I went to my Mom's to surprise her for her birthday. It worked. If you know my mom, you know how hard it is to surprise her. She knows all. She has eyes in the back of her head. She can hear a pin drop in South America. That's because she doesn't like surprises. Each of my previous trips, she wears herself out cleaning, planning and preparing. I didn't want her to do that. Especially on her birthday. So my Aunt Shauna called to let me know that she was flying down to surprise Mom for her birthday. So months ago, I set aside the weekend and knew we were in for a challenge. I would text Dad and figure Mom was right there. I didn't tell my kids for weeks 'cuz I knew that they would spill the beans for sure. Going to Gramma's is better than Disneyland to my kids. When the kids saw me writing notes to their teachers, they figured it out. They sang different versions of" over the river and to the woods" and "gramma got ran over by a reindeer", and many more holiday renditions of songs with gramma in them. So the last two days, I didn't call Mom for fear that Zippy would say, "Hey, Gramma, we're coming to your house to surprise you on your birthday". I had to work the Friday after Thanksgiving. Not knowing when my work day would end was slightly torturous. I made it, grabbed the kids, kissed my sad hubby and got on the highway.
I dread the 5.5 hour drive to my parents house. Partly because of the two people in the back seat. They hate being confined in their car seats. They hate being bored. They hate being in close proximity to each other. They hate the smell of Hereford. (OK, so do I.) So needless to say, there was plenty of screaming and fighting in the car. I could have pulled the car over, but the part of me that I get from my Dad said, "if I pull over, that just makes this car ride that much longer". Ignore the chaos. I think I did. They did the genetic response to long trips, "are we there yet" four million times. Zippy drew all over herself and her brother with a marker. I even joined in the ice throwing fit. They were not expecting it. They were expecting Mom to freak out when ice went down her blouse. Nope, I just threw my ice right back at them. The car needs some TLC soon but it was worth it.
We got closer to Gramma's house and the kids rewrote a song for her to the tune of "it's a long way to Tipperary".
It's a long way to Gramma's house,
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Gramma's house,
To the sweetest girl I know.
Goodbye Amarillo.
Hello Gardendale!
It's a long way to Gramma's house,
But our hearts already there.
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Gramma's house,
To the sweetest girl I know.
Goodbye Amarillo.
Hello Gardendale!
It's a long way to Gramma's house,
But our hearts already there.
So when we got to Gramma's house, we started singing this song at her door. She thought it was some of her friend's children so when she saw us, she totally freaked out. It was great.
I highly recommend freaking your Mom out at the earliest possible time.
I have some pictures of our adventure but alas, I have run out of time. Tune in next time for chapter two of, It's fun to freak out your Mom.
Sounds awesome and yes, sometimes surprises are worth it. Glad you had a great time.
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