In late February/early March 2011, my husband was having a rough couple weeks at work and hadn't really had a longer break in a while. He said, "I don't care what we do, I don't care where we go, I just want to get away." I started doing some research. Thinking, ok lets do a long weekend, Thursday to Monday...we can go to the beach or just do day trips with the boys. As I was doing this, I took a break to check my email. I see one from Disney World..and of course get all excited as I usually do with my daily emails from them. This email was offering us FREE dining for select days through June. I said to myself, "Yeah I WISH!" I clicked on the link and put in the code and looked at the prices. I couldn't believe how cheap it would be for the 4 of us to go. With Jackson being so young, he was free. I kept looking and thought-ehh it's worth mentioning to Steve even if he does say no.
I instant messaged him at work just a couple minutes later as a joke. Knowing he would laugh in my face and knowing he would say "UGH, DISNEY AGAIN!? NO! I GET TO PICK THIS TIME!" I sent him how much it would be and approximately how much the cost of the flights would be. His exact words? "Let's do it". At this point I am in shock. I was smiling ear to ear and if Jackson wasn't sleeping, I would have been screaming and jumping up and down. I could not believe that he was actually agreeing to this and we literally had 10 weeks to plan and do it all. After talking with him for a while to make sure he was completely serious, I went to Southwest.com and booked our flights immediately because we found awesome fares for only $89 one way per person. Plus, I knew if I booked right away, he couldn't take it back!
After a couple hours, Steve mentioned he talked to his mom about it and she was interested in going. We were so excited! She jumped on the band wagon and decided to book with us! I then called my friend who worked for a company that booked Disney Travel... Everything was taken care of quickly. From the time he said yes, to booking flights, booking my mother in laws flight and booking the whole vacation--it was less then 24 hours.
Steve and I agreed that we would surprise Stephen with this vacation. I contacted his teacher and his school to let them know that he would be missing 4 days and I would need work for him to take down with us. During this time, we had just moved to a new house and we had kept him in the same school district to finish out the year. So each day, I would drive him to and from school. On the way to school our conversations always somehow turned to Disney. (Maybe because I'm obsessed and would bring it up...but hey, he would talk with me about it!) At one point I would just laugh in the front seat because he would say "Next time we go Mommy, I will get on Rock'n'Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror and Space Mountian and Expedition Everest!" Little did he know, a couple weeks later is when he would be going. (Could I really hold him to this? Check out my one blog about Rock'n'Rollercoaster!) We had told him before that we would wait until Jackson was 3 to go because taking a baby is too much work. (Another post another day!) So he is thinking his next vacation would be 3 years from now.
As time is getting closer, I keep thinking of a way to surprise him with this vacation. I researched so many different ways and found one that would be fun for him. Two or three weeks prior to leaving. We started doing scavenger hunts with him. Just small ones. Something he would have fun with and learn how to do. At the end of each one, he got a small prize. Each prize was actually something he could take on the plane or to Disney and use. So when I tell him that we are going to do a scavenger hunt, it is just something fun to do, nothing to make him think we are going to Disney!
The week leading up to leaving, I mentioned to him that we were going to have Grani come and stay with us on Friday night and she will be spending the weekend with us and then going to Mimi's house to visit his cousins after that. I had all the necessary stuff for him for school as well as spent days getting stuff folded and put away in suitcases and then hiding them where he couldn't see them! We went and picked up Grani that Friday evening and enjoyed a nice easy dinner and just chatted all night. We told him we were going to do another scavenger hunt and that this one was really long. He was super excited! Off to bed we all went.
So the day finally arrived. It was time for us to start getting ready and do the scavenger hunt. Of course we woke up and the first thing he said is that he wanted to do it right away. I was wanting to wait a while for it so we didn't have any time waiting so we could head right to the airport. We planned on leaving our house around 2, so I figured since it was about 10, that would give me plenty of time to get the extras packed. I set up the scavenger hunt while he waited in his room.
I had cut up pieces of construction paper and decorated them with Disney stickers. Each one had a rhyming clue inside. They all led to different things around the house. At each place, there was Disney pins that we had collected over our last trips as well as a lanyard for him to place each pin. He ran all over the house to do all 15 clues. The second to last clue was upstairs. As he ran upstairs, I placed some things under a blanket on the couch. This included Disney brochures, Cars Silly Bands, and a poem I made up. He lifted the blanket and was excited over the stuff he saw and I then told him to read the poem:
For the last ten weeks, we have been keeping
a special secret from you.
Believe it or not, everyone knows
that one of our dreams is coming true.
From Mommymom to Grandpa
even Jackson, in his youth.
Surprises, secrets and lies
have been covering the truth.
Thanks to a little magic
we are taking a little trip.
You may be wondering where and when
and who is coming with?
This trip will be fun, you will get to miss
four full days of school.
It will be really warm and we can swim
in a giant swimming pool.
Jack, Grani, Mommy and Daddy
will all be in tow.
Our bags are packed and ready to leave
we're all excited to go!
Around 2o'clock we will leave
your day's about to swirl.
With pixie dust, magic and love
we're off to Disney World!
As he read it outloud, I got all excited. He finished it and put it down and I said---"Stephen, read the last 4 lines again!" He read it again... I said, "Do you get what it says?!" He just looked at me confused. I said "Stephen, we are leaving TODAY to go to DISNEY WORLD for 6 DAYS!" He didn't seem so enthusiastic. Just smiled and started playing with his new toys. I was pretty disappointed that he didn't react like I wished he would. You know, the commercials where the kids jump around and get you all teary eyed. Nope. Nothing. Nada.
So I lead him to the mudroom--in which he walked through several times for his next clue--and I showed him the luggage. I drug it out and showed him everything was packed. I showed him all of the information with the dates and times. Our friend was there to take us to the airport and he said "Bubba, I'm taking you to the airport in a couple hours." Still, nothing. He gets told to go upstairs to brush his teeth and get dressed because we were leaving soon and he still needed to have lunch.
I start getting more stuff together that we would need. I started feeling upset knowing that he wasn't as excited as I was. Oh well, we would still have fun. So, I was standing in the kitchen washing sippy cups and getting them ready for the plane. When I hear Stephen upstairs. He's jumping up and down with his toothbrush in his hand-"I AM SO EXCITED!! I CAN'T EVEN BRUSH MY TEETH!". That was all I needed. That excitment, the acknowledgment that we did something to suprise him and he was happy.
After that, all he did was ask when we were leaving. The second we left for the airport and knowing we were on our way to my happy place with 4 of my most favorite people in the world, it nothing matter anymore. We were about to make some awesome memories and it was all worth it.
love it MMK u really sound aalot like me im the one that goes crazy over the comericials and everything disney my have passed the same to my kids , but this sound like u all had alot of fun!!!
ReplyDeleteYadira