"I've gotta golden ticket...and with a golden ticket, it's a golden day!"

If you're reading this that means you know about my plans for Grace's 16th birthday and

I TRUST YOU TO KEEP A SECRET!!!

I'm setting up this blog so that everyone can follow along on our trip. I'm going to take my laptop with me and hopefully we'll both be able to post pictures and stories and tidbits as we go. Only 20 days to go!

So, here's the plan..... Bright and early - pre-dawn most likely- Wednesday morning the day before Grace turns 16 I'm going to wake her up to the sound of the song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory about Charlie's golden tickets. Then I'm going to make some big production about the fact that for her "every wish to come true" she has to find a series of 5 golden tickets over the next 5 days. Upstairs, someplace where I can videotape, I'm going to set out our suitcases with a golden foil envelope sitting on top - in the dark - with one light shining on the envelope. In the golden envelope will be our airline tickets to NYC. This will be the beginning of our adventure....if I can pull it off...NOBODY TELL!!!!....