Ring Pops–just another way to kick off a great adventure!
I almost didn’t dare to show my punk-face at church today after leaving the Disney series without a promised resolution. God-fearing Christians can forgive a lot of things, but you’d better not start a story about your kids and not finish it or there might be words.
Sure enough, I stepped in the door with my Bible in my hand and was accosted with mean words like, “So, when are you going to post the rest of the story?”
I see how it is. It’s all love, joy, and peace until your blog post is late by a day or three.
But I have to take responsibility for causing people to stumble because I did promise to tell–no, show–what happened when my kids finally figured out where their amazing surprise was going to take them. I was going to post a video so you could see their delighted faces for yourselves.
The only trouble was, I had no idea how to do that. The video I took was too long so I couldn’t use it without editing it down. Not only that, but it turns out I have am a terrible cinematographer. Probably I didn’t need to take so many shots of the tops of my children’s heads or the ceiling of the fifth floor of the Sea-Tac parking garage.
Also, I sound funny on film.
Worse than that, I’m totally inept when it comes to technology. I don’t even have a cell phone, and I’ve never sent a text message in my life. I’m pretty sure that means I’m Amish.
So, I promised a video grand-finale to my series but had absolutely no way of making good on that promise. I was banking on the fact that my husband, who sports a really cool prepaid cell phone from Walmart and just yesterday received a text message from a very nice company offering him a great price on auto insurance, could figure it out.
I was wrong.
For some reason, his video editing software did not like my shots of the Sea-Tac parking garage ceiling any more than I did, and it refused to work with that kind of lame material. He spent a good chunk of time on Friday trying to help me out, but it could not be done.
Meanwhile, the three older kids came bursting home a little after midnight, all sun-kissed from spending four days in a state that exports all their cloud cover to Washington. They were all “Disney-this” and “Disney-that” and “Why can’t we watch Aladdin?”
Because we’re Amish, that’s why.
Saturday was a work day at our house, but in between refinishing my cabinets and hearing all about the princesses that infest the Happiest Place on Earth, I managed to do something amazingly techie. See, there’s this new thing called YouTube. I hear it’s all the rage with kids these days. You can upload and edit your own home videos for all the world to see. And that is exactly what I did.
I was able to upload my video on YouTube, even though it took nearly two hours to do it and I was half afraid something would go wrong and I’d have to start all over. But it worked! I even managed to edit it down just a bit so it’s not eternally long and you don’t have to listen to my funny voice until you start to wonder how Jeff puts up with it.
The end result was this, a video of the final moments of the mystery adventure. As I told you in the last post, I had created gift bags for the kids that I had planned to have them open on the plane. But because they still hadn’t figured out where they were going even after we pulled into the airport and I gave them Mickey shirts to wear, I had to give them the gift bags in the hopes that the final clues would help them make the connection between all these clues and Disneyland!
You can see all the things that were in the bag here.
Meanwhile, the kids started unpacking their gift bags. Somewhere between the Buzz Lightyear puzzle and the autograph books, it started to sink in.
This is what happened:
How cool that was!!!!! You are such great parents!!!! You have great kids too!!! I know they had a blast!!!
The whole video put a big smile on my face! 😀 I’m so glad they had a great time.
Joseph and I will second and third what your Mom said: that’s not how your voice sounds in RL! So I am SOOO glad you didn’t let that keep you from posting that fantastic video. I love the difference in Faith and Kya’s expressions of excitement. Faith sounds so matter of fact in her repeating of the phrase that Jeff had used to prepare them and Kya is all squeals and bouncing and hugs and kisses. And yet there is no doubt they are both equally blown away and filled with gratitude. I am so happy for all of you!!!!!
Isn’t it fun to see how the kids reacted in keeping with their personalities??? Even though I’m a terrible camera person, I love this video!
I can’t honestly remember how I came across your blog, but I *love* it! My first trip to Disneyland was a surprise when I was 8 years old and I can say your kids will NEVER forget this! My favourite part was how excited they were about their gift bags that those would have been enough for them. All the credit to you and your hubby for raising such nice kids. I’m sure they had a *fabulous* time 🙂
Thank you! They were super excited about that gum. 🙂 It is neat to have kids who are so appreciative. We haven’t had a lot of extra money to spend on them which has meant that they have grown up to be very grateful kids. It is a blessing! And, they had a BLAST at Disney!
Totally teared up! So happy for all of them! What a wonderful gift.
So. That was pretty much the cutest thing ever.
Thank you, Natasha!
So glad you FINALLY (tee hee) got this posted…would’ve been so sad for us to miss out on all the fun. Enjoyed it all so much. The children’s happiness is a blessing to behold. And your voice isn’t funny at all. :>)
I know! I’d get run out of town if I didn’t get it posted! 😉
Oh, Kristen!! I totally teared up!! How fantastic!!…
First of all, you definitely don’t sound anything like that in real life!!! I know, I’ve listened to you for lo these many years. 🙂 And seeing the expressions of the kids and hearing their appreciation of the gift made me get all teary-eyed. Thanks to Jeff’s amazing aunt and uncle (and the always amazing “Nana”) for an incredible gift.
The end of the story was worth the wait!
We kind of sound a lot alike so it’s a good thing we both sound better in person. 🙂
It was a very special gift, a once-in-a-lifetime gift, and they are so happy and grateful. And I am too!
This is wonderful! (Your voice is lovely.)
Ha ha! Well, thank you!
so sweet! never met ’em but love ’em already!
Oh the excitement of youth! Who am I kidding? I’d squeal with excitement if I were going!! And my Emmy/Tink would probably faint with fervor! 🙂 She still says, “Why did you take me when I was 2? I can’t remember it!” My reply: “Get that job as Tink and we will fix that real quick!”
That’s right! She could take YOU!
Okay, first of all, I LOOOOOOOOVE hearing the voices of people I only know in cyber-life. It makes them (you) seem so much more real. (I think I sound weird too).
Second, I LOOOOOOOVE that Faith corrected your grammar. “To where?” That. was. awesome.
Third, I smiled when Faith said, “I’m blown away right now.” to express her excitement. She’s fantastic. Are there any more where she came from (or: “from whence she came,” I suppose I should say).
That was fun!
I know, she should get extra credit for that, right???