A (surprise!) visit from my Mom...day 1

We told the kids that for Jonah's birthday we had a little surprise for them. I was going to take them to the airport to watch the airplanes. I explained that we wouldn't be in a hurry like when we're picking someone up, but we could just look around and watch some take-offs and landings.

It was an extraordinarily cold and windy day, so we drove through the private airport first. The kids enjoyed the smaller planes and each picked out which was their favorite.

Then I told them we could head over to the main airport and look at the big airplanes coming in and leaving. Our (tiny, little bitty) airport doesn't have much inside, but they always have some sort of vehicle on display. Recently it is one of those three wheeled motorcycles, and the kids really wanted to check that out. We killed some time there until I got a text from my mom saying that her plane was on the ground.

At that point we headed to a little courtyard in the airport that is just outside security. The kids had brought themselves a snack (someone left a partial bag of powdered donuts at our house), so they sat down on a bench to enjoy it. I made sure they chose a bench facing the door that Grandma would walk through shortly. :)

Jonah was busy passing out donuts when he happened to look up and see his Grandma walking through the door. It took him a minute to realize what was going on...he said, "Hey! That looks just like...isn't that GRANDMA? What are you DOING here???"

Henry ran right over to give her a hug, but then stepped back to just observe. He doesn't like surprises all that much, but he was very excited to see her! The other two just kept talking...things like, "What are you doing here at OUR airport?" and "I can't believe we ran into you HERE!" It was hilarious. I think it took quite a while for them to realize that she was staying for a few days.
We took Grandma to lunch (the birthday boy picked Taco Bell) and then headed home. We had a birthday dinner for Jonah that night with my mom and Sam's dad. Sam's mom ended up with the flu that night and couldn't join us.

We had a fun time celebrating Jonah! He is so thankful for each and every gift, no matter how big or small. I just love that about him. After dinner the kids settled in for a movie (Jonah got this one from Grandma and Jim for his birthday!), and the adults played a few rounds of cards.
Grandma showing up was such a fun birthday surprise for Jonah! She was able to stay for three more days, and we had a lot of fun while she was here! :)