Surprising my wife with the cruise of her dreams

It's great to see another husband find some interest in this! (So far it seems to me that most who have commented here are women.) May God bless you greatly for what you are doing for your wife! I suspect that these months before the cruise will provide some opportunities for you to find some way to work in a little surprise here and there (especially if you spend much time on CC, because I find it to be the source for many of my ideas)!

 

Keeping it a secret this long is definitely not easy! Especially when I am reading so many things here on CC. So many times I think of starting to tell her about something I read here, and then have to stop myself because I know that it will give too much away! I think it's great to have a year or more to plan (because it provides the opportunity for more ideas), but that the ideal length of a "surprise" process like this would probably be more like 3 months.

 

(Yesterday DW was watching as I was going through some photos on the computer, and I accidentally flipped to a photo of the completed puzzle--the same puzzle I am giving her piece by piece throughout the year! :eek: So it's possible that she now realizes what the puzzle is, but even if she does I suspect that she will just play along with the process.)

 

And I definitely know what it is like to take more time than I intended on a thread here on CC! (In fact, that kind of obsession is what planted the seed for this whole process, when I read someone else's thread reporting on a Golden Princess cruise to Hawaii.) Several times already DW has asked me "how much time did you take to do this?" for different aspects of her yearlong birthday celebration, and I have had to just reply "more time than I would care to admit!" :o

 

Anyway, john160, I'm glad I gave you something (hopefully good) to cry about! It's good for us husbands to cry sometimes -- to me it is a reminder of what is truly important in life!

It definitely gives me PERSPECTIVE. She is very excited about the itinerary because she has not be to back Puerto Rico since she was 10. The shorty at the end of this year is just to maintin my sanity (which some would say was lost long ago)

Keep up the good work, I look forward to this adventure unfolding.

john160 & terrific surprise - I need to put you guys in touch with my DH. Maybe you can give him some pointers! I would love for him to surprise me with a really nice trip like this. I end up planning all our vacations 'cause if I didn't, we wouldn't go anywhere!

LOL as men we can be a bit dense and we don't do subtle hints well. Tell him to get off his ass and book a cruise for you guys!! Then tell him again since we generally don't hear it the first time :D:D

If I had more $$$ we would cruise at least quaterly if it were up to me.

LOL as men we can be a bit dense and we don't do subtle hints well. Tell him to get off his ass and book a cruise for you guys!! Then tell him again since we generally don't hear it the first time :D:D

 

If I had more $$$ we would cruise at least quaterly if it were up to me.

Normally I would, but we are splurging on next summer's Alaskan adventure. 2 weeks - 1 inland doing a DIY tour and 1 week on the Millie in a Royal Suite with our kids in the Concierge Class room next door. Plus with at least one flightseeing tour planned and some of the other excursions that I have in mind, money will be tight for a while!

Maybe next fall I'll start bugging him!

We are away from home for a few days, and DW decided to use an insulated bag we had bought from Costco a while back to carry a few of her things. It just so happened that she had picked out a bag with a Hawaiian theme (without me even suggesting it).

Early yesterday morning, while it was still dark, I found room in the Hawaiian bag for the surprise I had planned to give DW for our 28th "engagement anniversary." The surprise was a container of "Love Mix."

As mentioned in post #79 on this thread, I had previously prepared a special kind of trail mix for DW which I gave her on Valentine's Day. I labeled it "Love Mix" (and included on the label a photo of the two of us when we were engaged). Here's what the Love Mix looks like:

Over the past few months, DW has enjoyed the Love Mix often. I had made extra Love Mix back in February, so from time to time (when she wasn't around) I would add more Love Mix to her container. When she opened the Love Mix back up later she would often look at me with a little smirk and say "so, your Love Mix filled back up!" and I would respond "it certainly did!" :p (Yes, your suspicions of some double entendre there may be on target.)

But some time in June (I think) my back supply of Love Mix ran out. So a week or two ago, there was only a handful of Love Mix left in her container. When she wasn't around, I removed the Love Mix container from where she had it. Then last Saturday (as I previously posted here) I conspired with #10 (our 9 year old redheaded daughter) to get DW away from home on a shopping trip so that I could spend some time in the kitchen preparing a new batch of Love Mix.

I was on an important phone call yesterday morning when DW discovered the Love Mix, but I did get to enjoy her smile as she motioned to me that she had found it. When I finally hung up, she said "when did you give that to me?"

"On Valentine's Day," I replied, "don't you remember?"

"But it was empty!" she exclaimed.

Turning to #10, I said "do you know anything about this?" and she bobbed her head up and down with a huge grin (I call #10 "the girl who always smiles"). Then I explained to DW how the Saturday shopping trip was actually designed to get her out of the house so that I could fix more Love Mix.

A while later, possibly an hour or more, DW discovered that I had hidden a little golden envelope inside the Love Mix. (I think I was on the phone again when this happened.) On the front of the envelope I had written "Will you marry me?" Inside was this photo:

On the back I had written "Feeling a bit sea sick? Have some ginger!" (Ginger is one of the ingredients of the Love Mix. Eventually she will discover that other Love Mix ingredients are also clues to the cruise.)

The last day of our Sapphire Princess cruise, DW spent most of the day in bed due to the rough seas, so unfortunately seasickness is no joke with her.

Although it was our 28th engagement anniversary, the rest of the day wasn't particularly romantic. We had deliberately chosen to bring our four youngest with us for a little mini vacation before the start of the school year (while for us it is a working vacation). But we finally found some time late last night to get away from the kids, eventually finding some food at a little Hawaiian themed place.

This morning I noticed that DW had posted on Facebook a message about our engagement 28 years ago, saying that she had "the best proposal memory" and that I am most romantic man she knows. :D

One of her friends (with whom I have shared this thread) responded "Awwwww.....and I think he has more in store!" Of course I "liked" that comment. :)

Normally I would, but we are splurging on next summer's Alaskan adventure. 2 weeks - 1 inland doing a DIY tour and 1 week on the Millie in a Royal Suite with our kids in the Concierge Class room next door. Plus with at least one flightseeing tour planned and some of the other excursions that I have in mind, money will be tight for a while!

 

Maybe next fall I'll start bugging him!

That sounds like quite a trip, can I be a stowaway

As we were leaving the hotel we were staying at yesterday morning, I noticed that their little soaps and lotions were labeled "Paradise Collection" with a logo of a little palm tree. So that gave me an idea....

On the back of this picture:

I wrote "Another Day in Paradise!" (with the quote marks around it).

This phrase "another day in Paradise" was the slogan that we often heard from one of the couples who shared the dinner table with us on our Sapphire Princess cruise. (I have seen them here on CC under the username TM.) This reflects their philosophy of cruising, focusing on enjoying the vacation instead of dwelling on whatever problems may arise along the way.

When we were about to check out of the hotel, I put the picture in a little golden envelope and slipped the envelope under the extra soap and lotion in the bathroom. Meanwhile, I had to be on an important conference call. But while I was on the call, as DW coordinated getting things gathered up, I sent her this text (from across the room) "Can you grab the soap from the bathroom?"

It was a few minutes before she noticed the text, but when she did so, she made hand motions to me that looked like opening an envelope. By now she knows just what to expect!

As often happens, we were too busy with other matters for me to get much of a reaction from her about what was in the envelope. But I'm sure that she understood the message.

I apologized to DW for not making our "engagement anniversary" particularly romantic this time, but she pointed to our four youngest children (who are with us on this trip), saying "they are the fruit of our love!" :)

john160 & terrific surprise - I need to put you guys in touch with my DH. Maybe you can give him some pointers! I would love for him to surprise me with a really nice trip like this. I end up planning all our vacations 'cause if I didn't, we wouldn't go anywhere!

I wish I fell like I had some good ideas on how to get your DH to surprise you like this, but as john160 has said, we husbands can often be quite dense! :( In my case what gave me enough of a jolt to begin planning this surprise was my DW's sadness when my 50th surprise party didn't turn out the way she hoped it would. Through her tears she happened to say "I wish I could have surprised you with a cruise, because that is what I would have wanted!"

Of course if you get any little magazines, emails or advertisements from cruise lines it wouldn't hurt to make sure he sees them, maybe with little post-it notes labeled something like "I dream of being here with you." I know that Princess had put out some stories a while back about people who surprised a loved one with a cruise.

I hope you are having a romantic 28th engagement anniversary, olemissreb! :D

 

I hope you are having a romantic 28th engagement anniversary, olemissreb! :D

The day started out with my waking up with a piercing sinus headache. Then a dear friend texted me and invited me to her jewelry party and DH was happy to let me go and didn't even balk when I spent money. Tonight we are going to try a new cajun restaurant here in town and maybe go see the movie "Hope Springs". Of course we may just end up seeing the movie and then doing something else - who knows! The kids are with their grandparents so we have the house to ourselves (well except for the dog)!:D:o

I know you said your engagement anniversary wasn't as romantic as you'd hoped, but hopefully you can make up for it this weekend.

The day started out with my waking up with a piercing sinus headache. Then a dear friend texted me and invited me to her jewelry party and DH was happy to let me go and didn't even balk when I spent money. Tonight we are going to try a new cajun restaurant here in town and maybe go see the movie "Hope Springs". Of course we may just end up seeing the movie and then doing something else - who knows! The kids are with their grandparents so we have the house to ourselves (well except for the dog)!:D:o

 

I know you said your engagement anniversary wasn't as romantic as you'd hoped, but hopefully you can make up for it this weekend.

We did manage to squeeze in a little bit of romance, ;) but I look forward to making up for what we lacked once the cruise begins! (And hopefully earlier too of course -- I have some romantic plans for a couple of weeks from now, which will probably relate to the cruise.) :D

I trust that your headache subsided and your romance ignited yesterday -- and that the dog didn't interfere! :D

Just read this whole thread and love it! She's a lucky woman!

I'm in the same boat with DH.....he's amazing but if I want something done, I have to plan it. I told him when he brought up the idea of adding Paris onto our upcoming honeymoon/1 year anniversary trip that I would plan the rest but he has to plan the three days in Paris. He agreed. Last night he admitted that if I don't plan it there won't be any plans made and we won't see as much as we want to see. *sigh* He said he will take care of the plans for our anniversary but I will have something planned just in case.

At DW's surprise 49th birthday party in March, one of our friends had given her a gift certificate for a hotel by the ocean. DW gave me the certificate for safekeeping, but with the busy summer we have had it is possible that by now she has forgotten about it.

When I saw a break in our schedule next week, I called and booked the hotel for three nights. Then I made some child care arrangements.

Finally, I sent DW this text message: "A week from tomarrow please join me for a mini escape and get a taste of what we will experience when we escape completely!" (I also told her who would be watching the kids.)

(I intentionally misspelled "tomorrow" above, just to yank DW's chain a little bit, because back when she was about 14 she used to tell me that tomorrow was spelled "tom" "arrow".) :D

This text reply from DW soon showed up on my phone: "Yea...yes...yes...."

There was no golden envelope with this clue (I was too excited after finally making all the arrangements to wait until I could give her an envelope -- I had been waiting all summer for an opportunity to schedule this and was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen).

There are certain aspects of next week's getaway which will relate directly to planned activities for the cruise (or may possibly result in a change in some of my plans). I'll explain more on that after it happens (probably next week sometime).

Now that DW has something to look forward to just a week away, hopefully it will help her get through the next few days when we will be extremely busy.

Will she recognize "escape completely" as the Princess motto? I don't know, but if she does, I guess that's ok now. It's about time that I stopped being so mysterious about some things. :)

Just read this whole thread and love it! She's a lucky woman!

 

I'm in the same boat with DH.....he's amazing but if I want something done, I have to plan it. I told him when he brought up the idea of adding Paris onto our upcoming honeymoon/1 year anniversary trip that I would plan the rest but he has to plan the three days in Paris. He agreed. Last night he admitted that if I don't plan it there won't be any plans made and we won't see as much as we want to see. *sigh* He said he will take care of the plans for our anniversary but I will have something planned just in case.

Planning "just in case" seems like a good idea, nyyhoneybee. On our Sapphire Princess cruise I had plans for all three port days (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas). I don't think any of my plans worked out.

Well, we did follow through with my not-so-wise plans to ride on a rickety bus in Puerto Vallarta. :eek: The bus even featured bullet holes and you could see the pavement through holes in the floor. (But we saved the cost of a taxi ride, ha.) After we got off the bus, we got snagged by a timeshare salesman who stole away most of our port time (we even had to wonder for a while if we would miss the ship). :mad:

Nevertheless, I tried to have the attitude all along that my plans were tentative, and that I would enjoy being with DW no matter what we ended up doing. Normally I would have been frustrated not to be able to follow through with my plans, but I successfully convinced myself that I would not let that happen.

But now I have so many plans for the Golden Princess cruise (and clues that relate to those plans) that it may be more of a challenge to just go with the flow. I will need to keep reminding myself that this is supposed to be for DW, not for me, so if I have to sacrifice my plans so that DW can do something she wants, I will just have to convince myself to enjoy it anyway! After all, it's "another day in Paradise!" :D

Planning "just in case" seems like a good idea, nyyhoneybee. On our Sapphire Princess cruise I had plans for all three port days (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas). I don't think any of my plans worked out.

 

Well, we did follow through with my not-so-wise plans to ride on a rickety bus in Puerto Vallarta. :eek: The bus even featured bullet holes and you could see the pavement through holes in the floor. (But we saved the cost of a taxi ride, ha.) After we got off the bus, we got snagged by a timeshare salesman who stole away most of our port time (we even had to wonder for a while if we would miss the ship). :mad:

 

Nevertheless, I tried to have the attitude all along that my plans were tentative, and that I would enjoy being with DW no matter what we ended up doing. Normally I would have been frustrated not to be able to follow through with my plans, but I successfully convinced myself that I would not let that happen.

 

But now I have so many plans for the Golden Princess cruise (and clues that relate to those plans) that it may be more of a challenge to just go with the flow. I will need to keep reminding myself that this is supposed to be for DW, not for me, so if I have to sacrifice my plans so that DW can do something she wants, I will just have to convince myself to enjoy it anyway! After all, it's "another day in Paradise!" :D

Yikes!

I just would like to be surprised...just once.....

I always knew that at some point DW might figure out that I was taking her to Hawaii, but I had hoped that it wouldn't happen quite this soon. After all, I still have over 6 months' worth of clues to give her!

After an incredibly busy past few days, we finally had some time to catch our breath. I had noticed that a place where we have enjoyed bringing our kids, John's Incredible Pizza, was having a promotion called "IncrediBear's Birthday Luau," so I suggested to DW that we might want to take some of the kids there. Of course, I was thinking of the upcoming cruise to Hawaii, but I didn't think that this would be quite so obvious to DW. It certainly was a less than ideal venue for the big revelation.

If we're going to a "luau," I reasoned, I need to give her a clue that looks Hawaiian. So I found this photo:

Turning over the photo, I wrote this on the back:

"Y? In the middle!

K? On the sides!

A? In between!

U? On top!

I love you, where ever you are!"

I put the photo into a golden envelope along with a puzzle piece. On the front of the envelope, I decided to write "Aloha!" inside a little golden lei I sketched. "She'll just think that the 'Aloha' relates to John's Incredible Pizza's 'luau,' not to the cruise," I foolishly told myself.

The atmosphere at John's Incredible Pizza was disappointing. No Hawaiian music, just the same old pop music blaring over the speakers. No special decorations that I noticed. They were serving pina colada Icees and Hawaiian pizza -- but we weren't impressed with the Icees and they always serve Hawaiian pizza. The only thing that looked very Hawaiian to me was the restaurant's mascot, IncrediBear, who was wearing a large Hawaiian shirt, and who stood in front of a cardboard cutout picture of a palm tree for photo opportunities.

When I finally sat down to eat, I picked up a piece of Hawaiian pizza and offered DW a bite, saying "let's share something Hawaiian!"

Later, the atmosphere improved slightly when IncrediBear led some kids in dancing to this song:

"Oh we're going to a Hukilau

A huki huki huki huki Hukilau..."

When DW was very young (probably 10-12 years old), she used to dance to the Hukilau song with a couple of her friends, putting on a show for the people at the apartments where they lived. After performing the song, the three girls would dive into the pool together. (I had actually forgotten this Hawaiian connection to DW's childhood until now, but she has often sung the Hukilau song over the years.)

We needed to rush off to get our son (#6) to a church meeting, but before we left I found an opportunity to discretely approach the IncrediBear mascot. "Is there a pocket in that Hawaiian shirt?" I asked.

The bear shook his head, indicating "yes."

Taking out the golden envelope, I said "can I slip this into your pocket? It's something special for my wife." He nodded his assent.

After the envelope clue was safely placed into the large pocket, I sent DW this text: "Congratulations! You have won the grand luau prize! To claim your prize, check Incredibear's Hawaiian shirt pocket!"

Then I went to find DW and the boys, telling them that it was time to leave. DW had previously said that she wanted to get a photo with IncrediBear, so we hurried to the photo area on our way out. I could tell that DW had not noticed her text message, so I came up with some excuse to look at her phone. Then I said "it looks like you have a message" and handed the phone to her.

After reading the message she said to IncrediBear "do you have something for me?" IncrediBear responded by leaning toward her and holding out his shirt pocket. She took the envelope out of the mascot's pocket and quickly opened it up. Then her expression quickly changed to that puzzled look I have enjoyed seeing so often when I give her clues.

"I don't understand this clue at all," DW confessed.

(I mentally congratulated myself, confident that I had succesfully pulled off this clue without giving too much away. But my smug self-satisfaction was short lived.)

Before heading out the door, we took a quick photo with IncrediBear.

Heading to our van, DW turned to me with a huge grin on her face and said "so, when do I get my grand prize?"

"You already got it," I responded, "it's the golden envelope."

Not content to settle for that, DW got right to the point of what she was thinking: "are you taking me on a cruise to Hawaii?" :eek:

"Why would you think that?" I responded, making a feeble attempt to play dumb.

"You have been giving me all kinds of Hawaiian clues," DW insisted.

Obviously I had congratulated myself too soon for my attempt at subtlety.

"I have? Like what?" I responded, feeling a bit dazed by the sudden realization that she has figured out (almost) all of the surprise.

DW began listing the clues she had received which contributed to her conclusion: "Sharing the Hawaiian pizza with me, the 'Paradise' clue, and all of those palm trees in the photos."

I weakly responded "umm... there are palm trees in a lot of places beside Hawaii. Like our 'Hawaiian Gardens'" (the nickname for our housing ministry).

I opened up the clear banker's bag where she has been keeping the golden envelopes and began looking though them, honestly asking myself if I had really been so obvious all along. I pulled out this photo of a previous clue and showed it to DW:

"Look, see," I said, pointing to the Mexican flag, "there are palm trees, and there's a Mexican flag. That's not Hawaii."

"What about all of this Hawaiian water you have been buying for me?"

"I told you when I first bought that water that I saw where it said Artesian water," I insisted. "You're the one who noticed that it was Hawaiian water."

Not one to give up so easily, DW demanded to know "so why did you insist that we went to this 'luau'?"

"I just thought it would be a nice place to eat. You don't seriously think I convinced John's Pizza to do a luau today?"

DW still refused to give up. "So why did you put 'Aloha' on the envelope?"

"Hello," I responded sarcastically, "it was a luau!"

"It's not about a luau, it's about a cruise to Hawaii," DW declared. "I know, because I saw the tickets." :confused:

With genuine incredulity, I replied "that's amazing, because I haven't even seen the tickets yet. I don't even know if there are tickets. You're just playing games with my mind."

"Yup," she confessed, playfully continuing "we're going to Hawaii, then we're going to Europe, then we're going to Australia! We're going to be gone for a long, long, time."

"Uncle!" I exclaimed. "No more golden envelopes for me!" (Don't worry, I said it with a smile.)

"Here, have some of this water from the forbidden abyss," I joked, handing her a bottle of Hawaiian water.

"You said we were going to the 'place of my dreams,'" DW continued, undaunted.

"Well, you enjoyed our cruise to Catalina, didn't you?" (I had seriously thought that she might think of Catalina as being the 'place of her dreams' when I had given her that clue on Mt. Baldy.)

She wasn't going to give up that easily. "Catalina is not the place of my dreams. Hawaii is! You're going to give me clues for a whole year and then you're just going to take me to Catalina? I wanted us to go to Hawaii on our honeymoon!"

"I actually don't remember that," I honestly responded.

"Don't get me wrong, I loved our honeymoon, but you just have to know I always wanted to go to Hawaii with you." (Then she began reminding me of various times over the years that I have taken her to Hawaiian-themed locations, always apologizing "sorry that's it's not a real trip to Hawaii.")

"Maybe it's not a cruise to Hawaii," DW conceded, "Maybe we're flying to Hawaii.

"And if not," DW continued, "you'd better start looking for some cheap flights."

"What's so great about Hawaii anyway?" I said, pretending to be frustrated.

"I'm sure I'll be happy wherever we go," DW confessed, "but that's my guess. And if you didn't want me to guess, you shouldn't have kept giving me clues."

"Here, look at this clue," I said, holding out one of the previous clues I had given her, "it says right here that we're going to Baja."

"Well, Baja is probably our first stop," DW shot right back, "on our way to Hawaii."

When we needed to stop at the grocery store on our way home, our #6 was frustrated because we were making him late for church.

"You don't always get what you want," I said to #6 (looking at DW while I said it).

"Then you need to be careful what your clues are," DW responded, "and stop giving me clues that look like Hawaii."

Finally our bantering ended with a time of silence, as we continued on our way home.

Eventually DW noticed that I was looking at her, smiling.

"What?" DW asked. "What?"

"Oh, I'm just imagining you in a grass skirt," I kidded. "Maybe Hawaii is where my dreams will come true!"

"Maybe so!" DW responded with a smile.

No new golden envelopes today, but I thought I would write an update on how things have been going since DW announced her conclusion that I'm taking her on a cruise to Hawaii.

As we're headed down to a church where a friend of ours will be speaking this morning, DW finally decided to wear the golden pearl necklace I gave her at her surprise 49th birthday party. "I'm sure that the pearls are a clue," she said to me.

She's right of course, but usually at times like this I just smile. Over the past few days there have been numerous times that one of us has turned to the other and said "that's a clue." For example, our #9 was wearing a "Hawaii" shirt the other day, so I pointed to his shirt and said "that's a clue." Actually, however, he had the Hawaii shirt long before I began to plan this surprise (and it was probably worn by his older brothers before that).

Many times when we say "that's a clue" to each other, it's obvious that we are joking. Yesterday I found a Catalina shirt DW bought on our first cruise, and brought it to her, saying "that's a clue." Then later I turned to our #10 and said sarcastically "she thinks I'm taking her to Hawaii."

Meanwhile, I have been looking over my list of possible future clues, wondering what I may need to change now that she "knows." It seems like I can keep most of the clues, but I may need to work on being a little more subtle for some of them.

I guess I should be glad that it took her this long to figure out that I am taking her to Hawaii. After all, when she was opening up her presents at her surprise 49th birthday party, someone shouted "you're taking her to Hawaii, aren't you!" (I just tried to pretend that I didn't hear that.)

Yesterday I began focusing more on my plans for improving our marriage. I had picked up Gavin and Patti MacLeod's book Back on Course a while back, which tells their story of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. I had wanted to start reading it before now, but I forced myself not to start reading it until I had finished a long overdue review of an 800 page novel. Having finally finished the review last week, I picked up Back on Course yesterday, and by the end of the day I had read the whole book.

Of course, DW and I have never been divorced and are not alcoholics, I found that we both have much in common with certain elements of their story. I'm not sure when I will share the book with DW, but I think she will like it.

Ha, so she is figuring things out faster than planned, isn't that always the case? Maybe adjust the clues a bit so they lean a little toward the other stops for a while. Not exactly mis-direction is it? :D

Ha, so she is figuring things out faster than planned, isn't that always the case? Maybe adjust the clues a bit so they lean a little toward the other stops for a while. Not exactly mis-direction is it? :D

With 4 out of 6 ports being in Hawaii (if I count the embarkation port of Los Angeles) it probably will be impossible to cast much doubt on her conclusion that it is Hawaii. Nevertheless I'm going to try, just because it seems to make it a little more fun. :p

Early this morning, I prepared three clues, two of which relate to today's 53rd anniversary of Hawaii's statehood. I thought to myself "she probably won't realize the significance of this day." Once again, I underestimated the realities.

When she woke up, she asked me to turn on the radio. Within a couple of minutes, Hawaiian music streamed from the radio as the announcer proclaimed that 53 years ago Hawaii became a state. :eek: DW joked "that's a clue, right?"

This could be an interesting day....

As you may recall, last week I had invited DW to join me this week on a little escape that I said would foreshadow the coming time when we will "escape completely."

At her surprise 49th ("50th") birthday party, one of our friends had given DW a certificate for a hotel in Morro Bay. She was so overwhelmed with everything at her party that I guess she just forgot about it (but I didn't). Looking on the hotel's website I had found that the rates seemed to be best in August, which I thought would be perfect because it would be (almost) halfway through the yearlong surprise process.

On our way yesterday, we stopped by to eat at the Souplantation in Santa Clarita, which happens to be right next to the Princess building. When we had eaten at this restaurant a few months back, I had recalled seeing a model of a ship in the Princess lobby, so I asked DW if she would like to go take a peek. (I thought this might be a bit of a dangerous clue -- and I was right -- but it seemed like a risk worth taking.)

As we entered the building, we encountered a security guard who didn't seem to like us being there. "We just wanted to look at the ship," I said to the guard, "is that ok?" The guard didn't respond, but didn't stop us from walking by. (What is this, Buckingham Palace?)

For some reason when I had looked through the window I had thought that the model was a Cunard ship (if I had known that it was the Diamond Princess, I might have reconsidered the wisdom of going to see it). "It says that this is the Diamond Princess," DW immediately noticed as we approached the ship, "so is there a Golden Princess?" :eek:

I was speechless. I had wanted the realization of the "Golden" connection to happen when she finally stepped on the ship on her birthday.

Thankfully, DW quickly switched gears. "Is this the ship we are going on?"

"I'm not sure if I even knew there was a Diamond Princess before today," I responded. (Ok, I must confess that I had probably seen the Diamond Princess mentioned somewhere on CC or the Princess website, but it certainly was not a part of my consciousness.)

"This ship has a golf course," DW noticed, "and one of your clues was about the golf course. Was there a golf course on the Sapphire Princess?"

"I think there was, but I don't think we ever found it," I responded.

The glaring stare of the security guard caused us to cut short our visit to the Princess lobby (which was fine with me since DW seemed to be gaining so much insight from it)!

"I'm not sure why they put that ship model in their lobby if they don't like people looking at it," I said to DW as we headed out the door.

There are other things (including golden envelopes) that happened later, but I'll have to share those later, because we need to get on with our day, which may (or may not) provide some insight to some previous clues.

Driving along US101 toward San Luis Obispo yesterday, DW asked several times where we were heading. I answered in typically ambiguous fashion, telling her how many more hours away it was, etc. But eventually I asked "do you remember what [our friend] gave you on your birthday?"

"I don't remember much of anything I got on my birthday," DW confessed. (I wasn't offended, considering the many things I had given her that night. I think she was just understandably overwhelmed.)

Not wanting to take too much credit for our friend's generosity, I finally decided to tell her that our destination is Morro Bay, reminding her that our friend had given us a certificate for a hotel there.

When we arrived at the hotel, one of the first things I did was to slip Gavin and Patti MacLeod's book Back on Course into the drawer of the nightstand, right next to the Gideon Bible.

A few minutes later, when she had a chance to lay down on the bed and I was dealing with other details, I sent this text to her: "Something extra from the Gideons?"

Thankfully I was back in time to witness her response. Opening up the drawer she looked inside the cover of the Gideon Bible, not finding the golden envelope she apparently expected to find. Then she took the Bible out, quickly thumbed through the pages, and held it upside down by its binding and shook it. Still no envelope.

Finally she looked in the drawer again and noticed the Back on Course book, exclaiming "ohhh! The Love Boat guy!"

Opening up the cover, she found a golden envelope. On the outside I had written "to my favorite reason to celebrate." This photo was inside

On the back I had written "Happy anniversary! Our big '53rd Anniversary' celebration will be almost eight months late!"

I waited nervously for her response, hoping that she might think I was referring to our "engagement anniversary," which was earlier this month. Having heard a radio announcer yesterday morning mentioning that Hawaii became a state 53 years ago, would she realize that the 'anniversary' referred to Hawaii's statehood? The longer she remained silent, the more I hoped that I had succeeded in my attempt to be somewhat ambiguous.

After pondering the golden message carefully, she said "you're making me think too hard!"

Beginning to sound a bit frustrated, she grumbled "so we're not going to do anything until we've been married for 53 years? I would think that you would have enough time to plan, so you wouldn't have to be late!"

As she put the envelope away, she sighed "I wish you wouldn't keep making me older than I am. I am going to get there quick enough!"

Hours later, in the quietness of the night, I whispered to her "I hope you don't mind me holding back on giving away all the clues. I just have a lot of clues to give you still and I don't want to make it so that you get bored with opening up the envelopes because you know exactly what they mean."

I had given DW two pairs of water shoes (one pair pink, one blue) at her surprise birthday party. She had worn the pink shoes a few times, but had never worn the blue, so I brought them along on our trip to Morro Bay. The blue shoes were still in the box, and I had slipped something extra into one of them. :D

Yesterday morning I suggested that she might want should wear the blue water shoes, as we planned some water-related activities. As she put her foot into one of the shoes, she felt something in the shoe, so she reached in and pulled it out, throwing it on the floor. When she realized that what she had just thrown on the floor was a golden envelope, she apologized "I thought that was the stuffing in the shoe!"

On the front of the envelope I had written "50!" in a heart. Opening up the envelope, she saw this photo:

As she looked at the photo, she said "these are pictures of where we are going, right?"

"Well," I replied, "you can think of these photos as being like a catalog. We may or may not go to all of these places. Ultimately, you are the one who will decide that."

Turning over the photo, she read "Are there still 50 states, because you're the only '10' I see!"

Mulling over the meaning of this message, she said "50 states, huh?"

I held my breath, waiting to see if she would get the "50" connection to Hawaii, the 50th state. But her thoughts apparently went a different direction, as her next question was "so you see 10 states in me?"

"You can blame 'Gopher' for that confusion," I laughed.

I thought that would jog her memory, but instead she responded "I don't remember that Gopher line."

Putting the photo back into the envelope, she said "very creative!"

"You inspire my creativity," I replied.

Later I stood on the small balcony of our hotel room, I asked DW "do you think this balcony is worth having, or is it too small?"

"Is that a clue?"

Was it really that obvious? I need to be more careful if I am going to have any surprises left by the time the cruise begins!

Love it!!

You are really a romantic!!

Wednesday (the day before yesterday) DW and I had walked along the waterfront at Morro Bay to a business named Kayak Horizons. When we approached their sign, DW seemed to quickly see the connection to the clue I had given her a few days ago ("Y in the middle," etc.). I pointed to each letter as I explained the clue, but she already had it figured out. "It was the U that confused me," she explained. "I couldn't figure out how that fit in."

"I put it in there to confuse you," I confessed with a grin. "But it meant that YOU will be on top of the kayak!"

It was already late in the afternoon Wednesday when we got to Kayak Horizons, so after discussing the tide patterns with them we decided that Thursday would be a better day to actually get out on the water.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning I took DW horseback riding along the beach south of Morro Bay. Horseback riding may be her favorite recreational activity of all, but she rarely gets to do so, and unfortunately I don't have any plans for horseback riding on the cruise. But I wanted to make sure that she had the opportunity for a little horseback riding during this year of celebration.

After going back to the hotel to rest from the ride, we headed back to Kayak Horizons. We had never been kayaking before, so I wasn't sure if it was even something DW would like (or even if she would want to get in the boat). I was glad that she found it so enjoyable (although a few times I did make her nervous when she thought that I might tip us over or get us stuck). I made sure that we landed on the beach across the bay so that we could practice launching the kayak from the beach. (I even let it slip that this was a "practice" run, which I eventually decided not to try to hide.)

We circled around some seals gathered in the middle of the bay, and later got close to a couple of flocks of beautiful white pelicans. Although the weather had been amazingly cold for August, by the time we got out on the water the weather was just right -- not too cold, not too hot. After we circled around the pelicans, when it was about time to return the kayak, I noticed some dark clouds beginning to gather in the distance.

"Those clouds didn't quite fulfill my wish," I said to DW as we paddled back toward the dock.

"What was your wish?"

Glad that she took my bait, I wistfully responded "I was hoping that we would be able to reenact that scene from The Notebook."

"That would have made a nice addition to your story," DW replied. :eek: (Ok, she's already figured out Princess, she's already figured out Hawaii, she may have even figured out the Golden Princess, but does this reference to my "story" mean that she has also found CC? I can't help but wonder, but I hope not. She may just be referring to the fact that I have told her a few times that I am keeping kind of a diary about this year of surprises.)

This morning when DW got out of bed to brush her teeth, I hurried to write up a clue and put it into a golden envelope. I wasn't quite quick enough, though, because she noticed me hiding something under the covers as she returned to the bed.

Pulling back the covers, she found the golden envelope, where I had written on the front "Y - Because I Love You!" Opening it up, she found this photo:

Commenting on the beauty of the golden sand in this photo (which sparkles because of the paper I printed it on), DW said "So this is somewhere that we will go?"

"Well," I replied, "like I said before, that will be up to you. But this is one place that I sure hope we won't miss."

Turning the photo over, she read what I had quickly written just a minute or two earlier "FYI - None of the 'clues' have been fulfilled - yet!"

"What about the kayaking?" she asked. "Wasn't that fulfilled? Or does this picture show somewhere that we will be kayaking?"

"I don't think that we will kayak there," I replied, "but some of the other pictures I have given you show where I hope we will kayak. I should have planned this clue better to be on the back of a photo of where we could kayak."

Looking into her eyes, with tears filling my eyes, I said "you know, sometimes I feel like I'm not the only one who is planning this surprise. I feel like God is planning it too, to show you how much He loves you!" I went on to explain how I had been surprised to see how well our friend's gift of the Morro Bay trip fit in with my plans. In addition to the opportunity to learn to kayak (which was already a part of my Hawaii plans), the whole time at this hotel has seemed to have a cruise feel to it, from the little balconies to the atrium, to our "stairs or elevator" decisions, to our friendly conversations with a couple (who remind us of our past cruise tablemates) in the spa and at breakfast, to our time browsing the nearby oceanfront shops.

"It sounds like you're writing a novel over there," DW said a few minutes ago. :eek: I need to finish up so that she doesn't get too curious.

I guess it's time to get on with our day, and to say goodbye to Morro Bay.

Some of my clues have taken quite a bit longer for DW to find than I had intended. Several of these relate to the "Fanfare" CD, one of the gifts I had given DW at her surprise 49th ("50th") birthday party. The CD contains a somewhat unusual and eclectic set of music, and I knew that some of it would not necessarily resonate with DW. (Nevertheless, there is a reason for all of it, as she will eventually see.) For example, Flying (the Theme from E.T.) brought back good memories for DW, but songs like O Sole Mio and Mi Ciudad just left her puzzled.

She had first heard most of these songs on Valentine's Day [see post #70] as we soaked in the Puddingstone Hot Tubs, but then I had put the CD away until her birthday [see post #52]. After I officially gave it to her on her birthday, DW kept it in our van and listened to it a few times, but eventually she (apparently) forgot about it. She typically seems to prefer the radio over CDs, so I knew from the start that the number of times she would spin this CD would be limited. I also knew that it would be a long time before she would experience the "payoff" for these musical clues, and I didn't want her to grow tired of hearing this CD before then, so it didn't bother me (at first) that she wasn't listening to it.

In mid-May, I hid a couple of golden envelopes in the CD case, so that she would get a little surprise the next time she decided to listen to the CD. Then I waited... and waited... and waited for her to find it. :mad: By the time August rolled around, I was tired of waiting. So on August 4 [see post #119], the day when I conspired with our DD (#10, 9 years old) to get DW out of the house, I asked #10 to suggest that they listen to the Fanfare CD as they headed out on their shopping trip.

Opening the CD at #10's suggestion, DW found a golden envelope, where I had written on the front "A note for the one who makes my heart sing!" Inside was this photo:

On the back I had written "I look forward to making waves with you!"

After finding the envelope, DW apparently decided to listen to the radio, so the CD sat unused for a few more weeks!

Eventually I decided to hide another envelope in the CD, as en effort to try to prompt her not to forget about the CD. (After all, I do want the music of this CD to be a part of the yearlong experience, even though I don't want her to become weary of listening to it.)

On our way to Morro Bay last Tuesday, she finally asked me to play the CD. She was driving, so I quickly slipped the CD out of the case, hoping that she would notice the quick flash of the golden envelope inside the case. :p She did!

"Is that the same envelope that was in there before?"

"No, it's not."

"Well, open it up."

"No, you're the one who is supposed to open it up!" I insisted, leaving the unopened envelope in the empty CD case.

Several times over the next few days we listened to the music on the CD, as DW explained what she thought the songs meant. "See, we're going to Hawaii," she announced as the Hawaiian War Chant played. (I had debated with myself whether or not I should even include the Hawaiian War Chant, because I thought it might be too obvious of a clue. But, as DW will eventually discover, I did not include this song because of Hawaii.)

"That's only one of the songs on there," I reminded her.

"Well," DW continued, explaining her perspective on the selection on songs on the CD, "we're also going to Mexico, Italy, Spain, and China -- even though I though I don't want to go to China.

"And, we're going to Salzburg, or wherever they filmed the Sound of Music!"

Finally, on the day we left Morro Bay, she opened up the golden envelope inside the empty CD case. On the front I had written "To my inspiration." Inside she found this photo:

On the back I had written "Dave and Faline will delight you with their music -- and may teach you a few things!"

(As some of you may realize, this is a reference to the music and other activities led by Elua, which from what I have read here on CC is likely to be a major highlight of the cruise. I used the name Faline instead of Leialoha because Leialoha sounds too obviously Hawaiian, and if DW were to search for Dave and Leialoha she would learn more than I would want her to know at this point.)

"Who are Dave and Faline?" DW predictably inquired.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," I replied with a smile.

Looking at the cover of the CD case, DW said "That looks like Hawaii."

"It could be anywhere," she confessed, "but it looks to me like Hawaii."

(It's not Hawaii.)

After leaving Morro Bay, I decided to direct DW toward See Canyon Road, which winds its way over a picturesque mountaintop between Morro Bay and Avila Beach. I had read somewhere on the Internet a few days earlier that some people say that the Sound of Music theme was filmed there. (Even though I'm sure that is not the case, I thought it would be funny to tell DW that, especially because she had recently joked that we were going to where the Sound of Music was filmed.)

Unexpectedly, the drive ended up jogging some childhood memories for DW. She had an early memory of going on a winding mountain road, knowing that they were supposed to be heading for the ocean but not seeing the ocean anywhere, and then suddenly arriving at Avila Beach, where her mother entered her (at 6 years old) into a bathing-beauty contest (much to her chagrin).

When we finally arrived at Avila Beach, we had the unexpected pleasure of watching whales and dolphins from the pier -- along with a somewhat Hitchcockesque view of countless thousands of birds who also apparently came to take advantage of a large school of fish in the bay.

I'm not sure if this Avila Beach experience will mean that I will scuttle the whale and dolphin clues I had planned. In light of the recent revelations, I need to reevaluate most of the clues I anticipated giving DW anyway.

While it may take a bit longer than planned for some of the clues to sink in, the final payoff will still be well worth the work.

Can't wait for the rest of the story!!! :cool: