An Unexpected (Surprise) Journey

Husband and I cooked up a sneaky plan. The older three children desperately wanted to see the new Hobbit movie. We told them the theaters were going to be really crowded since it just came out and we were going to be soooo busy getting ready for Christmas that there wouldn't be a good time until after the holidays. Our kids are such awesome kids. They were totally understanding and very patient, only asking us a couple of times what constituted "after the holidays". Maybe, um... January 2nd? :)

Knowing all along that we wanted to surprise them with the trip, we concocted a story about needing to take some Christmas pictures at a local park. Well, the story became reality once we realized it was a good ruse to get them out and about. I even told the girls who had been making some costume like paraphernalia that I would take some pictures of them dressed up just for fun in their Hobbity/Dwarfy fashion.

Sean had purchased the tickets on his lunch break and agreed to meet us in front of the theater right after work. I took the kids on a photo shoot...

(Obviously outtakes!)

...and then ran an errand to the grocery store that just happened to be across the street from the movie theater. When that was finished, under the pretense of driving around to check out one more park location for a few more pictures, we drove around the front of the theater. They saw their dad standing outside and were very confused until he popped his head in with tickets in hand and asked, "Anyone want to go see a movie?"

There was screaming and bouncing and excitement galore! It looked like this...

(OK, she was actually trying to mimic the face of the dwarf on her shirt but there was screaming before they got out of the van.)

I pulled out the dwarf shirts I had hidden in the back of the van, one for each of them, including BigBoy who was not going to see the movie. He came home with me and Cupcake (and a little bit of ice cream) but said the whole way, "I'm so excited for them that they get to see it!" He's such an awesome little brother and they all know it. He was the one who told us he was looking forward to watching it on DVD later and didn't want to go to the theater to see it. In fact, he and I have a DVD Date planned whenever it does come out. He finds movie theaters a little too intense and frankly, so do I. There has been much spoilering today but he doesn't mind one bit. And the sleepy dreamy looks on their faces last night told us, "Mission Accomplished!"