Surprise!

Last weekend I stayed in town to dog/cat/bird/fish/housesit for my sister while they went away for a couple of days. Who showed up, besides the Siamese who might or might not have a home and comes to my sister's house to eat every day?

My daughter and her family. From Orlando. And I didn't know they were driving up.

As I drove up to my sister's house, I saw a good-looking man in a dark silver car waving and smiling. I didn't recognize him, but I sure wondered who he was. Then J leaned forward, and I realized who it was.

M's grandmother had passed away last week, but they didn't think they'd be able to make it up here for her funeral. It's a long way to drive with two children, one of whom is in 2nd grade (and whose school doesn't think that having lunch with the governor of Florida is an excused absence) (but that's another story), and it's expensive to fly at the last minute, and gas is so expensive, etc. But they decided to come up after school on Thursday, getting into town at 7 a.m. Friday, plenty of time to attend the funeral and spend the day with M's family.

The kids were sacked out by the time I saw them Friday evening. I woke A up (I had to; it's in the grandmother's contract), but we decided that they needed to go to their hotel for some much -needed sleep.

The next morning we planned to go to Washington, DC, to the Smithsonian museums. A really wanted to see the Ruby Slippers, and B2 wanted to ride the carousel. After going to the mall to get appropriate shoes for A (she had dress shoes with her) and long-sleeved t-shirts for J (the first time it's been under 90 degrees in the day time for weeks, frost even, and they're from Orlando), it was time for a late lunch and therefore too late to head to DC, which is a good two-hour drive. Instead, we drove around for a while, looking at places J remembered (not necessarily in a good way. She would much rather live in Orlando. For that matter, I'd much rather live in Florida. Maybe in about 8 years.), then went back to the house to change clothes. The kids and I played Carousel of Progress, B2 and I sitting on the stairs, swaying back and forth when the seats moved from one vignette to another. He'd sing the song, and A would do the spiel. We even had the dog. Kipper is an old English Setter, very emotionally needy, but he loved the kids.

That night we went to visit my son and his kids, B and R. B is A's age (only 7 weeks younger), and R is 4. B2 was so happy to finally meet B; he's seen B in videos and thinks he's just the best thing ever. B2 sat in the living room playing with some of B's toys, muttering "B's house, B's toys, B's Thomas Tank Engine" like he just couldn't put it all together. After dinner, A and B ran around the house chasing each other. B2 and R soon joined in, and it was wall-to-wall screaming, falling, crying, and laughing kids. They had such a good time, and they wore themselves out.

It had been two years since they'd all been together, so I really enjoyed it.

The next morning J and A drove to Manassas to watch B race, and M and B2 went to church with and visited his family. I slept until 2 o'clock.

A few hours later they left for home. It was a lot of travelling for them to do in less than four days, but I'm so glad they made the trip.