Everything seems to be working against Claire’s plans for a new family portrait. Cameron gets a gig as a wedding singer, leaving Mitchell home alone with Lily and a wayward pigeon.

An unexpected reality check dampens Jay’s plans for relaxation; Phil wants to make the trip romantic for Claire; the kids get into mischief when left to their own devices.

For Jay’s birthday, Gloria gives him the best surprise — a romantic birthday getaway to Hawaii — the only kicker is she invited the whole entire family to come along. Everyone arrives at the airport, and it’s a maddening scene with forgotten I.D.’s, security breaches and flying phobias.

Claire is suspicious when Phil’s father shows up for an expected visit and Manny is traumatized by a horror movie.

Luke and Manny’s hot-tempered basketball coach quits during a game, causing Jay and Phil to jockey to fill the position; Mitchell takes Cameron along to meet a prospective employer.

The release of a new product Phil wants coincides with his birthday; Mitchell has a newfound desire to toughen up; Cameron gets involved in a neighbor’s marital problems.

Jay and Mitchell go on their traditional father-and-son outing to see the meteor showers, but Mitchell is upset when he finds out that Manny will be joining them. Cameron and Gloria spend some quality time together, with some minor incidents, while Phil and Claire both take on one of their child’s school projects.

Jay accidentally kills Manny’s pet turtle and lies about it. Phil strikes up a Facebook conversation with an old girlfriend and invites her to visit.

Phil tries to conquer his fear of the dark when he and Luke go on a discovery expedition underneath the house; Mitchell and Cameron invite Lily’s pediatrician over for brunch.

Love is in the air and all the families are preparing for Valentine’s Day. Claire and Phil are planning a special trip. Meanwhile, Jay decides to take Gloria to a comedy show for some entertainment. Also, Cameron and Mitchell try to help Manny out by playing Cupid.

Claire feels slightly inadequate when her old friend, Valerie, visits and is nothing like Claire remembered. Meanwhile Jay has an unsettling locker room moment when he and Cameron go play racquetball, and Mitchell tries to help Gloria with some legal problems.

Claire finds a dirty picture on the computer and assumes it’s was Luke, and Phil, who was guilty, doesn’t correct her. Meanwhile, Jay and Gloria argue about Jay’s beloved life-sized dog butler statue. Elsewhere, Mitchell is annoyed by Cameron when he becomes more interested in the gardener’s troubles than his own.

Mitchell plants the seed in Jay’s head that he thinks one of Jay’s old buddies, Shorty, might be secretly gay. Jay doesn’t believe it for a second… except for all the questionable signs he now keeps noticing. Meanwhile Gloria gives Manny’s date a makeover and Claire faces off with Phil’s universal remote.

Gloria is unnerved by the arrival of Javier (Benjamin Bratt), her ex and Manny’s notoriously untrustworthy father; Claire takes action when Phil suffers from kidney stones; Mitchell and Cameron try to sleep-train Lily.

Christmas is in full swing at the Dunphy house until the kids get in some trouble and Phil and Claire threaten to take away Christmas until one of them fesses up. Meanwhile, Jay struggles with wanting to stick to his holiday traditions while Gloria and Manny want to incorporate some of their Colombian practices, and [...]

Nothing is too big when Phil and Claire decide to throw Luke the biggest and best birthday party a boy could ever want. But when Cameron shows up as Fizbo, the Clown, it sets of a chain of events that ends with someone in the hospital.

With a history of giving bad gifts, Claire is determined to surprise Phil with an amazing anniversary present – a private performance by one of their favorite musicians, Izzy LaFontaine! However, it turns out to be a surprise in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Mitchell and Cameron call up their party-girl bestie, Sal, for a [...]

The whole family comes out to support Manny’s newfound interest – fencing. It turns out he’s quite masterful in the sport, but Jay’s proud enthusiasm triggers an old childhood wound for Mitchell. Meanwhile Phil is determined to find where Luke’s hidden talents lie.

It’s the first day back at school for the kids and, at the Dunphy house, Phil oversteps when he misreads how Claire is coping with an empty nest. Over at Jay’s, he and Gloria are in disagreement over Manny’s interesting choice of outfit for his first day of class, and Mitchell and Cameron freak out [...]

The whole family is invited to Jay and Gloria’s for some barbeque and football. However an earlier incident at school between Manny and Luke makes things very awkward for Gloria and Claire, and then things escalate when a not-so-flattering label is uttered.

Claire and Mitchell’s mother, Dede, drops in for a surprise visit and is determined to make amends with everyone she offended during what has been deemed “the incident” at Jay and Gloria’s wedding. Needless to say, no one is thrilled to see her and everything comes to a head when the whole family shows up [...]

After some nudging, Jay begrudgingly takes Phil out to fly his new model airplane — that is until a maneuver goes awry. Meanwhile, when Gloria drops Manny off to play with Luke, she ends up volunteering to take Alex dress shopping, and Claire finds herself sitting down for an unexpected brother and sister heart-to-heart.