Twin Babies Fly 17 Hours To Surprise First-Time Grandma

A touching home video shows a grandmother’s reaction to a surprise visit from her twin baby granddaughters who flew 17 hours to meet her.

Families are spread out all over the globe now in a way that means a lot of grandparents primarily see their grandchildren via Skype or FaceTime, but there’s no substitute for a face-to-face meeting and hug. That’s why a New Zealand couple took their six-month-old twins on a 17-hour flight all the way to the U.S. for a surprise visit to their grandmother’s house, and boy, was grandma ever excited to see those babies.

According to The Huffington Post, New Zealanders Alex and Paula had twin baby girls who were the first girls to be born in Alex’s family in 54 years. Alex and Paula and their children live in New Zealand, but Alex’s parents live all the way in the U.S. That’s an increasingly common phenomenon as people travel the world and get jobs and start families in countries other than the ones they were born in, but it can be very difficult for grandparents to deal with. It’s especially tough on first-time grandparents, like Alex’s mother, which is why it was so heartwarming that Alex and Paula flew 17 hours from New Zealand to the U.S. with their twin baby daughters just to surprise her. Luckily they filmed the meeting, because it is absolutely adorable.

Alex’s mother had no idea they were coming and was utterly flabbergasted to see her son and daughter-in-law standing in her doorway, but mostly she had eyes for the twin baby girls they were carrying. Alex’s mother was so surprised she started crying, and she looked like she’d never been so happy to see anybody in her life.

“Oh, my babies!” she cries.

After 17 hours on multiple international flights with twin babies, Alex and Paula and the twins seem magically relaxed and happy as they film the big surprise. Alex’s mother had no idea they were coming, and when she first answers the door and sees them standing there, she gasps and looks utterly speechless as though she can’t believe they’re really there.

For a moment it looks like Alex’s mother can’t figure out which baby to grab first. Finally she just grabs the nearest baby and clutches her to her face, sobbing. The baby seems to like it and starts petting her grandmother’s face in the most heartwarming way. Then the new grandmother realizes she has two arms and releases her tight bear hug on the first baby so she can grab the second, too.

Nobody has ever looked as happy as that grandma holding and kissing both little babies at once.

“You’re covered in baby!” laughed Alex’s wife, Paula.

“That’s right, and I’m not giving them up, either,” the grandmother responds.

It’s even cuter when one of the babies is finally relinquished to their grandfather, and the first thing she does is grab right for his mustache.

It sounds like a family travel miracle, too, because Alex says the twins were perfectly content on the 17-hour flight and neither of the girls cried even once. 17 hours is a long flight for any adult to bear, let alone a little baby. It was worth it for the surprise, though, and Paula and Alex were very smart to film it. This is a video those twins are going to look back on with great joy when they are older.