The talk started in February about my mom's 60th! We wanted to host a party with family and friends to celebrate her...but as the month went on and we started to plan I get an email from my mom. The email said she didn't want us spending the whole weekend getting ready for and finishing up last minute plans with a party. She said she would rather us come in and the best gift we could give her was to spend the whole weekend as a family (especially now that Brandon moved home). Whether that meant hanging out, playing with the kids, and a few activities. So we went with it...until Tim and I were talking one night and said yes to the concept of the weekend but we couldn't let her 60th birthday go by without SOMETHING fun and memorable and that was the night we came up with our plan to give her the special family weekend and still throw a surprise party in there with family and close friends.
I will let the pictures show how special the weekend was from start to finish...
We had to wait until Wednesday night, April 24th to fly in. Kennedy had her state testing and it finished that afternoon so we booked a flight to leave that evening and ended up in Phoenix to catch the tail end of my mom's special day. The kids decorated signs and we had party hats and blowers and as we walked down the walkway to baggage we burst out in song singing Happy Birthday. I full on have a pre-teen because she about died of embarrassment when we hatched out our plan a few days before. She said you want me to what??? Sing at an airport in front of all those strangers. So we got to explain that these are the fun times in life, and that she will never see these people again so who cares...so she agreed to the singing and sign holding BUT would not wear a hat :-). We flew in so late that the airport was dead and I secretly saw the relief on her face as she was singing. Sad part was we never got any pictures that night! It had been a long full day and we were so excited to be there plus we ran into a family we knew and I worked with right then and had a mini reunion so pictures took a backseat - that's when I surely missed our family airport photographer - Aunt Betsy!
With time change and kids up at the crack of dawn the next day - our weekend officially began. What better place to start than a coffee run and a trip to the fountain at Kierland. A favorite memory and stop that we don't miss on our trips. I could make an entire photo album of fountain pictures of my kids starting as early as Kennedy back when she was a toddler in a swim diaper.
The weather was beautiful, we had the fountain to ourselves because it was a school day and we were on vacation. I seriously could have sat there content all day. There's something special about being home that just relaxes me and I see the JOY on my kids faces so clearly. Plus it's extra special to be there celebrating such a special mom and the blessing that she has been to me these past 35 years and continues to share with my kids now. The day was just getting started though!
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