My Dad’s 60th Birthday!

So, as you are maybe aware, I have had a busy couple of weeks off.  In my last blog, there was something I was doing that I couldn’t mention before, as it was a surprise.  That was my dad’s 60th Birthday! Myself, my sister and step-sister have had this planned since February, so this week I will tell you all about it!

Back in February, we all knew we had to something special for my Dad, luckily, his birthday is at the end of November, so does coincide with the Rugby Autumn Internationals.  Now with my Dad now living 20 minutes from Glasgow, it made perfect sense to get him tickets for the Scotland v Argentina game, along with a hotel stay in Edinburgh, but the plan didn’t stop there!  We were all going to travel up and surprise him!! And surprise him we certainly did!  Myself, my middle sister and niece made the long drive up on Friday, and my step-sister and her husband flew up from Bristol.  We all arrived roughly the same time, so I checked us into the hotel at Glasgow Airport (Dad lives 20 minutes away), so we waited for my step-sister to arrive.  We then made the trip across to my Dad’s house, we got my niece to knock on his door holding a massive 60th birthday balloon, and he didn’t know what had hit him!

Once all the excitement had died down and we had all sat down, we gave him his presents – he was overwhelmed with the Scotland rugby tickets and was so happy we were all going – and he was even more surprised when we told him we had booked an overnight in Edinburgh as well, so we could all enjoy the rugby and have a couple of beers!

So the Saturday arrived, and we first went to my Dad’s for breakfast (nothing like a full breakfast to start the day right), then we headed off to Edinburgh.  We had booked the Holiday Inn right beside Edinburgh Zoo, as we would take my niece on Sunday before heading home.  We dropped all our stuff off to the rooms then made the short 20-minute walk to Murrayfield – unfortunately, this was ruined by the rain but stopped once we got to the stadium.  I had booked us quite good seats (if I do say so myself) – 5 rows from the front right by the player’s tunnel, so we had a perfect view for the game – and luckily the result went Scotland’s way, so was a good day.  We then headed back to the hotel, as there was the slight matter of the Welsh game on in the evening so we headed to the hotel bar for a drink and my dad got a free drink as it was his birthday.

On Sunday, we all parted ways, my Dad and Step Mum headed back home, my Step-Sister and Husband headed off into Edinburgh as they had a bit of a wait until their flight, and we headed off to the Zoo.  Now originally being from Scotland, I have done Edinburgh Zoo many times, but this was my nieces first time, and to see her face at all the animals was priceless.  They had the Festival of Lanterns on at the Zoo, and the animals made out of lanterns were amazing and so good!  We even got to see the new Red Panda they had brought to the zoo, and also the Giant Panda made a quick appearance.

All in all a cracking weekend, and knowing my Dad knew nothing about it, was even better, as there is nothing worse than organising a surprise and them knowing.

Next time, I will tell you all about my time on the Oceana, on my recent mini cruise to Bruges!