Zach's 19!!! (SURPRISE!)

A picture of the whole fam... The Bigs were on FT.


ZACH IS 19!!! I can't believe this is his last year as a teen! He's grown a ton I feel like since he's been away at school and it's so fun watching him get so excited for his future! He loves school and Traverse City and he has a girlfriend who could potentially keep him in Michigan... We'll see.


The thought of not seeing him on his birthday felt wrong to me. I always take off Joey and Andrew's birthday, Ali is always home for hers (because of the holiday) and even Sean's felt weird so we made a point to all get together. Still we didn't TELL Z we were going to come up~ mostly because this was a kind of last minute idea of my own. His birthday was on a Thursday and so I had my class facetime with him and sing "Sto Lat" which he got a big kick out of! (but we woke him up).


My friend Nicole, who also teaches music with me, has started her own cupcake business and so I told her to make a dozen cupcakes with a "marine" theme since he is SO wild about marine tech. They turned out so cute! Then after school, Sean, Jeff and I headed north!


We told him we'd facetime him together that night so at night the Bigs joined us from Kalamazoo while we were in Z's dorm parking lot! Then he realized we were there and came and got us! It was so cool. He said he wasn't "totally" surprised because "it seemed like something you'd do." I think my kids know my mama heart.


I did mention we were coming up to Kat, but asked her not to tell and she didn't. I just wanted to make sure they didn't go OUT. It was perfect! They had fun celebrating during the day and then we got him a bit at night. She was with him and his suite-mates also joined us to sing!


Jeff and I of course wore our "Zach" shirts- and we laughed because we got compliments on the shirts from a drive through worker on the way up, and then we stopped at a McDonald's mid-way to pee (I can NOT hold my bladder after 4). It makes me laugh, still!

Zach's suite-mates!


We turned over the Amazon box we brought things in and made a make-shift table to put his presents on. He got a Redwing hat, shirt, big thing of skittles, and the 5 Crowns came that I'm such a fan of! He also got a soldering kit from my folks that he asked for and some things from Grandma. He seemed very excited about thd soldering kit. Like I said- he's loving his marine tech stuff.


It was fun celebrating with his friends and we spent a bit of time catching up before heading out and to the condo! We are so lucky that we have a place to stay! We realized when we got there it hadn't been cleaned since we were there last but other than the sheets and towels we had left it clean (emptied trash, washed dishes, etc) so it wasn't too bad.


Friday was a GORGEOUS day and we went to eat at 7 Monks (the four of us) per Z's request and had a really good burger. He also showed us some of the flooding they had up north and the sinkhole under the sidewalk which was nuts! 
Later we went back to the condo where he did his class and then we went and played pickleball which was a blast but I was so full that it was hard for me to run around a lot. I laughed because I lost ALMOST every game but we were pretty well matched. Toward the end, the mosquitos started to come out. They love me! It was such a great day!

Saturday was not as nice weather wise. I still got in my five miles but it was much colder. Danny wanted us to get some things for him at a distillery so we couldn't get Z until after 1. We went to TC and got some things for my dad's upcoming birthday and then swang by and got Z and Kat and headed back to ER. We went to the Town Club (a tradition) and then played 7 Crowns and Jackbox. We had fun despited the crummy weather.


Z and Kat even went to the beach. The pictures make it look nicer than it was- it was COLD!


They didn't last long because their feet were frozen!


After that, Jeff and I drove them back home and then hit Shorts for a drink. We also played fun word games on our phones and watched some Tigers. The next morning we grabbed a box from Z and headed out. He actually comes home in just a couple weeks (which I didn't realize). I'm still glad though that we went up for his birthday. It definitely will be a new tradition!


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