Time With My Family After Many, Many Suprises

Two days before we left Grand Cayman to go to the States, I had called Charlotte and was talking to her to find out if she was going to PA for Thanksgiving and if Harold was going to be able to go, too.  She told me that the way things were looking it was going to happen.  I was so excited as we siblings hadn't been together since my Mother passed away.  Char didn't talk real long as she was on the way to do some shopping.  After I got off the phone with her Dennis asked me if she was going to be able to go to PA and I told him yes.  He told me to call her back to see if it would be possible for us to meet her.  Otherwise I was going to fly to Philadelphia and then back to Pittsburgh as I didn't want to drive six hours each way.  When I called her back she thought it was a wonderful idea.  That's when the wheels began to turn for both of us!!  Double trouble :o)))  I told her I wanted to surprise Vi as she had really shocked me when I flew into Philadelphia the last time by myself.  She was hiding in my nephew Michael's vehicle when he picked me up.  When I opened the back door to put my purse and camera bag in there she was and scared me so bad that I screamed right there at the airport!!  So, finally on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving it was time for the fun to begin.  Dennis and I left his Dad's house late in the afternoon.  We drove for about two hours or so to New Stanton, PA. and I called Charlotte several times to check where she and Harold were on their journey.  The last time I talked to her I told her where to get off the PA Turnpike and where to go to meet us at a McDonald's.  All this time Harold had no clue I was meeting up with them nor did anyone else except my oldest niece.  Well, to make a really, really long and exciting story short when Char told Harold what exit to get off as she had to go to the bathroom at a certain McDonald's he couldn't understand why she couldn't go to some other place with a bathroom.  She insisted on going to this very McDonald's.  I kept watching out the window and saw them pull in.  Charlotte walked in first and saw us and through the window said Harold had no clue!!  She went back out and waited for him.  They came in the door, walked right past us where we were sitting without Harold looking our direction and went into the bathroom.  Well, Charlotte turned around and came back to us.  We were dying laughing!!  She told me to go stand outside the men's restroom and surprise Harold when he came out.  I wish you would've seen his face!  It was priceless!!  He was sooooooooooooooo shocked!!  I told Dennis goodbye as he had to head back to WV and it was starting to get late and we still had a couple of hours to drive.  We talked and laughed so much!  When we got to my brother Jim's house it was around 12:30 am.  No sooner had we parked and Char turned the car off when the outside light came on at the garage!!  And then the garage door started going up!!  I'm like "oh, no!  What do I do?"  I didn't have time to jump out of the car even to hide.  So, I crouched down in the back seat.  I started laughing and said I can't stay bent over like this very long :o)  About that time, Jim came walking out of the garage.  Char and Harold said hi to him.  That's when Charlotte told Jim that he could go to the back passenger door and start getting some of their luggage out to take into the house.  Well, when he did I popped up.  Again, another victim about fell over from shock when I made my appearance!  We stood outside for a few minutes (it was cold and we were very tired) and talked.  Then we went inside.  Next, it was Cheryl's (my sister~in~law) turn to have a surprise!  Their home is like a split level, so everyone went upstairs and I followed them but she couldn't see me from the living room.  I waited a minute or two on the steps until they said their hellos and then popped up again.  Another priceless moment.  She stood there with her mouth hanging open almost to her knees!  Well, not quite that much but a lot!!  Everyone was so tired and ready to go to bed as it was going on 1:30 in the morning.  I still had another sister to get back at for scaring me so bad, but that had to wait until Thanksgiving morning when we went to breakfast!  Remember I said that the only other person to know my plans about when I was going to PA was my oldest niece Teresa?  Well, she had invited the whole family to their home for Thanksgiving breakfast.  Ahh, now my chance to "repay" dear Vi for scaring my so bad at the Philadelphia airport!!  Mmm!  Sounds like a good plan.  Well, I can't remember who it was, but on the way to Teresa and Donald's home someone called Teresa to let her know we were on the way.  They asked that my great~nephew Shaun take his Grandmother (who is Vi) back in the back of their home to show her something on the computer.  Jim, Cheryl, Charlotte & Harold made their way into the house while I sat in the car waiting for the "signal" to go inside.  Right after they all got inside Charlotte came out waving for me to come that the way was clear :o)  Yep!  Shaun had Vi in another part of the house, so I made my way quietly across the living room and sat in a chair nestled in the corner waiting.  Charlotte had in the meantime went to see Vi and they were back there chatting.  In just a few minutes, I heard the chatter getting louder and they were coming out the hall toward the living room.  And tah~dah!  There they were!!  Finally, Vi looked over and saw me and started hollering and laughing.  My last victim was in total shock!!  Charlotte and I had succeeded in surprising everyone!!  It was so much fun.  I think each of my siblings asked me when they first saw me "What are you doing here?"  It was so much fun!!  I was only able to spend two full days with them, but we made somemore wonderful and fun memories.

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My wonderful brothers and sisters

Left to right ~ myself, Vi, Charlotte, Harold & Jim

Jenna digging into the Baked French Toast.  What a delicious breakfast!!  Thanks Teresa and Donald.  I wish it was Thanksgiving morning right now just so we could have breakfast together again and to be with you all!!  Everything was wonderful!! 

My two special and fun sisters 

Jim and Vi in some deep conversation

Sitting around talking

Checking out some pictures on Facebook.  It must have been really interesting :o)

After breakfast everyone was sitting around relaxing because we were so stuffed from the big breakfast Teresa and Donald had.  All of a sudden, Jim said that there was an Eagle outside flying around.  Well, what excitement this stirred up :o)  We were all crammed around the window with our cameras waiting for the perfect picture.  It was really high up so my picture didn't turn out the best.  Soon there was the second one flying around, too!  It was so neat.  I've seen a few Eagle's free in the wild before, but not for a long time.  They were beautiful!! 

What a fun way to start out a great day with my wonderful family!!