Hi everybody!
Well, I've been meaning to post here about a week ago but things have been so busy and our summer is already going by quickly. Thanks again to all who gave me ideas on surprising our DD. I decided to go with the fortune cookie idea for the cruise and then did a really neat memory book surprise for the end of her third grade year for the WDW part.
It all started with last Sat night we ordered Chinese food and I managed to get creative on the computer( Its amazing that I even did this as I am nowhere near computer saavy anything
)
Anyway I made a fortune that looked almost completely like the one that came out of the original cookie. The front said "There will be a sailing in your near future"---Lucky Numbers 08 19 20 06 --I wanted to try and make it not so obvious to see if she would get it ---she seems to always figure everything out. Then on the back there is usually a word in English which is translated into the Chinese word with the Chinese characters.
I decided to do Magic Boat---don't have it here in front of me right now but I went online and found the Chinese words and Chinese characters that matched Magic and Boat exactly. It's amazing how much the fortunes ended up looking alike after I was done. Printed them out glued the two sides together and trimmed it to match the exact size of the fortune that came out of the cookie.
I actually had a harder time getting the new fortune in the cookie instead of getting the original one out without breaking it. We all sat down and had a great dinner and of course as soon as it was over our DD asked about dessert. I chimed in and said yea will get something but until I can get it why don't we all have a fortune cookie. Her grandparents were with us who are also going on the trip and so we all read a few of ours and then we said read us yours!
She proceeded to read her fortune and I guess I did a good job of keeping it vauge because after reading the whole thing she did'nt say anything. I was shocked --like I said earlier she is a child who always seems to know everything and never misses a beat. I did have a backup planned for this in case she did'nt get the fortune and that was one of the 3D Cruiseline postcards that
DCL sent us a while back with special rates and a picture of mickey goofy and donald popping up out of the seaweed under the Magic Boat!! I glued on a print out of SURPRISE and a little side message that said your fortune has come true--you will be sailing the Magic real soon!!!
I asked her to read her fortune again and she still did'nt get it so I told her to reach around the sofa for something on the floor. It was the card with the special message and of course after only a few seconds she was screaming at the top of her lungs!!!!
She was still in shock asking is this really real???
After all the excitement I told her we had a small birthday gift to give her early so that she could take it with her and enjoy it on the cruise. In about 2 nights time I got real busy and made a special memory book of her 3rd grade year with a highlight of each month on one side of a photo album and then a picture of her that went with that highlight on the other side. On the very last page the highlight was some wording about how proud we all were of her hard work and great grades for this year---she really did work hard to get the wonderful grades she did and she just loves school so much----I ended the highlight with so.............. then you turn the page and it said Surprise with a picture on the opposite side that I found from someone on the Dis that had the castle with "We're Going To DisneyWorld!!" in Walt's handwriting. This one was probably just as exciting if not more because we had prepared her for no WDW trips or cruises for a long time. Thanks to her grandparents she had one exciting night!!!
I'm sorry this is so long but just wanted to share our excitement with you all. Thank you too again for the ideas and I know everyone here can relate with surprising your kids with a trip like this. We are all very excited here especially our DD and I'm excited to not have to whisper anymore---it's been fun planning with her the last week.
Things should be slowing down after this week so maybe I can contribute more to getting us to the 10,000 mark --that is really unbelievable--it's great!
Andy--I hope Hazel is feeling better soon---my DH and I were in a life threatening accident 3 years ago--DH fell asleep at the wheel and we rolled in our van 6-7 times hit a bridge twice and everything was ejected except us and my bible---our lives were definitely saved and I was in intensive care for 3 days so I know how she must be hurting--We will keep Hazel and your family in our prayers.
Ed--I would love to get some magnets from you--let me know how to take care of this --reimbursing you etc.. Also was wondering if you found out anymore on the Wishes cruise??
Andy---I know you won't be doing much now but if you have time down the road I would love one of your magnets as well and possibly a t-shirt or too. Just let me know how I need to take care of it.
Well, better get to bed morning will be here soon or is it already
Have a great week all and I'm looking forward to getting to know so many of you!!
I'm ready. I'll probably rebook on the ship for 2008. Anyone else thinking about booking for 2008. I wonder where the ship will be going then.
things. The travel pillow is just the right size for cuddling with. And now you have summer and winter Pooh pillowcases. I love doing the candy bar wrappers too. I do them a lot for my DD soccer team. I know this hasn't been the easiest year. I just want to wish you and your family magical memories. Anyway, have fun with everything. I am looking forward to meeting both you and Karen. Sunny days 
I'm back. I wasn't on yesterday due to the fact that I woke up at 3:30am with a stomach viral infection, and a 101* fever. In fact, all three of us had it at some point yesterday. I think I slept about 18 hours yesterday, when I wasn't in the bathroom that is, LOL!!! Angelina came home early from school, then Hazel started feeling the effects last evening. My advice, stay away from this house, LOL!!!
Oh well, I suppose change is good. I've promised my DD we'll go to the pool today when I get home (DH and DS are still in VA Beach). I'm hoping she'll let me drop her off at babysitting for a little while so that I can walk in the lap pool. I need to trim down the thighs a bit before the cruise!
Your DH and DS are enjoying some beautiful weather today and yesterday 
