A Surprise Trip for Mom's 80th!

Sometime in January I got an email from Grandpa proposing that he fly me home to surprise Mom for her birthday, it being her 80th and she being so wonderful and all. We thought it was a grand idea and bought tickets right away. It was a BIG secret! Grandma is not an easy one to surprise, so while people living far away knew, people close by were kept in the dark. I had fun explaining to my girls here the idiom, "Don't let the cat out of the bag."

I  made all my preparations, packed up a bunch of books I wanted to bring to grandkids, and after calling my Mom for a normal little chat, left for the airport at 2:30 pm Friday, March 7th. I left Manila about midnight that night and flew to Guam, then to Majoro in the Marshall Islands, to Honolulu and then Los Angeles. That was a twenty-two hour trip. Robin and David met me at 5:30 on Saturday morning, the day of the party. It took a nap and got to spend time with Robin and Luke.

We picked up the food ordered for the party and went over to Gretchen's house. I carried the bread and walked in behind my sister, Robin. As Mom greeted them, I stepped out and said, "Hi Mom, happy birthday!"

She couldn't believe it! She was SO surprised! "But I just talked to you! Where were you when you called?"
It was a great moment, and so fun to be the birthday surprise!

I think all the waiting, planning, spending and secret keeping really paid of for my Dad!

Here we all are sitting on the sofa in Gretchen's family room. this is after our lovely dinner. Several of the grandkids who live in the area came over for dessert, and that was fun too!
I especially enjoyed getting to hang out with Luke a couple times during the week. He was working frantically on a research project, but he finished it Thursday.
I didn't make any big plans to see many people and got to spend a lot of time with Mom and Dad. That is always so nice! I got to help take care of Robin's grandson, Anders, a nice little red-headed kid, and do a little shopping. I did get to see our good friends, Burnell and Paula Johnson, who 'happened' to be in the area while I was there, and  also had dinner with my friend Paulette! A special treat!

Saturday I was back in a plane making the same trip, only in reverse. It was a looooooong trip, but worth it! I was met by Leah in Manila and spent the night at her place and came back down to CDO the next morning, arriving on Monday. What an amazing week!