For those of you who may not know, I'm not so hot at surprises. I've inadvertently ruined a Sweet 16 surprise (I still blame her mother for moving us from our positions just before the critical moment) and given gifts weeks in advance because I just can't wait to see them open it.
I thought it was time to try a surprise trip. You see them in the movies all the time, and Buddy & I thought it would be fun, since we didn't have a scheduled trip up to Canada this year, to send me up to surprise my Mum for her birthday. I worked it out with Kristina, my dad and my Grandma to be picked up from the airport (thanks, Kristina & Pablo) and just show up on our doorstep with a belated birthday card a few days after my mum turned...one year older. :)
To say she was surprised is an understatement. If you just look at these three pictures (taken from a hidden camera video - thanks again, Pablo) in sequence about 10 times, that sums up the reaction. I believe she used the word "gobsmacked" which in British, means "utterly astounded". Mission accomplished.
To say she was surprised is an understatement. If you just look at these three pictures (taken from a hidden camera video - thanks again, Pablo) in sequence about 10 times, that sums up the reaction. I believe she used the word "gobsmacked" which in British, means "utterly astounded". Mission accomplished.
I spent an amazing week there, with lots of nice weather...
...Mum's whole side of the family (here are the cousins, minus Kristina & Stephen)...
...and too much good food. I didn't feel the need to include a picture with that one, since every picture I'm in is evidence of my love for food.
My Uncle Gary, James & Emma were here from England for their annual holiday, which worked out quite nicely. LOVE these guys.
Their visit also completed our family's version of Charlie's Angels -my sister, Nicola, 14, and cousins Emma, 15 and Summer, 13. They were kind enough to let me pose with them.
Believe it or not, Canada sometimes has weather nice enough to spend a day on the beach at the lake! We took advantage of this one day and spent the day on the shores of Lake Ontario. A family of pale British people (who by default are allergic to the sun) sure draws a crowd. Yes, Dad's wearing socks and shoes...he hates sand.
So to make Dad's experience a little more enjoyable, we shaded him from the cruel sun. We looked for palm fronds to fan him with, but alas, had to make do with Nicola's sweater.
Daniel, The Prince of Darkness himself, came on the journey and spent the majority of his time turned away from the sun, until he realized he was facing the male lifeguard's station and was worried it might give them the wrong idea. He had Twilight with him as well, so his concern was legitimate. He chose instead to brave the sun shielded by a sweater, and asked to go home for 2 hours straight. Such fun!
Some of us enjoyed the sun. :)
Nicola & I in one of our twin poses...stay tuned for more.
A day at the beach wouldn't be complete without a
Lest you think that's all the fun I had, I'll move on to The Sibling Sleepover. We picked a night to "camp out" in the living room so we could stay up late talking about the meaning of life. We ended up fighting over the brown couch and Kristina came out victorious, as she usually does. She's honed her arguing to an art and her keen skills came into play against Daniel when he stole her couch after it had been "called". To quote The Master: "I swear to goodness, I will kill you...Puh-lease!...Get off, just get off...I'll pay you. I'll pay you $2...(Daniel: $2 is nothing!)...$2 is EVERYTHING!...M-U-M..." And that's the story of Kristina winning the Couch Wars.
We really do love eachother, though. Here we are, 3 Ladies and a Little Man. He holds his own, don't feel bad for him.
He's also got back up in cousins Stephen & James, representing the male presence in each of the families. A rugby player, a musician and a ham...which is which?
"The Girls". It's amazing how similar we've become over the years. I was confused for Nicola and Kristina more than a few times.
In fact, Dad was so freaked out when he saw us both together, he called us the wrong names and avoided us for a few minutes to get his bearings, saying it was "creepy". Nicola looks exactly like I did at her age, and word on the street is that we act the same as well. So, to be sensitive to our Dad's confusion, we went and dressed in matching outfits for the day just to mess with him.
Even Border Patrol confused us! He looked over at me and asked "How old are you?" to which I replied "25..." He looked at me like I was lying through my teeth, so I continued with "...almost 26?" He still looked cynical, and it was then that Mum saved the day and realized he was looking at Nicola's passport from when she was about 11 years old. She jumped in with "That's the one in the back" and then noticed Nicola, clued in and reluctantly let me back into the U.S.
We spent a day at Parkwood, the McLaughlin Estate where scenes from classics like Billy Madison and X-Men were masterfully filmed.
What trip would be complete without a jumping picture? Nicely done, Mum!
We took in the scenery and made scenes of our own:
Oshawa was hosting McLaughlin Day, with dress up booths featuring costumes from the 20s and 30s of which Nicola and I took full advantage (yes that's a hat on my head, not a lufa).
Our family's ability to eat is the stuff of legend, so what better way to express our talent than in a Pie Eating contest? My cousin Holly took the title in her age division, and we couldn't be more proud.
There was a little drama at the end of my trip concerning getting back to Las Vegas. My flight was leaving from Buffalo (a solid 3 hours away) and before we left for the airport, all signs pointed to my flight leaving as scheduled on Sunday afternoon. Due to holiday traffic, construction and slow-as-rocks border agents, it actually took us more than 5 hours to get to the airport. (I took this on the road - Speed Limit: 35, Your Speed: 3)
I arrived just in time to check in, and just in time to find out that my flight had been cancelled due to weather in Pittsburgh, where I was connecting. Awesome. Vegas is a hot spot, so of course they'll have a flight out later that day, right? Wrong. Tuesday. But, she had a flight from Toronto the following evening - Toronto being the place we'd come from. Sweet. So, after another 5 hour trip I returned home to the surprise and chagrin of my father who absolutely hates to fly. Needless to say, this experience hasn't exactly warmed him up to the idea of hopping on a plane. (Here he is in his Father's Day shirt...nice, huh? Love him.)
Bad News: an entire day of sitting in a car in bumper-to-bumper traffic and missing a day of work (but with all of the extra weekends I've put in, I had a day coming to me, thank you Nellie!) Good News: a whole day sitting in a car in bumper-to-bumper traffic with my Mum catching up and talking about life - Love you, Mum!. More Good News: an extra day with family! I got to surprise them all this time (with Mum in on it) by showing up to a function the day after I was supposed to be gone. I got to hug Grandma & Grandad (he wasn't available for a picture by the time I finally thought to take one) once more, I love them SO much!
Baby Stephen warmed up to me as I was leaving and gave me a big kiss - such a cute little boy! Auntie Heather & Uncle Steve, sorry I don't have pictures of you two, but I love you too!
It was a wonderful trip, and I do love and miss my family A LOT, despite what the frequency of my communication may suggest. I'm looking forward to Buddy's internship in Kentucky, a mere day's drive to the people I love so much. Mum, I hope you had a wonderful birthday, and I'm sorry our card was late ;)
