Friday, October 21, 2016

Bradenton, Florida | 2016


Well, y'all I have been back from Florida for a week now and I miss it already! I took a quick little trip down to Bradenton this past weekend to celebrate my best friends mom's 60th birthday! She has always been like a second mom to me and I am so glad I got to join in on the surprise for her birthday!
See, she had no idea anyone, except her husband, was going to be in Florida for her birthday. Chelsea and Paige, her daughters and my best friends, live in California. They planned for some of their moms sisters to come, some of their cousins and me to come and surprise her!

I decided to take off Friday and fly out of Charlotte rather than Raleigh. When I first started looking at tickets to Tampa from Raleigh they weren't too badly priced but when it was finally time to buy them and the plans were all made, flights were nearly $500 to fly to Tampa! So I saved almost $250 by flying out of Charlotte. Sure I had to drive to Charlotte Friday morning and drive back on Sunday but it was only about 3 hours and was well worth the savings!

We all got in between 3 and 4, we got our rental car and drove the hour drive to the house. Their dad took their mom out for a drink while we snuck into the house, freshened up and sat on the couch while we waited for them to get back. When their mom walked up the stairs she turned the corner to check on the dog before she even saw us, so when she finally saw us 3 sitting on the couch she screamed like bloody murder! It was one of the best surprises I have ever seen or been a part of!

After all the excitement wore off we went to dinner, Chelsea and Paige live in California and their Japanese Steak Houses don't have the yum yum sauce (isn't that crazy, that is the main reason people go) so of course we had to go there!


When we got home, there were a few more people there to surprise Mama Sturges! One of her sisters, her husband, son, wife and grandson were all there to surprise her! Again, it was another loud scream!! We spent the rest of the night just hanging out watching some of their old home videos!

Saturday morning came and we all moved pretty slow. The day after you travel is always tiresome. But we had a lot to do that day! We started with breakfast at the house and got ready for the pool!


The weather ended up being pretty, we thought it was going to rain and be overcast, but it was the perfect day for some daiquiris by the pool before the sneaking around had to commence to get ready for another one of Mama Sturges surprises! While we were at the pool, another one of her sisters came and surprised her! By then we were all there and no one else was showing up, she kept asking if so and so was coming and she wouldn't believe us!


At around 2:30, Paige Chelsea and I had to sneak off to get all the party supplies for the surprise party they were throwing later that night. By the time we were finally done running our errands, Mama Sturges was blowing up all of our phones wondering where we were. Let me tell you, she was one lady that is hard to surprise! But we got all the supplies and dropped them off at the club house and went home to shower.

After we were all ready, we had to come up with another lie as to why we needed to leave before dinner so we could go set up. See, Mama Sturges thought we were going out to eat but little did she know they had rented the club house in their neighborhood for the night and had a caterer coming. But somehow we came up with a lie that Paige let her credit card at Sam's and she believed it.

We got all the decorations up with a little time to spare before everyone else showed up!




Paige ordered the cake for GiGi's Cupcakes and they did an amazing job! The cake was delicious and it had glitter and sparkle on it, now that is my kind of cake!!


Mama Sturges was so surprised when she walked in! This was when the tears started coming! She just couldn't believe they were able to pull of yet another surprise! Chelsea and Paige did such a good job planning all of this! 

We spent the rest of the night enjoying all the time together before we all had to leave the next day! There may have been a few too many fireball shots taken, but hey it was vacation!



Sunday morning came too early, but boy was I glad to be back home in my bed Sunday night! I sure did miss my husband but girls trips are the best!


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2 comments :

candy said...

Girl trips are always needed, fun and the best. Good to reconnect and cut loose.

Justine Y @ Little Dove said...

Aww, what a sweet surprise! And it looks like you had such a great time, girls' trips are always so fun!