"What are you doing here?"

If you have talked to my family recently you have probably heard about my amazing surprise trip home. I still can't believe I pulled off so well. Here's the story of how it all happened...

I'll start with when I decided to make this trip.

If you follow my blog you know I decided to extend my trip through November. Before I made this decision I wasn't planning to make any other trips home but because of the extended time away, cheap flights, and Zolie being born I decided I could make the trip home. I didn't want to say anything to anyone at first because I wasn't sure it was going to happen but then I starting thinking, why not surprise everyone. So, I talked to my boss and got a day off and then I talked to my friend Jesse to see if he would pick me up from the airport. I booked my flight Feb 24, just over a month before I was scheduled to leave. Everything was set and ready to go all I needed to do was keep a secret. It was easier than I thought it was going to be. I kind of had to forget that I was going and it made it a lot easier to keep it to myself. The only problem was I really couldn't talk to anyone about how excited I was, except for Jesse so I sent him a lot of texts counting down the days. I actually started counting down on my white board starting at 13 days before I left. When it got down to hours, I was even counting down the hours every time I was in my room.

The Sunday before I left I realized that I was getting in pretty late so I had to make sure Marcus and Mandi would be home and awake. I also didn't want to freak them out knocking on their door after 10pm. So I sent a text to Marcus saying to call me on Monday when you aren't around Mandi. When he called I asked him if he wanted to be in on a little secret, he was excited to be a part of the surprise. I told him I was coming home...tonight. I think he was a little taken back when I told him I was coming in that day. He said he would make sure she was awake and he would help me out if something came up. I landed around 9:30 and went straight to Mandi's. When I landed I had gotten a message from Mandi and she left a message telling me all about Zolie and things she's been doing. On the way to her house I called her back, it was about 10pm which was really 1AM New York time but she didn't even think about that. Apparently, when she called me and it went straight to voicemail she was a little worried about me and kept calling to see what was going on. She had never really been unable to get a hold of me and was a scared that something was wrong. She was telling me all about this as I was talking to here and as she was telling me all this, I was literally around the corner from her house. After she was finished with all her worrying she was telling me about Zolie and how she can't wait for me to come home in June when Zolie is doing more and a little more animated. I think Mandi has been trying to tell me all this about Zolie so I wouldn't be so sad missing out on these first few months. Little did she know, I was right outside her townhouse just about to knock on the door. When I knocked on the door, I could hear her through the phone and the door, "Who's here?" I think she was a little worried because it was so late. Marcus goes straight to the door and just answers the door without asking who it is. Mandi was a little shocked he did that but he knew who was on the other side. Mandi was definitely surprised when she saw me. She jumped off the couch (well she jumped as much as a person can 2 weeks after having a c section) and went around the couch to give me a hug all while saying/crying "What are you doing here?" It was the best reaction I could have hoped for.

After we figured out that I would stay with them we decided to make the rounds and surprise a few other unsuspecting people. Our first stop was Courtney's house. We all knew she would be awake so I called her up and started talking and then I knocked on the door. And for the second time that night I heard, "What are you doing here?" It was great. I love surprises. I got to go in and see Cooper as he slept and gave him a kiss and then went in and saw Easton. We actually woke him up while we were in there, uh oh. He was all smiles as soon as he woke up, it was great. Easton is getting so BIG. We left a little while later for the next stop, Mom and Dads.

On the way there we were trying to come up with a reason to call Mom and Dad to see if they were okay without freaking them out. After we came up with a few ideas we decided to have Mandi call Mom and say Marcus got called into work and Zolie had been a little fussy and the only thing that would calm her down was driving around. As she was driving Mandi ended up near Mom and Dads. Of course Mom asked if she wanted to stop by and Mandi accepted. When we pulled up to the drive way, the carport door was open and my Mom was walking out. I jumped out of the car and ran/jogged to my Mom. I was a couple feet from my mom when she finally realized who I was. It was pretty funny. Again I heard, "What are you doing here?" I briefly talked to her and she said go wake your dad up and tell him. I walk into my mom and dad's room and my dad was awake. He looked at me like who are you. I was walking around the bed to his side and I said, "yes dad, it is Jeni." I went and gave him and hug and a kiss. Of course I heard the question again, "What are you doing here?" I loved all these surprises. After I surprised my parents I went to my brother's rooms and decided to see if they were awake. I ended up waking Brandon up and heard the repeated question once again and then heard it for the sixth and final time from Chris.

I pulled off the best surprise ever! I am seriously shocked I was able to keep it to myself without giving out any hints as to my surprise visit.

While I was home, I stayed with Marcus and Mandi the first two nights and on the last night I stayed with my parents. Everything worked out so well and it was all a complete coincidence. Marcus was going back to work the following day so I was able to help Mandi out with Zolie while Marcus was at work and I got to see Cooper's first baseball game. It was a well UNplanned trip with my family. We were able to get together as a family for lunch twice and spend a lot of time together. I was also able to register for fall online classes through MCC. Oh and one of the highlights of my trip was getting to go to Cooper's Kindergarten class. It was so much fun and he READ a book to me. I know at the age you start learning to read but I hadn't heard him read anything, it was AMAZING. I was so happy but now that I am writing this it makes me think of all the things I am missing. I will be home soon enough and I won't miss anything else again.

I will upload pictures soon but I wanted to get a post up about my fabulous surprise trip home. Hope everyone is doing well. Keep checking back, I will post more soon.

Jeni