The Hagen Family: Surprise!

As usual, I'm a little behind here. On December 10, my Dad turned 60! My mom was throwing a little surprise party for him and I was wishing out loud that I could be there. So my awesome husband told me to look for a cheap flight! Of course getting so close to Christmas, they were all ridiculously expensive. So I mailed out his birthday card and even wrote that I wished I could have been there to celebrate. Then the next day Carl found a non-stop flight for a great price! I called my sister, made some top-secret arrangements and booked the flight. I booked the flight Wednesday night and early Saturday morning Tyler and I were on a plane to surprise both of my parents. Amazing!

Tyler was again awesome on the plane. He's such a little charmer. He does this adorable thing where when people say hi to him he raises one arm up in the air in a lazy sort of wave, cocks his head way over to one side and smiles. It kept all the other passengers happy.

I managed to pack for both of us for 3 days in just a carry on so I didn't have to check anything, but going through security was even crazier than usual. Several people made comments about how they were watching me and they were very impressed. If you've flown with a baby you know. And doing it by yourself is even crazier. Getting out my liquids, taking my shoes off, unttaching the car seat, emptying the stroller basket, folding up the stroller and putting it all on the counter, all while holding a squirmy baby in one arm, then waiting for them to return from scanning my bottles and ice packs, and putting it all back together again. And of course worrying about making the people behind me annoyed for taking 8 1/2 years to get through! But we made it!

My sister told my parents she picked up a shift, but she really drove two hours to Kansas City to pick us up. I had planned to have a Skype date with my parents that night to throw them off a little. But when we knew when we would get to their house I texted my mom to change it to around three - or whenever Tyler got up from his nap. When we got close to their house we called her and told her we were ready. Then we called Carl and he called them Skype and kept us on the line. When both my parents were there he pretended to come and see what was taking me so long and said we'd be right down. And then we walked into my Dad's office. It was so fun! And they were very surprised. Well, my mom said she had an idea, but I'm going to say she was surprised too. :-) I love this babies flying for free thing! I don't know what I'm going to do when he turns two!

It was a really fun trip, so fun to be able to surprise my dad and spend a few unexcpected days with them. He is an amazing dad and I am so thankful for him!