My husband and I had started dropping hints to pique her interest. Our 10 year old daughter was excited and mildly irritated at the unfolding charade.\u00a0 We had been plotting our New York scheme for a couple months and now that we were in the home stretch it was getting more exciting.\u00a0 We had it all planned out and gently torturing her was definitely part of the plan.<\/p>\n
Everything was coming together for our big surprise.\u00a0 The tickets were bought, the accommodations arranged, we had recruited a friend to drive our car back from the airport.\u00a0 I had done some secret shopping for clothes, shoes and jackets as our light southern California options would be no match for the frigid climate where we were heading. \u00a0The weather report said snow flurries!<\/p>\n The morning of departure we climbed into the car, our luggage secured in the trunk the night before so not to raise any suspicions.\u00a0 I was driving and my husband sat in the passenger side.\u00a0 Ollie and our friend Angel got in the back seat.\u00a0 We told her our friend needed a ride and we all chatted during the commute.\u00a0 As we neared the airport my husband started fiddling with the radio and his blue tooth.\u00a0 The car stereo speakers came alive with the intro to an Alicia Keys song just as I pulled into the airport and up to the curb at the appropriate terminal.<\/p>\n \u201cHey Ollie, remember we kept talking about a big surprise for Christmas?\u201d I said looking in the back seat at my little girls face.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah\u2026\u201d she sputters as she looked out the window. \u201cAre we going somewhere?\u201d Her face brightening with the realization, \u201cIs THAT the surprise? We are flying somewhere??\u201d I am nodding yes to her and I can guess what her next question will be.\u00a0 I reach to turn the music up just as she asks, \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d<\/p>\n I lip sync the answer using my cell phone as a microphone, \u201cNeeewwwww Yyoooooorrrrkkkk, concrete jungle where dreams are made of\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n I let my rock star pantomime fall off as her face lit up like Broadway. \u00a0She said it again to be sure, \u201cNew York? We are going to New York?!?\u201d<\/p>\n The rest of the trip was a dream.\u00a0 We stayed in Brooklyn at a friend\u2019s apartment and got to experience a true New Yorkers life.\u00a0 We took the subways, which she hated.\u00a0 We went ice skating in Central Park<\/a>, toured the Natural History museum and the Met, which she loved.\u00a0 We ate a slice at Rays and went Christmas shopping at a pop up event in Bryant Park.\u00a0 We got caught up in a protest march and she saw her first snow fall.\u00a0 We saw the tree at Rockefeller and went to the top of the Empire State building.\u00a0 It was a magical New York Big Apple Christmas and she whole-heartedly agreed that the surprise was well worth the wait.<\/p>\n![\"new](\"https:\/\/wtbinc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/NewYork.jpeg\")
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