We can finally say the "D" word

Disneyland, here we come!

This year Albert & Angela and Ed & I went together and gave Rex, Tristan and Kaitlyn a trip to Disneyland, California Adventure and Universal Studios. We have been talking about a trip to Disneyland for 2 years but in September we got a bit more serious about it and decided 2006 would be the year. The secret code was established and the 4 of us spoke in code when the kids where around...we no longer left messages on land lines because the kids would sometimes listen to the messages to see if one was for them so if a message was to be left it was on a cell phone...remember that game we played as kids where someone whispered something to someone else who whispered it to someone else - - - well, by the time all 4 of us got a message you never knew what the original message was....this past 4 months has been full of fun moments with our secret language codes, conversations and sentences stopped short as one of the kids would walk in the room. The "D" word was uttered in various stages but never completly said. All of that came to an end on Saturday night when each of the kids opened a personalized card with their own picture wearing Mickey Mouse ears, on the inside was Mickey Mouse with a speach bubble that read:

Hey Rex (Tristan, Kaitlyn)

Only 153 more days

until I see you

at Disneyland!!!

On the left inside page it read:

Yep! That's right!

We're all going to Disneyland!!!

On Saturday May 27, 2006

we'll go to the airport

get on an airplane

and fly to Portland

where we will change to a big plane

and fly to Los Angeles

For 3 days we will play at

Disneyland

and

California Adventures

And one day we will play at

Universal Studios

These are a few of the comments heard as they opened their cards:

(silence...silence...silence, which is the first time that has ever happened!!)

"Is this a trick?"

"Flying, like in an airplane?" (How is that coming from a 13 yr old honor student!!!)

"What does this mean?"

"All of us?"

"Do they really serve peanuts on airplanes?"

"How many days is 153 days?"

but the best comment heard came from Albert, as he jumped up and shouted....

"Hey kids, you've opened all of your gifts, now what are you gonna do? I'm going to Disneyland!!"
Then they flipped the pages on their full color Disneyland brochures...I am wondering how long before the ink wears off!

We really got Rex good...because he had to make a choice between this family trip and a Student Government trip to Washington DC (which will take place at the same time) he was told only that we were going to Disneyland. He chose the family vacation without hesitation. So while opening his card he did a good job of not letting Tristan and Kaitlyn he has known for a couple of months...but when he got to the airplane part his face lit up and he was surprised as well. How fun for all of us.

Kaitlyn curled up between Angela and I and cried....then she went over and curled up on Ed's lap and cried some more! I was a bit worried because she needed to pull it together before 8 p.m. so that she could sing a solo at church for candlelight services, which she did wonderfully!!

Ed and Albert are already trying to top this one!!! (Fishing in Alaska....ugh!)