Counting Down to the Mouse!!!

Saturday was an exciting day here as Hannah and I were able to finally share with my niece Rebecca (Bec Bec to Hannah) that we are going to Disney!!  I booked the trip in November to take advantage of the free dining plan this coming summer but truly did not believe that it would happen.  So much had to come together and at the same time I asked myself if I was crazy to take a toddler and pre-teen to Disney by myself.  The answer was easy – No, I’m not crazy and we’re going to have a GREAT trip!!  
My niece and I have taken 4 previous trips to Disney together, the last being in January 2008 with Nana and Rebecca’s best friend Victoria.  As much as she wanted to go back she was pretty sure it wouldn’t happen for a few years yet.  Boy was she surprised!  My brother was onboard the moment I asked him if I could take Rebecca which was one of my stepping stones.  The second was getting the time off work and after applying way back in November it was finally approved last week.  I’d saved the money for this trip before Hannah even came home and I was just waiting for the right time.  Since she’s still free at Disney this year and we could get free dining then this year is going to be the year!  Besides I can’t wait any longer. :o)   Will she remember it?  No.  Will she enjoy it while she’s there?  Oh yes she will and I will remember her reactions forever!!
I wanted to think of a fun way to tell Rebecca about the trip so I looked for tips on a new website my cousin Bridget introduced me to: www.disboards.com .  It’s a great Disney site and so informative!  They had some fun suggestions and I found something that the girls could do together – a scavenger hunt by pictures.  They had so much fun!  Rebecca is so good with Hannah and loves spending time with her as you can see in this video.  It was neat to see Hannah participate too and fun to watch her collect the pictures.  Each time they found a new one she added it to her collection.  Go Team Badybug!  (Badybug is Hannah’s name for ladybugs)

The chocolates at the end were a placeholder for the ‘real’ ending but I was still waiting for a special phone call to come in so put the chocolates there to throw Rebecca off.  I booked a call with ‘Enchanted Calls’ and you can see what happened next!

Hannah has known about our trip for a while and I love that she was the one who ultimately told Rebecca about it!  Rebecca and I had fun that night talking about it and reviewing our dining plans.  We made one little change as she’s wanted to try the ‘Ohana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at the Polynesian Resort so we added that one.   We’re also going to enjoy supper in Cinderella’s Castle too which will be a neat experience.
Sunday was another fantastic day as we invited Nana to come to Disney with us and she said, ‘Yes!!!’  An exciting trip is now even better as we’ll be sharing it together!
143 more sleeps!!!