Birthday surprise for Riley
As Riley is turning 11, Jeremy and I have been working to make Riley's biggest hope this year come true. It's taken some planning and creativity and we're so close to having it all reserved. She has become a huge Harry Potter fan and wants to go to Harry Potter world more than anything. As Julia hasn't read the books and Jeremy has vacationed only once in five years and enjoys Potter as well, I thought it'd be amazing for the two of them to go on a trip together. It'd be more cost effective as there would only be two of them and we wouldn't have to juggle the needs of two kids. The two of them could do what they wanted to do and focus could be on the two of them.
Riley has shared that she doesn't want any presents this year unless it's a trip to Harry Potter World (as we call it) because she'd rather we saved our money than spend it on smaller things because it's all she wants.
In an effort to give Julia inside knowledge of what's coming and keep the jealousy/possible teary moment from making Riley feel bad when she opens the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter with tickets and information on her birthday, I chose to share what was coming up in two weeks with Julia. I explained that she and I will be taking one or two days off of school in the fall to have time together to do random things while Jeremy and Riley took the trip to Harry Potter World. Her eyes became really big and her jaw opened. She smiled huge and said that Riley was going to die from excitement. Julia shared that she thought Riley would cry as she'll be so happy.
Then I whispered that she'd have to keep this a secret for the next two+ weeks until the day of Riley's birthday when she was able to open the presents. Julia replied "Mom, I am really good at keeping secrets. I'm keeping at least 50 secrets from you right now."
Riley has had several moments of crying as she understands that many of her friends are going or have gone to Universal and she knows that it might not be a reality for her for some time as we've dealt with fixing home things (plumbing is so fun). We have shared that we're doing the best we can and that one of the biggest lessons in life is to be able to be happy for your friends as they do amazing things while waiting for your time to come. It's a tough one.
We are looking forward to seeing her reaction, giving her great memories, and making this hope into a reality.
Riley has shared that she doesn't want any presents this year unless it's a trip to Harry Potter World (as we call it) because she'd rather we saved our money than spend it on smaller things because it's all she wants.
In an effort to give Julia inside knowledge of what's coming and keep the jealousy/possible teary moment from making Riley feel bad when she opens the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter with tickets and information on her birthday, I chose to share what was coming up in two weeks with Julia. I explained that she and I will be taking one or two days off of school in the fall to have time together to do random things while Jeremy and Riley took the trip to Harry Potter World. Her eyes became really big and her jaw opened. She smiled huge and said that Riley was going to die from excitement. Julia shared that she thought Riley would cry as she'll be so happy.
Then I whispered that she'd have to keep this a secret for the next two+ weeks until the day of Riley's birthday when she was able to open the presents. Julia replied "Mom, I am really good at keeping secrets. I'm keeping at least 50 secrets from you right now."
Riley has had several moments of crying as she understands that many of her friends are going or have gone to Universal and she knows that it might not be a reality for her for some time as we've dealt with fixing home things (plumbing is so fun). We have shared that we're doing the best we can and that one of the biggest lessons in life is to be able to be happy for your friends as they do amazing things while waiting for your time to come. It's a tough one.
We are looking forward to seeing her reaction, giving her great memories, and making this hope into a reality.
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