Go west, old man, go west

Saturday of our Michigan visit was devoted entirely to Operation Surprise Party.  My job, whether I'd chosen to accept it or not, was to get my dad out of the house for long enough that my mom and Ben could get everything ready for the 40 odd guests who would descend on them at 7PM.  My plan? Lie through my teeth and get him to go to the west side of the state with me.

I have some friends, Scott who I've known since high school and his wife Shannon, who live just south of Grand Rapids, MI with their five kids.  The house was purchased semi-recently (READ: I still hadn't seen it even though they've lived there quite a while) and I've been meaning to get up there every time I'm in town. Especially since their twin boys were born last August and I've only seen them once, when they were 8 weeks old.  This made for a perfect way to see people I care about and oblige my mother by getting my dad far, far away from the house.  We told him that Ben had to go to his Dad's in Kalamazoo and couldn't go with me. In truth, Ben stayed behind to help my mom. But after that it was easy to convince my traditional Greek father not to let his only daughter drive two hours alone on the big bad Michigan freeways.  Also, did I mention it isn't totally weird that I'd bring my dad along on this excursion since he too has known Scott for almost 15 years and loves kids?  Oh yeah, and they were in on the surprise.

We left Brighton at about 1 for the two hour drive west.  Made it there without incident, save the moment we realized we'd just missed our exit and I closed my eyes while my dad may or may not have used an "authorized vehicle only" emergency turn around.

We spent just over two hours visiting with Scott, Shannon and their whole family! While I know they made a point of having all the kids nap and eat before we arrived, which makes for happier munchkins in general, I still give them a lot of credit.  They really do make five kids look easy.  And I'm sure it's not. I can't imagine the amount of work it must be and the patience it must require, but they make parenting their big family look like the simplest thing in the world.  We had a great visit and I really wish I could have spent more time with them.  Sadly, we had to strictly adhere to our planned departure time (which we really didn't do a very good job of) in order to be home in time for what my dad believed to be a dinner reservation and I knew to be his party.

Back in the car, now headed east and bound for home, we started talking and somehow ended up going west on I-96 instead of east.  This could have been quickly rectified had my father believed me when I pointed this out.  That was the point at which I got out the GPS and he told me he didn't need a GPS, that he was his own GPS.  I asked how that was going for him since home was east and we were going west.  Insert five minutes of father-daughter snarkiness here.  Finally, the GPS lady made him believe it and we turned around, now nearly 20 minutes late (on top of our later than planned departure).  The rest of our drive home was without incident, save some rain. 

We rolled into the apparently quiet house at about 8:15, forty-five minutes later than my mother would have liked, but still within reason.  He took his own sweet time in the garage, cleaning trash out of the car.  By some miracle I managed not to rush him into the house and give anything away.  Finally he starts toward the door waiting for me to go ahead of him.  Feigning forgetfulness, I head back toward the car to "get something" and he gets impatient and goes to the door.  All 40 people were stacked up in the kitchen to shout surprise when he walked in!  And he really, really was surprised!  The funniest part I think, was when he turned around and said to me, "Did you know about this?" "No Dad, obviously dragging you with me to the other side of the state was just a coincidence." (add liberal doses of sarcasm here).