Surprise!

I had one of the best things happen to me last week.

But I need to give you just a little back story first....

I don't think I've shared that Ryley decided to stay in Virginia this summer to complete her internship, as well as continuing to work in the club sports office.  The only downside to that plan was it meant that Ryley would more than likely not be back in Texas until December.

Well, Ryan and the big girls decided that was way too long to wait.  Especially since Ryley had not even seen our new house or visited our new church yet.

And that was the start of Operation "Bring Ryley Home Without Mom Knowing".  They kept me completely in the dark for two whole weeks!

So this past Friday morning, we headed out to Lake Conroe to rent a boat and just have some fun family time, minus Ryley.  Ryan informed me that a friend of his from Florida was flying into Houston that morning for a meeting but wondered if Ryan could swing by the airport to pick up some paperwork he'd been needing to hand off to Ryan.

Maybe I'm gullible but I totally believed him.

So we made a slight diversion to the airport where I dropped Ryan at the curb to go get his paperwork. I circled the airport, came back to pick him up and this is what happened:

Can you tell I was just a little bit surprised?

They got me real good.

So off we went to the lake, all five of us, which made a great day even better.

We also discovered that while Lily can take or leave the ocean, she is definitely a "Lake Girl".  She had a blast on the boat and didn't hesitate to get right in the water.

The big girls had a pretty good time, too.

All my girls, together again.

Since I'll soon be delivering yet another daughter to Virginia for college, I'm especially thankful for the times we do have all together.  

So have you had any big surprises lately? Or a fun family adventure?  I'd love to hear about it!