A Fun Surprise

Last week my family enjoyed some vacation time at the beach with Kevin's parents and his brother's family. We were having such a great time together, but we knew we'd have to be leaving on Friday morning. So Thursday evening we were all lingering on the beach. Suddenly Katie announces that she has to use the bathroom, so I volunteered to take her. As she and I began to walk off, Kevin said, "Why don't you go ahead and take your shower and start getting yourself ready?"

"Okaaayy," I said with a puzzled look on my face.

"Do you trust me?," my husband grinned.

I did trust him. And I could tell it would be worth it to trust him. So Katie and I went up to the condo, and I found something for her to watch on TV while I took my shower. (Actually, the channel surfing took some time, because that was when Michael Jackson's sudden death was all over every station! So I watched that for a few minutes.) After I had gotten out of the shower, Kevin, Callie, and Caleb came up to the room, and Kevin started getting the kids dressed. I didn't say anything out loud, but secretly I was disappointed that the kids seemed to be a part of his plan for the evening. I had been hoping we were going out on a date. So then I was even more perplexed when he started packing up all our stuff!

"Are we leaving?!?!," I asked him with raised eyebrows.

"Yes," he grinned again. "Do you still trust me?"

I did, so I started helping him pack our stuff. I was pretty excited, even though I was completely in the dark about what was going on. You see, it seems to be a bit difficult to pull a complete surprise on me. It's not that I sneak around and try to find things out. I'm just perceptive.

So it's 8:45 at night, and we pull out of the parking lot in Destin, Florida. The kids asked if they could watch a movie on the portable player, and Kevin said they could. We're going to be driving long enough for them to watch a whole movie?, I thought to myself. Where in the world are we going?

Kevin turned on Finding Nemo for the kids. Katie fell asleep so fast, so I'm not even sure she saw Nemo get taken. Caleb and I both fell asleep somewhere between the EAC and Dory's discovery that she could speak whale. When I woke up, we were in Mobile, Alabama, but that was just a pit stop. Finally, at 1:45 in the morning, we pulled into our surprise destination, which was . . .

my in-laws' house.

I was so confused. And tired. And my in-laws were still at the beach! Still, I played along. Kevin and I proceeded to transfer our sleeping children from the van to the house, and then we went to sleep ourselves.

I did get to sleep in some the next morning, which was nice. As I got up and got myself ready for . . . something . . . , Kevin was again packing up our stuff and reloading the van. As we all piled back in, Katie asked if they could watch Finding Nemo, since she didn't get to see it the night before. Then Caleb asked Callie if they actually found Nemo. We laughed pretty hard at that, since they've all seen the movie dozens of times. But Kevin told them there wasn't enough time for a movie on this drive, which was kind-of disappointing to me, since we were in Magee, Mississippi. But I rode and kept quiet, when, to my astonishment, we pulled up to . . .

McDonald's.

Yep, still surprising. We ate breakfast there, which was nice, I'll admit. But I was really having a hard time fighting the urge to ask probing questions. I knew Kevin was eating up the fact that I was in such suspense, so I didn't try to spoil it.

Here's where it gets better. We left McDonald's and started driving again. And this time, we pulled up to . . .

my mother's house.

She didn't act all that surprised to see us, so I figured she was in on it. Kevin and I didn't stay very long, but we did leave the kids with her. So I was going to get that date after all! The kids didn't seem very concerned. They just waved us off and started gathering all the stuffed animals in Cammie's house to play Pet School.

Alright, this is more like it!, I thought. It's just the two of us off on a surprise adventure together. So I settled back in the van and started browsing through a magazine. I figured we'd be on the road for a while. But we actually only drove about an hour. And much to my surprise, we pulled up to see . . .

our own house.

Okay, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Still, I played along.

We went into the house, and Kevin told me I had 45 minutes to put on a dress and grab anything else I might need for an overnight stay. "Oh, and get the passports!," he said. I was pretty sure that was just a crazy thing to throw me off and keep me in the dark, but I did it anyway. We got back in the van and proceeded to drive north.

Three and a half hours later, we finally reached our destination . . .

Memphis!

But I still didn't know why we were there. We parked downtown and walked to Majestic Grille, where we had reservations. The seating was for four, though, and Kevin told the waitress not to remove the other two place settings. Before the expected guests arrived, however, Kevin accidentally let their names slip . . .

Tiffiny and Richard!

It was a fun surprise, because Tiffiny and Richard are some of my favorite people! And since Tiffiny didn't know whom they were coming to meet, we got to hide behind our menus till they got to our table.

We enjoyed a nice meal and then walked over to The Orpheum Theater, where we got to see . . .

Wicked!!!!

The play was so amazing and fun and full of surprises, and we had both been wanting to see it! I was so proud of my sweet husband for pulling off such an amazing surprise for me. I will never forget it. Thank you, Kevin!

Sidenote: Kevin told me later that he had gotten the dates wrong and had been thinking all along that the play was on Saturday night. So when Richard e-mailed him on Thursday morning and said, "See ya Friday night!," Kevin went into panic/Plan B mode, because we suddenly were having to leave the beach early. His family wondered how he was going to get me to go along with it without having to spoil the surprise. Haha! It just makes for an even better story, in my opinion.