Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[TarzansKat]

Sounds like a nice relaxed holiday for your family. Those are my favorite. I love how people decorate their boats, that is too funny!

I didn't have any big plans for New Years, but I can tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I spent the majority of it sleeping/reading in bed with some chores mixed in there. I am one tired pregnant woman, so it was nice to catch up on my sleep.

 

[eandesmom]

Miss it?? No.

Winker's side business is "cracking" me up.

that was baaaaaaaaaaadddddddd

Sounds like a nice relaxed holiday for your family. Those are my favorite. I love how people decorate their boats, that is too funny!

I didn't have any big plans for New Years, but I can tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I spent the majority of it sleeping/reading in bed with some chores mixed in there. I am one tired pregnant woman, so it was nice to catch up on my sleep.

sleep is good! We've had a lot of that around here too. In fact so much sleeping in (including Jeff!) that I do despair of the avoid the heat plan I'm outlining for the trip. LOL!

Bunch of BUMS around here this holiday break!

Myself included.

 

[eandesmom]

A DCA trip update!

We are this close to final on our itinerary, dates and all that rot. I was able to get it down a little by flying into long beach and we have it on hold. I'll book it early next week but it's pretty solid!

Our plan is....

• Sat. Schooner or Later right after we land for brunch (we land at 10:30). If our stuff seems safe in the car, check out Belmont Shore. Dump stuff at hotel, go back to beach or hit pool or go to Downtown Disney. Dinner at House of Blues, or the Mexican place Jordan recommended.
  
• Sun. Brunch on the Queen Mary and then tour the boat. Whatever we feel like doing after. Dinner at either DTD/HOB or the Mexican place. Basically I need to decide if we are better at at HOB on Sat night, or Sunday night.
  
• Mon. California Adventure. Dinner in the park at the Wine Country Trattoria
  
• Tues. Knott’s. Dinner at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner!
  
• Weds. My official plan is "whatever we feel like".

my SECRET plan is getting in a half day at DL! Our flight doesn't leave until 7pm and I think I've figured out a ticket "solution" that will enable my plan. Keeping it a secret until our return to see if it really worked!

Hopefully a DIS meet in there somewhere with Jordan depending on what works best for him!



I wasn't going to bother with the binder but then decided a trial run might be a good idea!

Here's my DCA page, I decided a new design was called for.

Now. Here's the question. I need some SURPRISE idea's for this trip. The E's will not remotely suspect that it is coming due to the August "big" trip. I'll be able to pack for them without them knowing. However, our flight leaves early (8:10) so I'm going to have to come up with a reason for getting them up early. Also, I'm not sure check in at the airport is the right place for them to find out, though it could be fun.

I could of course torture them on the plane so all they know is we are flying to Long Beach (and they have no idea where LB is in relation to anything else) or so a reveal on the plane or...

Any ideas???????????

California here we come!

 

[Native NYer]

Hmmm I say reveal once you've landed. Or maybe as you're driving to Anaheim?

Where are you staying in SoCal?

If you feel like driving to Santa Monica, Sushi Roku is fantastic.

 

[Native NYer]

Oh I sushi. Sadly Jeff does NOT feel the same.

Weddings will do that, darn them anyhow! Changing dates is a pain, I know our last trip changed 3 times too. This is only once so far and that was almost immediately (it was during your final dates!) but we will see.

K is SO excited for my sisters wedding in June, it will be her first wedding that she can really remember and she is ready to look at dresses and shoes NOW!

She has an optional vball tourney that weekend and while we are reminding Kelli that she can't miss the wedding, Jeff brought it up to her and she said NO WAY and I missing the wedding. So that's good!

Yep, the kids go back Monday. I'm ready! But glad I still have the weekend.

Jeff can always order teriyaki chicken or beef while you have sushi.

Weddings can be a lot of fun, especially dress and shoe shopping. Where does she like to shop?

I'm counting down the days until February break

 

[glennbo123]

You don't have to decide ahead of time when you'll reveal the destination...just see how far you can get before you have to tell them. For our last anniversary I took Judy to the symphony and she didn't realize I actually had tickets until we were nearly in our seats. We went to dinner, and then I said "let's check out the city", then I parked and said "let's walk around", we walked to the symphony hall and I said, "this looks like an interesting building, let's see the inside", and I took out our tickets when we got to the coat check room.

 

[eandesmom]

Hmmm I say reveal once you've landed. Or maybe as you're driving to Anaheim?

Where are you staying in SoCal?

If you feel like driving to Santa Monica, Sushi Roku is fantastic.

We are actually staying in Garden Grove, at the Crowne Plaza. I could see us hitting Santa Monica, we've discussed it and it will just be one of those mood/time judgement calls depending on what we feel like doing. I wouldn'tThe "beach" days are pretty loose outside of the breakfast, Queen Mary and dinner plans and even those are pretty subject to change!

Jeff can always order teriyaki chicken or beef while you have sushi.

Weddings can be a lot of fun, especially dress and shoe shopping. Where does she like to shop?

I'm counting down the days until February break

This is true, he can! We actually do teriyaki a fair amount, though I like my yaki soba better

I will NOT be counting the days, especially since we have a week of half days coming up for conferences! Although....Percy Jackson opens on President's Day and Evan and I have big plans for that

Kendall likes your basic tween/teen shops, though her taste is morphing a bit so it's a little in flux. I'll need to figure out where would be good for a dress for the wedding though although since it is in summer there should start to be lots of dance type dresses out starting soon so it may not be too hard. Most of her fav stores are not good for dresses! Around here her choices will probably be Nordstrom, Macy's or Davids but I'm thinking not on David's. Some of the mall store stuff is a little trashy for both of our tastes!

She just has to pick something in my sisters "palette" and she's already decided she wants red. And now that my sister has her dress we can tie into the look and feel which is good!

You don't have to decide ahead of time when you'll reveal the destination...just see how far you can get before you have to tell them. For our last anniversary I took Judy to the symphony and she didn't realize I actually had tickets until we were nearly in our seats. We went to dinner, and then I said "let's check out the city", then I parked and said "let's walk around", we walked to the symphony hall and I said, "this looks like an interesting building, let's see the inside", and I took out our tickets when we got to the coat check room.

We did almost exactly the same thing to Jeff's mom for her 60th birthday, it was awesome! We told her we were going into the Symphony hall to show her the Chihuly chandeliers.

 

[jordanyosh]

Your plans look good. Remember I'm only like 5 minutes from your hotel. So meeting up can be flexible. My church is about 2 miles from Knotts.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Do you want to wait until the morning you are leaving to tell the boys?

 

[Lady Lallie]

Love the new page, I really like the background of it.

I'm horrible at coming up with reveal ideas. I like the idea of taking it for as long as you can that morning though.

 

[TarzansKat]

Love the new page as well. I'll try to think up some ideas for a reveal. I wonder if maybe there was something you could have set aside for them to open on the plane. I know you can't gift wrap due to regulations, right, but you could maybe have gift bags with gifts that are like clues?

 

[Native NYer]

We are actually staying in Garden Grove, at the Crowne Plaza. I could see us hitting Santa Monica, we've discussed it and it will just be one of those mood/time judgement calls depending on what we feel like doing. I wouldn'tThe "beach" days are pretty loose outside of the breakfast, Queen Mary and dinner plans and even those are pretty subject to change!


This is true, he can! We actually do teriyaki a fair amount, though I like my yaki soba better

I will NOT be counting the days, especially since we have a week of half days coming up for conferences! Although....Percy Jackson opens on President's Day and Evan and I have big plans for that

Kendall likes your basic tween/teen shops, though her taste is morphing a bit so it's a little in flux. I'll need to figure out where would be good for a dress for the wedding though although since it is in summer there should start to be lots of dance type dresses out starting soon so it may not be too hard. Most of her fav stores are not good for dresses! Around here her choices will probably be Nordstrom, Macy's or Davids but I'm thinking not on David's. Some of the mall store stuff is a little trashy for both of our tastes!

She just has to pick something in my sisters "palette" and she's already decided she wants red. And now that my sister has her dress we can tie into the look and feel which is good!

How far is Garden Grove from DL?

Dress shopping is going to be so much fun. You have to post pics of the whatever she chooses. I agree with you about the mall store dresses. Some of it is definitely not appropriate for a wedding.

 

[Sandy321]

Cynthia - love your plans - and your binder pages!! Thank you so much for your support on my thread!!

 

[eandesmom]

Your plans look good. Remember I'm only like 5 minutes from your hotel. So meeting up can be flexible. My church is about 2 miles from Knotts.

Flexible is good! love that

Do you want to wait until the morning you are leaving to tell the boys?

I think so. They'll have school and normal life stuff through friday so it won't occur to them that we are going anywhere and if they try to schedule playdates, which they will, I can just move them to the end of the week so they don't suspect anything since we will be home for the Thursday and Friday of break.

If I tell them the night before, they won't sleep lol! So it's really...

• In the car on the way to the airport?
• At the airport?
• On the plane?
• After we land?
• Do I tell them everything at once or dole it out painfully each day?

I don't think they will make the connection with Long Beach to anything other than they will think there must be a beach there but the plane could be full of people going to DL which would give that away!

I'd like it to be cool though, whatever it is for the reveal, not anticlimactic!

With Great Wolf Lodge they didn't know until we literally pulled up in front of the lodge but this time, since we will likely not go straight to the hotel, they will be much more "lost".

On the plane would probably be best as it would keep them occupied. But what?

Love the new page, I really like the background of it.

I'm horrible at coming up with reveal ideas. I like the idea of taking it for as long as you can that morning though.

Thanks! I was trying to do something that felt more S. Cal. lol.

Love the new page as well. I'll try to think up some ideas for a reveal. I wonder if maybe there was something you could have set aside for them to open on the plane. I know you can't gift wrap due to regulations, right, but you could maybe have gift bags with gifts that are like clues?

I can definitely have something for on the plane, but what? Much of what we will be doing they won't automatically guess as it will be new to them (though really, since they were 1 and 2 went they went to DL/DCA that will be pretty new too lol!) so I might want it to be part clue/puzzle part education/fun facts.

Or something

How far is Garden Grove from DL?

Dress shopping is going to be so much fun. You have to post pics of the whatever she chooses. I agree with you about the mall store dresses. Some of it is definitely not appropriate for a wedding.

About a mile we will be right there, there is a shuttle from the hotel to DL

Dress shopping will be fun. Hopefully I won't be in trouble with my sister, I did tell K last night that it would probably be ok if she brought a friend. While she does have 2 cousins on my side that will be there, one is older and once considerably younger and there really aren't any kids here age for her to hang with. Taylor won't care as much but I remember how painful 14 by yourself can be and it will make it much easier for her this way.

I think she's as excited to get heels as the actual dress, she's never really had any other than for choir!

Cynthia - love your plans - and your binder pages!! Thank you so much for your support on my thread!!

Thanks Sandy! I hope things are looking up today for you and will pop over to say hi!

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm not so good at keeping secrets... last year we planned to tell the boys a week or two before our trip and I couldn't contain myself so we told them two months ahead of time.

But I think telling them after you arrive in CA would be fun.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I think so. They'll have school and normal life stuff through friday so it won't occur to them that we are going anywhere and if they try to schedule playdates, which they will, I can just move them to the end of the week so they don't suspect anything since we will be home for the Thursday and Friday of break.

If I tell them the night before, they won't sleep lol! So it's really...

• In the car on the way to the airport?
• At the airport?
• On the plane?
• After we land?
• Do I tell them everything at once or dole it out painfully each day?

I don't think they will make the connection with Long Beach to anything other than they will think there must be a beach there but the plane could be full of people going to DL which would give that away!

I'd like it to be cool though, whatever it is for the reveal, not anticlimactic!

With Great Wolf Lodge they didn't know until we literally pulled up in front of the lodge but this time, since we will likely not go straight to the hotel, they will be much more "lost".

On the plane would probably be best as it would keep them occupied. But what?

Hmmm, what about making a customized jigsaw puzzle with the picture of DCA that's not too big for the tray table -- then they could put it together on the plane, and it will reveal where you are headed?

 

[eandesmom]

I'm not so good at keeping secrets... last year we planned to tell the boys a week or two before our trip and I couldn't contain myself so we told them two months ahead of time.

But I think telling them after you arrive in CA would be fun.

LOL Amy, I remember that!

My only concern is the 2.5 hour flight could be a little painful so I am leaning towards an in-flight reveal of some sort

Hmmm, what about making a customized jigsaw puzzle with the picture of DCA that's not too big for the tray table -- then they could put it together on the plane, and it will reveal where you are headed?

Oooh I like that idea! I could do 2 of them with different pictures of all the different things we are going to do that adds up to a snapshot of the whole trip. If they each have a separate one to put together it would probably work better (aka no fighting over what piece goes where!) No idea where you get one made or the right size but I like the idea! I could still make each of them a fun facts/journal to write in as reading material after they solve the clues.

I love the idea of a scrabble type thing like Happy Dog did but it hurts my brain to actually think of coming up with a layout or doing a crossword puzzle...not to mention worries about what happens if they can't figure out a clue! I don't want it to be too easy...but not too hard either. And I don't want to buy them stuff just for the sake of clues so gift bags are stumping me for some reason!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

I love Apples to Apples. As a school teacher I play it with my class only I change the rules. I make the kids explain why their card card should be picked. I also like the adult game but of course we don't play it in my classroom! LOL

I couldn't keep a secret that big if my life depended on it. Good for you though.

I love the idea of a scrabble type thing like Happy Dog did but it hurts my brain to actually think of coming up with a layout or doing a crossword puzzle...

Again as a teacher, I know there are websites that will make the crosswords or word search for you. All you do is type in the words. I've got links to them on my school computer if you want them.

What ever you choose to do, I'm looking forward to hearing all about it!

 

[eandesmom]

I love Apples to Apples. As a school teacher I play it with my class only I change the rules. I make the kids explain why their card card should be picked. I also like the adult game but of course we don't play it in my classroom! LOL

I couldn't keep a secret that big if my life depended on it. Good for you though.

Again as a teacher, I know there are websites that will make the crosswords or word search for you. All you do is type in the words. I've got links to them on my school computer if you want them.

What ever you choose to do, I'm looking forward to hearing all about it!

Oh I would be very interested if you wanted to PM me the links. I could build it into the journals and make them workbook like with trivia and stuff. I just worry about making it too hard for the actual reveal. I like the idea of a reveal, with some research/info behind it as they will be SO curious!

I have to be careful though, I want the cruise to be a surprise too so....hmmn.



So funny, we were playing Apples to Apples on New Years day and the card was "what would be your best birthday?"

Mine of course was a surprise trip! I think I want to surprise them so much because I really want to be surprised!

I don't think it will ever happen but one can hope!

 

[Native NYer]

About a mile we will be right there, there is a shuttle from the hotel to DL

Dress shopping will be fun. Hopefully I won't be in trouble with my sister, I did tell K last night that it would probably be ok if she brought a friend. While she does have 2 cousins on my side that will be there, one is older and once considerably younger and there really aren't any kids here age for her to hang with. Taylor won't care as much but I remember how painful 14 by yourself can be and it will make it much easier for her this way.

I think she's as excited to get heels as the actual dress, she's never really had any other than for choir!

I hope you do a DCA trip report.

Shoe shopping is always more fun than dress shopping. I say buy the shoes first and build the outfit around them.