Grandee and Papa

Aaron's parents flew into Dallas on the 1st to visit us and help Gracie celebrate her birthday. We were pretty freakin excited. They told me that they would be flying into Dallas at 4:30pm, but they were renting a car and needed to check into their hotel so therefore we would probably meet up around dinner time.

I decided that it would be fun if Grace and I met them at the baggage claim to surprise them. I made a few signs for Grace to hold, and we got their flight information the night before so we were ready. I got out the door a few minutes late, and their flight landed a few minutes early. Aaron called them sneakily to see if they had checked bags or not. They had, I was good to go. I drove to the right place and as soon as I parked my car Aaron called. "They are at baggage claim A29." Me: "What? The information we got last night said it was C12." Aaron: "They changed it, did you not check before you left?" I gritted my teeth, put my car in reverse and peeled out. I got to the A baggage claims just a a huge group of people left. I looked around. No Grandee and Papa. 

I called Aaron's Mom, "Hey where are you guys?" "We just got to the car rental place." "Oh, really?" Grace and I are at the baggage claim, we came to surprise you."

I didn't give up. We headed back to the car with our signs and piled back in. I thought to myself "I can totally make it to the car rental place and we'll surprise them there." After a 20 minute drive I finally finally got to it. DFW is a ginormous airport. I called again "Hey did you rent your car yet?" "Yes, we're now on our way to the hotel." Dang it, I missed them AGAIN.

With my defeated attitude I made my way back through the airport and out onto the main road. Construction pushed all the traffic down to one lane and my gas light was on and had been on for awhile. I needed to make it to a gas station and fast. Through some miracle I made it to Costco. As I was filling up my tank, Aaron's Dad called, "Hey we've checked into the hotel." Me: "Oh, I'm getting gas right now, I can see a bunch of hotels from here, which one are you in?" He gave me the crossroads for his hotel. I couldn't see the specific one they were in, but I thought, "Now, I can drive to their hotel and surprise them in the lobby." I told Aaron's Dad that I would call them when I was done. With a full tank I headed to their hotel. It was close and easy to find. My bad attitude faded and I was giddy as Grace and I made our way to the lobby of the hotel. I sent a text to Aaron's Mom, "We're in the lobby!" I made sure that Grace was holding her signs. I couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they walked in and saw us there. Aaron's mom called, "Hey sweetie, which complex are you in?" I told her. "Okay, we'll be there soon." Me: "Wait, I'm in the lobby of your hotel." Her: "You are? We're on our way to your apartment!" For the third an final time Grace and I got back into the car, having not surprised anyone and drove back to our apartment. We arrived they same time that Aaron's parents did too.

The whole situation was a 2 hour epic failure. Despite their trip starting off in an epic failure way, we had a fabulous time together. We celebrated Grace's birthday in style, as documented below, and the next day we headed to the zoo.

We got there early in the morning, but it's Texas and it's hot outside, so we took lots of breaks to sit in the shade.

 Once we were all good and sweaty, we headed back home.

Grace wearing her birthday outfit from Grandee and Papa.

There were many trips to the park, breakfasts at Chick-Fil-A, dinners out, naps in the afternoons, card games at night, and rides on the carousel.

 We had so much fun and already miss having Grandee and Papa here.

Thanks for a wonderful time. Visit again soon!