Day 242

Well today was a big and exciting day.

I've been scheming with Chelsea and Justin (her hubby), as well as a dear family friend, Donna, for a little over a month now.  What have we been scheming about?  Well let me tell you.

I've been living in CO since the end of December and haven't gone home since.  I don't love being so far away from family and friends and have been wanting to go home for quite some time now.  So that's what I did.  I went home.

This plan started when John looked at me one day after I had really been missing home and said, "You should go home for Easter.  And your mom's birthday is the next day.  Look up flights."  Oh I love him.

So I did and I booked a flight that night.

I flew into Greensboro and Donna picked me up around 2PM.  We ran around a few places and I even talked to my mom on the phone while at Coldwater Creek.  I even told her she should come by, knowing she would think I was talking about one in CO.  Little did she know I was about 20 minutes away from her.

Chelsea and Justin took off from work early and met up with Donna and I and took me home.  My dad was supposed to be home when we got there, but things had happened and he wasn't.  So we figured we'd just get 'em twice and get double the pleasure out of two surprises.  Chels and Justin brought their two dogs, Dallas and Sawyer, from Raleigh and, when we arrived home, let them out to play in the front yard with Maddie and Buddy, our family dogs.  Justin walked inside and asked my mom if she'd help him get something out of the car.  When she walked outside, I stood up from where I was hiding and said "Happy birthday!!"  Oh it was so wonderful.  She was so excited that she made me think of a cartoon character who's running so fast but there aren't moving.  We hugged and cried and then went inside and did what we always do: stand in the kitchen and talk.

We were so caught up that we forgot to close the garage doors.  Not a big deal except for the fact that this is how we were going to know when my dad got home.  Whoops.

Around 6PM Chelsea loudly inhaled all of the air in the room and said, "Huuuuh (inhale) DAD!!!"  I looked up and froze, like I had been caught red handed doing something I wasn't supposed to.  Dad and I locked eyes and he seemed like something just wasn't fitting together.  Later, he said that he looked at me and thought, "Well that's not Chelsea.  Who is tha.....Kimberly!"  He quickly put down his things and gave me one of those wonderful, can-only-get-'em-from-Dad hugs.  One of the best weekends of my life had begun.

We went to church, came home, and celebrated by opening some German champagne, or I guess it would be sparkling wine.

This is my Dad/Pops/Daddy/Poppaloo.  My mom was standing in the corner when he pointed the bottle at her.  He wasn't opening it but it was really funny.

"Bob!  Don't point that at me!"

We drank some of this and some of some other stuff Mom and Dad had in the fridge.  Chelsea and Justin didn't like either of them.  It was champagne afterall.  Hell, they don't like champagne so much that they toasted with Coors Light at their wedding....in Waterford Crystal flutes!!

In their defense, it was supposed to be sparkling cider but we left it at home.