We wanted to do something fun for Spring Break. A couple of months ago, Bryan and I went over things and decided we wanted to take the kids to Legoland/Disneyland again. We did this 2 years ago and had a lot of fun. The kids have been asking when we were going to take them to California again, so we decided it was time. Only, we didn't want them asking us about the trip every day so we decided to surprise them.
I bought Disneyland tickets, got a hotel for our Disneyland part of the trip, arranged with my cousin (Kristina) to stay at her house part of the time, and then we were set. The week leading up to Spring Break was busy. I had to buy the food and hide it, clean the house, pack and do laundry. Bryan wanted to make the kids think they had picked where we were going so he planned that out. It was a hectic week with everything going on.
We almost blew it a few times. We didn't tell anyone we were going because we didn't want anyone to slip up. The Sunday before we were to leave Courtney brought me a slip saying that she had the prayer in Primary the next week. I said, without thinking, "Oh, we'll have to tell them that we won't be....." I caught myself in time that I didn't finish the sentence but she said, "We won't be here?" I said, "Well, we don't know but we may be here. I won't say anything to them." She believed me. The next week, after soccer practice for Courtney, the coach asked about Spring Break plans and asked if we could practice on Friday or Saturday. Bryan told her that we should be back by then and Courtney looked at him and said, "Are we going somewhere?" He got himself out of that one too.
Friday morning Bryan went into work early and I got the kids off to school. I packed our clothes and the food (we are cheap so we take all our own food), gassed up the van, loaded it all into the van, cleaned and then sat around waiting for Bryan to come home from work. He got home, changed clothes and we were off.
The kids weren't expecting us to be at the school so we had to practically grab them off the bus when the final bell rang. Ethan was a bit suspicious when we asked them to come over and sit with us at the playground. Courtney was ready though because Bryan had told her that we would let them pick Spring Break activities.
Bryan asked the kids what activities they could think of that they would like to do. He wrote them down on pieces of paper and put them into 2 hats, one for Courtney and one for Ethan. The first activities were things like: going camping, hiking, laser tag, and to the park. Then they started getting bigger like going to Denver to see Grandma and Grandpa Pack. Bryan told them to keep thinking and it could be whatever they wanted. That's when Ethan piped up with "Legoland" and Courtney immediately said "Disneyland."
Bryan wrote both those responses on papers and put them into the hats but told the kids not to get their hopes up because that was a tall order. The rules of the game were that we HAD TO DO whatever they would draw out of the hats. A nice little boy diverted the kids attention (he was getting into trouble) enough that Bryan switched their responses for some of his own. The hat for Courtney ONLY had Disneyland papers in it and the hat for Ethan ONLY had Legoland papers in it.
They then drew papers out, Ethan first. He drew one (hoping for laser tag or something like that) and read it "Legoland!" He got up from the table and began jumping around. He turned to Courtney and said, "Wouldn't it be funny if you drew Disneyland?" She drew, read the paper and yelled, "Disneyland!" They were both so excited.
Bryan and I acted all dismayed and I said, "Well, I'll have to text Kristina to see if she has room for us at her house this weekend." We told the kids to pile in the van and we were off. Ethan kept saying "I am in denial!" I think he thought we were joking with him and didn't really think it was real until we were almost to Mesquite.
We were on our to California!!!
The seal at the end of the pier:
Very wet Ethan collecting shells:
After we were finished hanging out we went back to Kristina's house for some BBQ ribs. Mark makes really excellent BBQ ribs that Bryan loves so they always make it when we come. Unfortunately, Mark had to work in the afternoon. He taught Bryan had to do everything and then Bryan grilled the ribs. We saved some for Mark but it was a bummer that he didn't get to eat them hot with us.
