Navy Mom Coming Home Early From Afghanistan Surprises Kids at School

May 11, 2011— -- Lt. Tanya Zinn had been in Afghanistan for nearly a year when she got the news that she would be returning home to California two weeks early.

But instead of immediately telling her kids, ages 11, 12 and 16, she decided to surprise them where they'd least expect it... at school.

"They always assumed I'd be home in June and we let them believe that so we could surprise them," Zinn told ABC News' San Diego affiliate KGTV.

As soon as she got off the plane in San Diego, Zinn got into her parents' SUV and headed straight to San Marcos Middle School, to see her 12-year-old son Travis for the first time in nearly a year.

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"I've got butterflies, big time," Zinn said as she walked into the school. She anxiously waited in the principal's office for Travis to arrive. The door opened, Travis's mouth hung open in shock as he saw his mother waiting for him with open arms. The two hugged each other tightly.

"Hi baby," Zinn said to him, choking back tears. "Are you surprised?"

Travis nodded as he held his mom closely.

The next stop was Twin Oaks Elementary School where 11-year-old James was surprised in his classroom. As soon as the boy saw his mother walk into the room, he jumped out of his seat and ran to her.

"I didn't know you were coming home," he whispered as Zinn kissed him on the cheek.

"I know you didn't," she said.

Zinn's parents moved to San Diego from Oregon to take care of their grandchildren while their daughter was in Afghanistan. They helped plan the surprise.

"I am so proud of her...so happy for her and the kids too," said Gayle Parsons, Zinn's mother. "They have been waiting for this."

But there was one more surprise visit planned for the day at Mission Hills High School, where Zinn's daughter Katrina sat in her classroom, apparently without a clue that her mother was on the way.

When she saw her mother walk in through the door, Katrina ran to the front of the room as her classmates broke into applause. The two held each other for a long time.

"Seeing her at school today was... I didn't quite believe it. It wasn't quite real," said Katrina.

The surprise is something Zinn and her children will never forget.

"This was perfect, just perfect...exactly what I wanted," said Zinn, surrounded by the family she had missed for so long.