Thanks everyone for sharing in the excitement and anticipation with me!!
We girls all went out lunch this afternoon. I was hiding a 3-ring binder under my coat as we walked in the restaurant as that was part of the reveal plan. I had shown mom the binder when I got to her house, and she immediately read the cover that says "Our Three Generation Disney Double Dip Cruise". Her response was "Do you think she'll understand what the "Three Generation" comment really means, or do you think we'll need to explain why it says that?" Well of course I did...how could she not understand??
After a short wait, we got seated. My plan was to just burst at the seams with the surprise as soon as we got our order taken. This way she could quickly look through it and then we could talk about it during our meal. However, the salads came so quickly that I didn't have time to change the topic of conversation before we were eating lettuce and rolls. I was just dying of excitement wanting to tell her (and so was Mom).
After we finished eating, Mom quickly stacked up all our plates so there would be room at the table. Not long thereafter, the waitress came over seeing all of our plates stacked up and cleared our table. The waitress (probably thinking we were in a hurry since we stacked our own plates when she didn't even have time to take them away) apologized that she hadn't given us our check yet. Mom said "Oh no. That's fine. We're in no hurry."
"Yea, we're just having a nice time visiting", Grandmother added. "We are three generations" as she pointed at each of us to the waitress.
Well the three generation comment made me almost burst in laughter! Grandma noticed that Mom and I had been exchanging "funny" looks to one another with smiles on our faces. So after the waitress left, she said "What's going on? You both look like you're up to something." You just can't get a mother of 6, grandmother of 11, and great-grandmother of 10 to not know "the look of trouble"!
My response was "Ohhhh...nothing, Grandma. Nothing's going on." Now wasn't that the response of guilt?!
So we continued our topic of conversation prior to the dish removal.
Silence came over the table. Mom looked at me. This was it.
"Well, Grandma, there actually is a reason why I wanted us to get together today. I have something to share with you."
"Oh? You dooooo???" Oh my...now I'm thinking she thinks I'm going to tell her I'm getting married or something else life altering!
"Yep!" I replied as I reached down to get the binder and sat it up on the table. I had covered the front up with thick paper that she was going to have to slide out of the front cover's sleeve. "I want you to remove this paper out of the sleeve."
I see this big smile on her face. She's getting a surprise!! Grandmother is getting a surprise!!! She pulls the paper out to reveal the binder's DDD logo cover. She reads it and gives this jolt of a giggle as she bit down on her smiling lip. I didn't even give her a chance to say anything as I said "It would be a gift from you to me for you to come with us on the cruise. It would make me so happy for the three of us to go on this cruise together that I cannot even find words to express my excitement. So you ARE going with us..."
"Oh Kimberly! You don't..."
"Wait. Wait." I said. "I want you to go with us, and all your expenses will be paid for. You don't have to do anything..."
She interrupts with "Oh my! All that money....."
"EXCEPT..." as I held her arm. "Except one thing. You have to make all three of us pirate costumes for the Pirates in the Caribbean Party. That's what I need you to do!"
She was just smiling ear to ear! I cannot remember the last time I saw her so excited! Her response was a humble "Okay. Well you show me what pattern you want, and I can do that." Then she added "Well that explains what I got in the mail this week." My stomach sank! I had ordered her the
DCL planning DVD....it got to her in less than 2 weeks!! She said for the briefest moment, she thought "Why am I getting this in the mail when I know Linda and Kimberly are going? Hmmm...." She said she opened up the packet, read the form letter, and quickly brushed it off as random junk mail. She thought it was more vacation solitation because she had also received mail from Southwest the week before asking her to become a frequent flyer member starting with her miles to/from Florida back in January.
She asked my mom if any of her siblings know about this. She told her no, and that we've kept it a secret up to this point to where only Mom, her DH, and I know. Then of course I added "Oh there are some others, too. You know I've told you about the message board forum I get on with all my DISer friends? Well they all know you're coming too, and they know that today is FINALLY the reveal! Many of them are looking forward to hearing our story from today." She rolled her eyes and said "Oh dear", followed by another burst of giggles. "So they all know about you, too!"
I heard her say only one more time under her breath "Oh but the money!" At one point she said she'll pay for her incidentals, to which she was quickly shot down, of course. So we may have a disagreement over that later, but *I* know how to ensure her KTTWC is linked to MY Visa! If she still gets on that ship thinking she's paying for her excursions and such, I will have trumped her.
She'll have no idea it's all taken care of until it's too late. Other than that, she thankfully didn't give me a hard time about it. She was very gracious, thankful, and actually very excited. She just kept smiling large and laughing!
Here's a picture the waitress took of us before we left the restaurant.
Me, Grandmother (Ruth), and Mom (Linda)
We went back to her place for fresh lemon pie for dessert. She had the new 2009 DVD and planning book laying out on her kitchen counter, so we watched parts of the DVD and talked about spa services that we want to get. So when I left, she said "I guess I have a lot of reading to do with everything you gave me. This summer is going to go by soooo slow!" Needless to say, mom and I both told her that if she keeps reading up on all the things to do, it will certainly appease her appetite, and the 7 months will fly!
It was a great day today!!
I am going to check into it. Coming from Ca, I think that would be nice to just walk to the room.
Aboard
They're fortunate to have both you AND Jason! 
Heya everybody!
What can I say, when you're good you're good, right....
(if not onboard the Magic or the Wonder....then there's only one alternative....!)
You are all too sweet. Thank you so much for your kind words! 
I'm amazed at the size of that "Earthquake"!!
costumes.
