2nd Star to the Right and Straight on til Morning

I grew up as a Disney kid. I even accepted a marriage proposal from Goofy (a donut ring in hand) at Disneyland when I was 16. This specific trip though, the one with my own kids, has been on my radar since we got married.  As we were planning, I was getting choked up just thinking about Cameron's expression and his first introduction to Mickey Mouse .  Here's the deal, when you grow up as a Disney kid, the magic never goes away.  It changes and grows, but it's always a part of you and all you want is to share it with another Disney kid.

Leading up to our trip, I received all kinds of advice: from, "take a flask" to an example of one Mom's power point presentation that she sent her family when making their arrangements. I like to think that I fell somewhere in between in my planning.

Today when I talk about the experience I say that Disney has a way of bringing out the highest highs and the lowest lows, and really it all depends on how you handle those highs and lows. I'm not sure if Disney is more different for me now because I'm a parent or if it's more different because it's just different. Probably a little bit of both.

To sum up our day quickly: we were there for roughly 6 hours and we rode 6 rides. We had lunch with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet & Eeyore.  It was a hot and humid 95 degrees and Payton slept in Tim's arms during Pirates of the Caribbean. We lost our patience, complained, argued, and whined. We laughed, got sparkles in our eyes, danced, smiled and sang.  We hugged Pluto, danced with 3 parades and MET MICKEY. 

What's that famous line? "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Ok, so let's put some perspective on it - there's far worse times than a trip to Disney.  However, based on some of the things we saw, we were winning in more ways than one: no one had a giant, unacceptable temper tantrum, no one fell asleep on the ground or just completely lost it. Also, we talked about what we will do differently next time.
Y'all! That means there will be a next time! This is huge!
Because, really, the biggest thing of all was that in the end we
MET MICKEY!!!

This was it. See it?? That's pure joy.
This is also the point where I came so close to bawling like a baby. My throat closed a bit, my eyes swelled and I melted. To the floor. I was mush. I was talking funny and had the hardest time keeping it together. Wedding day, birth of my children.... but this. This is happy.

 Oh and all that patience lost and arguing all went out the window when "Mickey" magically surprised the boys with balloons tied to the stroller when we got back to the stroller parking area.

We may occasionally lose our cool in overwhelming arenas, but we rock at coming together and finding the magic in the moment.
That's really when we're our best.

Out Takes:

The picture in the tea cup? That was right before Tim reached his limit and told me that he didn't want to see my camera for the rest of the day. 

The kids needed a mid-morning snack and Tim went to a concession stand for 2 bananas, an orange and a water. The guy at the concession stand told him that he had never (ever) had anyone buy fruit and a water.

The employees at Disney are a class act. The patrons can, however, leave something to be desired at times.

I hate that everything is calculated now. It's lost the feeling of spontaneous magic that you happen upon as you're walking through Walt Disney's dream... now it has to be planned out and arranged so that you can squeeze it all in. This all happens through an app, which means that everyone has their heads in their phone. Boo! 

We saw a real bunny just hopping around as we were watching a parade.

I can confirm, based on other people's t-shirts that Tim does not work to support my Disney habit, and that we will not be going to Disney to celebrate any of our wedding anniversaries.

Cameron was a pro, the perfect age really. Payton used his sunglasses for protection and clung to Tim if one of the characters was coming around.

I could live on Main Street, USA and watch Disney as it unfolds day in and day out. I'm pretty sure that's why ol' Walt had his secret apartment there. What a character, what a dreamer.

All in? It'll happen again. The magic and the mess.

Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the highs and the lows.

Once a Disney kid, always a Disney kid.

A dream is a wish your heart makes, after all.

The Greats.

Family days

Family nights

Family mornings

Family just-rights

There is something to be said for QT.  something to be said for adventures , firsts and new frontiers.  

I love and enjoy vacations without the kids, but  trips as a family are priceless. Magical. Exhausting and one big beautiful mess.

This summer Tim and I made a pact about vacations with memories and time with "The Greats", our own Grandparents that is. We - ok, maybe I - thought that the kids have reached an exciting age that seems (somewhat) manageable, and so we set off to planning.

In July, we trekked to San Diego to see Great GG & Papa, and my side of the family. There were 25 of us (if I remember correctly) and we soaked in the beach, the sun & (as always) the fun. We attempted the San Diego Zoo and I was a little sad at how much it had changed since the last time I had been there (cough, 20+ years, cough). The best part of the trip was seeing my kids really start to interact and get to know the people that I saw as grown-ups & role models when I was a kid (along with their kids too).  I know just how special these memories are and I treasure every piece of this family puzzle.  I pray that my boys see what I see when they look at these pictures in our hallway.

Last week, we visited the other side of our "Greats" and headed to Florida. Since Cameron's last visit to Florida to visit Tim's Grandmother was when he was 4 months old, we explained to both boys that "Grandma B" (to be clear this is Grandma B as in Benton, not as in 'not A') lived by Mickey Mouse and that they were neighbors. This tid-bit of information was better than cake. For our kids, who had no concept of Disney World, when they heard Mickey Mouse all they saw was the cartoon, "mickey mouse clubhouse". Slowly, we introduced Disney movies: Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Zootopia, etc. We didn't go into specifics about rides, but I did mention things like, "Did you know that Winnie the Pooh and Mickey are friends? I wonder if they'll be at Mickey's house when we visit?"  The boys would respond, "Naaah!" They thought this concept of Mickey's friends being anyone other than Goofy, Donald & Pluto was hysterical.  To say that the idea of a special trip to see Grandma B, celebrate her birthday (we love birthdays!) and the chance to meet Mickey on top of it was highly anticipated, is an understatement.  (I will post later about our day at Disney.)

In Grandma B's little community there was a bustle of golf carts, Cameron "scored a goal" with a putter, friendly faces & even better: Grandma B's love.  It was so nice to spend time with her and see her giggle at these wild boys that always have us on our toes.  She commented on Cameron's sweet tooth that is apparently (to no surprise) just like Tim's was at that age and she loved Payton's facial expressions.  We left with books and treasures of love both tangible and in our hearts.

I'm so very glad that we were able to spend some quality time with our Greats this summer.
We are beyond thankful and so blessed with time. 

If I've learned anything, it's that TIME is the biggest and best way you can show someone you LOVE them. 

Extraordinarily, this summer, we were able to give it and receive it.
That's more than magical.