Operation Ted-Sneak: A Midnight Idaho Surprise

I kept a secret for about two and a half weeks. It was hard. I'd make a terrible spy.

The first part of February I accidentally found a super-cheap flight to Idaho-- an unheard-of rate that only lasted two weeks and then the price sky-rocketed to its normal rate again in March. My grandmother has been in and out of the hospital lately and my mom has been busily taking care of her and my grandfather and it felt like they could all really use a little Teddy time. Plus, my grandparents had never met Teddy-- their fifth great-grandson. I made a few calls to see if friends and family could help out by watching Cal and Clark while I was gone, and Brian looked into taking some days off, then we bought the ticket! Did I mention that we have amazing friends and family who will watch twin boys at the drop of a hat?

I didn't tell anyone in Idaho except my sister, who coined the trip Operation Ted-Sneak, and we thought up ways for Teddy and me to make our grand entrance.

We had some elaborate plans, but what complicated things the most is that our flight arrived in Spokane at midnight West Coast time. It was then another 45 minutes to my parents' house and of course they would be asleep, and, being light sleepers, would probably notice an infant who doesn't understand covert operation silence. Teddy is smart, but not that smart. Not yet.

So instead of hiding us in my grandparents' basement overnight, we decided to try to sneak into my parents' house anyway, spend the night in my sister's room, and surprise them in the morning. Well, the dog scampered in the front door with us, causing more noise than we had bargained for, and Teddy didn't cry, but he kept loudly cooing and talking-- wide awake for some reason. We figured they had heard us and that we wanted to control the surprise to make sure we got it on video, so we sneaked into their room and put Teddy on top of them in their bed at 1am.

Mom was so incredibly startled and sat up so quickly, that Crys accidentally hit the power button and stopped the video camera running at the part where Mom started screaming, "WHAT??!!" We did capture the very beginning of it and some footage from directly after the surprise attack. Nevertheless, Operation Ted-Sneak went off without my parents having any clue that we were coming, which was our goal.

So, on Tuesday Teddy had his first flight, as we flew across the country for the surprise. He was an amazing traveler. I don't know how I got such a perfect baby. It helped that we had the entire row of seats to ourselves both flights.

Now for the past few days Teddy and I have been laying low in Idaho. Enjoying sleeping and watching snow and the mesmerizing fire in the wood stove. Teddy has been petting/attacking the cat and dog and surrounded by cooing grandparents and great-grandparents. Operation Ted-Sneak Success.

Teddy, taking his first flight delay like a champ

First leg-- had the whole row to ourselves!

In-flight literature

Specially handled all the way to Denver

Wide awake and smiley in the Denver airport, where I thought
he'd sleep for the whole layover. Ha. He wanted to see it all.

The flight attendant on the second flight arranged for us to have a
whole row to ourselves too! 

Sleeping soundly when we arrived in Spokane at 3am our time,
midnight local time

Total travel time, VA to ID: 11 hours

Plopped in the middle of Grandma's toys

Did a little grocery shopping with Grandma

Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, meet Theodore John!

I think he likes them.

Teething time

Playing with /slapping Roxy Dog

Breakfast with Papa

Feline introduction

Reading with Aunt Bean

Everybody look at me!

Hey Teddy, the dog is behind you.

TEDDY ATTACK! Eat the dog!

Silly Teddy, dogs aren't for eating

They're for petting

Waking up with Grandma and Papa for the third day!

Eating Grandma's measuring cups