Surprise!

Surprise!

Nov. 4 was Mom's 98th birthday.  My brother was going to be in town anyway so he decided to have a surprise birthday party for her at Anthony's restaurant in Edmonds on the waterfront with all her friends that are still alive.  I got the silly idea it would be fun to be a fly on the wall to see this--emailed the thought to Britta who said, "Let's do it!"  Soooo we flew up to SeaTac early Sunday morning and managed to surprise Mom AND my brother and her friends.  Here is how it went . . .



Britta and Gary and I got up at 3:30 to be at the airport with the sunrise.  Gary dropped us off and went back to go to church and let everyone know what we were doing.

When we got to Seattle, we decided to scope out the restaurant and make sure our plan would work.  They were really excited to help us.










We went to Costco, got a cake and candles, then drove back to the restaurant where we hid behind a bush in our rental car until Monte and Mom arrived.

We then scurried in and hid around the corner while the restaurant staff helped us get the cake ready with lit candles.


With the hostess taking photos, we walked into the party singing "Happy Birthday". Everybody joined in and my brother thought "Why are they singing now, we haven't even ordered yet?"  Then he spotted us.  What fun to see his face.

Then Mom spotted us and had the same jaw dropping eyes bugging out reaction he did.

It was a lot of fun for everyone.

After lunch, we all went back to Mom's house for birthday cake and coffee and more visiting.  She looks pretty good for 98, doesn't she?

It was a short visit as Britta had to be back for work, so it was off to SeaTac in time for sunset on Monday.  We couldn't quit grinning the whole flight home.  What a fun trip full of memories.