Surprise Sister Visit

Okay, I'm attempting to write this post for the second time now. I first wrote it a couple days ago, but when I finished it and hit the publish button, it somehow managed to get lost into cyberspace! SO FRUSTRATING! Especially frustrating because I know I won't be able to recreate this post as well as I wrote it the first time around.

My sister (Sis) celebrated her 39th birthday last week, and had a surprise visitor! If you've been following my blog for a few years, you know that we reconnected with our other sister (Baby Sis) 3.5 years ago (you can read about that here). Since then, we've made it a point to visit once a year, every summer, alternating between Montana and Oregon.

On December 26th, Sis's father-in-law (Old Pop) contacted me and said he wanted to surprise Sis by flying Baby Sis here from Montana. He told me to make all the arrangements and he would give me his credit card to make it happen! Holy Smokes! Not only was that a gift to Sis, but to all three of us! I immediately contacted Baby Sis, and with Tony's help, we were able to get her and my niece (5 years old) on a flight here. Exactly a week later, the kids and I picked up Baby Sis and L from the airport the morning of Sis's birthday. We came back to our house to hang out until Sis's birthday dinner that evening. Sis knew about the birthday dinner, but what she didn't know was that there would be two extra surprise guests! Lots of happy tears were shed.

This was the very first time in our entire lives that all three of us sisters had been together to celebrate one of our birthdays.

Baby Sis and L stayed with Sis for the next few days, and the kids and I joined them on Friday. Because this was a short notice surprise visit and not a planned one, everyone still had to deal with every day life and work. Fortunately, Sis runs a daycare out of her home, so visiting was still possible throughout the day, just with a few extra kids throughout the day!

The kids had fun coloring and drawing lots of pictures.

On Saturday, everyone had the day off and we were all able to hang out. We took the kids to a bounce house that afternoon to let them burn off energy and have fun together outside of the house. After dinner that night, Sis, Baby Sis, and L came back to my house to spend the night so that Sis and I could take them back to the airport together the next morning. Rylee was super excited to have a slumber party with L in her room.

Rylee and A with their Auntie N at the bounce house

Sisters!

Ayden hitched a ride from his oldest cousin

The kids weren't thrilled that we wanted a picture with all of them. haha!
Ayden (5), Rylee (5), N (7), E (13), A (5), S (8), L (5)

Group selfie!

Rylee and L having a quick snuggle before Rylee crawled into her own bed for the night.

Sis, Baby Sis, and I had a slumber party in the living room that night. The three of us all snuggled on a queen size air mattress, and we talked and giggled until 1:30 in the morning, when we finally went to sleep. I think that night might be my favorite memory to date with my sisters.

The next morning, we made the 1.5 hour trek to the airport. We made good time and arrived early, so Sis and I were able to visit a bit longer with Baby Sis and L before they had to go through security and board their plane back home to Montana. Saying goodbye is never easy.

Saying goodbye, until next time!

When we stopped for gas on the way home, Sis and I took a silly photo to send to Baby Sis to hopefully make her smile.

This sister visit was a sweet surprise that was too short and full of big emotions, but amazing memories were definitely made! Baby Sis and her family will be back again in August for our now annual summer visit. Them moving to Oregon is something being discussed, so there is a good chance that we will someday be able to have more than just these short visits. We have a lot of years to make up for!

Something else to note... I think it's pretty incredible that the three of us all had babies within a few months of each other. It was such a special thing for Sis and I to have a bump photo together. It's crazy to think that we actually could have gotten a bump photo with all three of us, had we "known" or "met" each other sooner. I find it so ironic that we had babies so close together!