DisneyWorld

Leaving sunny, 80 degree Florida weather to come back to 30 degrees and wind was a bit difficult, but we are home. DisneyWorld was by far one of the best vacations I've taken in a long time. In Kylee's words - "The best vacation EVER!!!"  It is nice to be home though. It always takes a few days to find your footing and hit the ground running, but I think we are back and ready to go. Starting 2012 off with this incredible vacation is just the beginning of what we hope to see this year.

This was really the first family vacation we have taken. Most of our travelling involves a volleyball tournament (whether one or both of us are playing or Brian was coaching). So this vacation was a real treat! The luxury of not having to make my bed in the morning and taking a break from meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking was one of the personal highlights for me (not to mention the days off from work). More than that, I loved watching my kids excitement as they met some of their favorite characters and experienced things that will give them lasting memories.

We landed on a Thursday, with only 1/2 day to spend doing something, so we decided to go visit Downtown Disney. Brian's aunt, uncle and cousin met up with us. It was great to spend some time with them. They are always so much fun to be around - and the kid's love seeing them. Downtown Disney offered up plenty of shops, food and the lego construction they had there was incredible! I couldn't believe the things people are capable of building with those little things!

The next day we visited Animal Kingdom. Triston loved it, but it sort of bored Kylee. They had a blast eating breakfast with the characters that morning, but after that Kylee wasn't terribly impressed. Brian and I loved it though - there was plenty of shade and being able to take a safari ride and see the animals without the cages, bars and glass was pretty incredible. Since this was one of our shorter days, the kids came back to the hotel and played around in the Toy Story section. They got to sit in the little race car, try to climb up Rex and jumped on the lifesize checker board.

On Saturday, we visited Hollywood Studios. Kylee had quite a bit more fun at this park. They had the Disney hip-hop dancers (which is her new thing). She loved seeing the Disney Jr. and The Little Mermaid shows. Triston loved getting to meet Phineus & Ferb, Lightning McQueen and Mater. We managed to get ourselves in the Director's Chairs for the Lights, Motor, Action show - which proved to be an awesome show. I think Brian was wishing he could be one of those stunt car drivers! Triston was in awe at watching "the real" Lightning McQueen drive around.

 

Sunday was the biggest day we had there. We started off by eating breakfast at Chef Mickeys - the kids LOVED it. The food was great and they got to meet more of their favorite characters. We spent a good majority of the morning riding the rides - Unfortunately one of the kids' favorite rides was "It's A Small World". Kylee had her appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get all dressed up. She of course chose Jasmine, but she looked adorable. And she loved getting pampered. I'm going to have to remember that and take her in for a mani/pedi occasionally. :)  The best thing ever was she got to meet "the real" Jasmine after she got all dressed up. I think that made the entire trip for her. Since Triston was too young to get dressed up at the theme park, we brought his pirate costume to wear. I got more compliments and questions on where I got that thing! ($20 on Amazon.)  We ate dinner that night with Cinderella, Prince Charming and the evil stepmom and stepsisters and then went back to the park for the extended hours - which proved to be very beneficial. There wasn't a line to wait in at the park!

Monday was our last day there. We ate breakfast with the Winnie the Pooh characters inside Magic Kingdom and then had a couple of hours before we had to head back to the airport. We learned that our next trip out will occur during the week, and we will use the weekend to spend with family outside of the area. The crowds were non-existent today!  As sad as we were to be heading home so quickly, I think Brian and I were spent. We shoved a lot into one little vacation - but it was more than worth the exhaustion and heavy caffeine consumption. Now back to the real world and back to saving for our next vacation out there in a couple of years! Can't wait!

Welcome 2012

As we say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012, like most people, I take a bit of time to look back and reflect. I look at 2011 and a big part of me is incredibly happy to see it go. It brought so many challenges, sadness, stress and grief my way. The loss of two Grandparents and a dear friend all within three months of each other. The health scare we had with Kylee, the incredible amount of money necessarily spent on health and dental care during the year. The large part of October, November and December spent without Brian. The hope that positive change was coming, when in reality, the only change that took place was that of adjusting to loss. 2011 looked like a pretty horrible, grim year. Truth be told - there have been plenty of moments where I just wanted to retreat into a hole and hide there, not wanting to face the reality of it all. At the same time, there were plenty of moments that I was able to look and realize how truly blessed I am.

Throughout the Christmas season, I sat in the front seat of my Jeep listening to Brad Paisley's Christmas CD (of course there were only 2 or 3 songs that we listened to, as those were the kids' favorites). The song, Born on Christmas Day was one of those - a song about Christ's birth. I have never smiled so big in my life as I did while driving to and from places listening to my 5 and 2 1/2 year old belt out word for word that song.

Although we lost two wonderful people in our family, and we are very sad about that, I realized what an incredible life I was able to have because of them. I realize how many unbelievable memories I have, not just of them - but the memories I made with them. I have a new sense of how important family is to me and how precious that time is with each of them and look forward to making many more memories with them during 2012.

Brian and I ended up going through a lot of personal stress at the same time this year; mine with the loss of grandparents and friends and his with extreme hours in the office and literally a loss of 3-4 months of time with his kids. One would think this would have driven us further a part because he was never around when I needed someone, and I didn't always have the energy to maintain the house or have things as they usually are after a long day. But, instead we grew so much closer to each other. We started working more as one instead of as two individuals. We supported each other as best as we could and pushed each other through the tough times. If there is one thing I am so grateful for from 2011 (besides my daughter's clean bill of health) it would be this moment when we came together to help each other move through a very challenging and difficult time.

Now on to 2012 - and a new hope that POSITIVE change will come our way. Our family has a lot of potential life changes coming. Everything from moving out of Greeley into either Severence or Fort Collins and looking for a good school for Kylee to start Kindergarten and Triston to start Preschool. Potential opportunity for Brian to not only find new employment, but an entirely different structure of employment and hopefully a change of employment for me after the tax season is done. We're looking for that fresh start and hoping that 2012 is here to offer that. In the meantime - I spend each day looking over the many things I am so grateful for and praising God, not only for the good that have come, but also those instances that we struggled through - because once you get through them, you see the blessings behind them!

Here's to an AWESOME 2012!