SURPRISE!!!

October had been a rough month. A great month, but still a little hard on the family with me being out of work. So what better way for a little pick me up than a road trip! We decided since we had the time we would take a road trip up to Indiana for a nice week long "getaway". My mom had surgery on her foot so she was at home and we had the time so it seemed perfect. Also, it was Chloe's birthday so who wouldn't want to spend it at Mama's house. Like I said my mom had surgery on her foot so she was suppose to take it easy, but if she knew we were coming then do you really think she would  have taken it easy? No, she would have been cleaning and prepping and scheduling and filling our time with things to do. So a surprise was in order!

We had just told my sister so at least someone knew, but no one else. I thought about telling my dad, but he can't keep a secret at all he gets too excited so I knew that wouldn't be a good idea. It would be nice because we could just relax with my family and spend some good quality time with them since our normal Indiana trips are go go go and short. We packed up the truck and headed out for our 15 hour drive. The kids did great on the way there. We like to drive through the night so it is dark and they normally sleep a bit better. They would doze on and off for a few hours at a time and then the other time they would watch movies on the iPad. We had to make a few extra bathroom breaks for Chloe, but no accidents and no big complaints. We got into town about 7:30 in the morning and that was a bit too early for a surprise so we went over to my sister's house and let the kids run around and play before we knocked down the doors of my parents' house. 

Now, my sister lives right across the street from my grandma, who didn't know we were in town. There is always a risk of something happening or an unexpected drop by. We were lucky for the most part, but then when we were getting ready to leave to go to my parents' house I noticed my dad's car parked at my grandma's house. Oh great. Surprise ruined. So we figured we would just trot over there and surprise him there before he spilled the beans to my mom. When we were getting ready to walk out the door he was in his car. And we were busted! He drove really slow by my sister's house because he thought he recognized the truck. Yep, we were busted. So we packed up and went to my parents' house about 5 minutes behind my dad. My sister walked in first as always and then my mom was confused because she heard extra pitter patters down the hall. Now remember, mom had surgery so she couldn't get up. The look on her face when she saw us. It was funny. It was like she was trying to jump out of her seat, but she couldn't because she was stuck in a mud puddle or something. It was funny. My dad did say he saw the truck, but he was able to keep the secret for the 5 minutes or so. A great surprise!

It was so relaxing and we were able to have Chloe's birthday party with my parents, grandparents and sister and her family. This is a rare occasion since we live so far away. And Chloe had strict instructions on her party. She had to have purple balloons, purple cake, a purple cup and pretty much anything and everything purple. She also picked out the theme of My Little Pony...yes, that is my daughter. We got an ice cream cake from the local DQ and told them to make it as purple as possible. They did a good job using the gel icing (my favorite) and putting purple all over it. Chloe was so excited at her party and she was ripping through her gifts (all in bags and tissue paper) like a crazy lady. She was having more fun just opening the bags than actually seeing what she got, but after the presents were gone she then decided to see what she got and was so excited with everything. She talked on and on about her birthday. I would say it was a success.

While we were in Indiana is also snowed a little bit. The kind where it falls overnight, but by 10am it is all gone. Chloe went out to have lunch with Sydney at school and Chole asked my sister "Why is daddy's truck hiding?" It had snow on it and she thought it was hiding. Silly girl. 

The whole trip was a success and after a week as hard as it was to leave, it was time to make the trip back down to Texas to go home and try to get some kind of normalcy back in our routine. I'm so glad we were able to make the trip just another unexpected blessing that we were able to do while I was off work.