Thanksgiving Surprise, part 2

So I said last post how we drove 1,000 miles to spend Thanksgiving with Senpai's extended family, because his Papa's health is failing and everyone would be there. I also said it was a surprise to all but one aunt.

We pulled up into that aunt's driveway just before dinnertime on Wednesday. I recognized the house from when we visited two years ago, but there was a moment of uncertainty if we really were at the right place when we saw many faces peering out the windows at us... the aunt lives by herself. We walked in to find another aunt and a host of cousins there for dinner, too. The other aunt (visiting from out of town as well) was borrowing this aunt's oven to bake numerous pies, and the cousins found out from their mom whom our aunt had to ask to borrow a baby gate from. So the secret had been spilled to a limited few, but we were still excited about the big reveal on Thanksgiving the next day.

The next morning, Senpai and our aunt drove to town to take food to the hall where the family dinner would be held; there were too many people for any one house to contain us all. An uncle walked in and saw Senpai. Before the uncle could say a word, Senpai held his finger to his lips, called his Dad, and asked him how his Thanksgiving was going, saying how sorry he was that we couldn't be there. The uncle got the hint. An hour after the dinner was supposed to start, we were all scurrying at the aunt's house, trying to pull together last minute dishes: deviled eggs, stuffing, and even a fried turkey. We drove separate vehicles to the hall. When we pulled up, we saw Senpai's Mom holding the door open for the people coming in with dishes. She didn't notice Senpai's car (a very unique vehicle- a Scion xB) park behind his aunt's large SUV. We huddled behind the car, waiting for her to go inside, but that didn't seem like it was going to happen, so we brazenly stepped out into the open and started walking toward the hall. Senpai had given his phone to his cousin to record the surprise. Here's what he got.



So you know who everyone is, well, it's obvious who MIL is. The aunt who helped us with the surprise is the lady walking in with a dish just before MIL starts exclaiming, and FIL is the man in the blue shirt who leans over. He also is the one who asked us if we drove.

In spite of how many people the secret had already been leaked to, there were still many more people with surprised looks on their faces, Nana and Papa included. While we were there, we also revealed another secret to the family, but I'll save that for another post. Nana slapped Senpai in the face for keeping not one, but two big secrets from her.

Here's a pic of Nana, Papa, and all of the siblings and their significant others. There were pics of all of the cousins, too, but we didn't take any ourselves. Sorry, that's my fault. Since Senpai was standing up there, I should've had my camera out. Oh well.


The next couple of days were all about spending quality time with family. Nothing too exciting to report, I don't think. Senpai will correct me later if I forgot something important.

We drove home on Monday. The drive home went a lot like the drive over, except that I spent more time behind the wheel, and R spent more time glued to the portable DVD player. We drove through snow in Indiana. Here's a video of her seeing snow for the first time this season.



And our detour this time was to Baja Fresh. I loooooooove Baja Fresh, but, sadly, there is not one within 500 miles of our home. We drove through New Jersey to find this one.




It was a fun trip and I'm glad we went. Next year, though, I want to spend Thanksgiving with my Chicago-ish relatives like I had told them we would do this year.