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As the second week of November approached, I set into "Mom's leaving - stress" mode. I was one busy mother preparing the home for two sets of grandparents to arrive and I was trying to prepare the girls and the home for me being gone for a whole week. Moms, you all know what I am talking about...there is a lot to do before we can just pick up and leave our kids for a week. I wrote the kids entire schedule for Grandpa Carpenter, everything they needed to do that week, made meals to freeze, wrote down doctor info, school info, etc. That took a few days to complete for five little ladies. I completely reorganized the master bedroom and bath, painted and cleaned so my parents would be very comfortable in our home. We prepped vehicles, one for Grandpa Carpenter to drive and the other to take to New Orleans. Then we had to pack. Long story short, I was dog tired before I left on the surprise birthday cruise.
Grandma and Grandpa Avery arrived for Brianne's birthday and they were going to stay with us for three days and then leave to go on their cruise to celebrate Gary's birthday. Gary had asked several family members to join him, but only a distant cousin could go. Poor Gary and Carol, no one (so they thought) to hang out with on the cruise.
We reminded the girls and especially Tiffany (4 years old) not to say anything to Grandma and Grandpa Avery about us going on the cruise with them. Of course all of us slipped a few times but managed to cover up our mistakes and not to let the secret out.
The night before Gary and Carol were to leave, Gary was like a kid on Christmas Eve. He was giddy, kept smiling, kept talking about how hard it was going to be to fall asleep. Meanwhile Ron and I are just smiling and trying to hide our excitement as well. We kept asking them questions about their cruise, which ports they would visit, which cruise line they were on, if they would pick us up a few items in the stores, etc. We knew that we were about to pull off the greatest surprise on Gary and his Mom, EVER!
Finally, Sunday morning arrived. We heard Gary and his Mom get up and start getting ready to leave. It was VERY early. We laughed because we knew Gary really couldn't sleep because he was so excited to leave on his birthday cruise. We pretended to be asleep as they packed their car and left. As soon as we knew they were gone, we jumped up and began getting ready to leave. We called Grandpa Carpenter to come over right away so we could leave.
We made pretty good time getting to the port in New Orleans. We were trying to be at least an hour behind them so we didn't run into them in the check-in process! Well, we some how succeeded. We made it to our cabin without seeing them. Now, we had to figure out how to find them. The ship was HUGE!
After about an hour of wandering the ship (of course we looked in the buffet first) and not succeeding, we went back to our room. We knew their room was on the same hallway as ours. We just were not sure which room it was. Ron then had the idea to call the front desk and ask to be connected to the Avery's room. His mom answered the phone and he threw his voice a bit and told her he was from the ship's management and asked her to step out in the hallway. She thought it was someone with information about her lost luggage (which we had no idea this had occurred- but it worked perfectly). When she stepped out in the hallway, Ron and I jumped from our room, ran down the hallway yelling,"happy birthday"! We saw Gary and he had this look of total shock on his face. Carol was crying (it was so sweet) and Gary was had this HUGE smile on his face! We were all screaming with joy and excitement! The ship employees were cheering and were excited too. It was such a fun surprise! Ron and I of course were high five'ing because we had succeeded in pulling off the greatest surprise...EVER on his Mom and Gary!
We got you Carol and Gary! (Mu-hahahaha!) Gary, we hope you had a VERY happy 7oth birthday! We love yall and we had such a wonderful time on the cruise with you.
The ports we visited: Cozumel, Mexico. Costa Maya, Mexico. Belize City, Belize. Roatan, Honduras. My favorite port was Roatan, Honduras. The people were very kind and it was beautiful!
Right after the big surprise!
Leaving New Orleans.
Gary and Ron hanging out on the room deck.
Sunset a sea. One of my favorite things to witness. It just brings to my mind how glorious this earth and universe really are.
Costa Maya, Mexico
Waiting to go our our Mayan ruins tour.
On the way to the ruins...boy, didn't we all feel safe?
Grocery shopping at the market. (no we didn't stop)
The ruins. "Ron what's it called again?"
Seeing Mayan ruins was on my bucket list. They were fantastic!
Gary, yes, Gary beat all of us to the top! Nice job old geezer. Even the Second City comedians thought it was amazing and funny!
Partying with Gary on his birthday!
This picture just cracked me up! This ship was full of old folks. Here is my proof. Hum, could this be Ron and I in the future? Quite possibly. I'm beginning to like cruising.
The dragon fly that just wouldn't leave us alone on the ship deck.
Honduras
Ron and Gary snorkled in the rain, while Carol and I laid under this umbrella freezing in the rain! We are such nice women!
Cozumel, Mexico. On the beach with peacocks.
Ron and Gary on the boat, going out to snorkle.
Our ship.
Chocolate buffet night....oh yes! YUM!
Moon rising on one side of the ship...
The sun setting on the other side of the ship. One of my favorite times of the day!
AMAZING!
The beautiful sign our kids made for us! What a welcome home! Thank you gals! xoxo
