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In honor of his father’s retirement, a a group of siblings they teamed up to plan a surprise reminiscent of some of their most treasured childhood memories.
Matt Houlihan of San Jose, California came up with the idea to celebrate his father’s 41st birthday at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California, the same school he, his brother and sister attended.
The TikTok trend inspired Matt Houlihan to do something special for his father, with a special Houlihan family twist, he said.
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“I was scrolling through TikTok a week ago, [and] I saw a video featuring a group of grandchildren and surprising his grandparents for sleeping over. It kind of got me going, and my dad was getting close to retirement. And I wanted to do something special for him,” Matt Houlihan told Fox News Digital.
Matthew Houlihan (right) teamed up with siblings Kelsey Houlihan (center) and Brian Houlihan (back right) to surprise their father, Tim Houlihan (left), with a final trip together on his last day as a school teacher. (Matt Houlihan)
Matt Houlihan’s idea required his two older siblings, Brian Houlihan and Kelsey Houlihan, to wake up early with him and come his parents’ home. The idea was to ride together with their dad one more time, like they used to do when they were kids.
The three siblings decided to give it their all by looking back at some of the “rituals” they had developed all those years traveling to school in the car with their dad.
“For about eight years, my dad drove us all to high school,” Matt Houlihan said.
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“And, during that time, obviously, you developed some routines and rituals.”
Matt Houlihan thought about his time spent in the car with his siblings and dad and thought it would be a great idea to honor those memories. (Matt Houlihan)
After working out the logistics for the surprise, like figuring out how to get their own kids to school, the siblings finally worked together with their mom, Stephanie Houlihan, to make the surprise a success.
The Houlihan children showed up at their family home at 6 a.m. to meet their father with their backpacks, ready for a trip full of memories.
They made a playlist, including songs they would listen to with dad traveling to school together when they were younger, the #1 song was “Hey Ya” by Outkast, which was a #1 hit on the Billboard charts in the early 2000s.
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“At one point, my dad had a CD that was just Outkast ‘Hey Ya’ on repeat. So, literally, it was 21 Outkast ‘Hey Ya’ songs on CD, and we listened to, like, like, probably six months. That’s the only thing we listened to in the car,” Matt Houlihan said.
“He always just wants to help everyone around him.”
The family’s next stop was their favorite bagel shop, House of Bagels, before heading to school and pulling into the same parking spot they had all through high school.
When the three children were going to school, Tim Houlihan would send them off to class reciting a quote from classic movie, “The Princess Bride”.
“He would always send us off saying, ‘Have fun storming the castle,'” Matt Houlihan said, adding that he and his siblings repeated it before their dad walked in for his last day of work.
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Tim Houlihan spent 41 years at Saint Francis High School in a variety of roles, from math teacher and bus driver to positions such as office coordinator for the football team and athletic director.
Tim Houlihan retired after 41 years at Saint Francis High School and found himself wearing many different hats and stepping into many different roles during his time at the school. (Matt Houlihan)
He served as dean of students and gold coach before finally settling into a construction management role for new projects on the school’s campus.
“We actually got to walk through the last building that he just finished, which was super cool just to see the last kind of crown jewel of the campus that he coordinated and helped build,” Matt Houlihan said.
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“And, obviously, then [we] I just have to see all the people coming and saying congratulations to him and see all his relations at work as before [students] there.”
The Houlihan siblings took a video of their dad’s last day of school and shared it on TikTok. (Matt Houlihan)
Matt Houlihan said he and his sibling loved each other glorify your father, someone who has always been considered a “servant leader”.
“He always just wants to help everyone around him,” he said, adding that his dad would appreciate his colleagues every year by bringing plates of food to school security guards who worked the night shift on holidays.
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He always looked up to both of his parents for the way they cared for others. And he saw it in the response of those at the school who said goodbye to his father on his last day, showing their gratitude for all he had done, with some even getting emotional saying how much he had influenced them.
“He would always see us off [to school] saying, ‘Have fun storming the castle’.”
Matt Houlihan now treasures those special rides together with his father, especially now that he’s a parent two little girls.
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“Being a parent and taking your kids to school or taking them to sporting events, you know, it’s always [moments] where so much came out of those conversations on those drives because, as kids, sometimes you take for granted that you get to spend that time with your parents.”
Tim Houlihan retired with his kids by his side, just like when they were younger. (Matt Houlihan)
While Tim Houlihan may no longer use the “Princess Bride” quote with his kids, his youngest son Matt is passing on the tradition to his girls.
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“I always tell them, ‘Have fun storming the castle,’ and then I drop them off at school, so [the tradition is] carries,” said Matt Houlihan.
