After enduring months of endless torture and interrogation (hehe) by her pregnant daughter, my mother-in-law, Lynn, flew the entire female part of her family to Philly to throw a surprise baby shower.
This was in the works for at least a month and then it was time - October 10th, 2009. We left that evening to head to the Manchester Airport. All 13 (?) of us managed to make it there in one piece and on time - early even!!.. only to find out our plane would be delayed 50 minutes. ::groan:: We had a strict deadline to meet as the preggo and her hubby, Erik, were supposed to be home by 9:30 at the latest and it was our goal to beat them there.
The plane left delayed, as promised, and we were on our way. The flight went wonderfully. Even Ashton had fun. Some men sitting behind (or next to?) some of the Kirsch passengers may disagree about how peaceful it was but screw them.. haha.
We arrived in Philly. Being the rebel I am (and considering the large amount of gifts I had for Brooke) I had a suitcase I needed to check so I hurried on my way to claim it. Once claimed we rushed out to meet the rest of our group who was boarding our van. We were cutting the time close but still doing alright.
And then... the driver didn't know where exactly it was we were going. ::more groaning:: He "knew the street but wanted to be sure to get us to the right part of it" without wasting too much time. This meant he spent the next 10-15 minutes on his cell phone trying to figure it out. Finally Lynn called Damian (to the rescue - da da da daaa) who looked up directions for us on the internet and we were on our way. Lynn was screaming the directions over the blood-curling screams of the over-tired baby next to me (he fell asleep a few minutes later). Fun stuff. We then went on to have some lovely, positive conversations on all things death related. The driver was a nice guy to put up with the man-bashing. Hey, what do you expect of a van full of women??
Aah.. skip ahead a little more. We made it there before them! We grabbed all our bags, rushed up the driveway where Lynn frantically searched for the key. Finally found, we were in!! Everyone hid in the tv room except me. I was trying to get Ashton to sleep so he wouldn't ruin the surprise. Didn't happen. Shortly before they got there him and I made our way into the room with everyone else where Ashton stayed quiet - not ruining anything. <3
Brooke and Erik returned home to find that their furbabies, Finn & Morgan, had mysteriously locked themselves in the tv room. Curiouser and curiouser. Brooke ran up the stairs to the rescue of her babies... she flung open the door, feeling so sorry for them, flicked on the light and....
Sitting there, all packed in that hot, sweaty room were 13 people.
She let out a scream, hugged her husband in sheer joy (:D) and cried. It was fantastic!!! We had made it. We had made it in time. And Brooke was shocked. Perfect. <3>
We had a really great weekend. I won't go into all the details because, frankly, I am sick of typing. We went out to a yummy breakfast at the diner the next morning. Then we had the baby shower. Yay! Later that evening we went out for some super good Mexican food (chicken chimichanga anyone??). We played a rousing game of Carina-made baby shower pictionary. My team, of course, won. And we then played individually. Brookie won (not really but it was her shower so we'll say that's how it went) and I found out what a sore loser Beck is. :p
We were back on our way Monday morning and made him home seamlessly. It was like it never happened.
Except we all got to see that fantastic belly and get even more excited to meet baby Cordes in November. Thanksgiving can not come early enough this year!!
Here are some pictures from the baby shower. I wish I had gotten more while we were there but it's really challenging to take pictures with a huge camera while holding a baby. Keep this in mind when planning your next occasion. :D
Enjoy!!
We all were 'pregnant' for the day..
Too soon for this one!!
A sampling of the fine gifts!
Diapers!
TINY DIAPERS!! AWWW
Wizard of Oz diapers!!
Brooke's fabulous family.
Love you Brookie!!
