Mama Bird

Joe & I are notorious for a simple idea turning into a grand plan. Let me give you an example;

This past Christmas Will planned to ask Santa for a turtle, so we visited the pet store to learn more about this potential new family member. If you aren’t aware turtles can live a long time and I definitely didn’t want to be caring for a Christmas gift for the next 50 years. So we started to think of alternatives options. We checked out the lizards, hamsters and at one point decided that it might be best to get a guinea pig, but of course they are social pets – so we’d need two, not one! Did I mention we have a cat that might eat them both? Quickly the plan escalated from a little turtle living in a 10 gallon tank to two guinea pigs, needing a very large (and smelly) caged area. Luckily I realized what was happening and put my foot down. Santa ended up bringing Will a small aquarium with a few fish & a frog. I didn’t like that idea either but it was the lesser of evils.

Fast forward to last week when it all happened again. Spring Break was quickly approaching and of course Ella really wanted to go (fly) somewhere. Joe & I had just gone on our solo vacation to Punta Cana so we didn’t really have the time to take off of work, nor the money to plan a big trip. We discussed driving to Florida so the kids could see the ocean, and we’d break up the long drive by visiting Nashville. Don’t get me wrong, typically I love road trips, but the thought of being trapped in the car with my two children, fighting non-stop for 32+ hours just wasn’t doing it for me.

So I started to look for cheap flights near the beach and stumbled upon a non-stop flight to Orlando & even better, it was in & out of Madison. That literally NEVER happens, so I had to show Joe. Since the change of plans was new, he needed some time to think about it. By the time he had decided, those flights were gone, but we had already set our minds to Orlando so we looked for another option. Luckily we found another cheap flight in & out of Milwaukee that was also non-stop – and we booked!

Of course we couldn’t fly into Orlando and NOT take our kids to Disney, so we started to look at tickets to Magic Kingdom. We told ourselves that we’d do just one day at Disney and we’d find the cheapest hotel since we’d barely be there. But then a Disney Resort seemed to offer so many great options. Long story short, when we land (we’re currently in the air) we’ll be picked up by the Magical Express and delivered to the Disney Pop Century Resort. As originally planned, we do want to show the kids the ocean so we are only doing one day at Disney and then we’ll head to Clearwater Beach for a few days.

I saw this plan escalate as well, but surprising our kids with their first flight, first trip to Disney and first time in the ocean is completely worth it. We kept it a secret until two days ago. We told them we couldn’t do a full vacation because of work, but that we could take a few days and head to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play & visit the zoo. Unveiling the surprise was almost as fun for us, as it was for them. Take a peek for yourself!

Obviously I was very anxious about the trip, especially since Will worries about most things (see: his response to flying in the video), but so far I have been so proud of them & delightfully surprised. They both were amazing at the airport & so far have been fantastic on the flight. They are currently coloring & watching a movie on the phones (thank the powers above for technology)!

I really hope this doesn’t jinx the rest of the trip!