Lots to Celebrate

The Roach family had lots of fun and excitement this past weekend.

• The weekend started on Saturday as the Roach kids threw our Dad a surprise 75th birthday party. George and his girlfriend Dawnielle (more on that below), and Cathy and I have been planning the party for the last couple of months. This is the biggest "milestone" birthday since we've all been out of college and more or less "adults" so we thought we'd make it a good one for Dad. All his brothers and sisters and all but one of Mom's brothers and sisters were able to come, from as far away as Maryland. We had it in the old Stokes Elementary school building in Lebanon. The last few years the building has been used as a community center, housing a day care center, a church, and several social service organizations. Cathy said the building hadn't changed much since she was there nearly 20 years ago. Mom works at the daycare center and got us a great deal on the room. About 85 friends, family and neighbors packed into the cafeteria and gave Dad a big surprise. He said that it was his first big birthday party ever. Well, it was about time. Happy Birthday Dad!
  
• After leaving Dad's party, we headed over to Montgomery County for Parker's cousin Jake's 4th birthday party. Parker loves to play with his cousins and had a blast even without a nap all Saturday. And he even left the party with a free hand-me-down bicycle. Win-win. Happy Birthday Jake!
  
• The celebration continued on Sunday as we met Mom, Dad, George and Dawnielle for lunch in Indianapolis. Those two crazy kids shocked us by announcing their engagement! Everyone was ribbing them about getting married all day Saturday, but George kept a straight face. He probably had the ring in his pocket the whole time. He popped the question at Eagle Creek Park in Indy before lunch then we followed them back to the park to take some pictures for them before they heeded back to Chicago. Congratulations George and Dawnielle!