End of the School Year Craziness and Summer Plans

What a crazy time for us!  End of the year concerts, recitals, award ceremonies and the like.  Some of the kids have year-end tests/benchmarks as well.  We've signed up for a number of activities this summer--I don't want the kids to lose the structure and routine of the school year.  And as always we are fitting in dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, well visits, etc.  

I've been working on a couple of projects for the family too.  The first is a digital scrapbook of our much-needed family vacation last year.  Last year we managed to save enough to go to Disney.  (It's expensive for a family our size).  This last year my friend and I were talking about our family vacations, and she told me we can get disability passes for our boys at a lot of amusement parks.  Why I didn't already know this is a mystery.   

In any case, the kids have been talking almost non-stop about our last Disney trip and so I found a free dining plan offer and we're going to take the kids to Disney World in the fall.  

Knowing my kids need more time to adjust to ideas, I've worked on a literary scavenger hunt with clues which tie into the books they love.  They'll follow the clues and at the conclusion will be the  scrapbook of our last Disney trip.  I've put a note on the back cover that tells them we'll be going back to Orlando in the Fall.  This time we'll also go see Harry Potter at Universal Islands of Adventure.  

So Firstborn's birthday is at the end of the school year.  Our plan is to take them out to dinner at C1's favorite pizzeria.  I've got some parchment looking paper on which I'll print in green ink (like Harry Potter), a letter for our literary school for the summer.  I'll have the waiter or waitress tell him an owl dropped off the letter for him.  (Did I mention Firstborn LOVES owls right now?)  I'll address the letter something like Firstborn, middle table at Pluto's Pizzeria , Small Town, USA.  (I hope you get the idea).  

When they get home I'll send them around the house on a scavenger hunt.  They'll come across wands (chocolate dipped pretzel sticks), brooms, their bows and arrows, their Mickey Mouse ears, and Harry Potter music  as they learn about the activities we have planned for the summer.  (Scout camp=Ranger's apprentice, classes at the community college, swimming lessons=Percy Jackson and the Olympians,  day trips to our local state park with a beach, trip to see Grandma and Grandpa, excursions to a museum=Kane Chronicles, etc).  

The final treat will be some Mickey Mouse cookies I'll make and literally put in the "cupboard under the stairs".  

I'm excited to see how this goes.  I've always wanted to surprise my kids with a trip to Disney, but this is about as close as I think I can safely get--this will allow time to process and plan. 

If it goes well, I'll create another post with instructions so you can duplicate it too.  

UPDATE:  The list of clues and hiding places can be found in THIS post.