Surprise!

Marnie and I surprised our Mom for her __BD by flying to help her celebrate! I surprised everyone by bringing Maddie with me!

We began our adventure by taking an earlier shuttle to SeaTac so I could try to get Maddie to take a nap before our two flights. The Pea Pod worked like a charm! This is Maddie's little "nap-site" in the terminal where she slept for just over 2 hours.

Here we are on the airplane from Denver, about 10 minutes before landing. Maddie fell asleep about 5 minutes later.

Scott, the mastermind behind the entire BD celebration.

Papa Frank with Louden - the chef who helped make it all come together.

The party was a huge success but the Pace Family was happy to finally take a break to rest together on the couch. Love these guys!!!!

The Birthday Girl and some of her family. The kids had been asleep for 2 hours (pretty much most of the party), and had just woken up. It was awesome to see such a wonderful Mom enjoying the love and attention she so deserves! Love you, Mom!!!!

Louden! My favorite (almost) 1 year old nephew! I love him now even more than when I met him as a 1-day old baby!

I have to admit that Maddie practically lived with a paci in her mouth the whole weekend. She had a cold and a low-grade fever, so it was the best thing for all of us...

Happy cousins!!!

Maddie showed Louden the ropes of how to play with cars.

Birthday Girl Gramma with her two youngest grandchildren. Priceless!!!!!!

Bath time was a big hit for both kids. This was the secondary reason for the trip - blackmail bathtub shots together!!

So the trip home was nothing like the trip there...Here is Maddie being occupied in Jackson while our original flight was delayed (then cancelled altogther).
The good news was that we were stuck in Jackson! So we got to have a whole extra day with Gramma and the Pace Family! (This, of course, also meant plenty more rounds of "Wheels on the Bus...")

The next day our 7am flight was delayed, so we missed our connection in Salt Lake City and had to wait standby. The good news (again) was this allowed Maddie the time to take an epic 3-hour nap! The Pea Pod saved the day again!