A season of birthdays and surprises
We never made a big deal of holidays in my family. Growing up, I was (and remain) quiet and introverted. I was also born in the summer, so birthday parties with friends were not really a thing. Later on, it was also pretty nice because my family has always been understanding when I couldn’t go home for holidays, throughout medical school and residency. Also, I got to avoid crazy holiday travel (crowds and prices)! However, this summer was a bit different with lots of family time to celebrate birthdays!
Three out of the four of us in the family were born during the summer months. First, comes my dad, followed by my mom 2 weeks later, and then me 2 days later. Cody and I were going to visit my parents this summer anyway, so what better time than to plan it to coincide with my dad’s 75th birthday at the end of July!
We had a fun time. We treated my dad to dinner at a sushi buffet restaurant. When we got home, we surprised him with a key lime pie. I’m sure my dad loves other types of pie, but I’ve only bought him key lime pies since I was a kid. We sang “happy birthday,” and he pretended to blow out a candle.
Those imaginary candles didn't stand a chance!
The remainder of our visit was filled with delicious Cuban pastries, morning swims (including my parent’s car breaking down on our way back from the pool on one of these days), and outlet shopping for nicer clothes for Cody for our upcoming engagement pictures. On the last day we, again, raucously sang happy birthday to my dad on the way to the airport, before missing our flight (despite being at the airport 3 hours early) and having to stay an extra day. On the bright side, Cody ended up mowing my parent’s yard. My parents even let him borrow a very stylish bucket hat while he mowed the lawn.
Stylish while doing yard work
A couple weeks after we were in Florida, my parents were visiting my sister’s family to help her take care of her baby (since daycare didn’t start until September). I can’t remember the last time we were all together as a family. My sister (K) and her husband (B) live about 4.5 hours away from us, so behind the scenes K and I coordinated a surprise for us to visit while my parents were there. K ordered and had us pick up Chinese food from a nearby restaurant. We would pretend to be UberEats and deliver the food to her house, with my unsuspecting mom answering the door.
We heard that K set up the surprise like this -
Sister (K): I ordered Chinese takeout can you answer the door? I need to go upstairs to feed C (her son).
Mom: Okay, do I need to tip?
K: No, I already took care of it.
My sister’s son is 8 months old now. He’s grown so much since the last time we saw him! It was a lot of fun playing with him as he explores the world around him and is learning to crawl (current progress looks like a cross between superman flying and swimming). It’s also so entertaining to discover things that make him laugh - like holding him upside down and swinging him around. We spent the rest of the day indulging in delicious food (an entire bakery of treats, shrimp chow mein, spaghetti with homemade meatballs, and homemade pizza!
Nom, nom, nom...
The next morning, my parents left for the airport. We played with the baby as I continued to prod Cody to take pictures of him; the baby probably thought he was a celebrity being followed by the paparazzi (if he knew what that was). Later, we took a walk around a beautiful local park.
On the way back home, Cody and I stopped at Shenandoah National Park for the night to camp and hike Bearfence Rock Scramble trail the next day. Overall, it was quite enjoyable spending time with family and pulling off surprises!