Grandpa’s 70th birthday

This post is more in the way of updating events but many people have asked about recent events, so…. Many moons ago a surprise party was planned for Neal’s dad’s 70th birthday.  Who knew it was to turn out into a full-blown Kitchen sibling reunion (minus a couple in-laws and cousins whom we missed very much).  A few days before the big surprise Neal’s dad had a trip to the ER on account of a abnormally swollen knee and was then admitted to the hospital to attempt to recover from an unfortunate series of other unrelated ailments. 

It was really too bad that it happened in the first place and even worse because of the timing of it all but basically we ended up doing his surprise party at the hospital.  Poor guy, the thought of having all 7 of his children plus families back together in one room enjoying each other’s company all the while being stuck in the hospital and missing out on the fun would make me pretty sad.  But you could tell he was so excited to see everyone and I’m sure it meant a lot to him. 

I am so surprised by how many people up by our home had heard the news before we really told anyone.  I don’t know how word spread so quickly but it did and to me that just says he is well loved :)  He had a longer hospital stay because of the other unrelated ailments, one bladder related and will have to have surgery in September.  For a while he did lose hearing in one ear but that has since healed, at least back to what it was before.  Thanks to everyone for their concern!

 

 

 

 

 

The family wanted to pay tribute to him for his 7oth birthday with a 70 things we love about him list and I ended up compiling it all together to present to him.  Aside from getting a late start on it I ended up making it a lot more work for myself by trying to fuss with it in Photoshop.  I tried my hand at changing the text into some word art and we piled in photos from all of the family.  We printed off the pages on photopaper and slipped the sheets (over 40 pages) into an 8x8 album and I think the end product was a lot of fun.  It was a neat experience to be able to read everyone’s thoughts and words of love towards him and the pictures brought back some fun memories.

We did a few fun things together with all the kids when they were together but we all wished grandpa could have joined us.  We were privileged to be there for a baby blessing (also done at the hospital) and it was a real treat to spend a little time with my newest nephew C. 

Anyway, here are a handful of pics that make me happy…