Happy Birthday to Me!

So yesterday I turned the big 3-0. Very exciting. But being the shy, introverted, avoider of all fanfare if I can help it sort of person that I am, when Todd asked how I wanted to celebrate the day, I opted for just a quiet family dinner out.

Now when Todd left for work yesterday morning, he mentioned that there would be presents to open during dinner. Usually we just do books - that's been our trademark gift to each other for a long time now. I have to admit, though, that in the back of my mind I was kind of hoping that instead of books, my gift would maybe happen to be new seat covers for our kitchen chairs. Remember how a few posts back I mentioned that we had finally gotten rid of the last vestiges of that hideous yellow? Well, we have....on the walls at least. The seats of our kitchen chairs still happen to be hideously yellow, and the fact that they now match nothing in our house is an affront to my sense of order and flow. Todd, being sensitive to this slight idiosyncrasy of mine, tends to be fairly accommodating in matters of home decor. I was crossing my fingers for new kitchen seat cushions.

Imagine my surprise when Todd pushes a slim packet across the table to me while we're waiting for our entrees to arrive. No seat cushions inside, of course. Instead there was only this:

And when I flipped open to the first page, there before my very eyes was an itinerary for a four day trip for Todd and me to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington!

Most of you know that Todd and I never really took a honeymoon when we got married nearly seven years ago. There were many factors that played into this - we were too poor, Todd was finishing up school, we were about to make a major life transition in a few months to move here to Missouri - we just weren't able to make it happen. We did four days in Omaha in lieu of a more spectacular vacation. It has been our dream to take a trip to the Pacific Northwest as a sort of late honeymoon, but we've just never gotten around to it, and here Todd went and planned this trip for us without me having even a glimmer of an idea he was doing it! AND he even took care of the babysitting question, conspiring with my sister to have her fly out here to babysit the girls while we're away! Amazing! Seat cushions? Who needs seat cushions? I'll take a dream trip over seat cushions any day!

Oh, my goodness, I am beyond excited, and I will be spending many happy hours this spring and summer poring over these books, my gifts from the girls:

Thank you, thank you again and again wonderful, awesome, beloved husband. I can't wait to take this trip with you! And thank you, thank you again and again wonderful, awesome sister for so graciously agreeing to watch our kids so that we can do this. I was completely, utterly taken by surprise - you guys know how to keep a secret well! Oh, I'm so, so looking forward to this! It seems like September can't get here fast enough!