Part 2 – The Plan is set….No wait let’s change that.
So in November of 2005 we set about the plan to go to the World. I am a planner. I love to plan things. I may not do them, but I love the plan. So I am looking at how many days, where we would eat, when we should go, how long we need to save the money up to go for as long as we want, eat where we want to eat, and the earliest we could go.
We set our eyes on the Fall of 2006. I prefer vacations in the Fall. My summers are busy. “Wait,” you say. “You are a pastor. You only work one day a week.” Well that is true. NOT. I am very involved with Methodist youth camps in Oklahoma. And those occur during the Summer. My slow time begins in August and ends in October. So we knew that September/October was best.
Then I began to get a whiff of something. The salty sea air. I began to read about the Disney Cruise Line. “Hey Lisa,” says I, “what would you think about a cruise?”
“What about it,” says she.
So we begin to look at the cruise. We started crunching the numbers. We started looking at the exciting ports of call and the activities aboard ship. Now this could be a cool vacation. So we book a Disney cruise. We get our deposit down. And we start buying our supplies for the cruise.
Now I like to think I have some sophistication. I am a redneck by all outward appearances. But I love opera, classical music, literature, art. I am not just a bumpkin just in from the sticks. I also like banjo music, yodeling, MoonPies and Dr. Pepper. So I knew that we (as a family) would have to upgrade our appearance before going on a cruise. It was mental thing. I know it’s Disney and it brings the same laid back feeling to the seas as it does to the land. But it’s my issue and I have to live with me more than you do. So in our provisioning for the cruise, we came to a shocking conclusion. “Dadgum, this is getting expensive.” And because of the budget, we were booking a closet, uhm, oops, Cat 11 room.
Then came the clincher. Lisa, my love and the beat of my heart, says, “We could stay in the Wilderness Lodge for what we are paying for this closet, uhm, oops, Cat 11 room.” (We knew this because we stayed there the first time.)
Then my beautiful bride makes another brilliant observation. “You know, #2S is too young to do most of the excursions we want to do.”
The final straw of indecision came with the words, “FREE DINING PLAN”.
Then the moment of decision. We call the boys into the room. Now mind you, they have been talking about going on “the boat” for weeks. They are looking forward to the kid’s area with the pirate ship. They can’t wait for the pools. They are pumped. If you have seen the planning video, there is a silhouette of Goofy walking by a porthole. One time on his journey past the porthole, he falls with his characteristic, “Yoo-hooo-hhhhoooo!” #2S is anxiously waiting to get on “the boat” so he can watch Goofy fall down; just like the video. He has reality issues. But he’s 4.
I don’t have an excuse.
So we call the boys into the living room. We put on the “we have to give you boys some bad news” looks on our faces. We take on the “we know that this will likely crush your psyche and we will have to pay mondo big money in counseling” tone to our voices. “Boys, Mommy and Daddy have been thinking about the trip. And we don’t know if we are going to get to go on “the boat”. How about if we go to Disney World?”
{cue crickets………………………….for about 1/8th of a second}.
“WHooo-Hoooooo!!!!!” Or something like that.
So the plan is set… and changed. We are going to DisneyWorld.
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