Tuesday, June 1, 2010

My boat is bigger than your boat

Last weekend, we went to Odessa to see my family. Next Sunday is my parent's 40th wedding anniversary, so we've been planning for months to get together for the weekend and take them out to eat for their anniversary. We had a little surprise for my mom planned. With my grandmother's permission, we used the topper that was used at my grandparents' 40th anniversary party (in 1983) on the cake.

This cake was my youngest sister's creation. The top cake was spice cake, the middle cake was white cake, and the bottom was chocolate. You'd think we were feeding the whole city of Odessa instead of our family and a couple of friends.
My parents.
This is what my mom got my dad. It's to decorate his office at work.
My dad had a surprise for my mom that blows our little bit of nostalgia off the planet. You see for weeks, he and my mom have been "planning" on going back to Arkansas where they spent their honeymoon. What my mom didn't know was that my dad had no intention of going back to Arkansas. He'd received a bonus from work a couple months back and wanted to use it go to on a really great trip, something they hadn't done before.

So he decided to book them on an Alaskan cruise. He bought the tickets, arranged for airfare, made hotel reservations the day before the cruise ALL WITHOUT TELLING MY MOM. My sisters and I knew and he wanted us to be in on telling her. His idea was to play a version of Let's Make a Deal. We got little gifts that would be for the cruise - like binoculars - that she would "earn" by answering questions about their married life. By answering more questions she could trade in for bigger prizes.
Finally she got to pick one of three boxes. One had a trip to No Trees, Texas (yes it really does exist). Box 2 was a description of the Arkansas trip.
She picked that one at first and then, after one last question, was able to choose box number 3. Here's Sarah showing her the actually cruise ship they will be on.
My mom was so surprised. She had NO IDEA. First she laughed.
Then she cried.
Then I teased her about how much bigger the boat Daddy gave her is than the one she gave him.