a birfday supwise

on a whim, i decided to surprise my mother for her birthday.  for years, ben and i have talked about surprising the minnesota family for the holidays, but it never seems to work out.  tickets are always ridiculously expensive, and we're of the mindset that in the winter, it's kind of a nice treat to trade in cold place for a warmer one (not another cold place), right?!  well, this year it worked out for the boys to stay home, while dylan and i made our {first of many} girl trip.

in seattle, half way there!

it was gonna be brutal though.  the cheapest best flight left at the unGodly hour of 6 am.  sheesh.  i haven't seen that hour since those pesky potty breaks during the last trimester of pregnancy.  in my head, on repeat, i kept the reel of my mom's expression, playing in my head.  we left the house at 3:45 a.m., in the middle of a damn snowstorm.  i white-knuckled it all the way to ted steven's international.  check-in, dreaded security, starbucks, gate and our window seat in row 23.  i think that was my first exhale since waking at 3:20 a.m.  all in the name of momma d.

the 3-hour flight arrived in seattle, 20 minutes early, much to my and dylan's approval.  you would have thought i walked off the plane with a complimentary bag of candy!  so happy to be half-way there!  we had an hour to burn, so i found a vacant corner and released the pest to muck up the windows and flirt with people attempting to snooze.  (i so remember being that bothered person.  try not to judge, if you don't have kids yet.)

with another 3-hour flight to tackle, i was feeling utterly giddy.  containing my excitement was just no longer possible.  i became the extrovert that my mother wishes i was.  i could no longer hold in my ten day secret.  i couldn't stop telling people my plan.  i'm gonna plop dylan on the front step and ring the doorbell!  no!  i'm gonna have my brother walk in the door holding dylan!  no!  i'm gonna do backflips into her entryway while holding a naked dylan!  ok, probably not, but i knew for sure that i wouldn't have been able to last another day, keeping this secret from the one person i tell everything!

she didn't know i had been screening her calls.  (ringing phone at an extremely weak moment)

she didn't know how many times i almost spilled the beans.  ("...when i'm there this weekend...")

she didn't know why i was so frantic to have my truck in the shop all week (i had a trip to get ready for!)

and, she didn't know that everyone else was in on it!

ultimately, matt walked through the door with dylan, renee was behind matt, and i was last, with the camcorder.  let's see if i'm smart enough to upload a video...

{and, a half-hour later with no luck}

ok, so no footage, but you would have seen the typical hand-over-face/mouth maneuver.  why does that happen?  i know i did it when benji threw that surprise party for me on my 30th.  i'm VERY shocked there weren't tears - in the video - but i cannot confirm (or deny) if there were (or were not) tears over the weekend.  (ok, there were.  by both of us.  lots.)  she definitely sucked the air outta the room.  that was predicted by all.  she kept repeating, WHAT IS THIS? but my favorite was averee looking up at me saying, auntie annie, where's jack?  awww...  still on saturday morning, she was in disbelief that her girls had made it for the birthday dinner. 

i may have told ben, mom #2 and everyone else (!) that this trip was for her, but selfishly, i needed it too.  i swear, it gets harder and harder as the years pass to be apart from family.

it may have been sunday before she realized what actually happened, two days prior.  don't you just love a good surprise?!

 the birthday girl blushes at the birthday song

 birthday cake made by averee & ellie

 gramma's in love.

 cousins, smoochin nigh-night

after we said good night to the flanagan's, we dashed out for breakfast goodies for the a.m.; the wirtz girlies would be joining us.  upon arriving at the local kowalski's, dylan spied the itty-bitty shopping carts.  hilarious.  she zoomed that metal beast into everything.  she's already a horrific driver.  but look how excited...  

whatta whirlwind day.

{as a bonus, here's jack, the day after we returned.  at pet zoo.  he's a much better driver.}