My dad flew in on Thursday, so we've been spending as much time as we can with him. Friday, he asked me to bring Lilly to his office so that he could have a grandpa moment while he walked around and showed her off. It's still so fun for me to see how in love he is...and how scared he is. You'd think he's never touched a baby before, even having raised 3 kids. He panics and says "oh! What's wrong? What does she need?!!" when she cries or makes noise. It's adorable. After I visited him at work, I ran over to my mom's house to get started on a surprise for him. His birthday was yesterday, so I wanted to make him a cake. I rarely get to see him on his birthday, especially since he moved to Seattle, so a cake was in order. I tapped into my creativity and decided to try my hand at making a golf cake; grass, sand trap, hole, and golf ball included. After how late yesterday's activities went, I didn't get to show it to him yet, so that will happen tonight...
Yesterday for his birthday, we filled the day with so many fun things. First was breakfast at our family's always-favorite spot, the Belgian Waffle. I grew up eating here with my family, and now I get to take my own little family. We covered Lilly from head to toe in all of her Notre Dame gear, just for grandpa. She looked adorable, but the large quantities of blue and green made everyone tell us how cute our SON was. Ha! After breakfast, and witnessing one of the most traumatizing episodes of a newborn spitting up (poor lady didn't even see it coming!), the next stop for our day of birthday fun was the zoo!! I've never been to the zoo with my dad (that I can remember). This was Lilly's first time, my dad's first time going in probably 15 or so years, and my first time getting to see the new polar bear exhibits. I think I was most excited out of everyone. Despite how hot it was, we were successful in keeping Lilly somewhat happy. As long as we were able to keep a bottle of water close by, she was happy. She didn't even throw a fit when I pulled her out and held her under one of those water misters. That's definitely the longest I've ever spent at the zoo. Turns out, taking a baby to the zoo adds about 3 hours onto what we would usually spend. Lots of baby feeding, grandpa napping, and slowly pushing the stroller up huge hills. I just wanted to get home to my shower and wash off all of the sweat under some freezing cold water.
After the zoo, my dad wanted to surprise us and take us out to a special dinner. We were trying to talk him into letting US take HIM out for his birthday, but he insisted on being cryptic about where he was taking us. Thank you to my mother for taking Lilly for the night. After dinner, it occurred to us that the restaurant we went to was just not a place to take babies...not to mention, we were out until about midnight. Anyway, he took us up into the mountains to a place called "Log Haven." When we showed up, and everyone around us was driving Audi's and stepping out of limos, I was relieved that I not only showered when we got home, but redid my makeup, my hair, and actually dressed up. It was such a beautiful place. A small log cabin, tucked in the middle of the woods, lit up by twinkle lights. One of those guy-sits-at-a-grand-piano-and-plays-music-all-night kind of places...or one of those places that you're too embarrassed to order a Diet Coke and ketchup for your fries (or pommes frites, as they called them). But don't worry, I still ordered both. I lived on the edge and tried a few things that I've never had before. First was calamari. Yes, I've had little fried calamari at other restaurants, but this calamari was not breaded, and most of them still had the tentacles on. The second new food for me was bison steak. Ryan loves bison, so he couldn't resist ordering a nice big slab of it and making me try a bite. The third new food, don't laugh, was brussel sprouts. My dad and Ryan both warned me that I would hate them (only because they both hated them and were traumatized by terrible childhood memories of poorly-cooked baby cabbages), but I actually loved them. They were fried in balsamic vinegar, with bacon and onions. You really can't go wrong with bacon. We sat and munched for a good 4 HOURS, in fact, we were the last ones to leave. And as we did so, we decided to crash a wedding reception that was still being held out back. Haha, no, we didn't crash it, but we did sneak in to take a picture by the waterfall...and my dad stole a few Oreos. It was a really amazingly beautiful night, full of reminiscing and telling stories with my dad, eating delicious food, and enjoying the views. This was an experience that, without my dad's generosity, we would have never had, especially after seeing the bill. WHOA!
By the time we got home around midnight, after a day of walking around in the hot sun, I was so beyond exhausted. And even more thankful that Lilly was at my mom's. She got to take her to a friend's wedding reception. I got lots of cute pictures of her hitting on the cute boys. :P Tonight is a BBQ and birthday cake for my dad, before he flies home this evening. More pictures and stories to come!!
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The bottom right picture makes me laugh. Every time I go to the zoo, I take a picture in front of this mural. It's family tradition, so we subjected Lilly to it. She was perfectly happy until we made her put her feet on the ground. Priceless! |
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