Surprising my wife with the cruise of her dreams

I haven't had much time over the past week to even think about the cruise surprise, but I needed to take a bit of a break anyway. I had given DW about two more clues than I should have given her. (I setup the spreadsheet I am using to keep track of the clues to tell me if I am ahead or behind in the number of clues I should have given her at this point, so the computer tells me how far off track I am now.)

We passed a milestone Wednesday, without any fanfare: it has been three months since DW's birthday party, the beginning of the surprise process (and of course that means that the cruise is nine months away). My plans originally called for DW to know for sure that it is a cruise at three months into the process. I had intended to give her some kind of clue which clearly pointed to a cruise on Wednesday, but we were too focused with ministry projects and I was too exhausted. But she has already been telling me that she thinks it is a cruise for several weeks anyway, so maybe the planned announcement was irrelevant.

Besides ministry issues, we have been faced with the wonderful distraction of the birth of our second grandchild (our first granddaughter)! So we traveled to Northern California to help care for our grandson while our "daughter-in-love" and son are in the hospital.

Yesterday we brought our grandson to the hospital to meet his new little sister. On the way to the hospital, I pulled out an envelope, writing on the front "To the most beautiful grandma of the most beautiful granddaughter in the world!" I thought that my computer blocked DW's view of what I was doing, but then DW said "I see what you're doing!" :eek:

I thought she had caught me! But then I realized that she was looking in the mirror at our grandson! So I quickly finished writing the message and slid the envelope into my pocket.

We loved watching our grandson's reaction to his sister ("that's my baby!"), so I was in no hurry to hold our precious granddaughter myself. But eventually my turn came. While I was holding her, I slipped a little golden envelope between the baby's hands. Then I said to DW "what does she have?" :D

DW smiled as she picked up the envelope and read the message written on the outside. But then she put it into her pocket, saying "I'll look at this later." A new granddaughter definitely trumps a cruise, so I had no problem with that.

I'm still not sure if she ever opened the envelope, so there is not much more to say about that at this point.

If anyone is crazy enough to consider following my example of spreading cruise-clues out over a year, I will say that at this point I am wondering if a year is too much of a good thing. Maybe three months would have been enough. I wonder if the further clues I have to give will be kind of anticlimactic now. Of course I do have some itinerary-related clues which will hopefully still add some spice to the process (although I am wondering if I could still run out of clues at some point).

Ok, enough navel-gazing about this.... Time to get back to being a grandpa!

Congratulations on your new granddaughter!

I am so loving this thread and your so very romantic ideas. I hope you can stretch this out. If your wife is not on cruise critic she may not be able to find the exact cruise. Don't let her near a travel agent!

Congratulations Grandpa! Enjoy that new grandbaby!

We haven't been eating much the last few days, so I thought it would good for the clue I gave DW to be something appetizing. Looking through the printed clues I had on hand, I picked out this photo to put in the golden envelope I gave her when we were at the hospital with our newborn granddaughter.

On the back I wrote "Delicious food! All day and all night!"

Today we had some hamburgers for lunch, and our daughter-in-love's mother planned tacos for dinner. As DW and I napped this afternoon, we were a little irritated when we heard our boys fixing peanut butter sandwiches in the kitchen.

"Don't you know we're going to have dinner soon?" DW said to the boys. "Oh, by the way," she said to me, "thanks for the clue. I'm sure it must be a cruise!"

"Either that, or we're staying here!" I kidded.

"So I guess the cruise will be some time around my birthday," DW continued. "Or will it be for your birthday?"

"I wish I had thought of having it be on my birthday," I replied (my birthday is later this month). "So what do you think about that picture?"

Taking the photo out of the envelope, DW squinted and said, "umm... is it nachos?" (I think she needs new glasses!)

"No," I slowly answered to let her soak it in, "it's fettuccine alfredo... in a parmesan cheese bowl!"

"Wow!" DW replied. "I guess I will need to have my cholesterol checked before and after the cruise!"

Congratulations on your new granddaughter!

 

I am so loving this thread and your so very romantic ideas. I hope you can stretch this out. If your wife is not on cruise critic she may not be able to find the exact cruise. Don't let her near a travel agent!

Thanks for the congrats, maryann & olemiss. I definitely have the easiest role as "Grandpa." :rolleyes:

I'm pretty sure DW wouldn't consult a travel agent (thankfully we don't know any TAs or that might be an issue). What I'm more worried about is whether she will discuss the clues with friends who may lead her further than I want her to go right now. I have shared this thread with some of DW's friends hoping that this will satisfy their curiousity -- hopefully they won't tip her off.

I think this next three months will be the most challenging (and possibly boring?) part of this yearlong clue process. Once we hit the six month mark the anticipation will really begin to build (and at that point I should begin to know if some of my other plans will pan out). Nine months still seems pretty far away.

I'm glad to know you're enjoying the ride, wherever it may lead!

I am loving this thread. You are a great guy going to all this work to make this fun and special for your wife! My husband has surprised me twice with cruises for our anniversaries. I was really surprised that he was able to surprise me the second time. He didn't spread it out with clues. Just gave me the itinerary as a gift along with lovely cards talking about the cruises.

Can't wait to see how the rest of this story goes.

I am loving this thread. You are a great guy going to all this work to make this fun and special for your wife! My husband has surprised me twice with cruises for our anniversaries. I was really surprised that he was able to surprise me the second time. He didn't spread it out with clues. Just gave me the itinerary as a gift along with lovely cards talking about the cruises.

 

Can't wait to see how the rest of this story goes.

When your husband gave you the itinerary and the cards, how much time did you have to prepare for the cruise?

After my experience (so far) I'm thinking that three months would be the ideal amount of time, and that a year might be too long. But the final word on that will come from my DW after this is all history!

I did get a chance to give her another clue last night as we watched fireworks. Hopefully I'll get a chance to tell more about that later.

When your husband gave you the itinerary and the cards, how much time did you have to prepare for the cruise?

 

After my experience (so far) I'm thinking that three months would be the ideal amount of time, and that a year might be too long. But the final word on that will come from my DW after this is all history!

 

I did get a chance to give her another clue last night as we watched fireworks. Hopefully I'll get a chance to tell more about that later.

It was three months for the first one and about 3 1/2 months for the second one. He gave them to me for our anniversaries.

OMG this is the best thread I have ever seen. You should publish this as a story! We are taking our first cruise and international trip in October. We will be doing pre and post hotel stays in Italy and then board a cruise ship. I have been planning our trip for over 10 months now and am down to 4 months. It is a lot of planning and you have to keep it secret. Please let us know how the cruise goes too.

What a lovely story

I wish I could surprise my husband but he would log on to his loyalty and see the cruise booked agaisnt his loyalty number - I can't even sneak a better cabin upgrade as he would spot that too

July 3 and/or 4 has been a special time for DW and myself over the years, because we look back to July 3, 1983 as the date that our romance re-ignited. For years I had insisted that we were just friends and we would never get married (at least not to each other), while she always remained confident that we would marry each other someday. But on that warm evening when we drove up into the foothills to watch a fireworks show from a distance, I couldn't keep up the "just friends" facade any longer (and my lips couldn't resist her any longer)!

We have relived that moment on many wonderful July 3 or 4 evenings throughout the years, but of course when our children came along, we also found ourselves needing to enjoy the fireworks as a family. Usually it has been possible to have a family time on one evening and a romantic time on the other evening, but this year we had spent several days visiting our son and his family (and welcoming our new granddaughter), so we didn't get back into town until July 4. I had hoped that July 4 would be the occasion for one of my more spectacular clues, but it didn't work out that way.

After a family picnic, we drove to a parking lot to view the fireworks display. I had an idea of how I wanted DW to discover the golden envelope I had prepared, but I had to change my plans when she stayed in the front seat to watch the fireworks (probably still tired after the long trip).

From behind the steering wheel, she sang out to our kids in the parking lot: "Fireworks, fireworks, pop, pop, pop in the sky, fireworks, fireworks, pretty lights on the Fourth of July" (one of several cute little songs she made up to sing to the kids over the years). As she looked out the window toward the kids, I saw my opportunity to slip the golden envelope onto the dashboard. I thought that she wouldn't see it until we were driving away, but apparently I was a little too obvious, because she picked it up immediately.

On the front of the envelope I had written "To the one who lights up my eyes!" (I had thought of adding "like the fireworks light up the skies," but I didn't have enough room.)

This photo was inside:

On the back of the photo I had written "Pretty lights on the (4) Fourth!" The "(4)" refers to the fourth month, April, but she probably doesn't realize that yet.

Nothing much special happened after that (well, there was one quick kiss). Unfortunately the reality of planning something like this is that some of the "fireworks" I plan turn out to be duds, which can be frustrating, but I need to keep reminding myself that this yearlong surprise is for her, not for me! That's something I need to remember not only throughout this process leading up to the cruise, but undoubtedly during the cruise itself, as I'm sure that some of my plans simply will not work out the way I thought they would.

Tonight as we were eating a delicious dinner DW prepared, our #10 asked me "why are you staring at Mama?" (I honestly hadn't even realized that I was staring at her.) I replied "can you think of anything better to stare at?"

At that point, DW picked up her plate and looked under it -- apparently my unintentional stare had aroused her suspicions. Seeing nothing under the plate, she explained "I thought maybe there was a thingie under there!" (Of course, "thingie" in this context in DW's lingo means "golden envelope.")

Then #10 chimed back in, proclaiming "happy birthday!" to DW for no apparent reason.

The out-of-context greeting didn't seem to phase DW in any way, as she immediately responded "we're celebrating my birthday -- all year long!"

Even though I wished that DW had found a golden envelope under the plate, I enjoyed this experience because it showed that to some degree this yearlong process of clues is becoming a part of her daily reality, even on the days when I don't give her a clue. That was part of my plan all along (though it often hasn't seemed that way), and even though it wasn't accompanied by quite the "fanfare" I had hoped for, it makes me thankful even for the "duds" we experience along the way.

I had gotten out of the habit of texting DW clues there for a while, but I decided to do some more text clues, primarily because she seems to enjoy texting (much more than I do)....

So I sent a text clue on Sunday relating to a hidden golden envelope, but it just confused her. (I guess that one will remain hidden for a bit longer.)

Yesterday something DW wrote was published in a newspaper. After she looked at the paper, I slipped a golden envelope into the Classifieds under "For rent." Inside the envelope was this photo:

(Another clue from Ensenada, the final port on the cruise, which I hope will continue to make her think we are headed for Mexico.)

On the back of the photo I wrote "Would you like to go for a daily promenade on the 'Promenade'? - it will be a beautiful view, especially with you!"

On the front of the envelope I wrote "To my favorite writer!"

After hiding the envelope in the newspaper, I took the kids to a park for a while.

After a few minutes I sent her a text: "there might be something interesting for rent - even if there isn't it might be fun to check ;-)"

She responded asking if I was referring to a particular location (a place where we had been earlier in the day, where we called for information on a "For rent" sign in front).

Here's how the rest of the text exchange went:

me: "maybe or not."

DW: "?"

me: "!"

DW: "Lol... but confused!"

me: "why confused?" (I wasn't sure at this point if she might have already found the envelope.)

DW: "What's interesting to rent"

me: "how do you know unless you look?"

I brought the kids back from the park and got involved in some other details. About an hour later, she finally sent "Found it....:) ily"

I later learned from our #10 that one of the other kids had picked up the newspaper and the golden envelope had fallen onto the floor. But #10 told me that she remembered the exact page where I had hidden the envelope, so she told DW "close your eyes" as she slipped the envelope back where I had put it before giving DW the newspaper.

As is happening so often with these golden envelopes, they just provide a little spice while both DW and I involve ourselves with various other important tasks. Hopefully it helps her sense of anticipation to continue building even though there are so many more important things to focus on right now. Time will tell. In the meantime, her complete reaction to some of these clues remains a bit of a mystery, even to me.

The past week or so we have been really busy, so I haven't had much time for cruise clues, and what I have done hasn't quite hit the target.

Our #3 recently returned from a mission trip to Vietnam, and he brought back a decorative black bag and three little nested blue purses for DW. She had the bag hanging in her closet with the blue purses inside, so I slipped a golden envelope inside the innermost purse.

Then I sent her this text message:

"After 8000 miles with our bold, dear source (three times our course) these layers of black, blue, blue, and blue, hold something familiar but actually new"

She responded a few minutes later: "Ok....?: )"

I thought that this would be somewhat obvious, but obviously I was wrong (to say the least). To make matters worse, we needed to head out the door in a few minutes, so she wouldn't have an opportunity to find the clue for a while.

We were too busy to worry about it, though, so I just decided to let it slide. A couple of days later (which happened to be my 51st birthday), DW started the day by making me a special breakfast. To thank her, I took a piece of paper, folded it, and wrote "Tip" on the front. On the inside, I wrote, "Ho Chi Minh city is 8119 miles from here." (That should be enough information for her to put the pieces together, I thought.)

No such luck.

She responded "I'm not reaaly sure why you would give me that tip, it's not really helpful."

After a long silence, she said "I don't even like China."

"It's not China!" I groaned.

"I was just trying to be funny," she replied, to my relief. (I really didn't want to believe that her knowledge of geography was that far off.)

I told her that maybe she should ask our #3 (who is now back working for the summer at the university he is attending).

"You're not going to make me walk there are you?" she continued.

"No," I said, getting a bit exasperated, "we're not walking 8000 miles!"

At that point I got busy doing something else, while DW still asked "So you're taking me there?"

I didn't know how to answer that question, so I think I tried to act like I didn't hear it....

Later in the day, in relation to another confusing clue I had flubbed up (which I'll explain later), I decided to re-send the original text clue: "After 8000 miles with our bold, dear source (three times our course) these layers of black, blue, blue, and blue, hold something familiar but actually new."

A few more hours went by, and she asked "are you taking me to Vietnam?" :eek:

I don't really remember what I said in response. In fact, I think I may have been speechless. (If CC had a facepalm smilie available, I would insert it here.) ;-)

DW continued, "I guess it would be better than nothing. But it wouldn't be my #1 pick."

After a long pause, she said "It is by the ocean, right?"

She has got to be kidding, I thought to myself. Nevertheless, she still didn't find the clue, and we went on to deal with other matters.

Four more days went by, and we were in a hurry to head out the door again when I heard DW exclaim something.

Looking at the dining room table, I saw the bag and purses from Vietnam spread out, along with four little paper notes and my golden envelope.

Our #10 (who had seen me put the golden envelope in place several days earlier) had made several notes for DW and had hidden them inside the Vietnamese items. "I forgot that you had hidden that in there," #10 told me apologetically, sounding quite sincere (she had asked me a few days earlier if she could have one of my golden envelopes, but I turned her down, so I didn't want to be too hard on her).

So I'm not sure exactly how it had happened, but somehow #10 had led DW to her clues, which resulted in DW finally finding my envelope. On the front I had written "To my favorite Missionary Mom."

This photo was inside:

On the back, I wrote "The International Café will delight your taste buds, but probably won't fill you up!"

When we were on the Sapphire Princess, there was no International Café, so hopefully this won't lead her straight to Princess (like some of the other clues have done).

After all that, I'm thinking that maybe my clues are too complicated right now (at least for times like this when we have so many other things on our minds).

I actually prepared this next clue before the previous clue, but it sat unnoticed for several days (like the previous one). But in this case I knew that she would have to eventually find it.

DW likes to have a little something to snack on when she's driving, and Cheez-It crackers are among her favorite driving snacks. While we were at our #1's home to welcome our granddaughter a few weeks ago, I had bought 3 boxes of different Cheez-It flavors because of a special at a grocery store.

By the time I thought of this next clue, two Cheez-It boxes remained unopened: Colby and Cheddar Jack. So I decided to open up the bottom of the Cheez-It Cheddar Jack box, inserting a little golden envelope, along with some salt water taffy. (I had found some really, really, old, hard, salt water taffy, which we purchased on our first cruise in 2005 at Lloyd's of Avalon on Catalina Island. After rationing the taffy out to our kids after the cruise, we had left a few pieces in the box, and the box eventually became hidden in the back of a cupboard.)

I glued the bottom of the Cheddar Jack Cheez-It box and put the box back where it was, next to the driver seat. Then I waited for the chance to send her a text clue.

The next few days had become too busy, but on the afternoon of my 51st birthday last Thursday (after being frustrated that she didn't understand the "tip" I had given her that morning which I had hoped would help her to find the Vietnam clue) I decided to send her this text: "Cracker Jack isn't the only Jack with a prize in the box..."

About 15 minutes later, she responded "Ok...cheese it's."

"Good, she understood the clue!" I thought to myself, breathing a sigh of relief.

Not so fast -- another text from DW soon followed: "Hmm...jack is the name of our ship we are taking to vietnam?"

Now that's just silly! :mad:

I shot back a quick text: "think again."

A few hours later, I needed to take the kids somewhere in our van, and I found that someone had opened the Colby Cheez-It box, but the Cheddar Jack Cheez-It box remained unopened! :eek:

At dinner that night, DW said "I never found the Cracker Jacks."

"Who said you had Cracker Jacks?" I responded in frustration.

"You sent me a message about a prize in a Cracker Jack box," she replied. (Is she just playing games with me??? :confused: )

"You might want to read it more carefully," I said.

"Well," DW replied, "you shouldn't be giving me clues on your birthday."

I had too much to do to worry about it, so I just went back to focus on my other tasks.

Five more days went by, with the Cheddar Jack Cheez-It box remaining unopened.

On Tuesday, we were in the van together, when DW picked up the Colby Cheez-It box and said "so is something hidden inside this Cheez-It box or what?"

I took the Colby box, pointing out what I thought would have been obvious: "it doesn't say 'Jack'!"

Finally, she picked up the box of Cheddar Jack Cheez-Its, tore open the top and immediately saw the golden envelope. On the front I had written "Say Cheese!" (I should have had a camera ready for that moment, but I didn't.)

She was about to open up the envelope, but I stopped her, saying "That's not the only prize in there" (hoping that she would notice the taffy).

Before I could stop her, she picked up a piece of taffy, unwrapped it and put it in her mouth! :eek:

Quickly she spit it out, exclaiming "that tastes awful!"

Then a look of realization came over her face. "This is from Catalina, isn't it?"

At long last she opened up the envelope, finding this photo:

On the back of the photo I had written "We need to shop for some fresh (salt water) taffy!"

I was obviously intending for her to think from this clue that we are going back to Catalina, but in fact one of the places I hope we will visit in Hawaii is a salt water taffy store!

(Kind of anticlimactic, like many of my clues, but I'm glad we finally got through that one!)

Just a few moments after DW found the Cheez-It envelope, we passed by the local dollar theater and I noticed that they were showing "What to Expect When You're Expecting." We were familiar with the book of course, but didn't know anything about the movie.

We needed a couple hours of escape after some very intense weeks of ministry, so we decided to go see the movie. (Like I'm sure that a woman who has given birth 11 times is really itching to see a movie about pregnancy.) ;)

I was not very impressed with the movie overall. Some of was just ridiculous, almost like a live-action cartoon. There were a few good spots though, like this line (spoken by a father): "nobody is ever ready for a baby. You just jump on a moving freight train and hope you don't die!"

DW seemed to enjoy the movie more than me, especially the birth scenes. (Being involved in a ministry to pregnant women has given her the opportunity to help at other women's births throughout the years, and she always jumps at the chance to do so.)

When we got back after the movie, I decided to try to quickly throw together another golden envelope for her. I had remembered her mentioning something earlier in the day about a free pass to 24 Hour Fitness, and I had read various things on CC about the fitness center (or whatever it's called) on the Golden Princess, so I thought it would be a good time to use that as a clue.

After preparing the envelope, I decided to put it somewhere that would be easy for her to find (being wearied by the long process of her finding the Vietnam and Cheez-It envelopes). A beautiful 8x10 picture of a little girl who was born to one of our clients has been on the wall, but it has become faded by the sun. (This mother had moved to the Philippines for a few years after having the baby, and then moved back to our area.) The photo had been taken off the wall earlier that day and was laying on the counter, so I slipped the envelope under it.

Then I sent DW this text message (as she sat a few feet away from me :D): "The fading foto of a precious princess from far away (but now near) conceals a little something you may wish to view."

She stood up immediately, picked up the photo, and found the envelope. (Now that's more like it!) :)

On the front I had written "To the one I have loved Expecting with."

This photo was inside:

I thought that this would obviously point to a cruise (it is actually a photo of a mural on the Golden Princess) but apparently DW didn't think so, because she said "do these pictures really make any sense?"

"We'll see," I replied.

The puzzle piece I had put in the envelope was shaped rather oddly. On the back of the photo I had written "Free pass to 24 hour fitness center. (I love your shape!)" (I didn't want her to think that I was suggesting that she needed to go to a fitness center, but I knew of course that she was already thinking about it.)

Reading what I wrote, DW went "Hmm...

"I got the free pass to 24 Hour Fitness by playing this game on my phone..." (repeating what she had already told me, because she probably realized that I wasn't totally paying attention the first time). "So you're going to give me one too?"

"Sometime," I replied.

After a long pause, while DW sat there looking puzzled, I quietly said "sorry to get you something you already had."

I'm actually not sure if the fitness center on the Golden Princess is open 24 hours, but it doesn't really matter anyway. Like we're going to go to a gym at 2 in the morning? :eek: I don't think so!

Today is the 19th birthday of our #5, but it is unclear at this point how much of a celebration it will be, because he has been on his own for several months and I'm not sure if we will even see him today. Nevertheless, I try to make the birthdays a celebration of not only the one who was born but the one who gave birth, so I planned to get a nice breakfast for DW today if I didn't hear back from #5. (We're not at home this morning, so I couldn't make her breakfast, which is what I prefer to do.)

Unfortunately I fell asleep very early this morning as I was working on a birthday DVD for #5, and by the time I woke up I realized that I needed to hurry if I was going to get DW breakfast before her busy ministry day started. So I rushed a few blocks down to a restaurant, trying to find an omelette that wasn't too unhealthy for her. In my haste I selected a spinach, feta cheese, and tomato omelette.

I rushed the omelette back to DW, and as she started opening up the bag I suddenly realized that I should have put a golden envelope in there. So I left her there with the food and went to put together an envelope clue. I had planned to put the envelope between slices of the toast that came with the omelette.

After I finished the envelope, I hurried back and picked up the foil-wrapped toast, opened it up and slipped the golden envelope between the slices.

"Please take this omelette," DW said, handing me the plastic container. "It almost made me hurl!"

I made a weak attempt at damage control, saying "I thought you might like something Mediterranean."

"I did eat some of the potatoes, and a piece of toast," she continued.

"You already ate a piece of toast?" (I hadn't realized that! Now how will I get her to see the envelope?)

"Yes, there were four pieces in there," she responded, apparently oblivious to my problem.

"Are you sure?" I challenged DW, "maybe you should check again."

She got a little smirk on her face (indicating that she knew what I was up to), immediately unwrapped the toast and found the envelope.

On the front I had written "I love [#5's] mama!"

She found this photo inside the envelope:

She looked at the picture, moving it back and forth trying to focus on it. She made no comment, but she appeared confused.

Then she flipped it over to read the back, where I had written "Do you want to participate in a trivia challenge?"

Her ministry responsibilities were already beginning, so she said (in a very kind tone of voice, considering the fact that I had just nauseated her) "please put this envelope away for me, and finish the rest of this food."

Somehow I wasn't happy with how that all went :( so I walked a few blocks over to Jack in the Box to pick her up a new breakfast waffle sandwich. I put the same golden envelope in the bag below the sandwich, and brought it to DW.

"I guess you gave up on trying to get me something healthy," DW said as I gave her the bag. Picking up the sandwich, she immediately saw the envelope, exclaiming "Another one?!"

"No, this is just the same one again," I apologized. "I just thought that the message should go with the meal."

DW opened up the envelope again, and looked at the photo again. This time she seemed to see it a little better.

"Salt and pepper?" she speculated as she looked at it. But quickly a look of recognition came over her face. "I know: sand!"

"Not just any old sand," I countered.

"Is there gold in that sand?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Well, you should have just said that there was gold in it. Isn't everything supposed to be golden?"

After going over a week without giving any new clues to DW, it was high time for me to get back on track! (I need to average about 2 1/2 clues per week!) The past week has been difficult in many ways, without many opportunities for DW and I to be together (and when we have been together we have been focused on problems). :(

But last night after I finished some important tasks, I finally could catch my breath a bit. We picked up some fast food for the kids, but nothing at the restaurant was healthy enough for DW. So she dropped me off with the kids' food, as she drove on to pick up some food for herself.

I had slipped a golden envelope into a coupon book which had a 2-for-1 coupon for the restaurant where she was heading. She had talked about using the coupon to get something for both of us, but depending upon the kids' appetites I thought I might be able to just eat some of the food we had already picked up.

After distributing the food to the kids (with plenty left over), I sent this text to DW: "I have enough food but you should look at that coupon."

On the outside of the golden envelope, I had written "To the woman of my dreams." Inside was this picture:

with these words on the back: "Your dreams begin at the end of the red line - I love dreaming about you!"

About 15 minutes after I sent her the text, she sent this text reply: "May all your dreams come true." :)

If you have been on this cruise before (or any Princess cruise from LA), you may know what I mean by the "red line." But in actuality it refers to something that will happen a while before the cruise (Lord willing).

The second half of the message I wrote on the back ("I love dreaming about you!") is not a clue, but just a love note. I decided early on in this process that I should follow every clue with some kind of love message (though I usually have not been posting the "love message" half here on CC). I did this because (contrary to what some of you think from what you have read here) it's not easy for me to tell my wife I love her, and I thought that along with the clues this year I wanted to be trying to be a better husband.

Back in High School, DW used to be in love with "Fonzie" (Henry Winkler) so perhaps she has a weakness for men who have trouble saying the "L" word. But sometimes I think that if I could just really be more consistent about expressing my love to DW (verbally), that would mean more to her than the whole year of clues or any of the other elaborate things I have done for her over the years. :o

DW wanted to go to Chick-fil-A last night, but they ran out of food! So we headed down to El Pollo Loco (because of a 2-for-1 coupon). I had a golden envelope ready, but didn't really have a plan for how to give it to her. Eventually I decided to try to nonchalantly slip it under the paper mat on the tray. I definitely didn't pull off the "nonchalantly" part, as DW immediately inquired "what are you doing?" and then quickly found the envelope under the mat.

On the front of the envelope I had written "To my favorite Chick!" She glanced at the photo inside:

Then she quickly read the message on the back: "Would you like to play some ping pong? (There will be plenty of time for that!) – I love serving you!"

Immediately the conversation turned to the clue I had given her the day before. "The red line in that picture shows where my dreams begin?" she inquired. "That picture looks familiar. I'm pretty sure that is somewhere we have already been. So does the red line show where we haven't been yet?"

Obviously she thought she saw a "red line" in the photo I gave her yesterday. I was a little afraid that would happen when I gave it to her, but I decided that the possible ambiguity could make it more interesting.

"So is Acapulco past the red line?" she continued. "Is that where my dreams begin?"

"Puerto Vallarta was the farthest we went on our last cruise," I responded truthfully (though I knew that it was irrelevant to her question). "But I think you're on the wrong 'track.'" ;)

"So have we been to the place in that picture or not?" she demanded.

"I'm actually not sure," I replied. "We have been near there, but we may not have come closer than a few miles.

"But," I continued, "you're assuming that the 'red line' is in the picture. Don't you remember that I told you that what is on the front of these photos may not relate to what is on the back?"

"Well it should!" she shot back, somewhat indignantly. (That's easy for her to say! I know how obsessive I can be over these clues, and if I had to relate every written clue to every photo clue my obsession would likely become unsustainable.)

"So you really think that today's photo has something to do with ping pong?"

At that point the conversation degenerated into a somewhat ridiculous exchange about ping pong that probably isn't worth posting here. :o

For the past few days, I have been conspiring with our DD (#10, who is 9 years old) to try to convince DW to take her shopping so that I would have the kitchen to myself, giving me time to prepare a future surprise (which I will give DW later this week). It took a couple of days for DW to agree to the shopping trip (as she suspected that I was up to something), but finally she agreed to do so yesterday.

Just before they left, I realized that this was a good opportunity for another clue, so I hurried and put together an envelope. On the front of the envelope, I wrote "To my favorite Life Jacket Model!"

(This photo, taken at the beginning of our 2010 Sapphire Princess cruise, might help explain that reference.)

I inserted this photo inside the envelope:

On the back I wrote "Prepare for an emergency – then prepare for fun!"

I brought the envelope to #10 just before they headed out the door. She had been keeping a $1 bill in her wallet, so I asked her to slip the envelope in next to it. Then I told her that I would send a text to DW at some point that would lead her to ask about what was in #10's wallet.

After they had been gone for a couple of hours, I sent DW this text message "Where she likes to keep her 'green' the precious little redhead now has a bit of gold." (If it isn't already obvious, #10 is a redhead.)

Over an hour later, I received a text reply from DW thanking me for the envelope and explaining that her phone hadn't been working. She later told me that it stopped working soon after she left home, and that she thought I had somehow disabled it as part of my scheme. Of course I had been too busy in the kitchen to realize that she was having phone problems. :(

Apparently when she finally received the text, DW said to #10 "I'm guessing you have a golden envelope" and #10 replied "do you think he means this?" while she handed over the envelope.

DW had apparently been a bit frustrated with me when she thought I had disabled her phone, but by the time she returned home she was in a better mood. :o

Thankfully, the phone problems bought me a little more time so that by the time they returned, I had removed all evidence of my little project from the kitchen! DW apparently thinks the whole scheme related to the envelope #10 gave her. :cool:

Tomorrow is our "engagement anniversary" (because I asked DW to marry me on 8/9/1984), which is a special day we always try to celebrate. We won't be home tomorrow, so I prepared a special breakfast for DW today, and I also served a little golden envelope with the breakfast.

What I wrote on the front of the envelope ("FORE!") seemed to confuse her, until she opened it up and read what I wrote on the back: "I understand that we will be near the golf course, but will we ever find it?" (When we were on the Sapphire Princess, we never did find the miniature golf course, but DW and I have fond memories of playing miniature golf together during our early years.) From the photos I have seen, I doubt that "Princess Links" will be a highlight of our cruise, but it still made a nice clue.

This is the picture I included in the envelope:

Gotta run....

Funny - my DH proposed to me on 8/11/1984! We were married 7 months later almost to the day!

Ok Damm why did I have to find this thread just AFTER I booked my FOS trip next year and told DW.....however there is no way I could keep it secret that long, a few months tops and I would blow it or loose intrest. Good Job!

I just found and read all this entire thread, I had no intention on being on this long tonight but I can identify with alot in this thread. DW and I are high school sweethearts, we cruised for our honeymoon she has chronic health issues, 7-3 is her bday and she deserves far more then I can give her for the pain the the behind I can be and the health issues she deals with daily. I too booked my FOS trip this far out just so we can work it into the budget. I could only dream of being able to do something on this scale. Lord knows I am not known for being overly emotional but I cried 4 times during this thread with things that have struck home.

Even if she found out the entire plan tomorrow it is still something she would remember if for no other reason the effort alone.

Funny - my DH proposed to me on 8/11/1984! We were married 7 months later almost to the day!

Wow, so you will be celebrating your 28th engagement anniversary this week too! Congratulations! (28 is a special number to us, so that makes this anniversary particularly special.) We were married almost 9 months after I proposed, but then our first child was born on our 8 month anniversary! :eek: (That raised a few eyebrows! He was a month premature, really he was!) :o

Ok Damm why did I have to find this thread just AFTER I booked my FOS trip next year and told DW.....however there is no way I could keep it secret that long, a few months tops and I would blow it or loose interest. Good Job!

 

I just found and read all this entire thread, I had no intention on being on this long tonight but I can identify with alot in this thread. DW and I are high school sweethearts, we cruised for our honeymoon she has chronic health issues, 7-3 is her bday and she deserves far more then I can give her for the pain the the behind I can be and the health issues she deals with daily. I too booked my FOS trip this far out just so we can work it into the budget. I could only dream of being able to do something on this scale. Lord knows I am not known for being overly emotional but I cried 4 times during this thread with things that have struck home.

 

Even if she found out the entire plan tomorrow it is still something she would remember if for no other reason the effort alone.

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!

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!