For over a year, Bryce and I kept the biggest secret from our kids. We were going to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa Haymond in December! It was so hard to keep this wonderful secret, especially since the kids are always asking when we can go to Disneyland. It got even harder as we got closer and closer to the date. Bryce and I decided that we would tell our kids on Tuesday morning, December 9th. As they were sitting around eating breakfast, I casually asked (apparently, not too casually since Amelie was automatically suspicious), “If you could guys could go anywhere you wanted, where would you go?” Amelie said, “Disneyland.” Calder and Easton both said, “Santa’s workshop,” but I know in their hearts they really meant Disneyland. I then said, “Well, Daddy and I have been talking about and we think we should go to Disneyland. We were thinking we should go today, right after school.” Oddly, Amelie’s first response was, “No!” followed by, “You’re just joking.” I guess she really thought it was too good to be true. “Nope, I’m not!” I said. It took a lot of convincing to get them to believe us! A lot of, “We really are! We’re leaving today after Amelie gets home from school!” Then we had more good news to tell them: “If you could go to Disneyland with anyone in the world, who would you want to be there with you?” Amelie immediately said, “Grandma Brenda.” They still weren’t totally convinced, though. “We’re going to Disneyland TODAY and Grandma and Grandpa Haymond are going with us! We are really going!” Calder ended up running back to our room to see our packed luggage, returning to declare, “Amelie! They really packed!” Then they started to allow themselves to really get excited and had the biggest smiles on their faces.

After Amelie got home from school, it was off to the airport. Our flight was delayed an hour, so we had time to eat dinner in the airport and talk about how fun the next several days were going to be. We took Amelie and Calder to Disneyland two years ago and the kids love watching videos of the rides on YouTube, so even Easton knew what rides he wanted to go on. It was so much fun telling them and letting them in on our wonderful secret!

At the airport waiting for the shuttle to take us to our terminal. Can you tell Calder’s excited?

On the airplane.

Easton was pretty excited for his first trip on an airplane. He kept saying, “Tell me when we’re flying!”

All snug in his bed, ready for a good night’s rest at our hotel.