Andrea's a tough person to surprise, or to buy for. Her birthday this year fell on a Sunday and inconveniently also fell on the same weekend as Dad's weekend in Tallahassee. I'd considered skipping the Dad's weekend, but Andrea selflessly insisted that I should go to be with Connor and so we wouldn't miss out.
I had been planning to come back fairly early on Sunday to spend the day with her when I realized that Andrea would really love to see her favorite guy Connor on her birthday. I texted Connor to see if he'd be open to the idea and he immediately agreed and said he'd love to do that for her. I was so excited about it, but I was certain that Andrea would figure it out ahead of time and the surprise would be spoiled. There was a breakfast with the frat brothers in the morning on Sunday, and another baseball game in the afternoon. I told Andrea that we were planning to go to the breakfast and probably would go to the baseball game as well.
Before I left town, Paige and I schemed to have Paige turn off the Tesla notifications on Andrea's phone so it wouldn't alert her if and when Connor and I were charging during the drive home. Connor turned off his Life360 tracking as well so no alerts would come through that app either. We eventually decided that the most certain way to surprise her was to drive home before she woke up and checked in on us. We left Connor's dorm a little after 5am and made it home just after 8am. Andrea was fast asleep when we arrived, and I had intended to wait until she woke up for her scheduled tennis clinic with Paige, but Connor was too excited so we got Paige and Millie Mae and we all went in to wake up Andrea and wish her a happy birthday.
Poor Andrea was dazed and confused for a minute after we all barged in, and I think it took her a moment to realize what day it was, who was in her room, and why we were all jumping on her bed. I shouldn't have been worried she would be grumpy at being woken up, she was surprised to see us and was thrilled to hear that we would all be spending her birthday together.
Andrea and Paige played in a fairly competitive clinic, run by Coach Jeff, against a mother+daughter duo as well as another good player. There was an open spot available, but Connor wasn't feeling up to it after our long drive.
When their clinic finished, we went over to the pickleball courts and played two very competitive games. Connor played with Andrea, and they were leading in the first game for almost the entire time, but Paige and I pulled ahead and won at the end. The second game was another close one, and I think Paige and I may have had a match point, but Connor and Andrea were too good and won it.
The girls went back to the house to shower first, and the boys waited a little while to head home so Connor could swing at the park.
We went to Town Center for lunch, to Cantina Laredo, which used to be a weekly favorite. We hadn't been in quite a while and the kids were reminiscing about playing outside the restaurant while we were waiting for our food. It was extra delicious today and our server even brought over a complementary apple pie dessert when we mentioned it was Andrea's birthday.
We did a little shopping and took care of a few returns before heading home to play dominoes and hang out for just a little while before Connor had to start his drive back to school.
I'm happy that we were all able to celebrate Andrea's birthday together on the actual day, and so happy that Connor was willing to spend so much time driving to make Andrea's day extra special. We all love our Andrea so very much! Happy birthday Andrea!
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