don't underestimate the fun that can be had with a group of 50/60year olds :)

i went home this past weekend for my dad's surprise 60th birthday bash - and oh man, was it rockin!! my dad had some inkling that something was going down, but he didn't know what it was - he tried to make me crack under the pressure almost as soon as i got in on friday night, but little did he know, i am as solid as a vault muahhahahah :) on saturday, we dropped him off at the library downtown oakville so he could do some work on a report he was writing - good thing he had that to do, or else we wouldn't have known what to do with him while we ran around getting things done! we picked up the balloons, the cake and flowers, and stopped in at the banquet hall to drop off a lot of our stuff - they were very good to us and allowed us to store stuff in their offices. i think my mom was a little frazzled with all the prep, but the bro and i were there to help her out, so it turned out quite well.

on sunday, we told my dad we were going to take him out to dinner for his birthday - just the fam. matt and i went out under the pretenses of purchasing a bottle of cologne, but we jetted over to the banquet hall to set everything up. just at the entrance there were two tables in an L shape - one held four bristol boards full of pictures of my dad and various people, and on the other a sheet was draped over it and acted as a large birthday card which the guests would sign. the tables were set beautifully with the flowers we bought as centrepieces. after ensuring that everything was in order, we headed back home just in time to get ready. the fam was all decked out - dressed to the nines, it was fabulous. we all piled into our car, mom in the drivers seat taking us to the par-tay. we got to the place, walked inside and everything was quiet because the doors leading to the hall were closed. we hung up our coats and lead dad towards the doors - he opened them and just stood there in shock, a smile on his face. before him was a group of about 35 of his friends and some family - some he hadn't seen in ages, and some he really was not expecting. it was GREAT!

i got to see a lot of family friends as well - many of them i had not seen in yeeears, literally. most of them couldn't believe it was me they were seeing, since the last time they saw me, i was six. haha. it was a lot of fun. we mingled, had punch, and snacked on a variety of crackers and cheeses. the night continued with tributes to dad, we each gave him one, matt and i sang a song, two of his friends roused the party by singing some old school caribbean tunes - my dad even got on stage and joined them for a few! we played 'name that tune' and the 'who am i' game, we opened up the floor to the guests to share their memories of dad, and once they started, they just kept on goin! and treens performed a dance to a christian song, which was really beautiful. all in all, it was a really fun night! we had five hours of goodness - we arrived at the banquet hall at approximately 5pm and left at about 10pm. at the end of it all, my cheeks hurt from smiling, my feet were a little sore from my shoes, but i was thrilled that we were able to give my dad that awesome night - the best present that money couldn't buy.