Party in the USA

I come from an adventurous family. In honor of my mother's 60th birthday, my siblings and father put together a surprise itinerary ambitious enough to blow my mom's socks off. At a distance in Luxembourg, I could only offer monetary and moral support. I wanted to go, I realllllly wanted to go, but I was going to see them all over the holidays, my mom was coming out to Europe in a few weeks, responsibility, blah, blah, blah... So in an attempt to prove to myself that I simply COULD NOT GO, I got online to show myself the astronomical damage a last minute flight to San Diego would do to our bank account.

Nothing is harder on self-control than surprisingly reasonable airfare.

Long story short, 4 days later, I staggered out to the curb at San Diego's airport, ready to go surprise the surprisers. Sunshine, the hostess of this extravaganza, knew I was coming. The rest did not.

Needless to say, when we'd all finally arrived, and all 5 kids were singing "Happy Birthday to You" at one o'clock in the morning outside my parents' bedroom, my mother was surprised.

I get 0% of the credit for the planning of this extremely cool weekend. But here's what we did:

BEACH BIKE RENTALS ON CORONADO ISLAND:

Canyon obviously LOVED it.

RENTED A 63' SAILBOAT FOR A FAMILY CRUISE

We had 3 bits of uncanny luck. First, our captain was seriously named Captain Jack. Second, we were sailing out of the harbor just as a humungous sailboat race was sailing into it, which meant we were passed by over a hundred sailboats, all speeding toward the finish line near downtown.

Third, Dusty packed a pirate flag.

Scallywags

We followed sailing up with dinner at the Melting Pot. It was so good, I was tempted to lick the drips off the table.

Monday was a day of firsts for me. Sunshine, Mom, and I all went to a fancy-pants spa. There, a very nice lady rubbed various concoctions on my face, sealed them with a heat lamp, and then folded a towel origami-style over my features until only my nose was poking out the middle. It was definitely interesting!

We balanced out our girly morning by attending an NFL game that night. Another first for me!

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS FOOTBALL GAME:

We had seats on the fifty yard line. I ate a pretzel with nacho cheese. It was a win for me, even if the Chargers did lose at the last second.

I stayed a couple of extra days beyond most of the group. Luckily, that meant I got to attend Skye's 4th birthday party.

The party was at Chuck E. Cheese. Skye was in heaven. Cupcakes, lights, (creepy) animatronics, an entire cupful of game tokens, pizza, and scads of tickets. Four-year-old nirvana. Skye and her wolf pack of preschool pals expressed their euphoria by running sugar-frenzied laps around the party room. It was all very impressive.

I had a great time.

So, thanks. Thanks, family, for planning all of the crazy adventures of the weekend, including the ones I forgot to mention. Thanks Sunshine and Scott for hosting. Thanks, Mom, for having a birthday and for being our mom. And thank you for letting me show up last minute and partake in all the fun. You're some of the least terrible people I know. I love you.

Star