My Mom's Birthday

We had been planning my mom's birthday present for months. Literally. I got the idea about it way back in the spring and had to make sure it was something we could pull off. It took lots of planning and coordinating. Finally in August I asked my sister in law if I could make this all happen, would she want to come and it turned into a girls trip. Here is how the story started. 

One of my most amazing friends is living in Paris. If you want to follow her adventurous life and beautiful family you can here. She posted awhile ago about cheap flights from New York to Paris and they would love to host any visitors. That is where the story ended for a long time. 

One morning while I was showering I was thinking about her offer and had an epiphany about how once in a lifetime that offer was! When else would I know someone living in Paris? When else would I know someone that had room to host visitors? When else would I know someone that had room to host us but actually offered to let us stay there? This would almost certainly never ever happen again. So, I rather assumingly wrote her an email to see if that offer was real and if it might be something that we could work out. 

I knew that this was the only way my mom would be able to go to Paris. Once I heard back that it seems like the plan was a go, I started trying to put things in motion. I talked to my dad and he was totally on board. I asked all my siblings if they would be willing to put in a lot of money for a combined birthday/ Christmas present for my mom to buy her plane ticket and make this happen. Everyone was on board and we were anxiously waiting for her birthday to arrive. She certainly threw some kinks in our plans. The plan was we were going to give her a fake airplane ticket and then my dad was going to get her passport. She put up a big stink about getting her passport. "Why get it if I have no where to go!" was her argument (even though for months before this she was planning to get her passport just for the heck of it). 

 I thought she might be getting a bit suspicious. It was such a long time to keep such a big secret that I was sure something was going to slip or somehow she was going to find out that we were going to Paris. Finally the night of her birthday was here. Everything was ready. I was SO nervous. 

I wrapped up the fake ticket that I found a site on the internet to make. It looked pretty legit to me. Even my "airline working" mom took a second to tell it was fake. 

We wrapped it up even though it was just a piece of paper. 

Here she is opening it, kinda unsure why she is getting a paper ticket. What? We pulled it off, she had NO idea what we were planning. 

Then this is her listening to what it was all about. I think she was kinda in shock for the rest of the night. We also got her a Rick Steve travel book so she can start planning the sites she wants to see,  a French dictionary, and a book about the Louvre. 

Here are the three girls that, come spring, will be taking a trip of a lifetime! We are so excited!

Lastly, she asked for a Lemonade cake and I thought it turned out so pretty. The frosting was to die for and the cake was good but I bet it would be better if I made it a second time. Happy Birthday Mom! It's going to be one to remember!