My sister Shelly just had a baby, she was living in the middle of nowhere and I hadn't seen her in about 5 months, so we decided to start looking for plane tickets. Shelly lives pretty far out, so to fly into Flint airport and then drive 3 hours to her house ended up being cheaper than flying into one of the tiny airports closer to her. We prayed and prayed that the weather would stay nice so we could make it and luckily it did.
The surprise was everything we could have possibly hoped for (see video in previous post) and yes, Beckett did calm down after a little while. Poor kid. Matt and I had so much fun playing with Beckett and Hailey, holding baby Audrey, and playing games, watching movies and just chatting it up with Shelly and James. They showed us the area they live in and we even got to see where James works (nicest dental office I've ever been in). There was a small town night light holiday parade that cracked us up and Hailey had her 4th birthday while we were there. Here are some pictures from our quick surprise trip.
This is how we rolled from town to town. Poor Hailey only had us to talk to the whole way but we learned a new guess what I'm thinking game (kind of like 20 questions in reverse). I think Hailey thought we were pretty good at it as long as what we were thinking of was a princess. :)
Making some chicken pot pies while Hailey was at school.
They were watching a very interesting show (Timmy Time I think). I'm not sure if Beckett did this on purpose but I looked over and couldn't help but laugh.
Getting ready for the holiday night light parade to start. It was freezing outside so we opened the back of the van and watched from there. I don't think it even fazed the kids as they shouted Merry Christmas and Hi at the people going by. Beckett provided the funniest moment of the whole trip when he shouted out "Hi . . . It's me . . . Beckett!"
This is the birthday cake that Shelly made for Hailey. She is obsessed with the movie Tangled, so to say it was a hit is a serious understatement. Hailey loved the cake and the table cloth and the plates and the napkins and pretty much everything about her party. Beckett on the other hand was having a bit of a hard time which is why the picture above is so darn funny. He could come out and be a part of the party if he followed a few rules, one of them being putting on his happy face. As soon as he started to frown Shelly said, "Beckett, show me your happy face", and he immediately went from a frown to this. That kid seriously cracks me up.
When it came time to leave we were all super sad. Matt and I drove back to the Flint airport and just kept talking about how much fun we had and how much we loved seeing everyone. Once at the Flint airport we sat and waited and waited and waited as our plane became more and more delayed. (was it a sign? sadly no.) When we and almost everyone on our flight realized we weren't going to make our connections anymore the airline put us all in taxi's headed for Detroit (1 1/2 hours away). We ate a little something at the Chili's there and were home by 12:00am.
I realize looking over the post that there are no pictures of Shelly and James. I'll do better next time with that. What you say, next time? Oh yes, there will be a next time. I just love having a sister who lives close enough that it doesn't brake the bank to fly and see her. $89.00 one way baby! A spring or fall trip may be in order. Keep your fingers crossed Shelly.
