WOW. That was definitely an amazing and Epic Weekend for sure. Friday was my Dad Padre's 60th birthday. Yes, the trend of my family starting young has clearly been bucked by me lol. Friday I took the day off from work to drive up to see them in Mansfield, Ma. I did warn Padre during President's Day Weekend that I was planning on taking a vacation day for his birthday Friday June 2nd. He did know about that surprise. What he didn't know was that his side of our family was flying in to surprise him. He also didn't know that they would be staying over at my parents raised ranch house. That house can get filled up pretty quickly with multiple people, even before my sister and I go back home to visit. As we kept getting closer to the Thursday surprise, Padre did start to get more suspicious. He also noticed Madre cleaning even more than usual. Padre was starting to figure that we would at least be getting some company from Jacksonville, Florida.
Thursday late afternoon Uncle Bill and Aunt Rhonda arrived at the house. My sister Zannie FaceTimed me so I could say hi to them. Padre then got more surprised when my Aunt Cathy, grandfather Pop Pop, and his longtime girlfriend Gladys showed up. Oh yes, it's that kind of party now!
Friday afternoon I drove from Vernon, NJ to Mansfield, MA. Pretty routine drive nothing too crazy. It likely helped that I hit the road at 9:30am Friday. Basically a 4 hour drive total.
Friday night we went to Padre's favorite Friday night happy hour spot, Bog Iron Brewery in Norton, Ma. We have a great friendship with the bartenders there, I was able to sneak off to the side and slip my credit card to Gabby and letting her know that Padre and my family were all with me. We all had fun getting to catch up and see each other in person. I still couldn't believe it had been ten years since I saw my Redneck Relatives. The words "YALL, Yeehaw, and Fixin," are all temporarily back in my vocabulary. Between that and all of the Boston accents I was surrounded by, I can't even imagine how weird I must sound on the radio today.
We enjoyed our two beers at Bog Iron and had many laughs along the way. We then had a fun night in at my parents house after that. It worked out perfectly that Padre got to enjoy his birthday at Bog Iron, where he would normally be on a Friday for happy hour anyway. Now he was able to show it off to our Redneck Relatives.
Saturday we took my family to nearby Gillette Stadium so they could see how the new construction is looking. It was also Aunt Rhonda's first time ever up here, so it was fun for her to see it in person. We had fun going to the Patriots Pro Shop. Believe it or not, they had sale items! I had never seen anything on sale in the Pro Shop. I stumbled on a Bill Belichick gray hoody, just like the one I have, just like the one he had worn. They're usually around $90, but in this case they were on sale for $65. My Belichick hoody I only pull out for the playoff games. There is a hole in the pocket portion that can't be fixed. I love my Belichick hoody but only wear it during the playoff games in a preservation attempt. Madre saw how excited I was to see it and offered to buy it for me. I normally would say no I'd rather get it myself, but I was in good spirits and let her. All of the sudden she had me put a hoody back on the rack and I was very confused. Everyone got a kick out of the confused face I made. She had me return it to the rack, because Uncle Bill found another one and bought it for me to surprise me. I was psyched!
Saturday afternoon sister Zannie and I snuck off to decorate Fitzy's Pub in nearby Plainville, Ma for Padre's surprise birthday party we were throwing for him. I fibbed and claimed that we were going out to the ATM. Padre wasn't suspicious but asked why I was gone so long going to the ATM. I told him BOA had closed down too many of their local ATM units (which wasn't entirely false, even though I never went near the ATMs.)
Saturday night it's surprise party time. The restaurant was packed and Padre was concerned as we had a large party. I reminded him that my sister Zannie who has restaurant experience made the reservation and told him I had no concerns at all. He said "fair enough." Then as we started walking towards the restaurant it's getting more exciting. I was right beside Padre walking in and could see the look of sincere surprise on his face! We did it! GREAT night. I had a great time seeing my family. It was absolutely wonderful.
Saturday night after the party we ended up back at my parents house. I was happy to spend the nights on the couch near The Allan Tavern, ie, my parents basement. I wanted to be entertaining for my family, especially while having the additional fun company of Pop Pop, Gladys, Uncle Bill, Aunt Rhonda and Aunt Cathy. We had my Uncle Jeff "JDawg" over. Over the last few weeks, I jokingly made a song for him. Not as impressive as it sounds. Basically I came up with lines to Simon & Garfunkel's 'Sound Of Silence, where I was able to replace the line "hello darkness my old friend," with "hello JDawg, my best friend." I had a few more lines in there that were rhyming enough. My family got a kick out of it at least.
Sunday was my farewell lunch at Fresh Catch in Mansfield, Ma. Their seafood is fantastic! The ride home was a little tough due to rain in Connecticut. I was on the road by 2, didn't get home in Vernon until 7:30pm. I'll bounce back better tomorrow lol.
Overall we had a memorable, fun weekend. I promise you next weekend will be far less intense. I'm ready to try relaxing a little more lol.