Surprising my wife with the cruise of her dreams

I have seen DH, DW, etc used on many other forums, not just here.

Used extensively on Cruise Critic. In fact, one of the regular posters on the Norwegian board has created a list, which is available in her signature.

Here you go.

he5904

May 29th, 2012, 02:14 AM

Here is the completed list that I have compiled of acronyms most commonly used on this NCL board. Thanks to other poster who have contributed.

Hope this helps those that come on this forum thinking that other posters are speaking in some secret code.;)

I will request this be put as a sticky and insert it into my signature.

Cruise Lingo (Acronyms)

ADA - American Disability Act (U.S.)

AARP - American Association of Retired Persons (U.S.)

AMEX - American Express

B+letter or number (BA, B1) - Balcony cabin categories

B2B or BTB- Back to Back cruises, usually on the same ship

BF - Boy Friend

BTW - by the way

CAS - Casinos at sea

CBP - Customs and Border Protection

CC - Cruise Critic

CCL - Carnival Cruise Line

CD - cruise director

CDC - Center for disease control

DCL - Disney cruise line

DD - dear daughter

DD# - dear daughter, the # represents their age

DDIL - dear Daughter In Law

DF - Dear Friend

DGD - Dear Granddaughter

DGS - Dear Grandson

DH - dear husband

DOD - Drink of the day

DOS - deluxe owners suite

DS - dear son

DS# - dear son, the # represents their age

DSC - Daily Service Charge now called Onboard service charge

DSiL - dear Son In Law

DW - dear wife

e-Docs - Electronic Documents

F&B - Food and Beverage director

FAQ - Frequently asked question

FCR - Freestyle cruise reward (NCL), sometimes referred to as a FCC or FCD

FD or Dailies - Freestyle Daily (daily newspaper with activities and information delivered to your cabin)

FIL - Father In Law

FOB - Friends of Bill W (AA Meeting)

FOD - Friends of Dorothy (LGBT Meeting)

FWIW - for what it's worth

FYI - for your information

GF - Girl Friend

GSC - Great Stirrup Cay (NCL's private island)

GTY - Guaranteed cabin (just not which one in the Category of the GTY)

GV - Garden Villa

HAL - Holland America Line

HC - "handicapped cabin", cabin designed for people with mobility issues

HD - hotel director

I+letter or number (IA, I1) - Inside cabin categories

IMHO - in my humble opinion

IMO - in my opinion

JK - Just Kidding

JMHO - just my humble opinion

LOL - laughing out loud

M+letter or number (MA, M1) - Mini-suite categories

M&G - Meet and Greet

MDR - Main Dining Room

MIL - Mother In Law

MSC - Mediterranean Shipping Company (cruise line)

NCL - Norwegian Cruise Line

OBC - On Board Credits

OMG - Oh My Gosh! or OH MY GOD!!

O+letter or number (OA, O1) - Oceanview cabin categories

OP - Original Poster (i.e., the person who started the thread)

OS - owners suite

OT - Off Topic

OTOH - on the other hand

OV - ocean view

PAX - passenger/s

PCC - Personal Cruise Consultant

PH - penthouse cabin

PITA - Pain in the “a**”

POA - Pride of America (NCL ship in Hawaii)

RCI or RCCL - Royal Caribbean International or Royal Caribbean Cruise Line

RM - Restaurant manager

ROFL - rolling on floor laughing

SHOREX - Shore Excursion (department)

S+letter or number (SA, S1) - Suite categories

SO - Significant Other

T+number (T1) - Studio cabin categories

TA - Can stand for either Travel Agent or Transatlantic, depending upon the useage in a Post/Thread

TSA - Transportation Security Administration (U.S. security)

WIFI - wireless internet connection

X - Celebrity Cruise Line

YMMV - Your mileage may vary (Your view, opinion or experience may vary)

My DH and I chose the hawaiian 15 day cruise due to the fact that we would get a taste of the Islands and have so many wonderful relaxing sea days. If we wanted a port intensive itinerary, than we would skip the cruise and just vacation in Hawaii. By the way to OP I love your report and hope that when you get back you will also write a trip report.

Man I wish I would have seen this after it was over! I want to know the outcome now..lol

The DW and I sail out on Feb 18 do I need to purchase the internet package to keep up?

I truly hope you and DW have a trip of a lifetime.I have my suspicions that you both more then deserve it with all you do for others.

When all is said and done it would be nice for your DW to make a cameo appearance on here to express her feelings through the year long process.

terrific surprise, can't remember if you ever posted a picture of your wife and you. Do you have one from your wedding day? Just feel like we have all gotten to know you and your wife and it would be nice to put a face(s) to the story.

Just a question, where does th Dh Ds DD come from? This is the only site I seen that Dear is used???

I just realized that you are new to Cruise Critic, so your previous reaction to my long drawn out "surprise" is not surprising. I'm not sure who originated the DW etc., but I lately I have tried not to overuse such codes in case they confuse someone new. Welcome!

Man I wish I would have seen this after it was over! I want to know the outcome now..lol

The DW and I sail out on Feb 18 do I need to purchase the internet package to keep up?

I truly hope you and DW have a trip of a lifetime.I have my suspicions that you both more then deserve it with all you do for others.

When all is said and done it would be nice for your DW to make a cameo appearance on here to express her feelings through the year long process.

Jaywings, you will hopefully get to read about the biggest part of the surprise (which will happen February 16) just before your sailaway. I don't know how long your February 18 cruise it, but I suspect that my postings here will be relatively quiet from February 18 to about March 24 (it will be a busy ministry time for us).

I do hope that my wife will make an appearance here, maybe in April or May after the cruise. (Hopefully nothing I have written here has embarrassed her too much.)

Thanks for the kind words. Enjoy your cruise!

terrific surprise, can't remember if you ever posted a picture of your wife and you. Do you have one from your wedding day? Just feel like we have all gotten to know you and your wife and it would be nice to put a face(s) to the story.

Well, I'm not sure if the "powers that be" at Cruise Critic will approve of this (I have noticed some of my other photos being deleted), but since you asked, here we are on our wedding day:

As a bonus, here is the picture that was printed in the paper announcing our engagement:

(Yes, we really used this old fashioned picture, taken just a day or two before I proposed to her, to announce our engagement.)

Just to make sure that this post has some relevance to our upcoming cruise, here she is at 20 in an Oahu pineapple field:

And here she is at 20 sitting on a wall overlooking Honolulu, I think.

(Does anybody have any idea where this is? I would like for her to be able to visit this location and maybe reenact this photo on our upcoming cruise. I wasn't with her when she visited Oahu 30 years ago.)

Here's one of my favorite photos of us, which I hadn't recalled seeing until last year when my sister sent it to me when she learned that I was collecting photos of my wife throughout the years.

She was just 15 at the time! I was a bit embarrassed when I first saw the photo, as it captured those sparks of love that flew between us early in our relationship. We had to break up for a few years because things were getting a little too hot!

One last bonus: I just love this picture of her smiling face when she was just 12 (probably about the age that she learned the Hukilau song):

If you missed some of the previous photos I posted in this thread, I just did a quick scan and noticed that these others are still online:

post #28 - recent family photo

post #35 - on our honeymoon

post #60 - at Yosemite when DW was 35

post #99 - at Mt. Baldy in 2012

post #101 - with our new granddaughter in 2012

post #119 - at muster on our last cruise (2010)

post #139 - on the day she guessed that I'm taking her to Hawaii

post #147 - kayaking in Morro Bay (in preparation for the surprise)

post #159 - at a birth in September 2012

post #166 - welcoming Shuttle Endeavor to LA, September 2012

post #247 - putting the puzzle together, New Year's Day

Now I need to get back to packing. We're heading out to Death Valley in the morning!

Thanks for sharing all the pics!

Could that picture be at the Diamond Head overlook?

The photo of her on the wall, with downtown Honolulu in the background, is from the Punchbowl lookout. Landmarks are: Gray building = Honolulu municipal building, grassy area is the park/land around city Hall, between Punchbowl Street and Alapai Strret, and waffle looking roof is the Blaisdell Center (HIC).

Renee (displace local girl)

The photo of her on the wall, with downtown Honolulu in the background, is from the Punchbowl lookout. Landmarks are: Gray building = Honolulu municipal building, grassy area is the park/land around city Hall, between Punchbowl Street and Alapai Strret, and waffle looking roof is the Blaisdell Center (HIC).

 

Renee (displace local girl)

Thanks Renee! I thought you might know! As you know from what I shared with you elsewhere, this is already on my planned itinerary, so that's great news! Now I just need to figure out how to get to the lookout at Punchbowl.

We wanted to take some time off to be with the kids this week because our busiest ministry time of the year is coming up. I had the bright idea (?) of taking a family trip to Death Valley, because we had never been there. In spite of the fact that my precious wife hates going to places with "devil" or "death" in the name, she drove wherever I asked her to without complaint (except for some good-natured and well-deserved ribbing), even when my plans involved going down miles of very bumpy dirt roads. While nobody enjoyed the bumps, they took us to some landmarks the kids remembered from old movies and TV shows, so eventually everyone thought it was worth the drive (I think).

Of course I had in mind using Death Valley as the setting for a special clue -- one which I hope will eventually be one of the funniest clues I gave her. I had prepared a golden envelope before we left home, but I hadn't figured out what to write on the front. After rejecting such gems as "to the one who gets me over life's bumps" I finally knew what to write when we passed a sign indicating "Elevation Sea Level."

So while DW continued driving through Death Valley, I discretely took out the envelope and wrote on the front "'Sea Level' (it's a sign)". After a long day of bumpy driving, the kids were grumpy and DW's patience with them was wearing thin.

When I saw Golden Canyon on the map (not far from the lowest point in the United States) I knew that we had to make this part of our quick visit. But as we drew close to Golden Canyon, the light of the sun was quickly fading. I knew that it would be too dark to take even the short Golden Canyon hike, so when I saw the Golden Canyon sign, I asked DW "could you pull over here for just a minute?" I knew that I deserved for her to refuse, but thankfully she didn't let her irritation with the kids affect her reaction.

When the van stopped, I ventured out into the wind, quickly slipping the golden envelope behind the Golden Canyon sign, hoping that DW wouldn't notice it yet. Then I quickly hurried to see if I would have enough light for a picture. While I took a couple of test shots, I noticed something fly by my head. Something told me I'd better see what it was.

It was the golden envelope!

Not quite smart enough to learn my lesson, I went back and put the envelope behind the sign.

Moments later, DW emerged from the van.

I asked "Can I get a quick shot of you by the sign?"

Without complaint, DW complied. But she chose to stand on the side which was farthest away from the golden envelope I had hidden. So after taking this photo:

I asked her to stand on the opposite sign, just a little behind the sign (as if that would somehow be better for the lighting). Once she stood there, she quickly found the envelope (which thankfully had not blown away).

"Did you notice me put that there?" I inquired, assuming that she had seen my antics when it blew away.

"No," she responded with a strange mixture of irritation and happiness, "I was too busy arguing with the kids."

After reading the front of the envelope, she asked "so where's the 'Sea Level' sign?" (I think she was just poking fun at me.)

"I got confused," I replied. "But -- it is still a 'sign'!" Little does she know what will happen at "sea level" in just a few days.

Giving me a big kiss and hug, she said "we'll have to come back to Golden Canyon some time." Wow! I thought she would never want to get near Death Valley again (not that she ever did)!

Getting back in the driver's seat to take refuge from the wind, DW opened the golden envelope, seeing this picture:

On the back I had written "Why are there so many chickens at this beautiful place of death? – Your love is the highlight of my life."

DW was perplexed, and probably a bit frustrated at me for going to such lengths to give her such a strange clue. "'Why are there so many chickens?? What in the world are you talking about?!? I don't see any chickens!"

"He probably just means that we're chicken," DS#7 responded.

"Maybe he's going to feed you chicken," DS#4 conjectured.

"There are no chickens out here," DW repeated, as if she was conclusively proving me wrong. "Vultures, maybe, but no chickens!"

I just laughed, anticipating DW's reaction of seeing the chickens in a few weeks.

Sounds great! I am hooked, can't wait until sail day for you two!

After our visit to Death Valley, we had arranged to pick some things up for the ministry at a warehouse in Las Vegas. On the way there, I noticed an offramp for "Rental Car Return."

"Wow," I said, hoping to get my wife's attention, "they actually have an offramp here for rental car return."

Seeing no reaction, I added "By the way, that's a clue."

That got her attention. "So we're renting a car? We're gonna drive to Hawaii?"

I assumed that she was just putting on an act, but eventually it became apparent that the relationship of a rental car to a Hawaiian cruise was really puzzling her. That surprised me, because I thought she had said that when she visited Oahu 30 years ago they rented a car.

"We ARE going on a cruse..." her voice trailed off. Eventually after a long pause, she added "right?"

I didn't want to spoil the fun quite yet. (Now don't get mad at me, ladies. Remember that in less than a week she will see exactly where this is headed.)

Losing patience with me, she demanded an answer to her question "are we really going to rent a car?"

"I thought you might like that," I quietly replied, pretending that I was hurt by her unappreciative reaction.

"Today?"

"No, not today."

About that time, we drove by Tahiti Village. I pointed it out to DW, quickly adding "that's not really a clue."

She was not interested in changing the subject away from rental cars, asking "how soon is this taking place?"

"It depends what 'this' means," I responded.

Tired of playing games, she shot back "'This' rental car 'this'!"

I knew the date in my head, but had to check the calendar to be sure that it was really right. Could it be? That's too funny to be true! Yes, the calendar verified my memory:

"April Fool's Day!" I announced.

Whew! I think I got out of that mess!

In the morning we needed to be on a ministry conference call while we were at the hotel. DW decided to take a bath during the conference call. Afterwards, she asked me "should I have told them I was in the bathtub?"

I don't like embarrassing situations, so I told her I was glad that she refrained from revealing that.

Apparently regretting the fact that she didn't tell the others she was in the bathtub, DW exclaimed "but I like to make people laugh!"

"You have made people laugh that you don't even know about," I replied.

DW tried to make sense of my comment, asking "was that a compliment or an insult?"

"That was a compliment," I assured her, "and also a clue."

"Well, I don't understand it."

If you blush easily, or you have never seen the movie Kate and Leopold, you may want to skip this post. Things might get a little too personal here (if you know how to read between the lines a bit).

For the sake of the children in the room, I'll just say that my wife and I had an enjoyable Friday evening which began with her surprising me by changing into a special outfit. Let me also say that we hadn't experienced such enjoyments for a few weeks (things had just been too busy, and all too often there were in fact children in the room).

Friday night, there were definitely no children in the room.

When I could see where things were going, I told DW "I have been really looking forward to Valentine's Day."

"I'm sure Valentine's Day will be great too," she purred.

"What do you want for Valentine's Day?" I asked. "I'm not sure what to get you." (Ok, I lied.)

Turning the tables on me, she directed my question right back at me: "What would you like for Valentine's Day?"

"I want to spend every moment with you... and then some," I replied. "In fact, I may not want Valentine's Day to ever end."

As we embraced each other with our eyes, DW said "you're my best friend." Our eyes both filled with tears as I replied "you're my best friend too."

Early in the morning while she was still asleep, I slipped a golden envelope into the back pocket of the jeans I thought she would wear. I put this photo inside the envelope:

On the back of the photo I wrote "Your dreams will begin below Roebling's [bridge] – You always know how to get my attention!" I actually didn't write the word "bridge," but instead wrote the "e" word Roebling used in Kate and Leopold. :o After hiding the envelope, I got back into bed.

When she woke up, DW turned to me in bed and confessed "I have 'I fell in love with San Pedro' on my mind." (This is a line from La Isla Bonita, the first song on the CD I gave her for her 49th birthday.)

"Me too," I responded (I have had it on my mind for months).

Acting offended, DW replied "That's not very nice!"

"San Pedro is not a person, it's a place."

"I know."

When she got dressed, I was glad to see that she wore the jeans I predicted she would wear. As she sat on the bed after getting dressed I texted her the message "Don't sit on it!"

She stood up and quickly, felt around in her back pockets and found the envelope.

When she read "to my best friend" on the front of the envelope, she responded "aww.... I've heard that somewhere before."

She laughed when she saw the photo, exclaiming "what is that?" (I'm not sure what she thought was so funny.)

After reading what I wrote on the back, she asked "who's Roebling?" (No mention of the "e" word.)

"You don't remember?" I asked. We've watched Kate and Leopold a few times over the years, but I guess it has stuck in my mind more than hers. "I don't have time to explain it right now."

"That's not the dude I asked about before, is it? That not 'Hamilton' is it?" (I don't know why she keeps going back to "Hamilton." I thought she had figured out long ago that it was the home port of the ship we will be going on. Then again, she might just be saying it as a joke.)

Looking at the puzzle piece (without having the rest of the puzzle nearby), she immediately recognized it as my face, with my nose and smile and part of my eyes. (I try to save the more special puzzle pieces for the more special times.)

I wanted to watch Kate and Leopold with her sometime on Saturday, to help her begin to unlock the mystery while the clue was still fresh in her mind, but Saturday was a long day. Finally when she was exhausted at the end of the day, I asked if we could watch it. I knew we wouldn't see the whole thing, but I hoped that

The next morning, I asked again if we could watch Kate and Leopold. (I knew we wouldn't have time to watch the whole movie, but I thought we could see enough for her to get the point.)

This time, she laughed when she heard the "e" word, and every time she heard it again she laughed more, looking at me with a smirk. Finally, when she heard Roebling's name mentioned (and displayed on the screen, because I had turned on the captions), she got the connection.

It wasn't quite like a light bulb going on in her head, though. "So now you're taking me to New York? I'm really confused."

"Your confusion will end soon," I replied, trying not to enjoy her confusion too much. "It will all make sense by the end of the week."

Then I confessed something to her that I have been wanting to tell her for a while. As I have thought about how to improve our relationship, I recognized that communication is the key to a good relationship, and that eye contact is the key to good communication. "I have a problem, though," I said as I looked into her eyes, "when I look into your eyes it is really hard to concentrate on what you are saying...."

The way she responded seemed to indicate that she understood and appreciated my problem. ;)

Well, today is the big day that I have been planning for over a year! And in spite of all of the planning, I'm not ready!

I packed our cruise bags last week (just before the Death Valley trip) and expect to bring our packed bags with us now until the cruise begins. But there are still a lot of other details I need to finish up (including several clues and writing her Valentine's Day card).

DW and I had a lot of ministry details to deal with yesterday (for a while it looked like we might not even be able to go!), so we didn't get home until after 1 am. I thought she would be sleeping in, but she already came in a few minutes ago ready to go! I had wanted to get an early start on this day, but I had to put her off!

Much of this day will not be cruise-related, but will be in celebration of DW's life and in remembering some parts of this year of clues, and much of this day will be reminiscent of what we did on Valentine's Day 2012, so I may not post much here about it. Tomorrow will be one big surprise, followed by another one on Saturday (the BVE).

I feel like I have just climbed to the top of a roller coaster -- looking forward to the ride but a bit anxious.

Well, today is the big day that I have been planning for over a year! And in spite of all of the planning, I'm not ready!

 

I packed our cruise bags last week (just before the Death Valley trip) and expect to bring our packed bags with us now until the cruise begins. But there are still a lot of other details I need to finish up (including several clues and writing her Valentine's Day card).

 

DW and I had a lot of ministry details to deal with yesterday (for a while it looked like we might not even be able to go!), so we didn't get home until after 1 am. I thought she would be sleeping in, but she already came in a few minutes ago ready to go! I had wanted to get an early start on this day, but I had to put her off!

 

Much of this day will not be cruise-related, but will be in celebration of DW's life and in remembering some parts of this year of clues, and much of this day will be reminiscent of what we did on Valentine's Day 2012, so I may not post much here about it. Tomorrow will be one big surprise, followed by another one on Saturday (the BVE).

 

I feel like I have just climbed to the top of a roller coaster -- looking forward to the ride but a bit anxious.

Safe travels!

Just stopped at our mailbox and found something that will definitely brighten our Valentine's Day: our Elua CDs have arrived! :D

Dave mailed them last Thursday from Maui so I wasn't sure if we would get them in time.

This morning before we left, I decorated the dashboard of our van with some decals depicting ocean waves. When DW got in the driver seat (while I was still getting other things ready) she took this picture:

She posted it on Facebook with this comment: "My husband threw a surprise 50th day party last year for my 49th birthday. But, he has been keeping a secret of my present and giving clues for almost a year. He is apparently going to fill in some of the blanks today! The dash board of the van is a clue. He's very sentimental and romantic! Always has been! Love my thoughtful husband! Happy ♥ Day"

Later I posted this comment: "It actually wasn't my idea ;)" (The idea actually came from a CC user, I think her name is silverbird.)

When DW saw my comment, she seemed confused, asking "it wasn't your idea?? Whose idea would it be?"

"Somebody I've never met," I replied honestly.

"Oooo...kkkk...." she shrugged, obviously still confused.

I had also found a picture of the Carnival Paradise which we had picked up on our first cruise, and put it on the dash.

She seemed genuinely disturbed, saying "I thought we were going on Princess, not Carnival. Haven't you heard what has been going on with Carnival?"

Then she turned on the radio and we listened together as a talk show host used the current Carnival disaster as the reason that he "never wants to set foot on a cruise ship again."

Not the best beginning, but at least we are on the road!

Can't wait for the details of the big reveal, you're getting so close.

Several months ago when my wife asked when the answer to these clues would be revealed, I told her "it's kind of an anniversary thing."

DW wasn't thrilled about my answer at the time, pouting "I have to wait that long?" (Our wedding anniversary is April 28, but of course I wasn't referring to our wedding anniversary.)

When I walked by the greeting card section of a department store a few weeks ago, my eyes happened to catch a card bearing the message "On our Valentine Anniversary." Of course I bought it and saved it for yesterday.

The rest of the message printed on the card was "With All my heart - With all my love - My anniversary wish for you is that you always know how deeply I love you, how much I need you, and how grateful I am for the gift of your love in my life. Happy Anniversary Happy Valentine's Day."

Above the pre-printed message, I wrote (in gold ink) "To Maika'ino" (the name I began calling her several months ago). At the bottom I wrote "Te quiero mucho con todo mi corazon!" (She used to often say those exact Spanish words to me back when we were teenagers.) Then I put the card into its big red envelope. This wasn't one of my little golden envelopes, so it wasn't the place for a puzzle piece. Instead, I put this charm bracelet (bearing no charms) inside:

When I was getting the van ready for our Valentine's Day trip in the morning, I slipped the big red envelope into a little pink zipped case DW uses to keep some personal items in our van. The front of the case (which DW affectionately refers to as "my pink thing") bears pictures of three Disney princesses.

When DW was heading for the van (and I was shaving, which I'll explain later), I sent her this text message: "are the princesses blushing?"

It took her a few minutes, but she soon found the card. When she saw me a few minutes later, she commented "hmm... you have Hawaiian and Spanish on the same card."

"Why does it say 'Valentine Anniversary'?" DW inquired.

"They were running low on cards at the store," I kidded, "but I liked the message so much I got it anyway." Then DW began talking about the first Valentine's Day present I ever gave her, saying "I guess you could say that this is an anniversary of that Valentine's Day."

DW seemed to be genuinely pleased with the bracelet, and didn't seem at all concerned about the lack of charms.

By the time we got on the road, we were already several hours late for what I had planned. To make matters worse, we both were still dealing with ministry details on the trip, through our phones and the computer. I apologized to DW that I was so distracted, telling her that I had hoped to put everything else aside and just focus on her for Valentine's Day. She replied that she was just grateful that we were able to get away together at all (it had seemed for a while that it might have been impossible).

I had planned to shave my beard off for Valentine's Day, but it didn't turn out to be quite the clue I had hoped it would be. I grew the beard a few months ago, but DW was not happy with it. I had intended to give her a clue at some point saying "the next time you see my face, mysteries will be revealed," but I wanted to give her the clue at a time when we would be apart for a day or two, and that never happened. But at least she enjoyed seeing my face again.

Our primary destination for the day was the same as last Valentine's Day: Puddingstone Lake, near Glendora and Azusa, where DW spent her early years. But this time we were able to locate the beach where she remembers swimming as a child, with Mt. Baldy towering above it. I had always wondered why in DW's mind Puddingstone Lake was by Mt. Baldy, but not anymore.

As we walked hand in hand toward the little beach, I asked DW "How long have you known that 'Maika'ino' is Hawaiian?"

"Pretty much the whole time," she nonchalantly replied.

"Do you know what it means?" I asked.

"No."

"Well," I confessed, "if you ask someone who is Hawaiian, they might say it doesn't mean anything at all, because I might not have translated it right, or I might not be pronouncing it right." I almost went ahead and told her that it means "terrific" (the nickname her dad gave her) but I decided to save that for later.

Soon we made our way to the Puddingstone Hot Tubs Resort, where I had made reservations for us to watch the sunset together from a hot tub, just like last Valentine's Day. I made sure not to bring my cell phone, because we had been dealing with too many ministry calls and I wanted at least our hour in the hot tub to be uninterrupted.

On our way down to the little hot tub shack, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to bring the golden envelope I had prepared for the occasion. As the door closed behind us, DW recalled that this was the first place where she heard the songs on the Fanfare CD I have had her listening to over the past year. My original plan was to have her hear those same songs again this year, but she has heard those songs so many times already that it wouldn't have meant much. I'm glad that I had a much better alternative. After the first two Fanfare songs, I put in the instrumental CD I had just received of Elua's Dave Soreff playing the steel guitar.

DW reacted immediately, "that music sounds Hawaiian." But her voice sounded strange, almost worried.

After a long pause, she added slowly "so... is this... 'it'? Is this supposed to be like we are in Hawaii?"

"If we were in a hot tub in Hawaii, wouldn't it feel like this?" I replied with a smile, knowing that her confusion wouldn't last much longer.

The hour flew by, with Dave's background music ending right on cue. DW gathered up the rose, teddy bear and candy provided with the hot tub rental and we headed back to our van. I found the little golden envelope I had prepared, and slipped it under the transparent wrapping paper which surrounded the rose, then I put the rose next to the dashboard.

DW immediately found the envelope and opened it. On the front I had written "To my 'Home Sweet Home.'" Inside was this photo:

"Ooh! Pretty!" DW exclaimed. "And there's a rainbow!"

On the back of the photo I had written "This place is beautiful, but it is really for the birds! – (If you're a bird, I'm a bird)." DW immediately recalled that line from the movie The Notebook, but she made no comment about what I had written on the front, which is also a reference to one of the most touching lines in the movie, when James Garner says to his children "your mother is my home."

We hadn't eaten much for the day (we literally snacked on tortilla chips and coconut on the way to Puddingstone -- what a combination!) and it was too late to go to the little restaurant where I had planned for us to eat, so we grabbed some fast food, which was surprisingly satisfying. (I knew that the opportunity for some much better dining was just over the horizon.)

DW was exhausted at the end of the day, so we didn't even watch The Notebook like I had planned. (We didn't need to watch it though, because she already understood the reference I had made in the clue.)

Sounding more puzzled than disappointed, DW said "I thought all the dots were going to come together today."

"I'm going to have to ask your permission to extend Valentine's Day here, because we didn't have a chance to do everything I had planned," I replied. "If we could just add some additional hours to Valentine's Day, then what I said would come true." (Of course, I had planned all along for Valentine's Day to last three days this year, but the fact that we had missed some of my plans for the day made things easy to explain.)

"It may seem like this was a sequel to last Valentine's Day," I continued, "but the truth is that last Valentine's Day was the prequel to today. I had planned Valentine's Day 2013 long before I made plans for Valentine's Day 2012."

"So does that mean we won't do this next year?"

"I'm not ruling out the possibility of a sequel." :)

Yesterday was an unbelievably perfect day, although there were times that made both my wife and myself extremely nervous. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After making so many plans for this day for such a long time (some of which were timed to the minute), I tried to mentally program myself to be in what I call "cruise mode," not to be too rigid, but to go with the flow. It's definitely a balancing act, but I tried to remind myself that we will enjoy the experience more if I try to be flexible.

As DW awoke, I played "When You Wish Upon a Star" while she looked out over the Glendora-Azusa-West Covina area where she was born and raised. I had meant to play this song the night before as we looked at the stars together, but she had been too exhausted.

"Did you notice any stars last night?" I asked.

"Yes, I did," DW replied.

"What would you have wished for?"

"A cruise to Hawaii," DW answered without hesitation. "So what are all your wild plans for today?"

Quoting the clue I had given her months ago on Mt. Baldy, I replied "From the place of your birth, to the place of your dreams!"

"Today? Wow! Do you have a time warp machine or what? Where is the portal?" DW laughed.

"Today will be a celebration of your past, present, and future."

As she followed my directions, driving through these communities of her childhood, I explained that I had done some research and identified the location of the hospital where she was born. She has been puzzled about that for years. But when we got there, she told me that I was wrong! We drove down the street looking for other landmarks that she said should have been by the hospital.

I struggled to stay in "cruise mode" at this point, knowing that this was taking much more time than I had planned (and in my original plans this morning drive was to have taken place one day earlier, on Valentine's Day, so I really didn't have much extra time).

At some point I realized that her birth certificate could help to prove my point. I had brought her birth certificate because we needed it to board the Sapphire Princess today, but when I looked for the birth certificate it didn't seem to be in the place where I had put it. When DW noticed my concern about the birth certificate, she seemed to become anxious too, apparently realizing the connection between the birth certificate and a cruise. She began asking questions about where the kids are going to be and her ministry plans for the coming days, obviously thinking that she might be gone for a while. She almost demanded answers, but I tried to stay tight-lipped.

When I expressed a little concern about being behind schedule, that only made things worse. "We're not missing the boat or anything are we?" DW asked.

"Not yet," I replied.

"We're not going on a boat, are we? You said last night that it will happen after [our busy ministry time]! We're not going anywhere for a long time, right?"

"That depends upon your definition of 'long,'" I replied with a wink.

"You really are just kidding, right?"

"I've made arrangements to deal with your concerns, so just chill!"

"You're definitely keeping me guessing. I would have kissed the kids better if I had known I wasn't going to see them for a while! I feel a kind of *ugh* in my stomach right now!"

"I have been feeling that for a while now."

Eventually we headed back to where I told her the hospital had been, and went inside to talk to someone to confirm that I was right. Whew! (Finally we could move past that.) We took a photo outside the site of the place of her birth (with Mt. Baldy towering above it), and moved on to take photos outside each of the places where she had lived (all of which we located, although we had been uncertain about the exact location of some of them).

On our way to where I thought the Aloha Motel had been located, DW noticed a little convenience store which had been next door to the Aloha Motel.

My notes about where the Aloha Motel had been located were about a mile off, so DW's memories of going to the convenience store saved me some wasted time.

Finally we were on our way to San Pedro, under such beautiful blue skies we almost didn't notice the touch of smog. Although I thought we were cutting things too close to get to San Pedro in time, I tried to stay in "cruise mode."

"So are we really needing to be somewhere or we'll miss it?" she asked.

"At some point, yeah."

"Now I'm getting nervous! Usually I know enough or am anticipating that I know what's going on more, but I don't know now and I don't like that! We're not going to Hawaii today are we?"

"Not today."

"You're just taking me to San Diego, where that Hawaiian hotel is, right?" (She was referring to the Hanalei Hotel, one of the places I have used over the years as a cheap substitute for the fact that I knew she wanted us to go to Hawaii.)

After I played "When You Wish Upon a Star" again, DW started playing the Fanfare CD I had given her on her 49th birthday. "Another perfect day," Randy Newman sings, "I love LA!"

No doubt about it. This truly was a perfect day.

"I had planned for us to drive down Imperial Highway today," I explained, "but we don't have time. Too bad we never made it to Sixth Street" (the final street mentioned in Randy Newman's song). We had driven on all of the other streets mentioned in the song over the past several months.

I directed DW toward Western Avenue, hoping to conceal our destination as long as possible.

But after we were on Western Avenue for a few minutes, DW pointed left toward a sight in the distance. "Isn't that the bridge in the clues you gave me?"

"You weren't supposed to see that yet," I nervously replied. "Just pretend you didn't see that."

"You're just showing me where we're going to be some time, but not today, right? We're not going anywhere today, right? We're going to do it some other time, right?"

"Just hold on for the ride here."

I pointed out "Maui Chicken" as we passed by, and then I told DW to make a couple of left turns.

"Wow," I exclaimed, feigning surprise, "look at that! We're on Sixth Street!" (I'm sure that Randy Newman was referring to Sixth Street in downtown LA, but I don't care.)

We continued west on Sixth Street in San Pedro (with a little detour because of the farmer's market blocking some of the streets) until Sixth Street finally ended at an appropriate location (the location I had planned before I realized its proximity to Sixth Street).

"Look," I continued the act, "it's an Acapulco Restaurant! We'll have lunch there in a little while. But first we need to do something else." I directed DW toward a little railroad loading platform nearby.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

"We're going to the place of your dreams. But don't worry, you're fine. You don't have to worry about bringing anything."

As we got out of our van and walked toward the platform, DW noticed snow-capped Mt. Baldy in the distance.

Perfect!

"That's our bridge!" DW proclaimed.

"Well," I replied, as if she had backed me into a corner, "you could be on to something."

"So we're going to jump off?" DW kidded.

The unbelievably perfect day continued as the Red Car approached right when we reached the platform. I explained to DW that for only $1 per person we could ride all day.

"And you thought we were going on a cruise ship!" I kidded.

As we boarded the Red Car, the conductor remarked about the beautiful weather, explaining that just last weekend it was miserable here, rainy and cold.

As the little streetcar began to slow down, DW remarked "so, we're coming to the end of the 'red line.' Hmmm..."

Then she saw the fountains, exclaiming "aha!"

"You recognize that already?"

The music of Lara's Theme from Dr. Zhivago filled the air. It was the first song of the noon show at the Fanfare Fountains. We arrived right on time!

As we stepped out of the Red Car, DW proclaimed "hey, I recognize that song!"

Turning to me with a look of amazement, she asked "how did you know it played that song?"

In my excitement, I short-circuited some of my own clues with some premature explanations. "Do you recognize that building? That's where we boarded the cruise ship. But," (pretending to be disappointed) "there's no cruise ship today." Then I started to explain how I had put the songs the Fanfare Fountain plays on her Fanfare CD.

"You mean it plays the other songs too?" she responded with shock.

[insert facepalm smilie here] :mad:

I thought that once she heard the first song, she would have known that the other songs were also from the fountain. Oh well, I need to put myself back in "cruise mode."

Of course I had prepared a golden envelope for the occasion, but I wasn't sure exactly how I would give it to her. To protect the envelope, I decided to put it between the two Red Car tickets we had received and slip it into my back pocket, hoping to find an opportune moment to give her the envelope later.

As we continued watching the fountain show, DW suddenly looked worried. "What did you do with our Red Car tickets?"

"They are in my back pocket." Unbelievable. I did not plan this.

DW reached for the tickets in my back pocket, and quickly found the golden envelope between the tickets.

Reading the front of the envelope, where I had written "Do you trust me?", DW nervously responded "why? I'm not sure what that means."

Inside was this photo (not the ideal selection for the moment, but my options are becoming more limited and after today this photo would be moot):

On the back I had written "Roebling's bridge has something in common with you (Happy 50th!) – I like the way you're built! ;-)"

"Well, it's older than 50 years...." DW's voice trailed off, "isn't it? Right?"

I shrugged.

"What?" DW seemed to be getting frustrated with me. "You're not going to say anything?"

"Not yet," I laughed, "I'll let you think about that a little more."

"You're not going to make me jump off into the portal are you? I'm going to have to watch that movie again. You're talking about today?" DW's voice was becoming a bit frantic. "I have to trust in you today??"

"Today, tomorrow, the next day," I grinned.

That only seemed to make her more nervous.

As we continued to watch the fountain show, we enjoyed the occasional glimpse of a rainbow in the fountain mist.

Perfect.

"Let's see who can guess which song is next," I challenged DW.

"The Hawaiian song," DW quickly answered.

"That was my guess too!" I declared. (In truth, as I later explained to her, I had done some research to find out exactly when each song would be playing, not content to leave it to chance, so my "guess" was not a guess at all.)

As the Hawaiian War Dance began to play, DW asked "so what do we win?"

"We win each other," I answered with a smirk.

DW had a better idea. "We win a cruise to Hawaii!"

The final song of the show was When You Wish Upon a Star. As the song began to play, I turned to look at DW and saw tears streaming down her face. (Up to this point I think she may have been in a bit of shock.)

In spite of the weird syrupy theology(?) of the song's lyrics, it was the perfect ending. I had no idea how perfect this would be a couple of weeks ago when I received the fountain schedule and saw that song listed as part of the show. I was so disappointed because that song was not a part of the fountain's repertoire when I made the CD over a year ago. I remember telling myself at the time "this is stupid. In a year and a half they will probably change some of those songs," so I guess I'm lucky that this song was the only new one.

But after my initial disappointment, I decided just to go with the flow, and took the opportunity to play When You Wish Upon a Star for DW a few times before we got to the fountains.

As the Fanfare Fountain show ended, I gave DW a hug and a kiss, whispering "well, my dreams are coming true!"

Wow, I remember when you started this journey of surprise with the puzzle pieces and envelopes etc. And now I stumble across the end bit, but obviously have to wait a bit longer to see how it all worked out!

You must be on the cruise right now, so I hope it is all that you wanted it to be. Happy sailing:):):)

Im confused. OP last post refered to boarding Sapphire princess today sapphire goes to mexico 2/16 not Hawaii

He did the Bon Voyage Experience. They get to go on and have lunch & stuff. The Hawaii cruise is in a few months.