Planes, trains and … well, I guess that was it.

Last weekend we took advantage of having Hagen and Cheryl in town (Curt had to stay behind and work) to celebrate my dad's birthday a few days early. We kicked things off with our weekly trip to the Benton Airport for lunch then headed back to the new house for some surprise festivities.

But before we could get started a little swinging was in order.

Then things kicked up a notch when we moved over to the tire swing.

At some point this seemed like a good idea.

Then the kids surprised Grandpa with his present—a trip next year to Colorado to ride a train through the Rockies (which means we have 12 months to listen to him talk about it).

After that, there was some singing.

And a birthday kiss (luckily that came before she got to the cake).