Life on the road is not always fun and games. Especially when you are an about-to-be-a-teenager and your birthday comes around. Especially when you are an about-to-be-teenager who is used…
Life on the road is not always fun and games.
Especially when you are an about-to-be-a-teenager and your birthday comes around. Especially when you are an about-to-be-teenager who is used to having birthday parties with lots of friends and family.
Last year, we spent Thing One’s birthday at the Biltmore Mansion.
This year, he was going to be 13 so we wanted to try and make it special.
Thing One is a family guy. He asked if we could go back to Indiana to celebrate his birthday with my family so he didn’t have to be with “just us” this year. I said, “Sorry but we just can’t do that right now.”
Little did he know I was plotting.
For a month and a half, I hid in the bathroom to text or slipped away to the campground clubhouse to make calls for the surprise birthday I was planning.
It worked.
Thing One and Two were a bit confused when we asked them if they would like to go to Denny’s for ice cream at 10 pm. (I’m not sure if they were more surprised that we said Denny’s or that it was 10 pm.)
Regardless, they were even more surprised when we drove up and saw a couple that looked like GG and TT (my grandparents) walking into the restaurant. Oh no!!! However, much to my relief, they were distracted by ice cream and didn’t think it was really them. I mean GG and TT were in Indiana not Colorado. Right?
Wrong!
They were in Colorado Springs for his birthday!
Saying he was happy is an understatement.
The birthday week kept getting better.
Two days later on our way up to GG and TT’s hotel room, I suggested we check out the conference rooms as a potential place to celebrate his birthday. He reluctantly agreed.
When we got to the conference room, we discovered it was locked. Like crazy woman I started jerking on the handle. The caterer opened the door and told me there was a party going on. She didn’t realize it was our party.
Uh oh.
So I stubbornly politely threatened said, “Well we might want to have a party here so we’ll just take a quick peek at the room.”
Thing One was mortified as I pushed past the caterer and told him to take a look. That was until he saw Weewah and Papaw (my mom and dad), GG and TT, and our very good friends waiting for him.
He was shocked to tears.
Elated!
Later, he told me it was one of the best birthdays ever. I think it was even better than the time I made the dilapidated limo cake.
Thing One wasn’t the only one we managed to surprise. Earlier in the day, I had dropped Thing Two off at the hotel for some alone time with GG and TT and he was shocked to see Weewah and Papaw had joined us!
It was a special weekend, indeed!
We ate in an airplane.
We all crammed into an elevator shaft and went 1000 feet under ground at the Mollie Kathleen Mine.
On our way home from the mine, we stumbled upon a delicious little bakery run by German immigrants in a town of just 300 people and ate the most delicious food.
Mostly, we spent time just being together and then, much too soon, the weekend was over.
And it was time to say goodbye.
So sad but so thankful they came to spend time with us and make the birthday of a teenager so special.
Thirteen.
We can’t believe our baby is thirteen.
This just seems like yesterday.
Time is turbo charged and shows no mercy.
It makes us that much more grateful for our life on the road together.
Even if it means living in a small space with a teenager. đŸ˜‰
Love and Laughter,
Jenn
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