The Houston Hullaballo | Mom Monday
Some moms are rockstars. Like- legit Rock. Stars. They’ve got this mom’ing thing down and we all sit back and watch with just a wee bit of awe.
You know the type. They go the extra mile to make their kid’s dreams come true- often working behind the scenes while their kid remains clueless.
This is the Mom Monday story about one such rockstar momma who literally took her son that extra mile to get him to the start of his first 10K race, the Houston Hullaballo. It’s a race I’m sure he will never forget.
Meet Melissa, a mom from Texas. Like a lot of us, she’s a huge fan of Disney and running and likes to combine the two on occasion. She’s completed Goofy, Dopey, and loves to travel.
She’s a member of the Facebook group, Team #runDisney, and introduced us to her family and the little scheme they cooked up to celebrate their son’s 10th birthday.
Ted knew he was training for a race, but he had no idea just what Mom had up her sleeve.
Not only that, she chronicled it hilariously on Facebook without him having a clue to her shenanigans.
Guys, Melissa, with the help of her husband Jeff and daughter Sasha, pulled the ultimate punk’d episode on unsuspecting Ted.
The following updates and pictures are taken from Facebook (with permission by Melissa) to share her story.
First family 10k training run. DS 9 THINKS he is training for a fictional 10K call the “Houston Hullabaloo”. He’s actually training for the Star Wars Dark Side 10k the week after he turns 10. When he finds out, he is going to LOSE it!!! Big sis is LOVING being in on the surprise!!! #houstonhullabaloo
Melissa told me that Sasha ran her first 10k last year, and Ted said that he wanted to do one too. When she found out that Star Wars Dark Side was only a few days after his 10th birthday it seemed perfect.
“But letting him know was out of the question. So the ‘Houston Hullabaloo’ was born. It was my idea, but Sasha and Jeff helped plan out the pictures every week,” Melissa said.
1.5 miles for Dark Side… On this run, he asked me what the medal looks like for the “Houston Hullabaloo”. I told him he’d probably get a small one. Oh, Ted… You’re getting a TIE FIGHTER MEDAL!!!
He’s oblivious….
We were all HOOKED. I know quite a few of us moms thought, dang, Melissa is bringing the A game when it comes to birthday surprises. (Note to self- step it up, Shenanigans!)
We looked forward to each post, and I searched the #houstonhullabaloo inside the group each week to make sure I didn’t miss another episode.
Melissa noticed the support. “I honestly don’t think we would have kept it going had there not been such an enthusiastic response from the Team #runDisney Facebook group. That whole community was really instrumental in keeping the whole thing going.”
To pull this off, the whole family had to commit to the project. Sasha had a mid-run t-shirt swap and dad, Jeff, almost got busted during his Darth impersonation.
Meanwhile, adorable Ted just kept running.
Training for a 10K is serious business, right?
They even scouted the course on a trip to Walt Disney World. But of course, Ted had no idea.
3 miles of on-site training for SW10k! Ran from the Studios, around the boardwalk loop, tagged the Studios again and then finished at Beaches and Cream. I ALMOST blew it and was about to say “I think we’re actually going to run part of this during….” But Sasha staged a coughing fit, fake tripped and fell into me. Saved the day! #smokescreentrip. #houstonhullabaloo
Sasha: she’s got some SKILLZ.
Sometimes Ted unknowingly helped the family along.
Cold weather training run in Taos, NM and as luck would have it, Ted busted out his fav long sleeve and old hat. We didn’t have to punk him this week… He punked himself!! #houstonhullabaloo
Someone in the group made Ted some signs to help Melissa out with the big reveal as the day got closer.
How cool is that? I love the stories of internet strangers coming together to help each other in crazy fun ways like this.
Oh, and then this happened.
One week until the big reveal. Two weeks till race weekend. Ted has no clue. But these girls are READY! #houstonhullabaloo
I love this family. Costume game ON POINT.
Seriously cute. I mean, fierce! Terrifying! Darkly menacing! You know… Dark Sidey.
And finally, it was time. Melissa and Jeff made the signs, set them up on their training trail, and took Ted out for the reveal.
And it was epic. Be sure to check his face out at 2:15. ADORABLE.
TED, your training for the Houston Hullaballo is over! What are you going to do next?
He’s going to Walt Disney World!
He’s seeing the photo history and the backstory on this with all the love and comments from you guys for the first time… And his mind is blown!!!???#houstonhullabaloo
Melissa, you are my hero. Mom’ing FOR THE WIN. (Thanks for letting me share your story!)
Happy Birthday, Ted!
Patty Holliday has been running Disney since 2011. She knows just about every tip, trick, and hack there is to cover the runDisney Magical Miles at Disney World and Disneyland. She knows every mile isn’t *always* magical- but with training, tips, and a little bit of pixie dust, they can be a lot of fun! You can also find her at noguiltlife.com and noguiltfangirl.com
I love Melissa…she is awesome! Its been fun following along, his training run photos killed me, such a fun family . Hoping Ted enjoys the race as much as we have enjoyed following along his training!
I know! I hope to “run” into them at the race. Would love to see Ted’s smile after he gets his medal!
Ummmmm this is AWESOME!
YES! Seriously loved her creativity and the whole family involvement.