Sunday night we had a very special night.

A very special night indeed.

Our family certainly has its fair share of eccentricities, but I assure you dressing up in random costumes doesn’t happen every year. Only for certain celebrations.

And celebrating 90 years of extraordinary life warrants some excess eccentricity in this family – complete with costumes and a 40s themed surprise party in honor of our beloved G-Pa. Boy, was he surprised!

My aunt has spent months planning this surprise party to honor G-Pa for his upcoming 90th birthday. She coordinated an entire theme around the 40s, my grandfather’s favorite time period and the “high time of his life”. We had mini gin martinis with olives – his signature drink, “brandy” and card tables, Sinatra, Navy memorabilia, old photos, and a spread of food apparently popular in the 40s.

We started the night with the drinks and some appetizers. Gin martinis aren’t my thing so I stuck with water and tea. I also snagged a small appetizer plate of pickles, a few olives, mini-meatballs, an old style “pig in a blanket”, cheese and crackers, a pimento cheese celery stick, and shrimp cocktail.

Then, we settled in for story time. My aunt had crafted a speech of sorts to go through various memories of my G-Pa’s life. It went all the way from his childhood through moments we have shared in recent years. Everyone had a part.

My sister, cousin, and I got to recreate one of our most hilarious memories with G-Pa – the year of Hank’s Hoes!

Back story: The condos we stay in have footage of the entrance available for people to watch. Some “old bitties”, as my grandfather calls them, will watch this channel religiously to know the ins and outs of condo happenings. A few years ago, they saw my sister, cousin, and I come in from karaoke in jean skirts and tank tops and get off on the floor where our family stays. The following morning they reported to the managers that my grandfather had hired some hookers to come visit him – aka US.

We found it so hilarious that we decided to give the women something to really talk about. Us three girls dressed up with cut-off shirts, red bras, super short jean skirts, high heels, and over the top makeup. G-Pa then took us down right in front of the cameras, gave us each a bunch of cash, kissed us on the cheek, and sent us on our way. He then proceeded to tell everyone about how his three women left with a smile on their face. We stirred up a ruckus with that one, but the manager loves our family so much he just kept quiet and said he couldn’t judge our grandfather when the complaints started coming in. Hehe. I love that man and celebrating the years with him will no doubt remain the highlight of our trip this week.

Having the chance to honor him with a party highlights this trip. The many years and memories we have here at this beach would not be possible without him. He actually pays for our entire family to come here each year. He treats us to dinner every night. He laughs, loves, and inspires us through it all. I can only hope to live as full a life as he has.

• If you had a themed party, what theme would you choose? I would probably go with the 80s…or a FRIENDS theme. I love that show too much.

Want to join in on the beach fun?? Here are some posts you might have missed:

• Confessions (I had FFF t-shirts made!)
• Greetings from the Road (my favorite pit-stop for breakfast)
• Settling In (comforts of home when away)
• Officially Started (our first beach moments – including super cute kid photos!)

Before hitting the beach yesterday morning, I helped Peter get started on a new challenge he has decided to pick up. The Couch to 5K!!

I was so thrilled when he told me he wanted to try to get a bit more into running as well. Even better? He wanted to get started on our vacation so I could go out with him. We woke up early yesterday morning to get in the week one, day one workout.

The workout called for 5 minutes walking to warm-up and then alternating 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking. Our walking intervals ended up being more photo shoot intervals instead though…

Besides our self-portraits we snagged some shots of our new house…

(if only)

…and one of the many scary looking jelly fish washed up on shore…

(remind me not to go in the water)

….and goofy “I’m running pictures”.

so special

We still managed to cover 2 miles in our workout, which felt great. It also got me amped up for a longer, steadier run on the beach this morning.

I laced up and headed out to the flat, packed sand. Oh, how I would love to run along the shore every day!! I covered 4 miles at a calm, easy for me 10 minute/mile pace. It felt amazing! The peaceful, quiet of the early morning coupled with the serenity of seeing such beauty as the vast ocean and colorful sky God created – what a way to start a day!

To top off a revitalizing workout, I filled my belly with my all-time favorite breakfast. Oats with strawberries, raisins, and peanut butter of course!

Mmmmmm. Now I feel ready to tackle anything. Though today I only plan to tackle my beach chair and sand when playing with Makenzie. I hope Monday treats you well!

• What is your all time favorite breakfast?
• Do you know anyone ever stung by a jellyfish? My sister has been…and someone did in fact have to pee on her. She’s gonna kill me for telling that!