One day in August, I texted back and forth with my mother-in-law who told me she, my father-in-law and my three youngest brothers-in-law were in Southern California enjoying a family vacation. We had a great conversation about all their adventures and how much fun they were having!
That evening, about 11:30pm in New Jersey, I was talking to James on the phone who was on a business trip. We chatted for a while before I told him what a nice conversation I had with his mother about their trip to the beach, the Reagan library, and now Disneyland. That's when James stopped his packing and focused on me very intently because he had no idea they were on vacation and never once all day did it occur to me that James was on a business trip in Los Angeles!!! What?!?!
As soon as we made this connection, we both got super excited! I went back through my texts to find out what their plans were and see if she said where they were staying or any other clues that would help him find them. It was about 9pm at this point in California and we knew they had planned to be at Disneyland so he quit packing, changed back to clothes from pajamas (he had planned to go to bed within the hour), and rushed over to Disney - only 15 minutes from his hotel! He didn't know how he'd find them but he was so excited he was willing to drive around the parking lot searching for their car. :) Haha! Thank goodness he didn't have to do that.
His brother Adam finally answered his phone (all five phones had been going straight to voicemail for about 30 minutes) and Adam secretly let James know where they were and what hotel they were in. So James quickly ran to a restaurant and picked up some dessert because it also happened to be his youngest brother's birthday, left it at the hotel and then started walking toward Disneyland to meet them en route. He finally caught up with them on the sidewalk and just sneaked up behind them and joined their group until they noticed. Haha! It was the best surprise and a super awesome night for James! Who doesn't like to just randomly run into their family when both are hundreds, even thousands, of miles from home?
The best part was that Adam and James got to see each other which they haven't done since January of 2014 due to Adam's church mission to Oregon! What a great moment!
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| First time seeing this guy in almost three years! |
James loved being able to surprise his youngest brother on his birthday with cake! How cool is that?
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| Surprising family in southern California |
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