Pre birthday fun

Lydia will be 7 years old on Wednesday!  To start the celebrations Mark and I planned a surprise trip for her.  Whenever Mark asks us where we want to travel Minnesota is in her top three.  It's up there because her very best friend moved there last year and Lydia misses her fiercely. A few weeks ago I got in touch with Abby's Mom (who happens to be a flight attendant for Delta and understands non-revenue standby flying very well) to see if we could pull off this surprise for Lydia.  Luckily her schedule lined up well with Lydia's birthday so a plan was formed.  It was not easy to find flights with open seats to Minneapolis but late Thursday night, 2 days before we planned to fly out we thought to look at flights from Dulles in DC and there was a direct flight to Minneapolis with 16 open seats!  It was meant to be.  I sneakily packed a suitcase for Lydia and I and then woke her up at 4:30 Saturday morning to tell her we were going to the airport to go visit Abby. It was super fun.  She was thrilled.

The drive to Dulles took about 1 hour and 45 minutes and we got cleared for our flight right away.  Always a beautiful feeling.  We left Dulles at 8:15 am and after a freezing flight (it was kind of the theme of the trip, Minnesota is so so cold!) arrived in Minneapolis at 10:00.  Abby's mom had just told her that morning that we were coming to visit so they both got a big surprise.

We spent most of Saturday at Abby's house.  The girls played in the snow (they didn't last long it was maybe 9 degrees outside) and had lots of fun playing inside.  Later we went to dinner at Rain Forest Cafe in the Mall of America.

Abby asked if Lydia could sleep in her room with her and her sister Hannah.  We said it was fine although I honestly didn't think Lydia would make it through the night but she did.  It took them a good while to settle down.  Lydia and Abby were more than ready to sleep but Hannah who is 4 was not.  She eventually got moved to her parents bed to fall asleep and then Lydia and Abby fell asleep right away.  I know Lydia was exhausted but she had a great time.

We had a big breakfast in the morning and then went to the zoo in the 3 degree weather.  It being Minnesota they had a really large indoor exhibit area which is where we spent most of our time.  I was so impressed with how many people were out even though it was so freezing!  I probably shouldn't have been though because its just the way it is in Minnesota.  They are tough people. After the zoo Rachel dropped us off at the airport and we easily got on our flight home.

We did brave the frigid air to check out a few exhibits.  We came across a pile of bears semi hibernating which was really cool to see.  We were so close! We also saw one otter which is my favorite and Rachel's too so that was great.  Oh but it was painfully cold!

 As we walked out of Dulles we were shocked at how cold it was in Virginia.  A nasty North wind came in and it was gusting.  It was 24 and felt like 9.  We felt like we were back in Minnesota.  Our drive home went well, Lydia fell asleep about 45 minutes in and then went right to sleep when we got her in pajamas and her bed.  She slept in today until 8:20 which is quite late for her.  

 It was just so sweet to see Lydia and Abby together again.   In one of my conversations with Rachel we talked about the girls school year.  Both girls are doing well and are happy but Lydia has not found a "new Abby" and Abby has not found a "new Lydia."  They were just such good buddies.  We so appreciate Rachel and her family hosting us.  Rachel was such a trooper.  She had a red eye flight to Seattle (and back) Friday night and didn't get home until 7:00 in the morning and then came right back to the airport and was an awesome host.  We are lucky to know such great people.  Its really fun to be able to pull off trips like this! Never in my mind did I think I would be flying out to Minnesota (in January!) to let my daughter visit her best friend for her birthday.  Its awesome and Mark is awesome for being wiling to make it happen.