A Birthday Surprise

a surprise trip itinerary in his birthday card at the airport!

Randy is celebrating a big birthday this year. It was a long time ago that I had the idea to surprise him by planning some kind of a trip somewhere, to a place I knew he would enjoy. Something with an airshow, hiking, or fishing destination.

Anyway, back in April/May, I was trying to decide where and how and what I should do. I couldn't get the idea out of my mind to go to Alaska. There's a special little place there where some special people live that we've wanted to go see for a long time!

I was a little nervous though. Okay, maybe a LOT nervous. I'm not a big airline traveler myself. Although Randy has flown all over the world for work, this would be only the fifth time I've ever flown somewhere in my entire life! I was nervous about making the travel plans, nervous about traveling with an infant, nervous about leaving the kids.

But I went ahead with it anyway and I'm so glad I did. I initially told Randy the time he would have to take off work and I told him the cost his "surprise" would be. I didn't want to surprise him TO much plus I knew he would see the cost show up in his financial records somewhere along the way and REALLY wonder.

So for 5 months I kept the surprise. Then as I was getting our bags packed and trying to decide what to take and what not too, the night before we left, he saw warm clothes and rain gear and a few other things that made him wonder if we were headed to "Uncle Joe's" in Alaska. He went to bed that night with a big smile on his face!

Here we are boarding Alaska Air very early in the morning, headed out on a new adventure...
Lita is ALL smiles as we wait for our next plane in the big bustling Seattle Airport...
The scenery out the window on our flight north was indescribable! Miles and miles of icy, mountainous, untouched territory...
Actually flying over our destination. You can see the island below where we will land later in the day...
Getting a bite to eat in Juneau!
As we are ready to board our plane at Juneau. You can see the top of Mendenhall Glacier to the right of Lita's head...
Destination...
I couldn't believe how smoothly our trip went on our way there! Lita traveled so well and it was a very positive, relaxing experience! I just felt all my worries and nervousness melt away.

We had such good days there and before we knew it, it was time to go back to the airport and head home.

Here we are with Uncle Joe and Auntie Karen (Lita's newest Grandpa and Grandma) waiting to board our flight home...
There was lots of turbulence as we headed back south. We stopped in Wrangell and Ketchikan and each stop made me feel a little sicker. Finally things settled down as we headed toward Seattle and my stomach settled down too. Lita did fine through it all. Here's our happy lap baby...
We had such a wonderful trip. I did miss the kids though and it was so good to get back to the other half of the family and feel complete again. Grandpa and Grandma did such a great job of keeping things running smoothly while we were gone! (THANKS!)

It's been fun to relive the trip over and over as we share the pictures and memories with the kids! Hopefully over the next few days I can share those pictures and memories on here with you...

Have a great week everyone,
Alison