was that we would drive up the night before and stay at Baba's house until it was time for the party. I told the girls we would be going to Grandaddio's birthday party but staying with Baba and Nana. "That doesn't make any sense at all" Zoe told me.

It came in very handy to have two sets of grandparents in the same town this weekend. We spent a great day swimming and relaxing by the pool at Casa LaQuinta, took naps and then got the little kids all cleaned up for the big party.

Of course, I had to take some pre-party pictures.

The Dude was looking particularly adorable.

My four loves.

Grandaddio had no idea we were in town and was under the impression that he was simply going to Andree's daughter's Michelle's house for dinner. There were so many cars parked in Michelle's cul de sac, that we couldn't hide inside, so we poured onto the street to wait for his car to round the corner.

It was a big beautiful sky evening and the light was just lovely.

We were a little overanxious and had to wait longer than we expected for him to arrive.

We kept busy taking pictures of the visiting family.
Katie flew in all the way from Colorado and Terri from Chicago.


Mimi and Athena let me take a bazillion pictures of them.
Seriously, the light was incredible.

The Dude couldn't hang and crashed out on his Daddy.

Grandaddio's car rounded the corner to cheers. Grandma Andree said he kept saying "What the heck is this?" and she just laughed and laughed.

Uncle Jim gave him a beer through the car window and took his keys to park it for him.


The little girls ran to him and immediately clung to his legs.

He greeted his throngs of well wishers.

And got a little extra teasing from his sisters and brothers.

All the preparation, organization and deception was worth it...

for this moment, when he hugged Katie...

and we saw tears pierce the corners of the eyes of our usually stoic Grandaddio as he was overcome for a split second from all the outpouring of love.

That moment was followed by many other special moments with longtime friends and his brothers and sisters and extended family members and a classic picture of himself and all his goodlookin' offspring.

Michelle and Grandma Andree threw a truly fantastic party! You guys pulled it off perfectly - he was genuinely surprised!

We love you so much Grandaddio!