Last October, my daughter and son-in-law treated us to an eight day/seven night vacation at Disney World. We had a wonderful time...and were there to witness our beloved grandsons experience Disney for the very first time. What wonderful memories were made that will last us all a lifetime!
I had planned on writing about this long ago...but life interfered and the same month, I discovered I had breast cancer. Needless-to-say, breast cancer took over my life, and Disney seemed like just a distant memory!
Now that my most recent breast surgery last week went so well, life is slowly returning to normal again. Now I am trying to recapture the feelings of the Disney magic again...and wanted to share them with my Hillian friends! I wrote a blog about our trip months before we left for Orlando...and I think it way over due to finish my story!
Grandsons Drew and Tyler (ages 7 & 5) were not told until the day we left for vacation that the 6 of us were going. All 4 of the adults went to school to pick them both up a few minutes early so we could make it to the plane in time. We picked up Drew first. Drew does not do well with surprises...and was upset that he had to leave art class. He really didn't want to leave school, but then he also didn't know we were going to Disney--a dream of the boys for years.
Tyler saw me coming in his preschool classroom and came running. He was ready to leave school and go anywhere I was. He is so openly adoring of me...and the feeling is completely mutual. He was ready for anything and thrilled about everything!
Daughter Donna had made a book about two lucky boys going on vacation with their parents, Pawpaw and Nana. She wrote it herself and added lots of personalized pictures in it.
She read the story to them that she wrote of how hard the boys tried to do the right thing. She wrote that we all love family time together. She wrote of the wonderful things that Disney offered. And she wrote of the memories we will make together that will last a lifetime.
Tyler immediately caught on and said "We're going to Disney World!" Drew was still brooding over missing art class...and worrying that he'd have to eat "normal" food on vacation, as he is a very picky eater. Scott took video of the whole this...and I look forward to seeing it again soon to relive this priceless moment in their lives! Not the reaction from Drew that I had dreamed of for months ahead of time, but I should have know he would over think things. Drew like predictiability...and this surprise was throwing him off him game.
We left for the airport a few minutes later. Their talk was full of enthusiasm for the adventure we were all going on together. None of us were disappointed! It was an awesome week in all of our lives!
Drew was chosen to present a live play to the audience. He took his role seriously and did a great job. He said some childlike things, and the audience laughed...but he mistakes things like this for making fun of him, and got upset. I explained things to him, and we had our happy go lucky little guy back. It was amazing!
Tyler got picked to use a remote control device to drive a real race car at a huge stunt arena within Disney. They showed him on the large screen within the arena. He was so proud of himself...and his face showed it. We have movies and pictures of Tyler in his element. What a wonderful memory...and one that his big brother was thrilled for his little brother, too! Awesome!
Both Drew and Tyler were chosen to be in a live children's play about Star Wars--their favorite thing for quite a while now. They both did an awesome job as "padawans" in Star Wars. I was so proud of them for going on stage and acting. As a child, I could never have done that! We took movies and pictures, of course, so it will always be with all of us that they were now official actors! LOL
We went to all the Disney parks, ate at many of the restaurants there, stayed on the Disney premises, swam in their themed pools, saw many of the shows, rode most of the rides, etc. Each one left us with wonderful memories that will always stay with us. It couldn't have been a better vacation for all of us! Picture perfect in every way!
We all talk about it often. It's funny how so many things trigger our Disney memories!
How thankful I am that Donna and Scott included us in their vacation--even though I at first thought they should go alone. It's the most memorable time I have had in my life. How I love to reminiscence about our vacation. It grounded me then, and it even grounded me more during my 7 months of struggles through 5 various procedures/surgeries since then. It was my lifeline to life and to joy! What an awesome gift was given to us...more needed and appreciated than I could have ever guessed it would be. That Disney magic will remain with me forever!
