Friday, August 17, 2012

The Birthday Adventure



Yea! It is time for me to share my "birthday adventure" with you lovelies and I know you have been waiting with baited breath. It definitely ranks as one of my favorite memories.

On Sunday morning, July 29th (my actual birthday) Hubby and I loaded up the car and were headed to a destination(s) unknown to me.  When we pulled out onto the main highway we were headed west and that gave me a fairly good idea that we might be going to Dallas.  Hubby had told me that we would only be traveling about 5-6 hours that day and that would match up just about right with going to Dallas.  And, I was right!  When we got into Dallas we dropped by The Galleria and shopped a little and I felt sure that we would be staying there at the Westin since it is connected to The Galleria.  But, after a couple of hours of browsing and shopping Hubby informed me it was time to go.  In a few minutes we turned into the Gaylord Resort and I thought that strange since we had just been there for a couple of nights in June.  But, hey, I wasn't in charge, so I just kept my mouth shut and we checked into our room and he informed me that we had dinner reservations for 5:30.  That was about 45 minutes away, so we just "recouped and regrouped" until time to head to dinner.  We were eating at a lovely Mexican Restaurant there in the resort.  You have to go down some stairs to get to it and the hostess greeted us and then took us to our table.  Our table was sort of behind a half wall and when I walked around that half wall there sat our kids and grans shouting Happy Birthday!  As indicated by the photos below, I was TOTALLY surprised!!!!  I had thought how nice it would be to share this "big" birthday with them but they had so much going on and I just knew that wasn't even a possibility.  WOW! was I ever wrong.




The next 3 days were spent enjoying the resort, outlet shopping and cruising down the Lazy River on the resort.  I'm not much of a water person and I'm sure not much on getting "messed up."  But, hey, you only go around once so off we went to the Lazy River.  Everything was going well, we were all in the Lazy River floating along and I decided that I would rather sit in my tube than hang in it.  Well, can I just say that I should have left well enough alone.  We all stopped for me to get situated and in the midst of my trying to sit in the tube, I flipped over and under I went.  I mean, I came up hollaring and my kids have never laughed so hard in their lives.  They said that incident made the whole trip worth it.  What does that tell you?  ~chuckle~ And, I can't even believe that I'm sharing the photo below with you gals. ~big smile~



On our last evening at the resort Hubby had made arrangements for the girls and me to have a massage at the spa there at the resort.  Oh, my goodness, talk about an experience!  Can I just say that I could get use to that kind of treatment.
They treat you like a Queen.  They have these lush robes you put on, take you into this dimly lit room with soothing sounds of nature playing to help you relax and ready yourself for the massage.  Thank goodness we got the latest appointments that they offered and we were able to go up to our rooms and go straight to bed afterwards. 




Wednesday morning we all headed our separate ways after 3 wonderful days of being together.  Our next stop was DesMoines, Iowa (home of my youngest brother and his family).  We drove a little more than halfway on Wednesday and then arrived there Thursday afternoon.  DesMoines is such a lovely, lovely place but we could not believe how the drought had affected the beauty of the city.  

We always enjoy being with Joel, Suzy, Ashley and Warren and had a good time spending about 3 days with them.  One of the high lites was meeting Ashely's (21 and a Senior at UNI) boyfriend, Aaron.  What a fine young man! We were also able to see Warren (16 years old and a Junior) and his high school marching band do sort of a pre-season show.  He plays the saxophone.


We left DesMoines on Sunday headed towards Branson for a night.  We took in a show there and capped off what had been a wonderful 60th birthday trip.


Hubby has never planned much of anything in his life so that made this "mystery trip" all the better.  It just goes to show me that he certainly can and he can do a wonderful job with it. I will relive it many times over and relish in the sweet memories of sharing a very special birthday with some very special people.

I've linked up with the Rachel's today at Finding Joy and Home Sanctuary.



Lea @ CiCis Corner
Lea @ CiCis Corner

Hi there! My name is Lea. I've been wife to the best Hubby for 44 years....Mom to a son and daughter....CiCi to 4 precious Grans....lover of family and friends....enjoy laughter and a good time....shopper....picture taking maniac....maker of delicious fudge....organizational enthusiast....memory maker....Southern Belle...and most importantly.....a Child of the King! Welcome to my little corner!

18 comments:

  1. A lovely, lovely birthday celebration. You deserved it!

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  2. What a wonderful surprise! Glad you have a lovely birthday celebration.

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  3. What a wonderful Birthday trip!! I enjoyed so much reading your fb posts as you traveled along! Your sweet hubby gets lots of points for this one in my book! :) Thank you for sharing it all with us!
    Happy Birthday! I hope I do 60 as well as you do!!
    Blessings
    LydiaCate!!

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  4. What a fun birthday celebration! I'm so glad you shared the details with us. Wow; your hubby did a great job with the planning and the surprising. I had to laugh at the water photo. You look cute all sopping wet. Good for you for posting. It makes you more real. After all, we can identify. I'm glad your family could also participate in your birthday celebration. I'm sure that made it all the more special for you.

    Blessings and love,
    Debbie

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  5. What an awesome birthday, Lea! Hubby outdid himself, and gosh you are so loved, my dear. :)
    Your pics are just so much fun, thanks for sharing them with your friends, what a fun time I had reading and following along on your journey.
    You make 60 so gorgeous!
    Hugs
    Ma

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  6. I am so glad that your hubby surprised you like that, with that special trip for your 60th birthday...with those you love all around you!

    See...turning 60 isn't all that bad after all! (Although when I turned 60, two years ago, it was the hardest birthday ever for me...but I have adjusted now.) (:>)

    You look marvelous darling!

    Love, Linda @ Truthful Tidbits

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  7. what a fun wonderful birthday for you, especially planned by a hubby who doesn't plan!! All the more meaningful. :=)

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  8. What a special celebration! And you deserved it! ;-) Kudos to your non-planner hubby for planning this ... I think I may steal this idea for a celebration for DH's 65th birthday ... if I can remember that long (he turns 65 in November, 2015). ha!

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  9. What a wonderful surprise and celebration!
    Blessings!

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  10. That sounds amazing! And it gives me a little hope: my hubby's not much of the planning type, and that plus our starting-out lack-of-funds has resulted in five anniversaries and birthdays of not much to remember. So maybe someday I'll have something equally extravagant to look forward to, if I just keep hoping and encouraging him. :)

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  11. What a wonderful surprise! I live in Dallas and know the Gaylord very well. Thank you for sharing your special birthday surprise with all of us.

    God Bless!

    Cassandra from "Renaissance Women"
    dropping in for Company Girls Coffee.

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  12. Oh what fun!!! I always wanted to go to the Gaylord when we lived in DFW. And you still looked beautiful all wet!

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  13. i love the look of surprise on your face... priceless!! you are very well loved, my dear!! : ) by me, included!!!

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  14. I have just read all about your "60th" birthday and it was a wonderful one! I felt like I was right there with y'all enjoying it with you! So happy for you! What great memories! Yes, Tommy did a fantastic job! How will he ever out-plan this one! Smiling. Love, Carolyn

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  15. I have just read all about your "60th" birthday and it was a wonderful one! I felt like I was right there with y'all enjoying it with you! So happy for you! What great memories! Yes, Tommy did a fantastic job! How will he ever out-plan this one! Smiling. Love, Carolyn

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  16. I'm so glad you had a wonderful birthday celebration surrounded by your family. Your hubs did good!

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  17. It sounds like an amazing birthday! Way to go Hubby!! Thanks for sharing your trip with us and I'm so glad you got to spend time with the kids and grands after all.

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  18. You were spoiled rotten and I couldn't be happier for you. That was such a great celebration!

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So glad you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit. I love your comments and read each and every one of them and I always try to reply to them. Blessings to you this day!