Over the summer months, the girls and I plan a surprise day for their dad. At first it was a day for fun and to let him know that we were thinking of him and wanted to do something special. Over the years, it has turned into “Get Dad!” The first summer (JULY 2010) we were having a horrible heat wave and P would come home feeling tired and worn out, and said he could not get cooled down. We wanted to help! We planned a day to keep him cool. This was our First one…BEAT THE HEAT!
We left clues to direct him to a frozen bottle of water for him to take to work. Then we secretly dropped off a Mango Rita’s. When he came home we left him another clue to go to the kitchen, where he found his swim trunks and a water gun, and the directions told him to go to the backyard…WHERE WE BLASTED HIM!!!! It was a fun day!
Our 2nd Annual “Get Dad” day, (AUGUST 2011) was “BEAT THE STORMS!” We had been having days of thunderstorms, and we decided to make some “thunderous” noise for ourselves. Clues were:
1. 10 to 1
2. Marble
3. Sometimes it can be “thundering”
4. It’s local
5. Unlike the “beat the heat” last year that was outdoors, “beat the STORMS” is indoors!!!
Our 3rd Annual, (JULY 2012) was “BLAST THE HEAT AWAY!” We did the same clues, with the frozen water bottle, and we took him a Frosty from Wendy’s and then left a clue in the kitchen to take his cell phone out of his pocket and he got a small bowl of balloons…we got a cooler full! 😉
Our 4th annual (JULY 2013) was, “CHRISTMAS IN JULY?” We made shaving cream mixed with flour balls. It was a ton of fun to make, but after the balls sat for a few hours they became these hard bullets. It took weeks for them to break apart in the yard. It was actually painful to be hit by one!
Our 5th Annual (July 2014) was “Silly Daddy”. We bought a bunch of silly string cans at the dollar store, and ambushed him when he came home. We did our traditional clues, so he knew it was coming. It was so fun and easy and cheap! Clues were:
1. Fun
2. Silly
3. Colorful
4. Messy
5. Looks like hair
6th Annual “Get Dad” day, was a water color battle. Our summer theme that year was “Color-FULL summer”, so in keeping with the theme we used washable paints and thinned it out with water. We bought water guns at the Dollar store and set the bowls of paint around the yard. The paint tasted terrible, but it was so much fun!
7th Annual “Get Dad” day, we used those easy to fill water balloons. They were really easy to fill up, but they lost their water pretty quick, so if you use them, use them immediately after filling, don’t fill and wait to use. It was was still a great day. Clues were, Cold, wet, color, round, and balloon.
8th annual “Get Dad” was water guns. We gave him his clues throughout the day and the girls said that they won. Clues were:
- was given with a water bottle and said “Wet”.
- was a note at work that said “splash”.
- was a Wendy’s frosty with the word “Cold” written on a napkin.
- “Fun” (in a text where he was told to go to the kitchen for clue) 5.
- was a water gun.
Today (7/31/2018) was our 9th annual “Get Dad” day. His clues were:
1. Round and round
2. Loud and windy (but not breaking wind 🙂 )
3. Fast
4. Helmet (Wendy’s frosty given with this one… said he might need a HELMET for his brain freeze.)
5. Steering wheel
We took him to Autobahn. It was so fun. He guessed it at clue 4.
Today (8/5/2019) was our 10th annual “Get Dad” day. His clues were:
1. Get ready
2. Get set
3. Aim
4. Fire
5. Reload
We did a nerf gun battle in the living room. It was so fun. He knew he was shooting something at clue 4, but didn’t know what we were shooting.
Today (8/21/2020) was our 11th annual “Get Dad” day. His clues were:
1. Get ready to battle
2. Throw
3. Outside
4. Colors
5. Powder
We did color powder battle in the back yard. It was so fun. We knew he would love it, because he could take photos later.
Today (7/20/2021) was our 12th annual “Get Dad” day. We decided that we were going to bring it across the country and do it with his family! We got the cousins involved in the planning and we got to soak the aunts and uncle and grandparents! We only did 2 clues this year. The clues were:
- Suit up
- Get ready for battle.
Our 13th, (8/15/22) was the tortilla slap challenge. Youngest hurt her knee, so we needed to stay stationary. We took more videos than we did pictures. Best parts were Hubby laughing with a mouth full of water, watching the girls’ personalities come out, even when they couldn’t talk. Clues were:
- Laugh
- Take a sip
- Food
- Wet
- Slap
Our 14th, (8/22/23) Blind, deaf, and mute baking challenge. We took more videos than we did pictures. Best parts were watching them try to work together and oldest saying says she feels like she’s a toddler getting her hands wiped and youngest, who can’t hear, starts saying she feels like she’s wiping a toddler’s hands. We laughed so much with this one!
One of our videos from the challenge.
Our 15th, (9/8/24) Bucket and Sock challenge. We took more videos than we did pictures. The best parts were watching them try to work together and laughing so hard!
5 Clues were: Wet, Teamwork, Laying down, Bucket, and Socks!
One of the videos from our challenge.
Our 16th (9/29/25) Annual “Get Dad Day”! We waited until his family was here so we could have a corn hole tournament! It was so much fun! We didn’t know Bibi and Babu were so good! They were the Champions! Best part was Hubby saying he didn’t know his mom was a “ringer” and S saying, “I just went in to get a Sprite”!
He guessed it on Clue 3. Clues were: Target. Team. Board. Hole. 21.
Cowles Farm 
Remember most of these, but Peter and the girls will remember all the time and effort that you have put into this day through the years. No one else loves the way you do. I was thinking the other day that you started praying for your husband when you were a little girl. What a blessing you have been to us! ❤️🙏Momma and Daddy
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