The Surprise

The destination of our California trip was the always exciting city of Los Angeles, and the special event was important enough that we brought my dear mother along with us. After we landed and picked up our rental car, our first order of business was to eat at Chad's favorite Cali restaurant, In-N-Out Burger, before checking into our hotel. After resting for a couple of hours, we headed to the location of our very special surprise, which wasn't a surprise for us but was for my very dear brother, who happened to be turning 40 on that very day. My dad was already in LA staying with Eric, so he let us into the apartment, where we tried to decide the best way to surprise my brother for his special day. None of us really had a plan, so after many ideas and counter ideas, I decorated a "happy birthday" poster to put on his door and Chad figured out how to play happy birthday on Eric's guitar. When we finally heard him coming up the stairs, Chad played the tune while sitting on the stairwell out of Eric's view and my mom and I hid behind a bookshelf. Since Eric was on the phone when he arrived home, he really didn't comprehend what he was hearing or seeing, so when he walk into his apartment, he was downright shocked to see his entire family!

Obviously almost anyone would be a little taken aback to have their family arrive at their home unannounced, and Eric was certainly no exception. I think he was especially concerned that his apartment wasn't clean enough and he didn't have enough of a party planned for his birthday. Eric and I were chatting yesterday about his reaction to our surprise, and he said that his initial thought was, "Is this an intervention? I'm not even drunk!" That certainly would have been an alarming thought, and I feel a little bad about shocking him in a bad way, but it was certainly a fun surprise for the rest of us!

My pictures of the surprise moment weren't really very good because of the strong backlight, so obviously I should have broken down and used a flash, but I do love this one taken just a few minutes after Eric got home. It captures his reaction fairly well, I think! There are a few more good ones here if you'd like to check them out!