After months of planning and weeks of stressing about spoiling the surprise, Logan, my parents and I pulled off the ultimate feat by shocking the heck out of Ash on her 30th birthday. She thought for days leading up to her birthday (and even the morning of) that it was going to be just another day, only to find out during the afternoon that she needed to be packed and in the airport 12 hours later for a girls weekend planned just for her! If there's anyone who deserves to be celebrated, it is my sister. She's always serving, always working, always mothering and cleaning and primary-ing and friending and just being an overall spectacular person. It's hard not to love someone like Ash who is so kind and generous and thoughtful, and seeing her feel special when it's usually going the other way around just made my heart want to explode.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that Ash and I easily talk on the phone a dozen times a day--and secrets are not our forte--so while Ash cried with excitement while reading the poem I wrote about our weekend away, I cried with excitement that I wouldn't have to duct tape my mouth every time I saw her name on my cell! And while I didn't exactly lie to her during the two months we were deep in planning, I was too close for comfort on a number of occasions...so with my tears came a looooooong sigh of relief. Thank goodness I didn't spill the beans!
The beans being a weekend in San Diego at the historic Hotel del Coronado. The beans being 30 balloons and donuts and the Flower Fields. The beans being matching pajamas and face masks and Nothing Bundt Cakes. The beans being a mermaid fitness class, an endless private beach and shopping sprees. The beans being Diet Coke, fancy restaurants, long conversations and tear-inducing laughter fits. The beans also being the logistical concerns: rented cars, flights, babysitters, work and church substitutes and special-event stand-ins. There were lots of beans that could have been spilled, you see, AND THEY WEREN'T! That, in and of itself, is a mini miracle. It really was a surprise for Ash, and how fun is that?!
I really can't explain our short weekend together by using any other word than this: perfect. This was our first ever girls trip with the original three McKee girls and a) I can't believe we've never done this before but b) we definitely set the bar high for future trips. Other than the weather playing games on Friday...and also the darn zero balloon popping at the airport...the trip was just ridiculously fun, extravagant, relaxing and, well, perfect. Ash is an Instagram aficionado so we planned all activities with her little squares in mind and I loved to see her eyes light up with each new post. I almost don't think it's possible to express the depth of love Mom and I have for that girl, but we tried and hopefully got close during her birthday weekend.
There are lots of pictures below, but so many more memories that weren't captured that I hope we'll all remember forever (minus the triple flip in the pool, right Mom?!) Happy 30th birthday Ash, can we repeat it next year for good measure?
We joked that there was some metaphor to life in the fact that the balloons meant to celebrate her 30th birthday popped before reaching her--maybe it all goes downhill from here?! But seriously it just keeps getting better with age and welcome to your 30's Ash, even if that zero balloon was a party pooper!
Randy's glazed donuts FTW while we gabbed our way to San Diego. I ordered six, should've gotten a dozen.
You know, just taking a serious picture during our pit-stop at the Newport Temple.
The Carlsbad Flower Fields were AMAZING! Sure, it was a little cold and windy but that kept the visitors away so we basically had 50 acres of ranunculus to ourselves. Plus, I'm almost positive that the tour guide (who looked like Santa in overalls) would have never let Ash on his tractor if lots of other people were around. We lucked out, right Ash?
Mom really enjoyed this cake. That's probably all I should say about that.
It was too cool for our original plan of becoming beach bums, but it was perfect weather for sitting in a salon and getting our nails did. We put the sunshine on our nails even if it wasn't in our sky.
Our experience at the Del was like living in a fairytale. Honestly, it didn't even feel like real life because it was so luxurious and fancy and everyone treated us like queens. To make a long story short, we were upgraded from our standard double queen room to the Victorian two bedroom Crown Suite which is the same size as my house! It was in the main historic building like we wanted and it had ocean views on one side and views of the bay and the Coronado bridge on the other and it was just gorgeous. We thought we'd be out shopping and exploring and driving all day Friday but we ended up lounging around our massive space, resting and feeling like royalty. We may never stay at the Del again, but we made it count with this visit!
Matching jammies for the win, but I don't know if Ash would say the same thing about the face masks hahaha! We all took a little bottle and found a mirror to apply our masks. When we got back together we learned that one of those masks was not like the other. I can't tell you how hard we laughed over this!
Cake for breakfast seems like the only reasonable thing to do when celebrating a big birthday. Thanks Meliss for the cakes!
I knew the mermaid class would make a good picture, I did not know I'd be sore the next day from swimming around in a tail. If you had been a fly on the wall to see the "exercises" we did, you'd know why this is so depressing. #mamaneedstoworkout The highlight of this activity though was definitely watching Mom put on her tail. Hil-ar-i-ous!
The trip came and went in a blink. There were some serious tears shed when I dropped these girls off at the airport and I was tempted to have Ash send me the picture with our boo-boo lips in full action, but instead I'll leave this post with our last moments in Coronado together. I have the greatest Mom and the greatest sister and words can't come close to expressing my love and adoration and gratitude for them. Cheers with Coke (and something else that starts with a C) to 30, ladies. Love you big Ash!
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