Before the Big Adventure

So it came to be that Mackenzie and I would take a trip to Florida to visit my sister and see Disney World and Universal Studios. This trip has been in the works since August 2010. I started looking up  places to stay and what to do on the web. In the end, after much planning and collaborating, we decided to stay on Disney property at one of its many resorts for the first 7 days of our 18 day holiday. The next 7 days at my sister's time share and the last few days recovering at her home by the pool. It was looking to be a great trip!

We decided to keep the trip a secret from Mackenzie until Christmas, which was no easy task let me tell you. There were so many times that I almost let slip some part of our trip to him. I waited very impatiently until Christmas morning to spring the news on him. I was excited after all!

Christmas finally arrived and we went about opening our gifts. There was no clue to the Florida trip at all... Mickey Mouse wrapping paper, Toy Story keychain, Spiderman candy, 3 pairs of shorts, etc. You get the idea. Mackenzie just opened his gifts, but never really put it all together. After the gifts were opened, we had breakfast and Mack started to help Papa with his scratch lotto tickets. I went to the tree and took out one last small box (that I had just planted there). I announced that there was still one gift for Mack in the tree and gave it to him to open.

Inside he found the first of many clues to a treasure hunt. He groaned at this. I'm notorious for making my kids work for their presents, and besides, treasure hunts are fun!

Here are the clues that he had to follow. Read from right top and down and then left top and down. I messed up when I scanned this and I'm too tired to do it again. So it starts at the one that reads, 'To find this last present...'

This returned him to the living room where he found a treasure chest, 20-25 minutes later. I think that it took him 15 of those in Mikeala's room. hahahahahahaha

Inside was a letter as well as some Disney trading pins and a lanyard (which I bought off ebay, much cheaper than buying from Disney store), tickets to Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba, Universal Studios tickets, and some Harry Potter lighting tattoos.

Mackenzie reads his Christmas letter to Papa

Here is the letter:

It was a lot to take in let me tell you. Mack was a bit overwhelmed at first, but after a couple days, the excitement built and we started counting down the days to the big adventure!