I Surprised Her Real Good

For a couple weeks Nate and I were keeping a secret, we had plane tickets to the East side of the country. We had hopes of surprising Nate's sister Ann and her husband Eric. They moved out there last year and had resigned themselves to the fact that it was just too far away for us to drag the whole crew out for a visit. Driving would take us weeks at the pace we travel, with bathroom breaks every five miles. Can you imagine how angry the people behind us in the security line at the airport would be if we flew out there with the whole crew? Taking off four hundred pairs of shoes and jamming up the x-ray machine with all of our carry-ons? What a nightmare.

But what if somehow, someway, just Nate and I could sneak away for a couple days? They would never see that one coming. My parents were more than willing to take the kids so that we could complete this mission of secrecy. Nate's parents were in on the plan, they were out there visiting Ann and Eric themselves and quickly came up with a great story that would allow them to sneak away and pick us up at the airport.

Saturday morning, the plan commenced. We boarded a plane and began our kidless journey. We were both giddy with anticipation, and also with copious amounts of Starbucks purchased along the way. Send me on any kind of a trip and I will order a venti caramel macchiato at every Starbucks I see. Nate's parents picked us up right on time and the four of us giggled practically all the way back to the house. About a block away they dropped us off and they went ahead without us. We waited a few minutes and then walked right up the sidewalk and rang the door bell. Here is what took place next.

It was awesome.

(Her perspective of the whole thing is here.)