sleepydog25
Been here awhile
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
[FONT="]The Intro[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hi. My name is Patrick, and I love to give surprises. My wife knows that. I also keep secrets wrapped like a mummy. My wife also knows this. Yet, knowledge of both didnt help her see what was coming. . .not one little bit. [/FONT]
[FONT="]You see, she had a birthday coming up, a momentous one, though it was the number that shall not be named. (Im also not stupid.) We found each other later in life, and I wanted this auspicious birthday to not be forgotten. It was days after Thanksgiving, and though her birthday was nearly five months off, I needed a plan, something to knock her socks off--something shed never see coming (see above). My first thoughts were of a DCL cruise, yet wed done two of those, and while we loved them, another cruise seemed passé. Given how winter seemed to have started early, naturally thoughts came to me about a few days on the beach in Jamaica, or St. Lucia, or you can fill in the blank. For a couple of weeks, that was my planned course of action, going so far as to check rates for specific days and costs for flights. I compared several resorts and narrowed the choice down to three. Something just didnt feel right, however. We arent just sit at the beach all day types, and doing any sort of excursions and day trips or activities generally meant a bigger budget than with which I felt comfortable.[/FONT]
[FONT="]One day, we were watching a Disneyland special on TV, and it struck me like a lightning boltshes never been to Disneyland! We are Walt Disney World vets, going on average a couple of times a year, and we even got married there. I was stationed in SoCal a couple of decades ago, and though things had changed tremendously, I could at least say Id been to DL a few times. My wife had zip, nada, bupkiss experience with DL. The seed was planted. From that moment forward, I knew what her surprise would be. Still, just doing a trip to DL wasnt good enoughit had to be a surprise. To pull it off, however, would require a great deal of behind-the-scenes planning, tight OPSEC /COMSEC, and the gracious help of a hand-selected few who would be sworn to secrecy. At that exact moment of epiphany, an operation was borne: [/FONT]
[FONT="]OPERATION OVERLORD. . .no wait, that was taken. . .[/FONT]
[FONT="]OPERATION DUMBO. . .no, that seemed, well, dumb. . .[/FONT]
[FONT="]OPERATION DISNEY. . .no, if the word Disney was breathed anywhere, it could be an issue. . . OPERATION SHHH, BE VEH-WY, VEH-WY QUIET. Yes! Thats it!! Unwieldy title, not real catchy, but perfectly captured the stealth needed and my general cluelessness. [/FONT]
[FONT="]If youve made it this far in the report, you deserve a pic or two, so here we are mere hours after I announced the trip to my beloved.
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[/FONT][FONT="]Oh, wait? Did I jump ahead too far? Never fearIll go back and fill you in on the events leading up to these shots. For the record, just call me Sleepy and my wife, Luv. Youll get to know us better as we move along.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hi. My name is Patrick, and I love to give surprises. My wife knows that. I also keep secrets wrapped like a mummy. My wife also knows this. Yet, knowledge of both didnt help her see what was coming. . .not one little bit. [/FONT]
[FONT="]You see, she had a birthday coming up, a momentous one, though it was the number that shall not be named. (Im also not stupid.) We found each other later in life, and I wanted this auspicious birthday to not be forgotten. It was days after Thanksgiving, and though her birthday was nearly five months off, I needed a plan, something to knock her socks off--something shed never see coming (see above). My first thoughts were of a DCL cruise, yet wed done two of those, and while we loved them, another cruise seemed passé. Given how winter seemed to have started early, naturally thoughts came to me about a few days on the beach in Jamaica, or St. Lucia, or you can fill in the blank. For a couple of weeks, that was my planned course of action, going so far as to check rates for specific days and costs for flights. I compared several resorts and narrowed the choice down to three. Something just didnt feel right, however. We arent just sit at the beach all day types, and doing any sort of excursions and day trips or activities generally meant a bigger budget than with which I felt comfortable.[/FONT]
[FONT="]One day, we were watching a Disneyland special on TV, and it struck me like a lightning boltshes never been to Disneyland! We are Walt Disney World vets, going on average a couple of times a year, and we even got married there. I was stationed in SoCal a couple of decades ago, and though things had changed tremendously, I could at least say Id been to DL a few times. My wife had zip, nada, bupkiss experience with DL. The seed was planted. From that moment forward, I knew what her surprise would be. Still, just doing a trip to DL wasnt good enoughit had to be a surprise. To pull it off, however, would require a great deal of behind-the-scenes planning, tight OPSEC /COMSEC, and the gracious help of a hand-selected few who would be sworn to secrecy. At that exact moment of epiphany, an operation was borne: [/FONT]
[FONT="]OPERATION OVERLORD. . .no wait, that was taken. . .[/FONT]
[FONT="]OPERATION DUMBO. . .no, that seemed, well, dumb. . .[/FONT]
[FONT="]OPERATION DISNEY. . .no, if the word Disney was breathed anywhere, it could be an issue. . . OPERATION SHHH, BE VEH-WY, VEH-WY QUIET. Yes! Thats it!! Unwieldy title, not real catchy, but perfectly captured the stealth needed and my general cluelessness. [/FONT]
[FONT="]If youve made it this far in the report, you deserve a pic or two, so here we are mere hours after I announced the trip to my beloved.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Oh, wait? Did I jump ahead too far? Never fearIll go back and fill you in on the events leading up to these shots. For the record, just call me Sleepy and my wife, Luv. Youll get to know us better as we move along.[/FONT]