What Happened On Vacation

This trip was a lot more relaxed than the last one. We spent the first Sunday afternoon with my dad's side of the family to celebrate my grandma's 84th birthday. They had a nice dinner and we spent the afternoon looking at pictures from Lesley's wedding.

Thursday was really fun. Gabrielle's sixteenth birthday was in July during our last vacation. Even though we did take her out to eat and give her presents, we never did anything really special to celebrate because we were so busy. Our Aunt Sherry decided to throw a little surprise party for her. I met Aunt Sherry and my cousin Kristen at her office and we went to a town an hour away to go buy decorations and pick up her ice cream cake. The ice cream cake was the most important part. Gabrielle had specifically requested an ice cream cake for her birthday, but we forgot that they have to be ordered a few days in advance so she ended up with a flavor she didn't like as much. This time, we were going to make sure she got the cake she wanted. First, we went to the party supply store and picked out a bunch of Sweet Sixteen stuff, then stopped at the mall to buy her a present, then went to a store to pick up chips and candy, and then finally rushed to the ice cream parlour to get the cake. It was ready for us, decorated in her favorite color as requested, and they spelled her name right. Then we were worried that it would melt on the hour-long drive home so we rode all the way back with the air conditioner on freezing. As soon as we got back, Kristen and I started putting up decorations. Gabrielle had been at our Aunt Johnice's house all afternoon, so we called and told her we were ready. When Gabrielle walked in, she didn't even see the sweet sixteen banner on the doorway. She didn't even notice that Kati kept asking "What's that on the door?" over and over. When she finally looked over, this was her reaction:

She was totally surprised. She hadn't even suspected anything. And she loved the orange cake.

Friday night Aunt Sherry took Gabrielle and I to the mall, then to a movie and dinner. We spend a day doing fun stuff like that every time we visit. The next Sunday my mom cooked dinner for her side of the family and all my aunts, uncles and cousins -- twenty-six people altogether!-- came over. Yesterday we came back home. Thanksgiving is the next time we're supposed to travel back and it's not very far away.