Grandpa Great Turns 80!

Over the Labor Day weekend, my siblings and their families and I had a celebration of our "founding father".  My Dad turned 80 on September 4th.  We decided to keep this event a surprise, and surprisingly enough, we pulled it off!  There were 30 + of us celebrating with a brisket supper and an evening of memories and lifetime review.  Jessica did a lot of the planning for the activities, which included displays (pictured above) and some other memory makers.  She put together a review of chosen years from 1932 until 2012.  Each family member shared highlights of selected years when Grandpa was closest to their age.  Jessica and Scott even programed music from each era on their I-Pad.  Then we each brought a shadow box item to present to him that represented either a lesson we learned from Grandpa, or a memory of him that was special to us.
It was a lot of fun work on this with my family.  The only damper on the evening was Randy's recent illness.  I think my Dad was truely surprised and pleased to be the guest of honor at such an event. 
I have lots more photos to share, which I hope to do in the coming week or so.  My sister and niece, scrapbookers extraordinaire, are going to be compiling a family memory book, so the work continues.  Stay tuned!