Back in July, I mentioned that we were planning our first family trip to the Florida theme parks. I hate crowded and noisy places so this is not my dream vacation but, knowing how much fun the boys will have, I’ve actually gotten a little excited as we’ve been doing the research.
Not wanting to raise any hopes, in case the plan fell through, we had kept everything hush-hush from the boys. But, as of today, our entire vacation is now booked… dinner reservations and all!
We briefly considered not telling them until that February morning when we woke them for the trip, as friends of ours successfully did this year, but we wanted them to have some time to save allowance to use as spending money. Also, CJ takes after me in that he easily gets thrown out of kilter by surprises. We once surprised him with a cruise on Theodore Tugboat… you would have thought we were on the sinking Titanic for all the fun he had.
So, we decided to tell them this evening after dinner but we wanted to make it a fun experience in itself. We laid out five groups of Scrabble tiles which they had to unscramble to make words. When they were finished, this is what they had…
After reading it aloud a couple of times, there was just stunned silence. Then 6-year-old ET, his voice dripping with sarcasm and incredulity, said, “Yeah… like that’s true!” Hmmm, I wonder where he gets that from?
Once we assured them that it was actually true (that we weren’t just being assholes) there was a small happy dance and some hugs and kisses… then they asked if they could go play Minecraft.
Well, their reaction might not have reached the level of excitement we were expecting, but at least we’ve got that card up our sleeves from now until February… Oh, please excuse me, I have to go tell them to get to bed or they won’t be going to Disney.
I’m only joking, of course. I would never use the trip as a bargaining tool for something so minor… That’s what Santa is for!
Do you have any theme park tips for us?
Escaping Elegance 