Surprise Party

I've already mentioned that the girls (Sandy, Stephanie and Mindy) planned a surprise trip to Helen, Georgia to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Little did we know that---the trip was just the beginning of the surprises! 

We started in a beer garden where they unveiled the plans for the weekend. They included lots of German food, browsing the shops in this cute little town, geo-caching, 

a honey tasting, railroad exhibit, olive oil tasting (I didn't do that), a visit to the Babyland General Hospital--the birthplace of Cabbage Patch Dolls--we even saw a live birth, hiking to Anna Ruby Falls, lots of walking, a grain mill, geo-caching, adventure labs and a wine tasting. Believe me, it was a hectic weekend and we crammed a lot in!

On Saturday night, after dinner, we got back to the hotel--they sprang for suites at the Hampton Inn for ALL of us. Did I mention that it was an all expense paid trip? They even allotting us each $25.00 for souvenir shopping--as if we were kids (we used to do that to them). So fun!

I didn't know that the Hampton had suites. Actually, they are very nice---large living room with kitchenette and a pretty big bedroom. We got back from dinner about 9-ish. We thought we were going to call it a night since we had all gotten up around 4:30 (the girls and hubs spent the night since we were getting on the road by 5:45 a.m.)  Instead, the girls said they were coming to our place for games. 

Well, okay. I told Butch that we were just going to roll with whatever they wanted to do. OMGosh! That's when the fun began. They came in with champagne and filled up the sink with ice to chill it down. Then, they told us what each person was "in charge" of for the weekend:

Greg--hotel reservations and geo-caching.

Sandy--itinerary-- exploring the town, finding and planning the activities.

Nicky--food--finding the best restaurants and making reservations.

Stephanie--gift--coordinating the 50 congratulatory letters and cards from family and friends including the papal blessing from Pope Francis--our parish priest, Father Dexter has connections and Bishop Spalding. 

Justin and Mindy--games and party favors.

We were blown away at all of it. Such a surprise!

Mindy enlisted the help of her friend, Bonnie to make all the game pieces. Bonnie was thrilled to use her Cricut. She also cut vinyl to make the pencils: "Barb and Butch's 50th Anniversary.  The note pads are adorable. Sandy brought fancy glasses for the champagne and napkins. She gave me a copy of the itinerary for my scrapbook. You can see the stack of cards/notes in the upper right. On the left side is this:

Mindy had Christmas ornaments made from out wedding picture!

She hosted "The (Not So) Newlywed Game!" It was so much fun as she tested our knowledge of each other.

This is the papal blessing that Stephanie had framed. 

On Sunday night, we had happy hour in our room before going to dinner. Butch and I had planned a month ago to surprise the girls. We talked about and played "our" first song--"Beginnings" by Chicago, then our second song after 25 years of marriage--"Almost Paradise" from Footloose. We told the girls that we were letting them pick our next song to commemorate 50 years. They will let us know what that is when we all go to Disney over Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see what they come up with. I think it's okay to have a new song every 25 years don't you??

Then, we each talked about our life together over the past 50 years. I'm thinking I'll post that later this week After that, the girls shared some of their memories. We were all wiping away tears!

We had a really nice dinner at the Vahalla Resort. 

We're ending with breakfast this morning. Then, it's time to head home. 

It was so much fun---sweet, touching and just plain awesome! We love our girls--and all our family! We'll look forward to the next time we can all be together--Thanksgiving and Disney!!