I Had To Spill The Beans...

I had to spill the beans and share the surprise but it hasn't spoiled the fun! Brianna Conlin (in the picture above) has been Heather's Best Friend since Heather was in 2nd grade. While Heather was in 2nd grade Brianna's family moved to Aurora, IL. Who'd a thought that 8 years later the two would still be so close and commited to their friendship? No surprise to those of you who know Heather well. Heather is an undyingly loyal friend and her friendship with Brianna is proof of that.

The original plan was this...Brianna was flying into Charlotte on Thursday afternoon at the same time that Aunt Juju arrived so there would be no suspicions about why I had to go to the airport. Arriving on Thursday would have allowed Heather and Brianna the rest of Thursday night and all day Friday before heading to Florida with Lauren and Samantha.

On my way to the airport... I got a call from Brianna's dad that United Airlines had left without Brianna on the plane!!! What???? At first, I thought he was joking but soon into our conversation I knew he had no joke on his mind. He was very upset! United had overbooked the flight and didn't give Brianna a seat, nonetheless, left her in Chicago O'Hare to fend for herself.

When Rick (Brianna's dad) arrived at the counter they told him there were no flights into Charlotte until Saturday afternoon. We were scheduled to head to Florida and check into our resort on Saturday morning.

About then was when I had a blood pressure headache and Heather had picked up on so many clues that I had to spill the beans - not knowing what would come next!

Long story short....Rick, who flies about 3 days a week for his job was able to speak to the necessary people and got Brianna on the next flight out with a confirmed seat. We went back out to the airport that night to pick Brianna up from her long day and anticipated arrival.

The next day, they were both exhausted from staying up until 1:30am giggling loudly until I gently stepped into Heather's room and turned out their light. They had tons to catch up on, (I guess) and most of it must have been comical.

The next day, I came downstairs at one point and found them watching a movie in the front room - although Brianna wasn't watching anymore, she had fallen asleep on her best buddy! I couldn't help but grab my camera and get this picture...

SATURDAY...We arrived in Florida this evening after driving for nearly 10 hours! A trip that normally only takes 8-9 hours. Traffic jams caused by accidents on I-95 and I-4 made it impossible to avoid bumper to bumper Easter traffic.

Heather and I, Aunt Juju, Brianna Conlin (all the way from Chicago,IL), Samantha Burdick and Lauren Richards (two of Heather's best friends who live in NC) have made the trip to Orlando for 4 days of fun in the sun!

When I put Josh to bed on Friday night he was very sad and kept saying he would miss me. One thing he asked me to do was share pictures of each day so he could see me and know that I was safe and I was having fun.

So, I'll share them with you too. It was raining when we arrived and we were starving so we got our suitcases in the room and went to Chili's to eat. Before we left, we discovered that the girls were all wearing hoodies with names on the back...the problem was they weren't wearing their own hoodie. They each had a friend's hoodie on so we had them turn around and we snapped a picture of them....here's that picture.
Left to right, Brianna, Heather, Lauren, Samantha...


Oh, we decided the third hoodie is generic...Lauren is wearing that one.

Here they are revealing their true identity!

Tomorrow is a scheduled day of spring break suntanning until about 3pm. Shower, do their hair and fancy dresses for dinner out. Then, a short but sweet visit to Dave and Slavka's house (my cousin who lives here in Orlando).

Happy Easter!

Monday we're going to DISNEY WORLD! Tuesday is more spring break suntanning and then we have to say goodbye to Brianna! Wednesday the rest of us head home.

Stay tuned to my blog because I plan to update you with pictures each night as I take them.