Getting to Florida

After giving them the surprise of their life, we had only an hour before we needed to be at Midway International Airport to board our flight to Orlando. There are several back stories to all of this, and I suppose some of them are necessary to really feel the enjoyment and appreciate the planning of this trip.

For several years, I had a secret stash of cash I affectionately called "Disney Fund". The money came from the sales of my own clothes and a garage sale item here and there (I bummed off friend's garage sales when I had large items to sell, but not enough to have my own garage sale). When I was still teaching, I liked to spend money on nice clothes (and I didn't have my children yet to spend money on). After having babies and moving several times, I was tired of dragging those nice clothes all over. I was holding on to them for the day I might teach again, but I think when that day comes, these clothes will be out of style. So, long story short, I decided to consign my teacher clothes (and eventually all of my maternity clothes). My Disney stash started small, but gradually grew each season as I dumped tubs of clothes at a local consignment store. Then last year, I taught a few gymnastics classes at a local dance studio. I didn't make a lot of money, but it wasn't money we counted on for our income, so I put it into my Disney stash. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret from my family, I just didn't want to get any one's hopes up, because it appeared that my savings rate may not have us on our dream vacation until the kids were almost teenagers.

Midway through last year, I showed Jason my stash and he suggested I open  a savings account at a local bank (apparently the envelope under my bed is not considered secure). Last March I started working part time at our church, in our children's department, and because we weren't depending on that money for income either, I added that to the Disney Fund too. Now fast forward to June. Jason and I were talking about Disney and dreaming about the day we could take our family there. Just for fun, Jason got on the computer to plan a vacation package on Disney's website. We thought this would motivate us to continue saving and give us an idea of how much more we need to save. The crazy thing? I was already there! We thought we had saved at least half, but we actually had the entire amount needed! Disclosure: we made several packages online and we were only halfway saved for a trip during peak seasons (December/Christmas break and spring break), but if we wanted to go in the off-season, we had enough!! And a cool part? Disney was offering their Dining Plan for free! So, not only could we pay cash for hotel, flight and park tickets, but we would not need anything for food!

It was super exciting and very nerve-wracking. We talked about it and prayed for several days before finally pressing send, but once we pressed that button, oh boy did the fun begin! We decided right away that we wanted to surprise the kids. They were hoping to go on spring break or next summer (2015 was our goal), so we thought it would be fun to surprise them.

We stayed in Chicago the night before. Because of Jason's traveling, he had earned a free nights' stay at any Marriott hotel. We found a Fairfield Inn, just minutes from Chicago Midway International and went up the night before. When Jax got home from school that day, we told them that we were headed to Chicago. We decided not to lie, but to keep some of the truth from them, so we could give them the big surprise at once. We told them that we desperately needed some family time, due to Jason's work schedule and not having had much time together since Jason got home from deployment. They both agreed, and although Jax was a little hesitant about missing school the next day, we reassured him that we had spoke to his teacher and principal and that everything would be fine.

We got to Chicago that night, ate dinner at TGIFriday's and settled in for sleep. Jason and I were so excited, we could not fall asleep. About 10:30 that night, Jax woke up crying that his ear hurt. We determined he indeed had an ear infection! We did not have time for an ear infection! When you spend months planning a family vacation and keeping it a surprise from your kids, you do not factor ear infections into your planning!

After an hour of him waking up every few minutes crying, Jason decided to find an ER. Long story short, every child in Chicago was in that ER that night. After several hours of waiting (and learning from the people next to them that they had been waiting 8 hours and still hadn't been called back to a room), Jax decided to tough it out and come back to the hotel. We loaded him up on Tylenol and he was able to get a good night's rest. His parents on the other hand had gone from so excited that we can't sleep to so worried about Jax that we can't sleep.

Jax was a trooper. He woke the next morning with little complaint. Took Tylenol like a pro and had no trouble on the flight to Orlando. So grateful for God's hand in that situation, because we know it could have been much worse.

Mickey and Jax are ready for take-off!

Minnie and Dakota are ready for take-off!