SURPRISE – if you ruin it…. I will be most unhappy.

I have hesitated to write about our big surprise because I want there to be no chance that it may get ruined.  I just have to get it out, so I am giving it a whirl. Soon to be teenager will not  get his facebook going until after the trip, so I think I will be in the clear.  AND ANYONE WHO READS THIS WILL KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT  🙂  Right ?!?!?

We are going on a trip.  We have been anticipating this trip for months.  We wanted to go last year, but it just wasn’t happening, so we planned for this year. We want to head east and see battlefields — Lots and lots of battlefields and Civil war memorabilia. I know, I know, some of you (Julie) are rolling your eyes and muttering “What nerds” under you breath, but nerds we are.  Besides the fact that history is cool, I  want to pass that knowledge and love of knowledge to our children.  I want them to see how we got here as a nation, and not just read about it every other year in US history.

During tax season, I started hassling my mom about getting a time share booked.  (We are going with my parents, and they own a time share.  YEAH!)  Life simply was too crazy, and no time share reservations were made.  Tax season ended; mom and dad went on their own vacation. No time share reservations were made.  My mom finally called, and the closest place we could stay was in Baltimore.  It was farther than we wanted (Hershey, PA) but we could make it work.  Now to pick a week… more waiting.

I was beginning to think we were never going to get to go.  I was preparing to let our kids down once again, and my mom came up with an idea.  Now, if you know my mom, you know her ideas.  You just NEVER KNOW what she may come up, but she almost always pulls it off.

A week ago, they pop over to help me with a project, and when we are working alone she asks me, “How much money are you planning on spending to go to Pennsylvania?”  I tell her how much we were saving, and that we were planning on cooking in the rental, and saving as much money as we could, blah, blah, blah…   Well, she looks at me and says, “So, if we gave you $X more money, what would you think about going to Orlando in two weeks? It will be my 60th birthday, and what greater way to spend it than with my family?”

JAW DROP.

Orlando? Disney World?  Florida?  The vacation that we feared we could never take?

I mentioned it to JP, wondering what he would say, and he was pretty tickled too.  Every kid dreams of going to Florida, and our kids are the perfect age for this adventure.   The only trick was figuring out if he could get his ducks in a row for jobs and churches in that short of a time.  He made it work, and we are GOING!!!!

Now the surprise… Our kids think we are going to Pennsylvania.   They are so excited, and can’t wait to see it all.  The other day, we sat and colored US maps with states that each member of our family has been to.  We are going to take the maps with us in the car, and color in the states as we go, all the way to “Pennsylvania.”

There is a pool being formed, and your guesses of which child, and approximately when and where they will discover that we are headed the wrong way will be due before we leave 🙂