There are two things I take very seriously in life…my family…and St. Patty’s Day. ; )
When the two are combined…..
crazy things happen.
This St. Patty's day my brothers and I decided to have a sibling reunion (it had been 2 years since all 3 of us had been in the same State). We also decided it would be an opportune time to work on a top-secret anniversary gift for our parents (they'll be married for 30 years by the end of the year).
The mission: record a CD of covers (all parents enjoy listening to their kids play and sing music...right?), hang out, shoot guns (my brothers idea) and celebrate St. Patty's together.
My husband and I arrived in Scottsdale, AZ (where my youngest brother lives) ready to party. We got there before my middle brother and his girlfriend arrived so we decided to grab some breakfast. Once all parties had arrived and were accounted for....we headed out.
First on the agenda, the Phoenix Aloha Festival.
My brothers and their girlfriends went in search of different vendors while my husband and my best friend and I sought out the food area....because you don't go to an Aloha Festival and not get food (though we'd just eaten an hour earlier).
As we roamed, a tiny Irishwoman with curly brown hair caught my attention near one of the booths. She looked just like my Mom. Weird.
Then a bright Aloha shirt caught my eye. The man wearing it looked just like my Dad. Weird.
Who would have thought? Two people that looked just like my....
Oh flip.
Our parents were here.
As soon as they saw the recognition on my face (and just as I started screaming "oh my god!") they both started laughing with mild disappointment that we'd seen them. Apparently they were going to try to sneak up behind us while my best friend (who arranged the surprise) videotaped it. (the surprise was indeed videotaped, just not the way they planned--check out the video)
Once all the screaming, hugging and WTF'ing was out of the way....we settled in with some good food and good fun.
The family was together again after 2 years.
We ate and roamed around.
Dad took a picture of a ginormous trash can (taking photos of random things is a family thing).
After the festival we went grocery shopping as a group….too much fun.
The next day we time-traveled via the Renaissance Festival...
Time travel apparently made us all hungry so we treated Dad to his first Olive Garden experience (there are no Olive Garden's in Hawaii).
While waiting to be seated, we snapped more family photos....
Somewhere along the way we found an Irish shop and a Japanese shop next to each other. This is hilarious and awesome to us kids because we are half-Japanese, half-Irish!
The next day we went Zombie hunting…
in heels…
We watched the sun set…
We played beer pong…
And each night after the parents went back to the hotel, we recorded songs.
The next day we celebrated St. Patty’s Day with go-karts, skeeball, pool, temporary tattoos, green wigs and green beer....
It was the greatest St. Patty's Day of my life.
And just before heading back to Virginia.... the husband and I snuck a photo on my youngest brother’s girlfriend’s camera. =)
T'was an excellent week!!!!!!!!!!
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