Vacations and Surprises

There has been something that I have just been DYING to write about for months and months and months. However, that something was a great big surprise for somebody who may or may not be a reader of this blog so, I was unable to utter a single word about it and risk blowing it. Until now. Yipee! That somebody has been presented with her BIG surprise and now I am free to write about it all I want.

It all started last August when I was talking to my little sister, who lives in Florida. She casually mentioned an idea that was suggested to her by our aunt, who lives in Idaho. It was an idea that got my sisters and I jumping with excitement. Phone calls were made from Florida to Idaho to Texas to Florida and around and around it went for months.
The plan, presented by an uncle who swears he has no recollection of ever suggesting such a thing, started out as a simple idea to get my sisters and me and all our children up to Boise for my mom's 50th birthday and ended up as the biggest surprise ever planned (and pulled off) by this family. What fun it was too!
As I mentioned, this all started last August. My mother's birthday is June 14th. So, we spent almost a year planning and organizing this thing and somehow managed to keep it a secret! By Thanksgiving the whole family (about 32 of us) knew about and became involved with the organization of this party. I still don't know how we all managed to keep it from her for so long! My Aunt Dora (the main organizer) gave out jobs and responsibilities to various members of the family and threatened us with our lives if we were to spill the beans.
You see, I moved to Texas with my husband and kiddo #1 when kiddo #1 was just 4 weeks old. I have been back to Boise a couple times to visit and Mom has made it down here a couple times. However, a few months after we moved to Texas my younger sister moved to Florida and my older sister followed her down there a couple years later. The day we left for Texas ended up being the last day that my Mom was able to spend with all of her kids together and the last day that I saw my younger sister for 7 years. My mom had 2 grandkids that she hadn't even met yet, I had 2 nephews that I had never met and my sisters had 2 nephews and a niece that they had never met. So, this surprise party was a REALLY big deal.
Anyway...

Now that I think about it, I don't know what jobs my sisters were assigned to but, I decided that I absolutely must provide the birthday cake. This presented a pretty interesting challenge because our plan was to drive up and our vacation was cut short because of work conflicts with my husband so, we had to actually bake the cake here and bring it up with us to 'assemble'. I planned a 3 tiered thing with flowers growing up the side. It took a lot of extra time and some creativity but, we figured out how to pack it relatively safely and got it up there with minimal damage.

So, with great excitement we piled into our van on June 12th for the mad dash up to Boise. The party was planned to start at around 4pm on the 14th and I had to have time to finish the cake so, we had to get up there as fast as we could. It was tiring (tiring? exhausting) but we made it. The kids were fabulous on the drive. I think they even enjoyed themselves a little. This was the first time that we had been able to go on a vacation in a very long time so, everybody was very excited.
There were some hiccups in plans on the day of the party but, it all came together spectacularly. This was the first time that my entire family had gathered together since my grandmother's funeral over 10 years ago. My Aunt even somehow managed to get my Uncle and Grandfather, who haven't spoken to each other in that amount of time, together at the same event. There were only two people missing, my cousin and her son, they were unable to make the trip up from Florida (what's the deal with everyone moving to Florida?).
My Aunt and Uncle were able to get Mom to come over to Aunt Dora's house for her birthday by telling her that my Uncle would really like to spend the evening with her and he would grill her ribs for her on her birthday. Mom is not big on celebrating birthdays but, he was very convincing and she agreed to the little party of just the 3 of them.
We planned it so that when my Mom came out to the backyard she would not be able to see those of us who had so sneakily come to town to surprise her. The rest of the family were going to yell "Surprise!" then, all her grandkids would come out of hiding (which was behind her) and say "Happy Birthday, Grandma" and give her a rose. The funniest thing was that when my niece, Ayla, the eldest grandchild called out to her, Mom didn't even turn around. Poor Ayla was running up to her and must have said "Happy Birthday" 3 times with no response by the time she reached my mom and tugged on her shirt so she would turn around. And when she finally did turn around, the look of shock was priceless! There was some speculation as to whether or not she would cry because my mom is not the type to cry. While there was no real crying per se, there were a few tears that made their way out. Her reaction made all the hard work and hard traveling well worth the effort. Her arms and her mouth opened wide and she was shaking as she tried to hug all her grandchildren and children at once. It was a wonderful thing to see.
And there was my Aunt who was really the one behind it all, hiding in a corner laughing so hard she was in tears. It was such a wonderful thing that she did for my mom, her sister. I cannot thank her enough for getting us all together up there. It was amazing to see my sisters again and to spend that time all together.

There is more to the story of our vacation. More surprises, good and bad. More adventures. However, it is late and this may just be the longest blog entry that I have ever written so, I think I will stop here and pick up the story again another day. Now, y'all know where I have been for the past few weeks, though. Preparing for the trip, making cake, more trip preparation, driving, more driving, and a week of recovery. :)