Tuesday 22 December 2015

The Big Reveal!

So as I mentioned in my last post, we will be surprising our daughter on Christmas with our Disney vacation. Sophie just turned 5 on Saturday, so in order for it to mean something, it has to be tangible.

 Last year, we gave her a photo frame with a countdown to Disneyland picture in it. We used dry erase markers to change the day every morning.
                                          find the printable at http://allforthememories.com

A month before takeoff, we hung up Minnie themed chain countdown (thanks Pinterest!) Every morning she would tear off the bottom loop and be able to visualize how many days were remaining. I imagine we will do something similar again this year! (maybe princess or Pluto themed?)

      check this out at http://oneshetwoshe.com/2014/01/disneyland-vacation-countdown-chain.html


This year, we have made up a gift-bag full of Disney gifts - clothes, coloring travel sets (hello Dollarama!), and puzzles. Included in the gift bag is a ticket that I found on Etsy and customized with our information and a letter from Pluto that I put together with a little help from Google images. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she finds out we are going! She talked about going to Disneyland literally every day. (She is also a little impatient to return as she has heard that ToonTown will be replaced with Star Wars Land and this makes her more than a little angry.)

                           This is the customizable ticket we added in her gift bag. Find it at:
                       https://www.etsy.com/shop/KirstensKreation?ref=l2-shopheader-name


What ideas have you tried to break the news to your kids or grandkids? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

                                                                                                                                                xo Lisa



Sunday 20 December 2015

The Countdown Is On!


I've been gone awhile... and I can explain!

My husband works in the Oil & Gas industry, and the industry is experiencing a significant downturn. I am an incurable optimist and told hubby that oil would come around in a few months time, and we would be fine. This was over a year ago. The industry is not fine. We are lucky, and my husband is still employed, but the future of his company is unknown. This means our financial situation is a little unstable. Because of this, last April my husband told me we would be unable to go to Disney the following year. The expense was too much of a risk. I was crushed. To add insult to injury, he kept looking up vacations and would sporadically blurt out the awesome Disney deals he was finding.


To say I was miserable is an understatement. I kept trying to convince him that we could go. I would pay for half of it! (Hilarious. I'm a teacher. And I work part time. I can barely save enough money to get myself through the summer.) The answer was always the same - a resounding "no".

As it turns out, my hubby had booked us flights to Anaheim for February when one of the incredibly cheap deals came up. He was planning to wait until our anniversary, October 3rd, to surprise me. My incessant pouting and whining over not being able to go to Disney was getting out of control, and he showed me the travel itinerary in the summer. I was actually driving him crazy! Needless to say, I was overjoyed!

Unfortunately, things with the Oil industry continued to worsen, so hubs held off on buying Park Tickets in case "things went sideways" (ie: he becomes unemployed). He reminded me that if things continued to worsen, the financially responsible thing to do would be to cancel the trip. We decided to keep things quiet from our daughter until Christmas, to spare her from any possible disappointment. I have tried to keep my excitement at bay, and not get too carried away with planning to spare MYSELF from possible disappointment.

Well, my friends, we are 5 days away from Christmas and so I am letting loose! The countdown is on, and I am letting myself feel the excitement of our upcoming vacation.



Keep following me for updates on planning and how we plan to surprise Sophie with her Disney Vacation.

xo