Surprising my wife with the cruise of her dreams

[terrific_surprise]

Wow! Where is the "LIKE" button on Cruise Critic?!? :D

 

I just accidentally stumbled on this thread and am so GLAD I did! I love a romantic surprise. Coincidentally your wife and I share the same birthday. I turned 50 this year on March 27th. My husband planned a surprise birthday dinner for me at a favorite restaurant and invited my kids (grown and from a previous marriage) parents, and sister and her family. He couldn't stand it and the day before the dinner he'd already given me enough *hints* that I'd figured it out... AND... he only planned the surprise the week before. I hope you are able to hang on to your surprise as long as possible. It truly is part of the fun!!!

 

Like many who posted before me, I'll be following your story as it unfolds!

 

P.S. The Mr. is also 6'4 and I'm 5'3. I've always wondered if we'd had children together how tall they'd have been. :)

 

Wow! The same birthday, the same heights, and a surprise party on the exact same day!?! Thanks for sharing, and thanks for following along! It should be a fun journey, especially when it gives us a chance to learn more about people like you!

[terrific_surprise]

I have mentioned previously that I gave DW a series of birthday clue-gifts at her surprise 49th birthday party. The gifts were packaged in a series of 10 boxes, with each gift box containing another gift box, all covered in "golden" wrapping paper.

 

The outermost gift was a beach umbrella. (It is unlikely that we will take this umbrella on the cruise, because it is larger than I had hoped it would be. I was looking for a beach umbrella that would collapse into a smaller size, but it seemed like the more collapsible umbrellas were also too flimsy. Whether or not we end up taking it, it still functions as a clue.)

 

The next gift box contained water shoes, along with a note stating something like "these shoes will walk in amazing places."

 

Within that gift was another gift box which contained the case for a "tablet" computer. (The computer itself was hidden inside the case, but she didn't realize it at first.) This was the only gift that did not relate in a major way to the cruise (unless of course she uses this tablet to find CC, ha). :o

 

The tablet computer was something that I knew that she wanted, and felt that she needed. She had been talking about all of the things she could do with a tablet, including work on important ministry projects, for months. She has not found computers to be particularly useful over the years, but she knows how to use her Android phone, so it made sense to give her an Android tablet. (And of course with all of the other gifts that would puzzle her, I wanted her to have at least one gift that she would really like right from the start.)

 

The next gift contained a little desktop waterfall. I told her "I hope you enjoy this until you get to experience the real thing."

 

Next inside was a little portable weather station device (designed to be attached to a key chain), because DW always likes to check the weather, current temperature, etc. Of course it may be unnecessary for the cruise, but it was primarily intended as a clue.

 

Within that gift was a little gold box, which contained a note: "until the time comes when you are ready to start putting the pieces together." (I wanted her to have a place to put the puzzle pieces I would be giving her, but of course she didn't understand that yet.)

 

The next gift inside was a pearl necklace. I'll let you guess where the pearls came from. :)

 

Opening up the box inside, she found this music CD (see photo).

 

Next, she found a mysterious key. "What does this key open?" she asked. Of course I did not answer, but just smiled. :rolleyes:

 

And inside the very last, smallest, box, the final gift was a little golden envelope. Inside the envelope was a photo with a clue written on the back, and a puzzle piece.

 

DW opened a total of ten gift boxes, with each box being labeled with a little tag that had a photo of her and a specific birthday message related to the photo. The first gift she opened was tagged with a recent photo of her, while the next gift she opened showed her about five years younger, until the final gift she opened was tagged with a photo of DW as a baby. (The fact that the photos were in a chronological sequence seemed to be lost on her at the time, however.)

 

Because the final photo-tag showed DW's mother holding her, the message on the tag said "Happy birthday to the little girl who brought such joy to her mother's heart." (DW had a very close relationship with her mother, who went home to be with the Lord through very tragic circumstances over a decade ago.)

 

Months before her birthday, I had come up with the idea of giving her these clue-gifts. It took me quite a while to find ten boxes that would fit within each other.

 

I also took a significant amount of time to find photos from throughout her life. Initially I was looking for the photos simply for gift tags, but I soon became obsessive in my photo search (by now I doubt that that surprises anybody). :o

 

"With a such collection of photos from throughout her life, I really should make a slideshow out of them," I thought to myself during my search for photo gift tags. As I have made various videos over the the years for ministry purposes, I soon came to the conclusion that the photos should be set to music. The end result was a sixteen minute video, which I showed at her party. (I also loaded the tablet computer with over 500 photos from throughout her life, including some that didn't make it on to the video).

 

Eventually I realized that it might be good for someone besides DW to watch the video, and that is where the idea for the surprise party began to gel. I sent out a message to our friends and ministry supporters about the idea, with the message just asking if they would be interested in attending such a party. No location was mentioned, because I wasn't yet sure how many people to plan for.

 

But within a few days, one of our friends came up with the idea to have the celebration at her restaurant. (I hadn't been thinking about the fact that she now runs a restaurant.) I had looked into some other venues for the party and was quite shocked by the price tag, but the price our friend would charge was much less.

 

Because of the fact that the ten gift-clues were the first part of the party I planned, I discouraged our friends from bringing gifts. I told them that I would be giving her a large gift that would take considerable time to open, and that she may not have time at the party to open other gifts. I did invite them to chip in to help pay for the big surprise gift that I would be giving her later (without identifying the gift, but of course you all know by now that it is the cruise). Many of her friends did chip in to help with the surprise, and several others brought other gifts that she opened that night.

 

All in all, I must confess that this series of ten gifts-within-gifts was probably overkill. DW told me so that night.

 

"You didn't need to go to so much trouble," she exclaimed "the video was a good enough gift by itself!" Of course she didn't understand at the time the way that the video idea grew out of the gift-clue idea.

 

Perhaps it is too early to come to the conclusion that these gifts were too much. After all, they represent clues to something that has not yet happened. :D

[jdvmd]

Love this story and can't wait to hear more!

 

I may have missed this but why 118 clues?

[terrific_surprise]

Love this story and can't wait to hear more!

 

I may have missed this but why 118 clues?

 

Thanks for asking! (I was beginning to wonder if anybody was ever going to ask about the significance of the number 118!)

 

One of the first steps in the journey toward this surprise was the idea of having the surprise revealed through a puzzle, and giving her one piece at a time over the course of a year. I didn't want to give her a huge puzzle that would be a burden to put together, but I also didn't want it to be trivial (10 pieces would not be enough, and 500 would be way too much). I didn't want to give her a puzzle piece every day (because that might become too routine), but I wanted to give her at least one puzzle piece per week (I think my original goal was two puzzle pieces per week, which would have meant 104 pieces).

 

I also wanted to have the puzzle be in the shape of a heart, because I had seen a puzzle in that shape somewhere.

 

After considering various local places that offered photo puzzles, I settled upon jigsaw2order.com. They had the right combination of price, shape, and number of pieces. (I think I had considered a puzzle with about 85 pieces, but 118 pieces seemed much better.) The only down side was that I needed to allow time for the puzzle to be shipped from another country (but the shipping time ended up being quite reasonable). I placed the order last fall, over five months before I planned to give her the very first puzzle piece, so I had plenty of time to spare.

 

(Incidentally, I found this company to be very meticulous and very concerned about the quality of their product. For example, they were extremely concerned -- maybe even obsessive :rolleyes: -- about some resolution issues with the photo I sent. Unfortunately, there was no higher resolution option for this photo. In order to get them to make the puzzle, I had to insist that I would not hold them responsible for the poor quality of my photo. Nevertheless, in the end I found the finished puzzle to be quite attractive, and even the vagueness resulting from the somewhat poor resolution has served as the catalyst for some humorous moments as DW has viewed individual pieces.)

 

When the puzzle came, I was away from home for an extended time due to my need to focus on ministry activities. The puzzle was shipped in fully-assembled form, but thankfully nobody opened that strange flat package (or the surprise would have been very short-lived indeed)!

 

As the puzzle approaches completion, she will not only see the photo but she will piece together some special text messages. I'm being somewhat obsessive about the order in which she receives the puzzle pieces (does that surprise you? :rolleyes:), so that she doesn't see too much too soon.

The final piece she will receive will contain a message which reveals the big surprise.

 

Fairly early in the process of thinking about the puzzle pieces, I realized that I needed to structure a way to avoid losing the puzzle pieces as I gave them to her.

 

It didn't take me long to think of using envelopes -- but not just any envelopes!

 

No, of course, I had to be obsessive about this too! :o What kind of envelope would send the right message? The idea of little golden envelopes came pretty quickly. But they needed to be shiny metallic gold, and they shouldn't be too big (because after all they were for puzzle pieces, not business letters).

 

After shopping around for a while, I found just the right envelopes. I did wait a couple of months to order them, hoping that I would find a coupon for them, which I eventually did.

 

But having just a solitary puzzle piece in a gold envelope still didn't seem to be quite enough. Something else needed to be in the envelope! That's when I began to think of photos and written clues, and where I began to find CC to be so useful.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for the explanation! I had to chuckle a little because I decided to do a surprise 48th birthday party for my husband because he didn't want anything for his 50th. Had to do it two years in advance because he was so convinced that I was going to pull something for the big one. Had 87 people here all waiting upstairs. He never noticed a thing!

Keep up the good work and give us updates every once in a while.

[my3boysmom]

I love reading your story!

[terrific_surprise]

Thanks for the explanation! I had to chuckle a little because I decided to do a surprise 48th birthday party for my husband because he didn't want anything for his 50th. Had to do it two years in advance because he was so convinced that I was going to pull something for the big one. Had 87 people here all waiting upstairs. He never noticed a thing!

Keep up the good work and give us updates every once in a while.

 

Wow - two years in advance! I thought my one-year-in-advance party idea was unprecedented, ha! :rolleyes:

 

With 87 people hiding in your own house, I have to wonder where they all parked and how he didn't see their cars first. (That was something I was really concerned about with my wife's surprise party, that she would notice some of her friends' cars before the big surprise.)

[jdvmd]

Wow - two years in advance! I thought my one-year-in-advance party idea was unprecedented, ha! :rolleyes:

 

With 87 people hiding in your own house, I have to wonder where they all parked and how he didn't see their cars first. (That was something I was really concerned about with my wife's surprise party, that she would notice some of her friends' cars before the big surprise.)

 

Had one friend come over with another friend who had never been to our home. First friend tells my husband that friend No. 2 wants to see our theater. Also tells hubby to show Friend No. 2 what the sound system is like. Hubby decides to play a few minutes of "Twister." While the three of them were downstairs everyone else arrives. The look on my husband's face was pure shock. He couldn't believe it.

[terrific_surprise]

The video I created for DW's surprise birthday party contained a (very) subtle clue about the upcoming cruise. The clue was actually kind of a happy accident resulting in part from the background music I chose. But I'm sure that she didn't notice it (at least not as a "clue"). :cool:

 

I tried to put the video on the tablet computer I gave DW at her surprise party, but I couldn't get it to play on the device. :confused: Finally this week, I took the time to figure out how to convert the video into a format that works with this particular Android tablet.

 

After loading this video (along with several other important ministry videos) on her tablet, I left it on the bed. I slipped a little golden envelope into the clear plastic sheet on the back of the tablet (the sheet that would normally be removed after the purchase, although she has not yet removed it).

 

On the back of the clue-photo inside the golden envelope, I wrote "At fourteen and forty-seven, watch, listen, think and wait."

 

I was kind of proud of myself for this clue -- not so much because of the clue itself, but because it was not on my original list of clues. (As I have explained before, months ago I wrote down a list of possible clues for the whole year, during the time when my creative juices were at their peak, knowing that I might run out of ideas during the year. So it was nice to see that my "creative juices" were flowing once again.) ;)

 

After finding the tablet on the bed, she sent me this email "Thank you for the notepad with updated video....i love it! Also got your 'golden' note. Thanks. Love you."

 

A few hours later she asked me "am I supposed to look at the 14th picture and the 47th picture or what?"

 

"No, that's not really it," I replied (without further clarification). So she knows now that there is a clue in the video, but is still kind of "cold" in her search for the clue. :D

Edited April 26, 2012 by terrific_surprise
fix text color problem, etc.

[terrific_surprise]

Our #7 son's birthday was yesterday, and I try to make our children's birthdays not just a celebration of the child but also a celebration of the mother (the one who went through all the labor on the day that is being commemorated).

 

If we're at home on the birthday, I make two omelettes for breakfast, one for the birthday child and one for DW, along with cowboy style potatoes. (If we're not at home, she goes out to breakfast with the birthday child.)

 

At some point during the birthday, I arrange for the birthday child to bring her flowers. It's not always easy to make it a surprise (because, after all, it is something that happens on every birthday), but I try to do so.

 

Yesterday one of the window panes in one of the bedrooms had come off of its track, so cold air was filling the bedroom. DW had asked me to fix it, but I was busy fixing breakfast. A few minutes after DW and #7 sat down to begin eating breakfast, I called out to #7 saying "I need you to come in here for a minute to help me," knowing that my request wouldn't sound too suspicious because of the window problem.

 

Neither of them objected to the fact that I had just served them the special birthday breakfast, but #7 hurried in to help. But instead of having him help with the window, I gave him a vase with flowers to bring to her. I had inserted a little golden envelope in the middle of the flowers, drawing a little heart-shaped flower on the front of the envelope to camouflage it. :rolleyes:

 

He brought her the flowers, giving her a hug and exclaiming "thank you for having me!" She exclaimed "you surprised me again!" :)

 

Then he set the vase on the table between the two of them. A minute or two later, he noticed the envelope. (She hadn't noticed it yet.)

 

Inside the envelope was this photo (along with a puzzle piece of course). On the back of the photo, I wrote "Should we pick up a new Chinese snake for the kids?" ;)

 

The day before the birthday, we had brought our client to our new residential facility where she will be living (DW continues to call it "Haw*iian G*rdens"). As we sat in the house talking for a while, our client mentioned that she used to live in Ensen*da.

 

That brought up the subject of what happened in Ensen*da on our first cruise (with Carnival). A child on the street was selling little wooden snakes, so we bought a couple of them to bring home to our children. It wasn't until we got back on the ship that we looked at the snakes more carefully, noticing the words "Made in China." :eek: So we laughed about bringing our children Chinese snakes from Mexico.

 

The "Chinese snake" idea was already on my list of clues I planned to give, so I thought that it would be good to give her this clue at a time when the Ensen*da story was fresh in her mind.

 

After looking at the clue, she asked "so are we going on a trip to Mexico, or a trip to China?" She acted sincerely confused, but then again she's a good actress. I think she is well along the way toward thinking that Mexico is the destination.

 

 

For those of you who like seeing faces, here's photo of DW holding #7 (many years ago of course) at the top of Vernal Fall in Yosemite.

Edited April 27, 2012 by terrific_surprise
fix typo color problem

[terrific_surprise]

DW surprised me today! It is our 27th anniversary, and when I went to my computer I found a gift bag with a plaque inside. The wooden plaque is engraved with a photo from our 25th anniversary cruise! Below our photo these words appear "April 28, 1985 - A TRUE love story NEVER ENDS."

 

I was immediately overcome with tears.

 

After my eyes cleared up, as I gave her a hug, I thought for a moment, "is she giving me a clue? Maybe she already knows what I am up to." No matter the intent, I was pleased that the photo she considered to be a representation of our love was from the cruise.

 

But as I talked to her about how the plaque was made, I found out that the person who made the plaque had just gone to my Facebook page and retrieved my profile photo. (I hadn't realized that it was my profile photo because of the way that it is cropped and the engraved appearance.) So I guess it didn't have the significance I thought it did. :confused:

 

I gave her my main anniversary present yesterday. As we ate at a salad bar restaurant, I hid the present under her tray. Taking off the gold wrapping paper, she found the book "The Vow: The True Events That Inspired the Movie." We had both cried when we saw the movie The Vow a couple of weeks ago and after the movie we talked about reading the book together, so I thought that it would be a good activity for our anniversary. (That's why I gave it to her before the anniversary, to give us more reading time.)

 

I thought she would have been expecting the book, but she seemed sincerely surprised when she opened it. But then she was looking through the gold wrapping paper, saying "where's the little gold envelope?"

 

"Well, I'm trying to pace things a bit," I responded. :o "I don't want to give away too much too soon." I had thought about including a golden envelope with the book, but I decided against it because I had given her one the day before. (I need to average 2-3 envelopes per week, but I'm sure that on special weeks like this it wouldn't hurt to give her more.)

 

I hope to be giving her another envelope today, but I won't mention it now since it hasn't happened yet. ;)

Edited April 28, 2012 by terrific_surprise
added clarification

[olemissreb]

Where did you go? I've been enjoying this love story and all of a sudden you disappeared! Come back and let us know how the "gold envelopes" have been going the last 2 weeks!

[terrific_surprise]

Where did you go? I've been enjoying this love story and all of a sudden you disappeared! Come back and let us know how the "gold envelopes" have been going the last 2 weeks!

 

(Somehow the response I typed earlier disappeared, so this is my second try, starting over from scratch.)

 

Thanks for your interest in our "love story"! In one of my earlier posts I quoted this proverb: "when we plan, God laughs!" It seemed for a while that I had set us up for a divine punch line detouring our cruise plans. Sometimes even a blessing can result in distracting us from our plans, which has been the case here to some degree.

 

Problems with our new "H*waii*n G*rdens" ministry have occupied some of our time, along with some special projects for our children. As I mentioned in some previous posts, my plans for beginning the process of revealing the cruise surprise eventually led to a video I made for DW's 49th birthday party.

 

The process of working on DW's video required me to go through many family photos and videos which were poorly organized (or not organized at all in many cases). During the process I naturally thought of each of our children and the special videos/photos from their lives, so I soon came up with the idea of making a DVD to present to each of the children on their birthday.

 

With two birthdays and Mother's Day in the past few weeks I was a bit preoccupied with those projects. The most recent birthday was last Wednesday, but I actually didn't finish the DVD until Mother's Day. Of course it worked out to be kind of a nice Mother's Day present (in the case of the most recent DVD I had to limit myself to our daughter's first 2-3 years due to time constraints, with the birth itself included along with pre-birth videos, so of course DW was a major part of the videos).

 

In addition to these distractions, some things I read on other CC threads made me wonder if CC could shut down or delete this thread. I understand that they might do that if a thread wanders too far, so I was concerned that a personal "diary" like this might be frowned upon, especially if I became the only one posting here. Some rather intense flaming posts on some CC threads also gave me some second thoughts about continuing this thread (although I hope what I have already disclosed here has scared any hostile CC members away and that only us "true romantics" remain).

 

But most of all, the reason I have been away from this thread is that I thought I might need to cancel the cruise :eek: -- even though I recently passed the halfway point on the payments!

 

What would be worth cancelling a cruise? Well, this may (or may not) surprise you, but for us the prospects of welcoming another child would definitely be at the top of the list!

 

Without going into detail (of course), for the past few years the signs have seemed to indicate that we are moving past the childbearing stage of our lives. Nevertheless, a couple of weeks ago it looked like we might need to begin preparing ourselves for #12! I thought about posting something about that on CC at the time but didn't know if I wanted to subject you to the suspense (or myself to the possibility of any flaming replies).

 

But time marches on (along with our body clocks) and I soon realized that my hopes/fears were unfounded.

 

One thing that happened over the past couple of weeks was the "super moon" which seemed to captivate DW's attention. That moon just made me think of the full moon which is scheduled to rise over the horizon on the first night of our cruise, DW's 50th birthday!

 

Later this week we hope to make it back to Yosemite, on our way to a baby shower for our grandchild #2 (our first granddaughter), so hopefully there will be some fun stories to share (along with little golden envelopes of course).

 

I'll need to go back and review some of what I have written here to see what else I may have missed. (I lost track of where I left things.)

 

Thanks again for your interest in our story. It helps to motivate me to write this down, and I'm sure that we will enjoy reading back over this someday (or in the case of DW, reading it for the first time).

 

[if anyone wonders, the reason I write "H*waii*n G*rdens" is that DW has expressed curiosity about other places where this name may be used so I want to avoid the possibility that a search might lead her here.]

[jdvmd]

Thanks for coming back and updating us! I for one think you need to continue this. Your surprise is such a nice thing and in no way do I think CC would attempt to shut it down. With some of these threads, people get so nasty. I certainly hope that no one acts that way with you. Throw a few cruise questions in here and there and all is good.

[my3boysmom]

Thanks for checking back in!

[terrific_surprise]

Well, it looks like what I feared came true (as expressed in my original message in this thread). From other reports on CC, it appears that the Godiva Chocolate store has been removed from the Golden Princess during the drydock. :o A couple of my clues already related to the Godiva Chocolate store, so that's a little frustrating, but I'm trying to remind myself that in the big picture it is no big deal. (Maybe we will find a Godiva store on one of the islands?)

 

I didn't notice any other major changes being made to the Golden, but if anyone knows where I can find out more details please let me know. (Especially photos of whatever is new, because I might use those photos for clues!) ;)

 

We are headed out toward Yosemite in a few minutes, but I will try to quickly fill in some things I haven't posted yet.

 

A couple of weeks ago I put on a DVD of the old movie "A Summer Place" for us to watch together.

 

A few minutes into the movie, DW began to see its connection to one of my other clues. "That song is on the CD you gave me!" (The song is Theme from A Summer Place. I mentioned giving her the CD in post #52.)

 

While in actuality the song was the only reason I selected that movie for us to watch, I found as I watched the movie that it did have some interesting connections to our own love story.

 

When we met, she was a freshman in High School and I was a junior. The occasion for our meeting was that she wanted to get me to take her friend to our church's Sweetheart Banquet. I didn't really want to, but she can be very persuasive, and eventually she convinced me. But the conversation hooked me (not necessarily on the intended bait), and a couple of weeks after the Sweetheart Banquet, I asked her out, and, well, the rest is history.

 

But when it came time to go to college, I decided to pursue other interests (including a couple of other girlfriends over the years). Nevertheless, I remained friends with my High School sweetheart, and we would still have long conversations occasionally during the time that I had other girlfriends.

 

During these conversations, she would often tell me, "I know that we will get married some day. Even if you marry somebody else, some day she will die and then we will get married." Her conviction was unavoidable.

 

Thankfully I came back to her before marrying anybody else. Nevertheless, the plot of A Summer Place seemed like what could have happened if I had married somebody else. And there were also some aspects of the young couple in love that also reminded me of what we went through when we were younger (thankfully not the teen pregnancy part, though we have often dealt with such situations in the lives of our clients). (I can overlook some of the movie's flaws; after all, this was the 50s.)

 

This may not seem to really relate to the cruise (unless the yacht in A Summer Place counts :) ), but hopefully it will eventually be obvious....

 

Well, I guess I'd better cut it off there. We need to get on the road!

[Azulann]

OMG!

A flaskback from my younger years. Sandra Dee and Tab Hunter.:D

You are a romantic... A theme from Summer Place is a oldie but goodie tune.

 

thanks for the update.

[Waihekean]

What a wonderful thread and a fun story. Had to check if the thread did not start on April 1st, but I think it is for real and am so glad that there are still true romantics in the world:)

 

Do not think CC will cancel this thread. If this is not about a cruise, what would be?? And I am sure that enough posters will keep the thread going.

 

So, Captain! signing in like all the other romantics to follow you on the puzzle trail to the Fantastic Love Voyage*******(imagine the stars as hearts):D

[terrific_surprise]

What a wonderful thread and a fun story. Had to check if the thread did not start on April 1st, but I think it is for real and am so glad that there are still true romantics in the world:)

 

Do not think CC will cancel this thread. If this is not about a cruise, what would be?? And I am sure that enough posters will keep the thread going.

 

So, Captain! signing in like all the other romantics to follow you on the puzzle trail to the Fantastic Love Voyage*******(imagine the stars as hearts):D

 

Thanks, Waihekean! I had to check back myself just now to see when I started this thread (LOL!)... now I kind of wish I had started it on April 1 (just to add a little suspense :rolleyes: )! But it definitely is for real, including my uncertainty at times.

 

This morning as DW sleeps I opened my backpack to look through my clues and I was a bit disappointed. Here we are entering Yosemite (our favorite place in the world, at least for now -- until our Hawaii experience next year), and the clues I have on hand are: a statue, a bowl of soup, a piece of cheesecake, and space station! With all of the clues I plan to give relating to waterfalls and other beautiful scenery, I'm kicking myself that I didn't bring any such clues today to give to her at Yosemite.

 

You see, I only print out a few clues at a time (from my ample supply of planned clues stored on my computer), and then carry them with me in the backpack until an opportune moment. Sometimes I don't know exactly which clue I'm going to give until a short time before it happens (choosing what seems to fit the occasion best). But with all of the mundane uninspiring life moments we have been going through for the last few days, I hadn't even taken the time to consider printing more clues (too busy trying to meet other deadlines).

 

Maybe I'll just have some fun and give her that space station clue. I'm going to love seeing the look in her eyes when she opens that one! :p

[terrific_surprise]

DW is still sleeping, so I guess I'll try to go back and fill in some blanks in our pre-cruise "love story."

 

I think I mentioned here that I have planned for next Valentine's Day (or thereabouts) to be an important part of the process of revealing the cruise surprise. In fact, I planned many yet-to-be-revealed details relating to February 2013 before I even made a single plan for February 2012.

 

Typically Valentine's Day hasn't been a huge deal for us (maybe just going to dinner), but having planned so many clues in the months leading up to Valentine's Day 2012, I was chomping at the bit to get started with some hints.

 

A photo I came across (somewhere on CC I think) sparked an idea. The photo showed a distant view of Mt. Baldy from the cruise port in San Pedro, framed by the Vincent Thomas Bridge. For some reason, Mt. Baldy has always seemed to be important to DW. Being born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, I guess the view of Mt. Baldy always brings back childhood memories for her.

 

So I thought at first of going to Mt. Baldy with her on Valentine's Day, giving her a little golden envelope as we looked toward the direction of San Pedro. But eventually another idea superseded that one (though I still hope we will make it to Mt. Baldy some time).

 

As I considered Valentine's Day, my thoughts turned to another place related to her childhood memories. From time to time over the years, she reminisced about her early infatuation for a certain boy with whom she had gone to Puddingstone Lake.

 

We had sped by Puddingstone Lake countless times over the years on the freeway, but had never taken the time to go there. So I thought about a having a Valentine's Day picnic at Puddingstone which would later lead us to Mt. Baldy.

 

But as I researched Puddingstone, I came across the Puddingstone Hot Tubs Resort, and that quickly became the focus of my planning. I couldn't think of anything more romantic than watching the sunset from a hot tub looking over Puddingstone Lake. Their reservations fill up quickly for Valentine's Day, so they didn't start taking reservations until noon on February 1. In the middle of a conversation with DW at about 11:50 am on February 1, I quickly excused myself to call Puddingstone (without her knowledge, of course). After about an hour of frustration, I finally got through and made the reservation, hoping that I timed it right for the sunset.

 

On the evening of February 13, I sent DW a cryptic text message which pointed her to a little golden envelope I had hidden inside her purse. Inside the envelope was this photo:

 

On the back of the photo, I wrote:

 

In the shadow

of the mysterious mountain

the road ends, but continues

It changes, but stays the same.

But for us it is enough

to bring us to our destination

the site of early romance

you will experience

for the first time.

Get plenty of rest!

See you at 6:20 am.

 

On our way there, we stopped at a couple of other lakes with some past romantic memories (to throw her off the trail a bit). As we found our way to Interstate 210, I told her about a nearby mountain that I had learned was named for one of her ancestors, and told her the story of some of her ancestor's heroic deeds. (Somehow I had happened across this on the Internet as I was researching ideas relating to going to Baldy.)

 

When we got to the place where Interstate 210 changes to California 210, I told her to get off the highway. Then we proceeded up to Glendora Mountain Road, where we looked down over the San Gabriel Valley cities as I pointed to the various places she had lived in her childhood. I also pointed down toward Puddingstone Lake.

 

"Have you ever been up here before?" I asked her. I was a bit surprised to hear her answer "no," after all the years she lived just a few minutes away!

 

Heading down the mountain, I directed her toward the Fairplex area, the site of some of her other childhood memories. As we stopped for a delicious lunch at Gene's Grinders, I asked her "do you have any idea where I'm taking you?"

 

"No," she replied. She didn't seem to have a clue about what was just around the corner.

 

At some point (I don't remember exactly) I gave her this little photo as an additional clue:

 

After lunch we drove down to Puddingstone Lake, where we enjoyed a long hand-in-hand walk along the shoreline. As our scheduled time approached, we made our way up to the hot tubs.

 

Our tub was surrounded with rose petals and candles (a view similar to the second photo clue I had given her), and the sun was still shining over Puddingstone, as we looked down over the area where we had just walked.

 

As DW changed into her bathing suit, I slipped something into the CD player, which soon began playing a somewhat unusual selection of tunes. Not all of the music was particularly romantic, though several made her ask "wait! what is that song?"

 

The songs were timed to last exactly an hour (our allotted time in the hot tub). By the time our hour was over, we had viewed a beautiful sunset and were now looking down over the lights of the San Gabriel Valley cities. The sunset looked quite similar to the first photo clue I had given her. (Part of my plan was for her to get used to the idea that these photos represent what she will soon be seeing, and it seems that my plan worked.)

 

Later she posted this on Facebook: "Private Hot tub for an hour, Husband, chocolate, flowers, tiny teddy, candles, music and rose petals! Valentines Day with my highschool sweetheart...priceless!♥" (Just to clarify, the "tiny teddy" was just a bear provided as part of the hot tubs package, ha.)

 

She wanted to hear some of the songs again after our hour in the hot tubs, but I told her that she would need to wait to hear them again. The next time she would hear them would be after her surprise birthday party, because I put these same songs (plus a few more) on the CD I gave her on her birthday (see post #52).

 

She is now aware that these songs are clues. After listening to the CD a few times, she asked "so am I supposed to be able to figure out the clues from these songs?"

 

"No," I confessed, "I don't think you will be able to figure it out." (That may have been a mistake to tell her that, because she loves a challenge!)

 

These songs ultimately point to the cruise, and to our 2013 Valentine's experience which will lead up to it.

 

Well, DW has been awake for a while now and the kids are anxious to get going somewhere, so that's all for now!

Edited May 17, 2012 by terrific_surprise
Typos and a couple of clarifications

[Blueboss]

Loving this thread so much! You have put so much time and effort to make your wifes birthday very special and then you share it with us. Thank you.

 

I don't know how emotional your wife is, but I might suggest that you have some tissue on hand when she finally realizes what you have been cooking up all this time. I know I would be bawling like a baby.

 

Thank you again for sharing this with all of us, you are a prince among men and your wife is one very lucky lady.

[terrific_surprise]

On our way to Yosemite, we stopped for the night at the house of a pastor friend about 30 minutes south of the park entrance. In the morning as we prepared to head north, I picked a pink rose and laid it on the driver seat (because DW always prefers to drive). I also put a little golden envelope in the seat, but I slid it back so that an edge was barely visible. My plan was that she would see the rose immediately but not the envelope, and that at an opportune moment later I could text her the clue "I didn't tell you to 'sit on it!'" But I wouldn't get the opportunity to do that.

 

When I opened the door for DW to get in, she immediately exclaimed "aww!" when she saw the rose. Just a few seconds later, she noticed the edge of the golden envelope.

 

The picture-clue inside the envelope was a bowl of potato soup from a Princess cruise (probably one of my least attractive clues, but potato soup is her favorite so I didn't want to leave it out, though I'm still kicking myself that I didn't pick out some better clues for this trip). On the back of the soup photo I wrote "she calls H*milton home - will we?"

 

"Umm, who is 'she'?" DW asked, sounding a bit concerned.

 

Then she asked "are we moving?"

 

"Yes," I replied with a smile, "we will definitely be moving!" ;)

 

"Who cares where 'she' lives?"

 

"You'll definitely care!"

 

DW wanted to pick up some breakfast for the kids, but she also wanted to get some bottled water before we headed into Yosemite. To save time, she dropped me off at a grocery store to get the water as she headed to McDonald's.

 

I'm typically kind of a penny-pincher, and I hate paying for something like water that seems like we shouldn't have to pay for, so I usually go for the least expensive water, but I couldn't resist when I saw some bottles of "H*waiian Springs Young Natural Artesi*n Water." For health reasons, DW needs to drink more water, but it is usually a struggle to get her to drink just a few ounces per day (she just doesn't enjoy drinking water like I do). So I hoped that this water from H*waii might encourage her to drink more. (I picked up some cheaper water bottles for the kids, along with a jug of water to refill their bottles.)

 

When she returned to pick me up, I exclaimed "look, I found some 'Artesi*n' water for you!" She used to often tell jokes about 'artesi*ns' when we were teenagers (I don't recall why), so I thought she would find humor in this description.

 

But she immediately noticed more than just the "artesi*n" designation, exclaiming "aww, it's from H*waii!"

 

I acted as if I was surprised that the water was from H*waii, then read to her (as if I had just noticed them) the words printed on top about this water falling on the slopes of M*una Loa. "Is Maun* Loa one of the islands?" I asked. (Ok, maybe the way I played that one was a bit too stupid to be believable, but at least she didn't call me on it.)

 

Watching DW savor her first drink and hearing her exclaim "I love this water!" with such enthusiasm, I wondered whether someone turned the water into wine (or maybe a pina colada, because we don't enjoy the flavor of wine).

 

After that reaction, I had to taste it for myself. "It just tastes like water to me," I confessed.

 

She continued to rave about the water later in the day, insisting "This is my favorite water now!" (I hope I can find it in the stores near where we live, because it will be worth the extra expense if it gets her to drink more.)

 

She continued to enjoy the water as our van winded its way toward Yosemite, but she seemed to be deep in thought. Eventually she turned the conversation back to the envelope clue, with her tone of voice becoming just a bit more demanding: "Who is 'she' and where is Hamilt*n?"

 

Thankfully I was able to sidestep that question, because about that time we reached our first destination, the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. We had tickets to bring our four youngest kids on the train, and it was about to depart.

 

"Well, I'm not real thrilled with having another woman around," was her final comment before we headed for the train.

 

There was no discussion of the clues during the hour-long train ride in the shade of the tall pine trees; instead we focused on encouraging our kids to learn by listening to the narrator telling tales of the days of clear-cutting these beautiful forests. It was hard to imagine the final train's horn echoing over the vast empty expanse where this great forest once stood, because today the resilient trees have long since reclaimed their territory.

 

 

As we entered Yosemite, I told DW to get the InterAgency pass. It looked like she was experiencing some sticker shock when she learned that it was $80. (Every two years or so we usually try to get a $40 annual pass for Yosemite, so that we can return to Yosemite several times over the course of 12 months, but we have never before purchased this "America the Beautiful" pass.)

 

"So I guess we will be going somewhere other than Yosemite?" she asked.

 

"Yes."

 

"Does this have something to do with 'Hamilton'?"

 

"Not directly."

 

I took a walk with the kids through the big trees in the Mariposa Grove, while DW rested. Then we got back in the van, heading for Yosemite Valley.

 

She was obviously still thinking about this morning's envelope clue. "It occurred to me that they call cruise ships 'she,'" DW asserted. "So would Hamilton be her port?"

 

"Hmmm.... I wonder," I pondered, refusing to confirm or deny her suspicions.

 

About 30 seconds later, she inquired "are you taking me on a cruise?"

 

"Well," I smiled, "I would hate to disappoint you."

 

She wouldn't let it rest there. "You would 'hate to disappointment me'? So does that mean that you'll be sorry if you do disappoint me, or that you won't disappoint me?"

 

"I'd do my best not to disappoint you," I responded, hoping that would end this line of questioning.

 

I'm embarrassed to confess that her next question caught me totally off guard.

 

"By the way," she asked, seeming truly concerned, "was there supposed to be a puzzle piece in there?"

 

"Oops! I forgot!"

 

"I was hoping that I didn't lose it," she said, sounding only relieved that the lack of the puzzle piece wasn't her fault.

 

I can't believe I would forget the puzzle piece -- the key element of this whole process! And I had just been looking at some of the pieces that morning! I guess in a year-long process like this, some such slip-ups are inevitable. Hopefully I'll get back into my rhythm soon.

 

When we arrived in Yosemite Valley, we walked with the kids to the foot of Bridalveil Fall, as DW told them the story of how disappointed she was that I didn't propose to her when we visited this waterfall in 1984 (of course it all turned out ok, because I did propose to her later that same 1984 day, but my plan was to propose to her at Emerald Pool, after getting her to hike to the top of Vernal Fall).

 

After some additional sightseeing and a quick meal in Yosemite Valley, we headed west out of the valley as the daylight faded away.

 

A friend of ours had offered for us to spend the night at his camp near Groveland. As we looked for the turnoff, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a sign for "Hamilton Station Loop Road"!

[terrific_surprise]

I mentioned at the end of the last post that we were spending the night at a camp operated by a friend of ours. Looking at the camp bulletin board, I noticed little gold envelopes that were available for after hours payments. They were the same size as the little envelopes I have been using for the clues, but my envelopes are much more shiny. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but think I needed to take the opportunity to give her one of my envelopes.

 

Our time at the camp in the morning was short, however, and I didn't pull together a clue in time. But just before we left, I did point out the camp's little envelopes to DW (and of course she thought that there would be a clue there, so I was sorry to tell her that I hadn't put a clue there).

 

We wanted to pay a quick visit to Lake Tahoe, going along the same route from Yosemite to Tahoe that we had followed on our honeymoon. After spending the night at South Lake Tahoe, we drove by Emerald Bay on our way out.

 

As we approached Emerald Bay, DW pointed out to the kids that this was where we went on our very first cruise (a 2 hour cruise during our honeymoon).

 

Our #8 took this photo of us as we stopped to look at Emerald Bay:

 

Once again I wanted to use this location to give a clue, and once again I found myself unprepared. So we got back on the road, heading to our next destination: the baby shower for our second grandchild.

 

Visiting with our first grandson, along with our firstborn son and his wife, I still tried to think of a good opportunity for a clue. But by the end of Saturday, I was still clueless, as it were.

 

Our grandson has chicken pox, so we stayed with him this morning, missing the university graduation ceremony for our DIL ("daughter in love," as DW puts it). While we played with our grandson, I finally spotted something that sparked an idea for giving DW another clue.

 

So after planting the clue, I sent DW the following message on Facebook:

 

"He's not ODd but if it rains he might be curious about what is in his pocket!"

 

About an hour or so after I sent the FB message, DW finally sat down next to me on the couch and picked up her tablet computer. When she saw the message, she thought at first that she should check MY pockets. :o

 

After thinking for a few moments, she realized that our grandson's first two initials are OD. So she began to check his pockets:

 

 

"I think you're missing a phrase," I reminded her. After I deterred her from pursuing a brief detour where she focused on the word "curious," she realized that our grandson's raincoat was hanging right above her head. So she reached up, finally finding the little golden envelope in the pocket of the raincoat:

 

 

On the outside of the envelope, I wrote "To Grandma Monkey." (This is what our grandson started calling her a few months ago after DW gave him a monkey toy.) Opening up the envelope, she found a picture of a space station!

 

 

"So," she kidded, "now you're taking me to outer space?"

 

On the other side of the photo of the space station, I had written:

"Was your father a thief, because someone stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes!"

 

(That may not seem to be a clue to the cruise, but DW will eventually associate it with The Love Boat, if she hasn't already reached that conclusion.)

 

I thought that DW might think that the puzzle piece I enclosed looked like stars set against a black sky (which I thought that DW might associate with both the written clue and the photo clue), but DW didn't comment on it this time. (Her previous reaction to similar puzzle pieces is a bit too personal to mention.) :o

 

DW has made no further mention of the H*milton clue, or of her conclusion that it could relate to a cruise. However, she did ask if I would be giving her the puzzle piece I forgot to give her the other day.

 

"I'll make up for it later," I replied.

 

That's all for now (until the next clue)....

[terrific_surprise]

Yesterday DW and I had lunch at a Mexican buffet. I had planned to text her a clue while we were there, but I had forgotten to bring my phone. So I came up with an alternate plan (as I am realizing that it is better to diversify my methods of giving her the envelopes).

 

I picked up two clean plates, and held the plates out to her, asking her to take the top plate. When she took her plate, she was surprised to see a gold envelope on the lower plate!

 

"How did that get there?!"

 

(I'm no magician but apparently my slight-of-hand was successful in this case.) :D

 

After filling her plate and sitting down at the table, she opened the envelope and saw this photo:

 

(On the back of the photo, I had written "'Traditional' or 'Anytime'?")

 

With a perplexed look on her face, DW asked "ok, so who is this supposed to be?

 

"Is it 'Hamilton'?"

 

(Maybe she was kidding about "Hamilton," but it's sometimes hard to tell with her.) I wish I had a recording of our conversation at this point, because her series of questions made it hard for me to keep from laughing.

 

"I'm not actually sure who those people are," I soon confessed. "But I just wanted you to see these beautiful golden heads" (putting a special emphasis on "golden").

 

I had intentionally included the Mexican flag in the photo (because of my plan to lead her to the conclusion that it is a cruise to Mexico).

 

When DW noticed the flag, she pulled our waiter aside. "Can you tell me where this is?" she pleaded.

 

He looked almost as clueless as she did. Eventually he said "I'll go ask the cooks."

 

While he was gone, I was worried. I thought for sure that he would come back and announce that this was in Ensenada. I do want her to figure out that we are going to "Mexico," but it doesn't really serve my purposes well for her to think that the ultimate destination is just Ensenada again! (Although she might think that's all that we can afford.)

 

Several minutes later, he returned to our table with the picture, announcing "this man is Hidalgo, the father of Mexico."

 

"Ok," DW responded, "but where is it located?"

 

"It is in Mexico City," the waiter announced confidently.

 

(While I was relieved to hear his erroneous conclusion, I really had to struggle now to keep a straight face.)

 

Turning to me and raising her eyebrows, DW tentatively said "So... you're taking me to Mexico City?"

 

I tried to play along (being actually somewhat grateful because the waiter's wrong conclusion contributes to my scheme) but after a few minutes of witnessing her ensuing confusion, I decided to soften the blow a bit.

 

"You probably shouldn't believe everything you hear," I quietly suggested.

 

"What do you mean? We're not going to Mexico City?"

 

"Just take it with a grain of salt."

 

As she continued to try to understand the picture, she eventually put her finger on a significant flaw in my plan, inquiring "but how are you going to use that Yosemite pass in Mexico?" :eek:

 

Oooh, maybe it was a mistake for me to tell her that the pass relates to the surprise!

 

"Ummm, well," I fumbled around trying to find the words to dig myself out of this hole, "it's called an InterAgency pass, so it works in many places." (Is she really going to believe that?) :o

 

Then I changed the subject, talking to her about some other National Parks where we could use the pass.

 

She changed the subject back to the clues, asking "am I supposed to really be able to figure this out? Because I'm just getting more confused."

 

"Actually," I assured her, "you're already further along than I intended for you to be."

 

I also reminded her (as I have told her before) that she probably won't be able to figure out many of these clues.

 

While I do hope that she figures some things out during this process (as she already has), my intention with the clues is not so much to let her "solve the puzzle" but to make it so that during the cruise she is seeing many sights she has already been anticipating (without necessarily realizing what all of those sights are).

 

I hope it doesn't appear that I am being cruel to DW by stringing her along like this. Although this process is subjecting her to some confusion, I'm pretty sure that she is enjoying it!

 

Sometimes I think she may know more than she is letting on, and that she throws in things like her question about the pass just to watch me squirm!

[terrific_surprise]

One of the ways our family saves money is by having DW do our haircuts. So after a series of haircuts the other day (which started with DW cutting my hair), I put a golden envelope in the clipper tool box, which was still open on the counter in the bathroom where she had cut our hair. On the front of the envelope, I wrote "to my favorite barber!" This photo was inside:

 

Later that night we were going to a banquet. As we walked in the door, the band was playing "Beyond the Sea" (with lyrics such as "My lover stands on golden sands and watches the ships that go sailin'"). I turned to DW with a smirk, telling her "I paid them to sing that." (Of course I was just joking, but it seemed like the perfect song for the moment.) Then we talked about hearing the song on a commercial somewhere (of course I knew that it was a commercial for a cruise line, but I didn't say that).

 

I had already given her the "barber" envelope earlier in the day, but I decided to go ahead and give her a second envelope that day, because I was a little behind in my schedule (which requires 118 clue-envelopes over the year). She saw the golden envelope when the waiter picked up her plate.

 

Inside the envelope was this photo:

 

After seeing the clue, DW made a joke about "cheesecake" photos. :o (If you knew DW, you would know that she is full of surprises, which sometimes can make things somewhat embarrassing.)

 

On the back of the photo, I had written "you will need a couple of formal dresses."

 

"Is this dress ok?" DW asked, referring to the dress she was wearing at the banquet.

 

"It's very nice, but you're welcome to buy two new ones if you want to," I responded. (This has been one of the reasons I planned the clues from the beginning, not just as fun things to think about, but in cases such as this the clues are very practical, allowing her to be adequately prepared for the cruise.)

 

On another (possibly unrelated?) note, over the past couple of days our #10 daughter (who recently turned 9) has brought me a pad of paper several times asking me to write a love note to "Mama." One time she said "write Mama a poem," so I quickly wrote out something like "Roses are red, violets are blue, with my heart and my head, I will always love you. From your secret admirer." Then #10 took what I wrote and rewrote it in her own handwriting (accidentally writing "voilet" instead of "violet," which brought added a nice touch of humor to the situation). Maybe this has nothing to do with the little golden envelopes, but I like to think that #10 has noticed what I have been doing and is trying to participate in the process.