I know I have been silent lately, but there has been a very good reason. I have had a secret, a surprise, that has been all I have been thinking about, all that I have wanted to talk about. But I couldn't talk about it or it wouldn't be a secret. And if I had mentioned that I had a secret but didn't go on to reveal the secret, I know there are certain tenacious people who would not stop until the secret was known. So, I figured it would be better for me to keep quiet than to say anything at all.
I am home!! In Forest Grove!! At this very minute, typing on my parents' computer. This is the first time home in over two and a half years! The secret was that nobody knew we were coming. Let me rephrase, on a couple people knew we were coming, and they only knew to help set up the surprise.
We told Dad so he could make sure that they were prepared for a moderate invasion and so that he could help set up the surprise on my side of the family. I had called Mom a couple weeks ago to let her know that Nick was going to be in town on business and could he please stay the weekend with them. Also wanted her to invite Josh and Aubrey and their families for dinner to see him.
We also told Angie, Nick's sister, so she could help set up the surprise on Nick's side of the family.
We took a red eye flight on Thursday morning, and because my parents were both working a 24 hour shift, we planned on staying with Angie for Thursday night. Angie set up a lunch date with her Dad and a dinner date with her Mom. So when Angie brought Dad outside of his office to "meet someone" there Nick and I were with all the kids. The look on his face was priceless, and captured beautifully on camera by Steve, Angie's fiance. (Pictures will have to wait until another time. I really should be in bed, but couldn't sleep, so I'm up getting some of this off my mind.) We spent the lunch hour with Paul going from table to table showing off his grandsons.
When we got back to Angie's we took a much needed nap and then started preparing for the next surprise. Angie had told Chuck about our surprise so that she could enlist his assistance in making sure Mary would be available for dinner. When they showed up, we had Joey and Nick (the little one) answer the door. Her look of astonishment was also caught on camera by Steve. (I asked him if he wanted to come to my family's on Friday to be our photographer, but he passed.) We had a wonderful time with Mom and Chuck and were completely blessed by Steve and Angie's hospitality. They were fantastic!
On Friday, I guess that is still technically today, we had to wait until dinner to see my family, so we spent a fairly leisurely morning with Steve and Angie. Taylor, Nick's "little" sister (several inches taller than me at 13) didn't have school today, so she was dropped off by Dad on his way to work and got to spend the day with us. In the afternoon, we went over to Grandmama's to surprise her, and then headed off to the zoo. Mary was able to take the afternoon off and met us at the zoo. This was the boys' first trip to the zoo and they had a blast. Again, they had no nap and both Joey and Nick walked just about the entire time without complaining. I was super proud of them.
When we left the zoo, it was to head out to my parents'. I called to let them know that Nick was on his way over, and since Dad answered the phone, I was able to make sure that everybody was coming and that nobody knew that anybody other than Nick was going to be there. Unfortunately, my Mom was one of those tenacious people I mentioned earlier, and she figured it out.....but not until just this afternoon, so she was still surprised but at that point was expecting us. (She didn't know all the details, or that I had to stay away all of Thursday and Friday to make sure this surprise worked.) Our "plan" was to have Nick show up after everybody was there and say his "hello's" and then forget something in the car...then the boys and I would come back in with him. But since Mom knew, and we didn't know exactly when everybody would show up, we decided to just surprise people as they got there. When we pulled up, Aubrey and Gary were already there, so we stormed in en masse and gave Aubrey the shock of a lifetime. It was fantastic to see her (and the rest of the family) again. It was really funny, because earlier Aubrey had left me a note on Facebook saying that she was looking forward to seeing Nick but that it would make her miss me and the kids more. So I was ecstatic to be able to see her and be seen by her.
Josh and Stacei showed up a few minutes later and Nick met them at the door while the kids and I hid in the other room. Then the kids and I made ourselves visible and it was another round of squeals and laughter and tons more hugs. This has been the best two days in a very long time!
What's even better is that we don't go home until the 22nd, so I have eight more days to be here.
Well, this was supposed to be a quick note....but I seem incapable of making a note quick. I have lots of pictures that I will be able to post tomorrow....and of course I will be taking tons more. So now I should make another attempt at going to bed.
Have a blessed beyond belief weekend.
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