12:30 pm: Dad arrives home to help Me with final preparations for our surprise trip to Disney Land! All you kids are at school, and I am frantically trying to finish packing and clean the house. Dad reminds me that packing is really the most important thing here. Why do I think every bathroom has to be clean, all the floors vacuumed, and every stitch of laundry done before a trip?
2:30 pm: Ryan gets home; doesn't really notice anything is going on.
2:55 pm: Dad goes to pick up Katie at Joy School and fuel up.
3 pm: Maddie and Jack get home. We instruct them to change clothes, go to the bathroom and eat a snack.
3:15 pm: Dad gets everyone in the car while I grab miscellaneous last minute essentials (like church magazines, bottles of water, some frozen snickers, the camera battery charger, etc), Katie grabs her swim suit. Ryan notices suitcases in the back of the van. Jack announces we are headed to Grandpa Karl's to stay in a hotel. General buzz of excited questioning, "Where are we going?" "Are we going to Provo?"
4 pm: Mesquite, NV. Ryan and Maddie realize we are definitely not going to Provo. Vegas? They wonder.
4:45 pm: Jack rotates his front tooth in its socket.
4:50 pm: Jack loses his tooth.
5:00 pm: Las Vegas. We had planned to stop for dinner, but rush hour is starting so Dad wants to head to the state line. Ladder falls off truck in front of us. Dad swerves hard left to miss. (He is so awesome!) Traffic immediately slows and clears behind us. We figure we have time to stop.
5:20 pm: In and Out Burger. 6 burgers (2 animal style) and 2 orders of fries. Yum. Ryan decides we are headed to the beach. We say a prayer, thankful the ladder didn't wreck our vacation, or worse.
6 pm: NV/ CA State line. We see the roller coaster at the Casino and reminisce about Ryan's first/last time on it. Disney Land is mentioned. Everyone agrees we need to go to Disney Land. Maybe next time.
7 pm: Death Valley thermometer at Baker, CA: 97 degrees.
8:30 pm: Barstow stop for fuel, bathrooms, and Snickers bars.
9 pm: Kids put a movie on: Meet the Robinsons.
10:00 pm: California freeway system seems like a maze as we double back and around and keep seeing signs for the same roads. Make one wrong turn, but quickly recover.
10:15 Ryan looks up long enough to see the sign to Angel's Stadium. We mention we are in Anaheim. Kids still have no clue.
10:30 pm: Pull up at Valet Parking at the Disney Land Hotel. No one is very excited. Ryan wishes we were going to Disney Land instead of just the Hotel. Katie climbs out of van still holding her swimming suit.
10:33 pm: Grandpa Karl and Grandma Wendy approach and act surprised to see us. Kids still have no clue. Grandma breaks the news that we are indeed going to Disney Land. Smiles and some jumping ensue.
10:40 pm: Dad alerts me that we are valeting the van and is there anything I need to get out of it? Ahh! Valet? Really? I am frantically straightening the car, thrilled I vacuumed it before the trip when I realize I have a much more embarrassing situation going on outside the van where Dad has a serious game of jenga going on on the bellman cart: 6 suitcases, 1 suit bag, big "in the park" purse, small cooler, 1 flat Costco water bottles, 1 giant tub animal crackers, lap top backpak, 1 case granola bars, 1 case fruit snacks, 1 giant box fishie crackers, a pair of shoes we didn't bother to put in Ryan's suitcase ... Oh well, Grandpa Karl tips really well, and this way we don't have to make 16 trips carrying stuff up from the car!
11:30 pm: Just before bed Ryan says, "This is awesome, Dad. I'm going to do this for my kids someday."
1 comment:
What a great story and a great adventure! Thanks for sharing the "how to totally surprise your kids with a trip to Disneyland" story. I'm sure a great time was had by all.
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