Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's 60th birthday, and while I can't be there for the day itself, Lucas and I had a blast creating a whole surprise weekend a little early :)

I had no idea, but apparently I ordered the cake from one of the best bakeries around! LaSalle, you were great!

I picked Lucas up at the airport on Friday and we spent the afternoon eating, prepping, and avoiding running into Dad. Lunch at Tallulah's Taqueria and dessert at PVDonuts was a great way to do this!

We conspired with some of our friends (thanks Georgina, Manu, José, and Rici!) to show up at Dad's regular Friday evening haunt, GCB. It was a surprise when I walked in, since I am very rarely able to make it down on a Friday at all, let alone early enough, but Dad's reaction to Lucas was priceless, and totally worth hiding the fact that he was coming in from Denver.

After GCB, a few of us went to dinner at Lim's (our go-to!) and ate waaaay too much, but had to still have dessert! I made one combining Dad's favorite flavors-raspberry cream cheese brownies. Delicious and oh-so-rich!

Dad had to speak on a panel Saturday morning, so Lucas and I took advantage of this to clean a lot of the house and tried to play it off as one of his surprises. Naturally we also had to go to Rebelle Artisan Bagels-I think it lived up to the (my) hype! When Dad returned, we also filled him in on his next surprise-going skydiving! Obviously I would not partake in this (though Lucas did), but we all drove down to Newport to spend the afternoon there. We started with a yummy lunch at the Tavern on Broadway so they could fuel up for their dive. I, on the other hand, took the opportunity to wander around Newport.

The boys loved skydiving, but we had one more surprise up our collective sleeve-a party, of course! I told Dad I wanted to be back in time to watch the Michigan game (which wasn't untrue, but *sigh*...that game was a travesty), so we again coordinated with Georgina, Manu, and José to time it perfectly. Dad, Lucas, and I may have had a couple drinks on the porch of the Lobster Bar to both enjoy the sunset and delay our return.

We had so many lovely guests...thank you all for being a part of making this birthday so special! The party raged on until the wee hours of the morning and Dad had a blast.

The night is never complete without a group selfie!

Sunday morning we relaxed and went to breakfast at the Classic Cafe before Lucas had to make it to the airport. I hung out a few hours longer, managing to sneak in lunch and a strawberry milkshake from Three Sisters before driving back to Boston.

Had to get that family photo!

Dad, thank you for always being such a support to everyone in your life. I hope you have the most wonderful birthday; I'm so glad I got to celebrate to the extreme with you this weekend!

xoxoxo
Emma