Sergeant Dad Surprises His Two Kids: ‘It Was Priceless’
National Guardsman's 'Priceless' Surprise For Kids
— -- A sergeant in the National Guard who just returned home from a nearly 10-month deployment to Kuwait was not only able to pull off one awesome homecoming surprise on Wednesday, but two.
“It was priceless because you see all these other videos and you’re like, ‘Oh that’d be so neat,’ but to actually have the opportunity to do it and pull it off was great,’” Sgt. Nathan Eaton, 34, of Bel Air, Maryland, told ABC News of his elaborate plan.
His wife, Courtney, helped him coordinate the surprises for their two children, but she was working against the clock herself.
“I could only tell my wife when I was coming home like 36 hours before I was actually supposed to leave,” Eaton explained.
As soon as he landed around 1 p.m. Wednesday, the overjoyed parents headed to surprise their daughter first, 3-year-old Savannah, at her preschool. The adorable, little blonde could barely contain her excitement as she raced over to throw her arms around her daddy’s neck.
Up next was their 10-year-old son, Tyler, whose reaction certainly didn’t disappoint either. Eaton’s young son, adorned in his patriotic American flag t-shirt, raced around his fellow classmates’ school desks to give his dad a big, huge welcome home hug.
“I am very happy that he is home and we were able to surprise the kids the way we could,” said Courtney. “It was an all-around great day.”
And as for Eaton, he is home for good with no future deployments in sight, which means lots of father-kids bonding time.
“They are totally excited,” he said of his children. “Now everything is, ‘Dad, can we do this, Dad, can we do that?’ They don’t have to go to mommy for everything now. They have someone else to play with.”
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