A 70th Birthday Surprise!

The weekend before we left for America was full of fun and excitement!!!  Our 5th anniversary, Darran's birthday and a surprise party for my darling mother in law who turned 70.  Russ (my father in law) approached me in June and asked if I could help him plan a surprise party for the big 70th birthday.  Russ wanted to invite all the kids and the grand kids to come to Melbourne and surprise Pam for the weekend.  With one son's family in Perth and the other son's family in Queensland and enough time, the boys and kids were able to make it over and we gave Pam the surprise of her life!  She had no idea!

Darran and I met Pam and Russ at their house on their anniversary to have a barbecue and catch up before Darran and I headed overseas.   Little did she know that the rest of the family was eagerly awaiting to surprise her as they were all hiding in the garage.  Pam and I were in the kitchen chatting away like we do, then one by one her kids and grand kids started trickling into the kitchen.  As they came in the tears began to fall, she was so excited!

This is her reaction to seeing her great grandson Christian, who just celebrated his first birthday in Perth a few weeks earlier. Pam was feeling so disappointed that they weren't able to get over for his birthday, so his showing up at her 70th sure made up for it!

Here she is with Kylie her granddaughter and mother to Christian.  They have always had such a close and tender relationship ever since Kylie was a little girl.

The barbecue quickly grew from five people to 12.  While Pam was out relishing in her family all being there to celebrate her birthday. I was in the kitchen quickly making additional salads to feed everyone.  A couple of trips to the local shop and we got the party started!

Adam, Kylie Christian, Jeremy and Pam

Pam and her boys Darran, Dean and Terry

Loving having the little man there to cuddle

Russ made a quick phone call once all the crying and hugging was over and told Auntie Shirley that she needed to come over to see what Pam got for her birthday.  Wasn't she surprised when she came in and saw a house full!  Auntie Shirl and Pam have a wonderful relationship that goes back to the time that Pam was a little girl and living in the family house with her mom's sisters as all the husbands were off at war.  It's wonderful to see these two together and hear of all the stories and memories.  

Here's everyone.  The first family photo in about 10 years and the first time they were all together in about that long as well.

Pam just thought she was going to have a small birthday party.  Back in March she and Russ were at Costco (yes we've got them hooked too!) and she saw their cakes.  She asked Russ then and there if she could have a Costco cake for her birthday with red roses.  He filed that away, and made sure that I ordered that special cake for her to celebrate her special day.  It was so fun helping Russ with this surprise!  Pam's joy and tears were well worth it!   Here's hoping that we don't have to wait another 10 years to be all together again!