Retirement party, marathon, Father's Day, and a Mohawk...

Retirement Party

On Friday night my dad, my sister, my brother, a couple of my mom's coworkers, and myself put together a surprise retirement party for my mom at Great Scott. After 30 years at the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors my mom will be retiring on June 30.

The immediate family arrived at Great Scott at 6:30...letting my mom think the entire time that it was just the family taking her out to dinner to celebrate her retirement. Then at 7:00 friends, family, and coworkers began arriving. Our theme for the party was "This is your life..." The guests stood behind a wall with a microphone and gave my mom a few clues as to who they were. She was completely surprised! We ended up with about 50 guests who enjoyed appetizers, drinks, and talking with (and about) my mom.

It was great to see my mom being celebrated! She is one of those very giving people that thinks of everyone else first and herself last. I know the people that she works with will greatly miss her. However, if you know my mom...this isn't the end completely. They already have her contracted to come back and work some of the bigger events that she ran while she worked at the Board. I think that will give her a perfect balance.

Marathon

Jeff is on a life mission to run a marathon in every state. So, this past Saturday he ran the Grandma's Marathon (I have no idea why it is called this) in Duluth, Minnesota. His hotel accommodations for the event was a dorm room on a college campus...needless to say he didn't get the best night of sleep one might hope for before running a marathon. However he finished in 3 hours and 57 minutes...not a personal best, but still keeping his time under 4 hours...not bad. So, he has 6 states down, 44 more to go.

Father's Day

Jeff running the marathon was what he wanted for Father's Day...crazy??...I know. In addition to the marathon the kids bought him two University of Cincinnati dry fit shirts for him to run the big race in. Once Jeff established this life goal, he decided that with each marathon he ran he wanted to do it in a UC shirt.

Unfortunately I did not get to see my dad on Father's Day. When I called they were out...but I wished him well and hoped that he was having a great day....because without him I wouldn't be here:) Dad if you read this...again, Happy Father's Day!

The rest of the Father's Day we spent at my sister in law's house swimming with all of Jeff's brothers, sisters, and their kids. It was the perfect way to spend a very hot day. The kids had a great time and it was fun to catch up with the family.

A Mohawk

(Rewind a little...) After church and lunch I needed to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things for my sister in law's house. Next to the grocery store is a Great Clips...and the boys needed a haircut. So the plan was Jeff would take the boys to get their haircut while I took the girls to the grocery with me...and we'd meet up after each of us was done.

As I'm coming out of the store Jeff is coming out of Great Clips with the boys....(great timing!) When the boys get closer this is what I see...

As Frank is beaming ear to ear (clearly loving his new cut) I look at Jeff and say, "What did you do?" OK, probably not the best reaction since Frank was very excited to show me his new hair-do...but I couldn't believe my eyes. Jeff said that when they walked into the place Frank asked him if he could get a Mohawk. In the past...a Mohawk to Frank was when the stylist put gel in his hair after his (normal) haircut to shape it into a Mohawk. Jeff took Frank's request to mean a literal Mohawk. Although I'm not thrilled with the cut (things will be back to normal in 4 weeks when this grows out) I have to admit he still looks pretty darn cute. And really...when I said Mohawk...did you haven any doubt Frank was the one who would end up with it?

Well, that's all for now...sorry for such a long post...but it was a very busy weekend!