When it comes to blogging, there are definitely some wonderful opportunities and perks. Which is a nice balance for all the effort we put into our work, both in what you see and behind the scenes. One such opportunity was the Food Blogger Forum this past weekend. When I found out that it was going to be held (for the second year in a row) at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, a plan quickly came together.
Bring the kids.
And don’t tell them anything.
You have no idea how hard a secret that was to keep. So many logistical details to arrange. Several friends slipped in front of the kids last week, but thankfully they didn’t catch on. Nick was invited to two birthday parties and a sleepover for this weekend, and just couldn’t understand why he couldn’t go. Just trust me.
Madeline has been dying to go on a plane for the past eight months or so (she has never flown), and mentions it rather frequently, so that was going to be a surprise for her all by herself. Not to mention the actual destination (and the extra surprise I had for them on Sunday).
I made our flight reservations to leave on midday Friday, and sent them off to school none the wiser. They each had notes in their backpacks to alert their teachers that I would be picking them up early, but the kids had no idea.
As soon as they were both in school, I quickly finished packing and taking care of last minute details.
I had decided to have as much fun as I could with telling them (because I had kept the secret for so! very! long!), and broke it up a bit into pieces (the plane, and then the destination).
First, I picked up Nick. He wasn’t completely shocked to see me (the kid has a crazy intuition like no other that really is unnerving sometimes). He got in the car and asked what was going on. I told him that we were going to pick up his sister next and then I would fill them in.
I saw her walking down the hall towards me, wringing her little hands. I bent down, took her hands in mine, gave her a kiss, and told her not to worry. That nothing was wrong, and it was a good surprise. Her teacher told her the same thing.
Once they were both in the car, I gave them each a wrapped package and told them that this would be their first clue as to what was going on.
(The only thing they knew is that we had plans of some sort on Saturday)
They opened up the packages, which contained small United planes. Did you know you can get planes for practically every major airline on Amazon? I thought it was perfect.
They saw the planes and asked all sorts of questions. I said that we were going away for the weekend, on a plane, and then when we got to the airport, I would tell them where we were going.
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