One Heck of a Surprise

I haven't blogged in a couple of days for good reason. On Saturday Jim and I took a ferry to Hoboken, NJ and rented a car. Jim's entire family was getting together in Ocean Pines, Maryland to celebrate the Fourth of July. We eagerly climbed into a fire engine red Ford Focus and headed out of the city. Jim said he felt like an escaped convict. We planned the trip about a month ago but had to wait for blood results closer to the date and the approval of Dr. Sauter. 

No one knew we were coming except for Sandy. We had to tell her in order to get the scoop on the weekend plans and to smooth out sleeping arrangements. We arrived at Jim's parents condo close to 6:30 Saturday night. The timing was perfect. Within minutes of our arrival Jim and Denise returned home from Debby's. Jimmy and I were leaning over the third floor balcony when they got out of the car. I captured their surprise and tears on video with my phone. That night we had time to visit with just Jim's parents before Sandy arrived mid-day on Sunday.

Everything was running smoothly. Sara and Skye were staying at Debby and Tom's along with Ashley and Julian. Sara brought Richard, and Skye brought her new boyfriend, Brandon. It would be his first time meeting everyone. Little did they know we would be there too. Skye had texted me to see if I was available to FaceTime with them in the afternoon to go over some wedding details. This would be the perfect time for us to show up at Debby's and surprise everyone else. Sandy arrived to Jim's parents place mid-day.  She had not seen Jimmy since she drove us to New York back in December. Again she was in on the secret so she was excited to hear about how we would surprise the rest of the family.

Around 2:30 Jimmy, Grandma, Sandy and I drove to Debby's for the next surprise. The men (including Julian) had left to play 9 holes of golf. Sandy captured some nice pictures of the reunion. I guess the girls saw Sandy and Grandma pull up and get out of the car. Jim and I parked in the overflow parking and couldn't be seen initially. But as we were walking towards the townhouse you could hear high pitched screaming coming from inside and out runs Sara, Skye and Ashley followed by Debby and her new pup, Grigsby. There was so much joy.

It was so much fun to surprise everyone. Luckily we showed up when we did. Everyone was getting ready for showers and then they were going to call me. Jimmy, Sandy and Grandma drove back to the condo and I stayed with Deb, Ashley, Sara and Skye. We started planning Sara's wedding shower.

That evening was the final surprise. Everyone was coming to the condo for dinner. Jimmy and I had not seen Tom, Richard or Julian yet and we would meet Brandon for the first time. We were sitting out on the balcony when everyone arrived. They all said hi to Sandy first, since she had just arrived earlier that day. Then they saw us sitting out on the balcony. More hugs and fist bumps ensued.

It was a WONDERFUL weekend. The sun didn't shine much, it rained and misted a lot but we didn't care. We were with family. We were out of New York. We were feeling normal again. Monday night the merriment continued at the Schimmel's house. Tom, Ashley and Debby made a heck of a spread and paid particular attention to everyone's dietary restrictions.

Tuesday morning 6:30 we headed back to the Big Apple. We were very lucky with the traffic. We will continue to count down the days until we return home permanently. Here's to the summer...Cheers!