Secrets and Surprises: A Whirlwind Trip to Florida

I’ve found that it is particularly hard to blog whenever I have secret. Every single time I sit down to write, the only topic that will even begin to come to mind is the one thing I can’t blog about. It’s maddening for a blogger to have something up their sleeve that they can’t share with the world, I tell ya! My trip home to Florida to surprise my Mom left me feeling that way. I wanted to share my plans to surprise her SO badly, but guess who reads my blog? Hi Mom! So, naturally, things were a little quiet around here while I sat on that giant surprise!

I decided I would buy a plane ticket to go down for my Mom’s birthday back in August. I found an unbelievably cheap ticket through Allegiant Air that got in pretty late the night before her birthday. My cousin, Ellen, made the whole thing possible by agreeing to make the obnoxious 4 hour total drive to Orlando and back that evening. She let me crash at her place and it was nice to spend a little bit of time with her before we both passed out at 2:15AM. The next morning my Step-Dad came to pick me up. He told my Mom that he was going to make a Starbucks run. Once we got back to the house I quietly snuck into the living room behind Sam. I walked into the hallway and when my Mom laid eyes on me I thought she might pass out! I hugged her, told her happy birthday, and asked her to please not have a heart attack! Haha! We talked for a bit while she got ready – they already had plans to go to Orlando that day (so back to Orlando I went).

We had a lot of fun hanging out in Winter Park (we went to Rifle Paper Co.!), visiting with the animals at the ranch they volunteer at (I have now petted a zebra and taken a selfie with a llama), and just enjoying time at home. There was even a surprise birthday dinner for my Mom Saturday evening that included lots of family and delicious food (thanks Jennifer and Uncle Gary)! It sort of felt like it was my birthday because I got to eat all of my favorite foods from Florida – Publix fried chicken, Sweet Tomatoes, and Oishii Burger! My parents always take good care of me when I’m down, that’s for sure!

I’m glad I was able to make my Mom’s birthday weekend a memorable one! It worked out perfectly and I’m so thankful everything fell into place the way that it did! It was a bit of a whirlwind trip and it was over in a snap. I’m definitely looking forward to them visiting Kentucky soon!

**These are just a few photos snapped from my iPhone! Most of the photos I took with my camera were out at the ranch, so be on the lookout for those! I really want a pet llama now. ;]