Surprise Oregon Visit - October 2011

Mwah ha ha ha!!! Ethan and I (and Christine, she was in on it, too) were sneaky, sneaky this year. {insert devilish grin and maybe a single eyebrow raise - which I can't actually do, but whatever} We drove down to Oregon to surprise my parents for their birthday!! They.had.no.idea! It was great. As usual, I planned on leaving mid-morning but it ended up being closer to 1pm, which meant we didn't roll into town until about 3pm. And by then my mom was at my grandma's house and Dad and Lizzy were still at work and school, then volleyball practice - respectively. So we scrapped our original idea of showing up at my parents' house with balloons covering the peephole and decided instead to still do balloons, but also decorate the dining room!
We got to my parents house and then I quickly unloaded the car and then stashed it a couple blocks down the street (opposite of the way they would be coming home). Ethan kept himself busy (and out of my way) playing in living room and I hung a banner, streamers, ribbon things, etc. I was terrified that any second I would here the garage door start to open, meaning my mom was home. But really, I had nothing to worry about. We waited... and waited.... and waited... and waited some more. Finally, worried that maybe they were all going out to dinner straight from work, etc. I called my mom to "wish her a happy birthday" and get a feel for where they might be. This was really hard to do because Ethan was in on the surprise and I was afraid he would spill the beans over the phone! He actually sorta did, but it was not caught. Phew!! Finally, I learned that my mom was picking up Lizzy from practice and would be home shortly (I knew this because my mom had passed the phone off to Lizzy so she could drive legally). But, oh crap!! This meant they were coming from a different end of town and would drive right past our "hidden" parked car!! Yikes!! But I had no time to try and hide it again, so I crossed my fingers that they would be oblivious to the WA license plate and identifying stickers/license plate cover on the back that they would drive RIGHT BY!! Lucky for us, they didn't even notice it. Ha ha!! Lizzy walked in the house first and was slightly confused by the decorations. I think she was thinking, "you decorated for your own birthday... uh, Mom? That's a little weird." But then my mom walked in and was equally confused and then finally Ethan and I jumped out and surprised them!! Ha ha! It was awesome. :)
That night we had Papa's Pizza and ice cream cake. Well, my Mom and Lizzy ate the ice cream cake. I am not a fan. They are obsessed.
The next day (scary!) my Grandma Mary (mom's mom) called up saying she thought she may have had a small stroke. Uh, say what?! So my parents took her to the hospital and Ethan and I hung out at my parents' house. Not our original plan, but Grandma Mary was the primary concern. Grandma Sandy (dad's mom) dropped by so we got to chat with her a little and then that evening, once it was determined that Grandma Mary had, indeed, had a small stroke and would be staying (at least) overnight in the hospital, we went to go visit her. It was good to see her, but I missed being able to hang out with her at Kay's house (she moved in with my Aunt after Grandpa died earlier this year).

Next day Ethan and I went to my old high school and saw a couple of my old teachers and then took Lizzy out to lunch. We also made a quick stop to visit my friend Danae and her family and then were back at my parents house. My mom helped me make a tunic for Ethan's knight costume - I cut, she sewed. It worked well. We didn't leave until late, but were able to finish the tunic and get a quick visit in with Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Sandy - they stopped by again since Grandpa had been out of town the day before.

And that was it! Short and sweet and a fun surprise!