Surprise Trip

On Tuesday I was driving around. I had received an email about a special that West Jet had - you could fly for $37 one way. Unfortunately I read the email a day late and you had to book and pay that day to get the special. As I drove around I was thinking about how fun it would be to surprise our kids with a trip. I fantasized about all the details of going to the airport and telling them we were going to go on a plane but not telling them where we were going. It just made me smile to think about how I figured they`d react.

When I got home I told Allen about my daydream. He said it sounded like a great idea and that we should check into what kind of deals we could get. He got on-line and found a fantastic deal - and we decided to do it. We booked it for that Friday!!

So Thursday night after school we told our kids we decided we were going to go do something fun for Thanksgiving - go to Lethbridge!! They moaned and groaned that that wasn`t that fun....and we just smiled and put them in the car. We slept at Grandma and Papa`s that night and the next morning we got up and packed everything back into the car (well, after we got AMA to come unlock it after Allen locked the keys in the car while it was running! Ha!!). They didn`t even ask where we were going - they just got in the car. We got talking about it and realized that we often just put them in the car and go somewhere...and they obligingly sit and come along for the ride.

They didn`t really ask any questions until we got to the boarder. We decided to drive to Great Falls and fly from there because we don`t have passports. When we got to the boarder Jill suddenly sat up and said, "Are we going to the United States??!!" We confirmed that we were and there was lots of squeals and excitement. I could hardly stand to not tell the rest of the story. The fun was only beginning!!

While we were waiting in line to get through the boarder Allen gave the kids their 'travel bags' that he had put together. They were some cloth bags we got at the convention this summer and inside there was candy and notebooks and a disposable camera. They were very excited about this and the picture taking began. They took pictures of all sorts of stuff. We let them know that we had 5 days to take pictures so Jill figured out how many pictures a day she should only try to take. They both exceeded the quota though. Here's one of Jill's entries in her notebook about the trip:

When we got to the airport we told them we thought we should go check out the place. We got our luggage out and Jill asked why we were getting it out. Allen said that he had some games in his suitcase for them. Good enough for them! So off we were hauling all our stuff. When we checked in Jill again wanted to know why we were giving out stuff to that guy. Allen told her that he didn't think they wanted to carry it around the airport all the time. Again, that was a good enough explanation. They still hadn't clued in that we were going on a plane. It wasn't until we were in line

Here's a picture of Jill taking pictures of dead stuffed animals in the Great Falls airport:


The kids were THRILLED to ride on an airplane. They didn't even ask where we were going. However, once we got to Denver and told them we were getting on another plane we had to fess up that we were going to Los Angeles.



The hotel we stayed in is the biggest hotel in Los Angeles: The Westin Bonaventure. We were on the 35th floor!! One of the first questions the kids asked is what do we do if there is an earthquake. Eeek. I wasn't quite sure! The elevators are glass and they go up the OUTSIDE of the building.






There were a number of movies that have been filmed in that building. They filmed a gunfight from In The Line of Fire in one of the elevators that we rode in every day.