the willetts: the BEST surprise EVER

Nicki lived in Costa Rica for 10 months (Aug '11 - June '12) and it was time for her to come home!!!!

Her original return date was June 9th but she had the brilliant plan of coming home early on June 1st...which is my Mom's birthday.

SO, naturally, this would be a surprise.

Let the planning begin!

We talked a lot and threw around ideas if how to surprise my mom with Nicki's arrival.

Our final decision was to just have a birthday dinner at my parent's house. This was a totally predictable, normal evening for the Raimondo's.

the pool, grand kids and BBQ...PERFECT!

Nicki kept in contact with me during the day so that my mom wouldn't accidentally see Dad or Gina's phones. This was KILLING my dad. He was so nervous and excited about all of this planning finally coming to an end and, most importantly, getting Nicki home safely!

There was a little bump in our plans because my Principal's retirement party was also on the 1st from 6-8 PM...seriously...WORST TIMING EVER.

Even so, everything worked out PERFECTLY!

When Nicki was about 5 minute away, she text me to let me know, then she text Mom if she wanted to face time.

This is also a very natural occurrence during a Raimondo family gathering. Nicki always wants to "see the spread" and say HI to everyone all at the same time.

I wanted to get EVERYTHING on video so I was wondering how to do this without Mom knowing something was up. I take a lot of pictures and home video so the fact that my cameras were sitting out was no big deal.

It just so happened that the kids were already finished eating and they were getting down from the table while all the "last minute convos" were going on.

Again...everything was going GREAT!

Except that Gina and I were on the edge of our seats and being a little "quiet".

Nicki called on face time and I was able to video tape the whole conversation! PRICELESS!

She and Andres were parked in front of my parents house and she told Mom

"I have a birthday present for you and I have to show you now."

As she was talking, she turned the video feed to show the front of the house!!!!

My mom instantly knew what was happening and said "Oh My God" and started crying!

The next 10 minutes were full of hugs, kisses and tears.

My family is NOT one for surprises so the fact that we pulled this off, was a miracle!

We explained all of the planning conversations, nervous feelings and secrets that were spinning around for the last month and my mom just couldn't believe we made this all work.

I'm sure it had to do with the fact we didn't tell Colin either...HA! A 6 year old CAN'T keep a secret...

The rest of the evening was spent celebrating Mom's birthday and basking in the laughter that is a

Raimondo Family Dinner!