A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes...

King Isepik woke me up this morning so that I could get The Pink Princess ready for school and on the bus. That being completed, I came back home and curled up on the couch to rest for a few more minutes before starting my day. During this time, The King came downstairs and kept looking at me rather strangely. I wondered what was wrong, but didn't say anything. As he was walking out the door, he hesitated, then came over to give me a hug good-bye. But before he did so he asked if I was going to 'fight him off.' I gave him a strange look and said something along the lines of 'no, why would I?' He then proceeded to say that when he attempted to wake me up this morning I attacked him. He told me to "relax, calm down and wake up" which apparently I did and then thanked him for waking me up. I started laughing because the only part I can remember is him saying "wake up" or something to that effect and thanking him. I have absolutely no recollection of my "attack." Poor Isepik!

I had a fantastic dream last night. I'll tell you all about it, but first I must preface it with the following:

The King has worked really hard over the past couple of years in order to complete his degree from James Madison University. He was informed earlier this summer that he has enough credits to graduate. The big decision has been whether or not he should walk. At first he didn't want too, but me, being the supportive wife that I am told him that IF he wanted to, we would make the trip out there. College graduation is a big deal, and I am really proud of him, so if he wants to walk, he's walking! Anyway, as it stands, everything is completely up in the air and while we have finally confirmed that he CAN walk in December (please let JMU be correct on this - they've made so many other stupid mistakes) he isn't sure if he wants too. There is a chance that if he does, a lot of his family might make the trip to Virginia in order to watch him (HMMM - I wonder what the "ticket" situation is like?). That would be COMPLETELY awesome, and of course, we'd love the opportunity to visit some of our old friends while we were there. The downside is that The Pink Princess will still be in school during the scheduled graduation date, so we'd have to decide how much school we are willing to have her miss. Also, I'm not sure how much vacation The King has available to him through work. And, to top it all off, plane tickets aren't exactly on sale right now and I don't know if they really will go on sale because it's so near the holidays. As it stands, it's going to cost about $1500 for us to fly out there, and that would be leaving on a Thursday night and returning on the following Sunday (a very quick trip). This isn't counting hotels and a rental car and any other expenses that we might incur.

SO ANYWAY! Being very frustrated with the prices of flights (but still VERY willing to spend the money because this is a very BIG deal and I am OH SO PROUD of The King), I wondered how much a trip to Disneyland would cost. Something I'd love to do, and something The Pink Princess has been begging to do. I was able to price out a trip with something like 6 nights in a hotel, plus a 4-day "park hopper" pass, plus a "character breakfast" for just over $1000. Wow. And just for fun, I decided to see how much it would cost to rent a mini van for the trip to save on the wear and tear of our vehicle. I haven't done a lot of searching and bargain hunting (something I love), but I was able to find one for less than $400 including all taxes and surcharges and UNLIMITED miles. Which is a VERY big plus.

So this is where my dream comes in...

Last night I dreamed that we went to Disneyland. It was a complete surprise for the kids - we had planned it out so that it was a gift from Santa. We purchased a couple of small gifts for the kids, but the big present was the trip to Disneyland leaving the NEXT morning. I had written up a cute letter (can't remember all the details) but it explained everything that we were going to do (including renting a mini-van -- on loan from Santa of course! I wonder if I could get a red one?), and pictures of things that we were going to see, etc. I really can't remember all the details but I woke up feeling so happy. It was awesome. Maybe that's why I was fighting The King off... I didn't want to leave "the happiest place on earth." :)

Now that I'm awake again, I realize that maybe I don't want the entire trip to be from Santa because it's SUCH a big deal I want it to be from us. But maybe Santa could provide a few of the surprises. I just don't want my kids to think that everything big and wonderful comes from Santa. I want them to know that their parents love them A LOT and that we worked really hard to provide fun things for them. In other words, I don't want to create a world in which "Santa gives us all the cool stuff and you don't give us anything!" because we all know that THAT isn't true. On the positive side, I realized that this trip would be very cool because it would also eliminate all the "stuff" that my kids tend to get for Christmas. Sure, they'd probably bring home some souvenirs, and they would still get presents from other family members, but the influx of gifts from us would be minimal. That is a definite plus. And the memories they can keep FOREVER.

But, the bottom line is, all of this is only a dream and it's highly unlikely that any of it is going to happen. And that's ok. We will get to Disneyland eventually and we will have a grand time when we do. So now the only question that remains is... Are we going to Virginia?