I'm Back!

For all of you not on the P-y continum of blogs, you've probably been wondering why I've fallen of the face of the earth for the past week.

Since January, my sisters, mom and I have been planning a surprise birthday party for my Dad's 60th birthday and it took place last weekend. As it was drawing nearer and nearer none of us could believe that we had somehow not spilled the beans. (Dad visits me and my sister Pu's family in LA almost once a month)

The surprise did not play out exactly how we had planned it but I think it turned out perfectly. My mom had taken my dad to San Francisco on Thursday. They stayed at the Fairmont hotel and had a fancy dinner at Quince. Husband, Miss D and I flew in late Thursday night and stayed at Husband's parent's house. Husband's parents then met MY parents in the city for a food tour. Husband, Miss D and i drove to the airport to pick up AinA and then we drove up to Forestville in Sonoma where we had rented a house for the weekend for the whole P-y clan.

The plan WAS: Pu's family would arive at the house in the afternoon, my family and AinA would arrive around 4pm and mom would arrange to get there by 6-7. Mom would
give us a call on my phone in advance and we would hide so we could leap out and say surprise!

However, this is how it went down. First, it took AinA much longer to get out of the airport then we anticipated. Then there was a lot of traffic. Then we stopped briefly for lunch. (In N' Out!) Then there was more traffic. Then i got a call from Pu, apparently the house was very difficult to find and also their cel phones got no service up there, only her husband T's work phone got service. She recommended we call them when we got closeso they could get us to the house. Also, they hadn't seen any grocery stores within 40 miles of the place and could we stop and get food?

No problem! We decided to stop in Santa Rosa, the last big town on the way to the house. By now it was about 4:30pm. We didn't see any stores from the road so we decided to exit and take our chances. We drove around a bit but didn't find anything. Finally got directions from a gas station and ended up at a Food Max. Not the gourmet French picnic fare I was dreaming of but food nonetheless. By the time we got back on the highway it was 5:30. Not 5 minutes after we made our exit off the highway (6:15) I get the call from Mom that they just exited the highway! I warned her that we were right in front of them and told her to drive slow. I called Pu's phone but they didn't pick up! And 5 minutes later we lost our phone signal.

Suffice to say we got lost, we overshot our turn by a lot. Stopped at a market and the kind lady had never heard of the street but sent us down to another market closer to our destination. So we drove down there (Husband is pretty frustrated at this point) I run in and see the back of my mom's head at the counter! I turn around and run back out. Husband is sure that Dad must have seen me since he is probably waiting in the car. i suggest that we follow them when they leave. so we wait and wait and wait. Finally we see my mom exit and get in a cadillac. of course, they don't know we are following them so they pull out right in front of 3 other cars so we lose our opportunity to follow. GAH!

So I go in the market and am told the same thing- no one has ever heard of this street! As I walk out i ask another woman outside and she says that she has lived in the area for 10 years and never heard of the street we are looking for. We decide to go back to an area we were looking in and drive around it again. It's the sort of situation where when you pull of the main road there are a ton of small streets and driveways. As we coast toward the place where we think the house is, we see a car pulled to the side of the road. it's my parents! husband pulls along the drivers side and i roll down the window.

"Excuse me. " i say, "Do you have any idea where Cosmo avenue is?"
"No!" my dad replies, "As a matter of fact, we're trying to locate it ourselves"

Now, it is pretty dark out there, but I'm so shocked that Dad didn't recognize me all i can think of to say as a reply is,

"Really?"

So AinA rolls her window and says,

"Isn't it your birthday?"

Dad sort of looks at her, then past her to see miss D in her car seat and then he just looks down and shakes his head.

"Surprise!" we all say. And just then T walks down a hill holding up the screen of his cel phone. We are right in front of the street which is unmarked and more like an unpaved driveway then a street right under a bridge.

So it didn't really turn out how we thought it would but I think it was just perfect. You can read more about the big events of the weekend here.