I'm back!

I've been gone for a while, which you might not have noticed.  I got a rare treat (although my family will tell you it's not as rare as I think it is!), and got to go out of town without any of the kids.

My last post, I wished my grandmother a happy 90th birthday.  The real truth is that on that day, which was her actual birthday, my mom, sister, and I were on a plane bound for New Jersey.  My mother and two aunts had planned a surprise party to celebrate, and part of the surprise was that the three of us from California were going to be there.

Once a month, my grandmother goes out to dinner with a group of people from her church.  The dinner was scheduled for Friday night, so my aunt planned the party for that particular night.  The plan, of course, was for everyone to be there ahead of time.  My sister, cousin, and I got to the restaurant to set up a little early.  We placed the members of her regular group at the first table she would see. 

My grandmother walked in, saw them first, and greeted them.  The next table was more of the usual group, with some of her local family.  We figured she would be surprised to see her grandchildren and great grandchildren there.

The lady in the front left corner is the pastor at my grandmother's church, seated next to a member of the Adults Dining Out group.  Next to him is my aunt and uncle, with my grandmother at the head of the table.  On the right side of the table is my cousin, her husband, and their two daughters.

At the last table was the rest of the family:  my aunt, uncle, and cousin, my mother and sister, and my cousin, his wife, and their daughter.  Oh yeah, and I was there too!  My grandmother walked in, and looked at my sister.  She looked away, looked back again, and repeated the scenario again.  Finally, it occurred to her that she DID know my sister, and that she wasn't some random stranger, crashing dinner.  Here is the expression on her face when she realized that the three of us were there:

Needless to say, it was totally worth the difficulty in keeping quiet about our plans.  THAT is one of the main reasons my blogs last month were so few and far between....I was afraid I would spill the beans!  By the way, my grandmother mentioned that this was the first birthday party she had ever had that was not a family party.  My aunt did a fabulous job...planning the party, cleaning her house so that she could host the three of us, planning events for my grandmother, so our presence would be undetected for the 19 hours we were there before the party, and keeping it all quiet.  Great job, Aunt Jill!

My sister was able to stay for 5 days, my mom and I were there for 11.  Here are a few more pictures of our trip.  Not many, however, we were kept too busy to really use the camera!

My mom and aunt, with 2 of their nieces.

Me, Gam, and Becky, around dessert time.





My cousin, with his niece and his daughter.



My grandmother, with her 3 daughters.  This picture was taken at the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City.







My sister, me, Gam, and my cousin, also at the Tropicana.

We had a great time...fun visit with family, good food (and lots of it!), shopping, great weather.  I couldn't have asked for anything more.  But it was good to get home!

Take care, and I'll talk to you again soon!