I should apologize for this being late (again), but what's the point? You get 'em when I get to them. So, a few months back my niece, Alex, reached out to me about attending a surprise birthday party for my sister. It was her 40th birthday this year, and Alex and her Dad Jamie were planning a bit of a party to celebrate. Given my limited holidays, I really couldn't commit to attending, as much as I wanted to.

Ethan and Lisa doing a word search on the iPad. Lisa and Ethan were not supposed to be there on Friday night...

As it turned out, about a week before the big party, I found out that I needed to make a last minute work trip to Ottawa for some meetings with the government. Happily, the meetings were schedule for the Friday, with Lisa's party on Saturday afternoon. The timing couldn't be better, as routing through Toronto and staying over a Saturday night reduced the cost of my work flights - it was a win-win situation!

On the Wednesday, I flew to Ottawa and worked Thursday/Friday, before flying back to Toronto. Given the last minute nature of the trip, I decided to rent a car, and just surprise everyone by showing up at Mom and Dad's on Friday night.

Mackenzie and Ethan hard at work at some crafts at the party.

I had been texting a bit with Lisa during the week, and she had mentioned that she would be heading to Mom and Dad's on Saturday morning. So imagine my surprise when I walked in the back door on Friday evening to find Lisa and Ethan in the kitchen! On the bets laid plans. Fortunately, my decision to keep my visit a surprise led to a great reaction from Mom and Dad, which thankfully saved the surprise party!

I had a nice dinner visiting with everyone, then after Lisa put Ethan to bed, I headed over to Shawn and Leanne's to catch Mackenzie and Lane before they headed off to bed. Shawn was back in the shop when I arrived, and his reaction was priceless - better than Mom and Dad's even! If was nice to surprise everyone, and I got to visit with the kiddies for a while, before calling it a night.

Saturday, we still had to carry out the surprise, and get Lisa over to the park for her party. Mom had come up with a good cover story, and Lisa was thankfully unaware of the plot. Dad and I did some last minute shopping in town in the morning, then we got the whole crew over to the park right on time and sprung the surprise. It all came off perfectly, and it seemed like Lisa had no idea what was going on. Jamie and Alex did an amazing job of organizing everything, getting Lisa's friends and family out, and arranging a pile of food.

Jamie giving the opening speech - there were lots of great, old pictures on the slide show.

Mom, Dad and Uncle Dave. I hadn't seen Uncle Dave in ages, and it was great to see him again.

The afternoon was lots of fun, and I got to spend some time with all the kids, as well as see some of the family that I don't get to see nearly as much as I would like. The afternoon pretty much flew by, and all too soon it was time to pack up and call it a day.

The boys helping to blow out all those candles.

Brunch at Nana and Poppa's

On Friday night while I was visiting with Mackenzie, she decided that we would all have brunch at Nanna and Poppa's on Sunday morning. Lisa and Ethan were kind enough to let me sleep in a bit, so late morning we had a very nice brunch on the deck. It was a perfect summer day, and mom and dad once again outdid themselves with their hospitality.

Mackenzie, Ethan and Lane enjoying brunch.

Lane, just about done with the brunch and ready to escape.

Once breakfast was done, we had a nice visit. Mackenzie and I played washers, and there was a lot of competition for the hammock.

Sadly, the early afternoon came way too quickly, and I had to head to the airport for my flight home. It was a great weekend, and was so much fun to see everyone and give Lisa a surprise for her birthday.