Sweet Surprise

I've been planning a "top secret" vacation for about 2 months. The kids were super excited for our weekend trip to St. G to see Adam's parents and they had a great time. They decorated Valentine cookies and got to visit Grandma Great and played with cousins until late. This morning we went to church just like normal, and got in the car to leave just like normal, but unlike normal we got on the freeway going south instead of north. The kids didn't notice, of course, and said nothing for a really long time. We were driving through Las Vegas with huge casinos on either side of the freeway and they didn't say anything for a good 20 min. Finally Jenna said, "Where are we?" I said "Las Vegas" and she simply said "ok" and didn't say anything else. A few minutes later Britton said, "Where are we that there are big pyramids and castles?" We calmly told him we were in Las Vegas and he just said, "Oh, ok" and left it at that. Adam and I just laughed. They still thought we were on our way home, never mind the fact that we'd never driven through Las Vegas before. A few hours later after we were stopped at the California Agricultural station it was little Korinne who started asking, "Where are we going?" Adam and I told them that we were in California but they wouldn't believe us.

I said, "Britton, if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?"
With all of the excitment and enthusiasm he could muster he yelled out, "Chuck E. Cheese!" (He dreams big)
Again I said, If you guys could go anywhere, where would you go?
Finally Jenna said, "Disneyland." and Adam said, "Ok, let's go to Disneyland!"
Jenna just snickered and said, "We can't go to Disneyland, you have to go on a plane to Disneyland!"
"Well, if you couldn't go to Disneyland where would you go?" They are always talking about Sea World so I thought that they might mention that next but Britton belted out, "Chuck E. Cheese's!" (I guess I'm kind of glad my kids have low expectations.) We again told them that we were in California but they looked out the window and saw desert and didn't believe us so we just kept on driving.

At a rest stop I took Jenna to the bathroom. It was a little chilly out and all of the Californians had jackets and sweaters and were talking about how cold it was. Jenna walked out of the bathroom (without a coat or jacket on) and said in a loud voice, "It's so warm here!" much to the dismay of those surrounding her. It made me laugh as she still thought we were on our way "home."

We were just minutes from the hotel in San Diego when we finally had to stop for gas. I thought for sure they knew we were in California because everything looked SO different but when Korinne asked us where we were and we told her "San Diego" Britton and Jenna were giving us the "stop teasing us" look. After a few minutes Britton just said, "Seriously?" I assured him that we were indeed in San Diego and that we really were going to Sea World in the morning. "Seriously??" (more excitedly now) I finally said "Look at the van parked next to us." He looked over and read 'San Diego Local Service' on the van at the next gas pump and finally believed us. "What? I thought we were going home!" Korinne was the first one to finally throw her arms in the air and yell "We're going to Sea World!!" It was as if Britton and Jenna were just waiting for us to tell them that we were only joking (apparently we tease them a lot). I finally told them that I had already talked to their teachers at school and have all of their school work for the week and yes, We were going to Disneyland!!

Surprises are fun. The kids are so excited for Sea World tomorrow and I'm just happy that the cat is finally out of the bag. It is hard to keep a big secret for so long!