Grandpa Pat is 60!

The day after Christmas is always another special day in our house because it's my dad's birthday.  And it was even more special because it was his 60th birthday.

Isaac (his namesake) lost his first tooth.

And because it was his birthday we let him and the boys go off to see the new Undaunted movie while the girls went clearance shopping.  Okay so maybe both groups were happy.

Then we opened his birthday presents- a giant sized Reese's pb cup.

He carried a baby around like his always does, this time with a bow in his hair to entertain my boys.

We made him a book of 60 memories we have of him- 10 each from each of his 6 kids and added pictures from his lifetime.  It was really neat to take the time to think about all the amazing experiences we've had with him in our lives- funny, spiritual, and just normal.  He really has been the most amazing dad and I'm glad we could show our gratitude even in a small way.
And then because my dad is a thrill seeker, we searched around for a good experience we could go do with him on his 60th birthday and found that the only 2 places in the US that you can ride a real bobsled are in Lake Placid, NY and Park City, UT.  Both had the Olympics and are the only two bobsled hills in the country.  And they'll let you strap yourself in and ride the course with real drivers.

You have to bring 3 people to ride + there's the driver.  Originally it was going to be Taylor and Dana and my dad but when Dana tore his ACL I decided I'd be brave and go along.  Here we are trying out the bobsled prop before the real thing.

And here we are all suited up ready to be taken to the top of the hill.

Are we ready for this????

And we made it!  Yep, it was really that fast.  Our driver was a woman that had won a silver medal in Nagano and she didn't take it easy.

The riders get registered and not quite sure about this.

And here we come into the finish line.

I sent my mom to take a video knowing I could grab frame shots off of it.  Well, we were going so fast that the video captures us on the turn for less than .5 seconds and every frame is of course completely blurry.

It was pretty intense and really fun.

I definitely don't think I'd want to do that as my career but definitely worth trying once.  Afterwards we went to get my dad his requested meal of burgers and shakes.  A perfectly wonderful 60th birthday I hope.