The Big Surprise

So, my husband's birthday was last week. And since he was out of town, the kids and I had plenty of time to plan a big party and figure out all the perfect presents to get. We had birthday banners everywhere and homemade cards galore. I also was planning on taking him on a Striper and Spotted Bass Fishing trip at a lake here in Georgia. It was going to be a big surprise and I had the childcare worked out and everything but I didn't want the kids to give it away. So I put an emphasis on what a fun surprise the cake and balloons would be and even took them to a local fishing store and let them pick out lures and wrap them. And then I told the kids not to tell daddy about the big surprise.

And my husband spent the week trying to get the kids to give up what they knew.

So our big joke had been teasing him that we are getting him a puppy. (with my kids knowing full and well we were not going to get one at this time and they were okay with that)

Earlier that week my husband was talking to my oldest son and I overheard..

"No dad, I can't tell you what your birthday present is. No, it's not that. No, it's not that either. Well, whatever it is, it's not a puppy. And we're not keeping it in the garage either."

It was really funny. He was having as much fun with it as his daddy was.

The day before his birthday my 5 year old was talking to him on the phone (he was coming home that night) and he said....

"We've got a surprise for you. Actually, we don't. Everything is just the same here. There is no cake, no balloons and everything is just the same. " (as he is looking at the cake and balloons. ) "And there's no puppy in the garage."

I seriously just about died laughing. Just the fact that he added our joke at the end was funny not to mention that he really was trying to cover for the fact that there WERE balloons and cake.

So the day came and we spent the whole day focusing on daddy. The kids came in at 6:00 am with their gifts and my 3 year old said "Hit it boys" and they all sang Happy Birthday to him. They took him fishing in our local pond and for lunch we had a birthday party with cake and ice cream and more presents. Then later that day I took him on his surprise Birthday fishing trip. We had a great time!

This was the first catch of the day. A spotted bass. Which is smaller than a large mouth bass. So this one was actually a decent size fish. (see, happy birthday boy)

This was the best pic I got of a striper. He caught this one on a top water lure and it was so exciting and fought so hard that I just barely had time to snap this before the fish got thrown back in the water and the lure was out to catch another one. (happy birthday boy but impatient to get fishing again for bigger striper) (and yes, he switched hats at one point because his neck was getting burned)

Here is a picture of me with one of the many spotted bass I caught, but there is NO WAY I'm posting a pic of my hair in it's full wind blown glory. Just no way. After a couple trips speeding up and down the lake going from fishing spot to fishing spot, my hair was just one big mass of tangles! Note to self: take a pony tail holder or clippy thing or a twist ties or something to hold down that hair next time!

We had a great day and caught lots of fish and I think he had a great birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!