Surprise!

Miss Natalie and I decided to surprise our 10 year old daughters with a trip to the beach. So...unbeknownst to them, we packed their clothes and enough food and activities for a week long stay (we were staying for 48 hours). Avonlea was going home from Friday school with Gabrielle so they only thought it was mildly strange when I got into the car as well.

"Can't I come too?" was all I said.

They exchanged bewildered looks again when Natalie said, "Let's pray for our trip."

And Avonlea stated later that she thought it strange that Miss Natalie still needed the GPS to find her way home from Friday school.

Natalie and I could barely look at each other, our excitement had been simmering for months and was now boiling over. The problem was, the girls didn't seem to notice. Neither did they notice that we were not driving home but the opposite direction....for an hour. They knew that we were all together and that was enough.

Finally I asked Avonlea to get something out of my bag in the backseat.

"Hey, why is my tooth brush in here?" Pause.

"Am I spending the night with Gabrielle?"

"Yes."

Eruption of girlish glee.

More driving. Minutes tick by. My veins are throbbing, this can't be good for me.

"Mommy are you spending the night too?"

"Yes."

This time more of an open mouth, "this is weird", kind of surprise.

I couldn't take it anymore, at this rate they wouldn't know we were going to the beach until we were home.

"Don't you want to know where we are going?"

"Where!?"

Finally the question, and eventually the answer (I had to make them feel my pain for a few minutes before we told them).

The reaction was well worth the wait. Gabrielle's dimple bored it's way through her cheek, Avonlea squealed, Natalie and I dissolved in laughter bordering hysterics at the strain of anticipation.

And then..... the weekend and memories that can't be given voice skillfully enough. I couldn't do it justice. But we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful girls that God has blessed us with (even if they were born curiosity deficient). When I think of this weekend I know I'll feel, to quote my daughter, "a thrill running all the way through me," (she was talking about why she likes to touch electric fences).

We're thinking Paris when they're 16. I wonder when they'd notice we were on a plane? But I suppose it wouldn't matter. They'd know we were together, and that will always be enough.