3...2...1.... DISNEY!

As I sit here, waiting for my chamomile tea to steep at 8:36pm.... I am already exhausted... ready for bed even.  Why?  Well, I will tell you...

We (Travis, Mom, Dad, and I) have been waiting to close on our first house (hopefully) about 45 minutes north of where we currently live for what feels like forever.  We were SUPPOSED to close on January 16th, and then a wrench was thrown into the whole operation.  Of course.  Isn't there ALWAYS a wrench thrown in last minute while trying to close on a home?  Who is leaving these wrenches lying around anyway?!?!?!  Put those wrenches safely in a locked away toolbox so people aren't tempted to throw them into mortgage situations right before people are planning on closing, thank you very much!!!!!!!!

But I digress....

The point is, it is January 26th, and I am currently still sitting in my same condo I have lived in for the past two and a half years typing this... right now. This word... and this one... okay, I am done.  Now, normally this wouldn't be so terribly annoying.  But it is.  Why?  Well, I will tell you!  Gee, you sure are good at asking these questions!

My parents stayed with my sister for the month of December to welcome and help out with her new baby girl- my sweet, smushy, lovable snugglebumpkin niece!  Afterward, they headed here to spend January with us to help us move!  They came, we cleaned, we packed, we partied (T.J. turned two on the 12th- hooray!), and we waited, expecting the 16th to be go time!  Well, then (at the beginning of the week of the 16th, we got the call that that stupid wrench was, indeed, chucked into the situation).  We prayed, we thought, and God worked it out.  Awesome.  However, we couldn't celebrate just yet.  Because we had to do a different type of loan, etc., we needed more time.  They changed our close date to be the 30th of January- a half month later?!?!?!?!  UGH.  The good part was that we discussed that that would be the LAST possible day to close.  So we would definitely close MUCH earlier than the 30th, right?  RIGHT?!?!?


RIGHT!?!?!?!?!?!??!

Hey.  hey you.  Yeah you....

nope.

So here we are, January 26th, still waiting for everybody to get their acts together.  Grand.

Thus, a few days ago, we all got bored.  We had already packed the stuff that we didn't need IMMEDIATELY.  We were sitting around waiting... and waiting... and... well, you get the point.

CRUISE!  We got cruise fevaaa!!  We decided that we should go on a 3-4 day cruise- how fun!  Weeeellllll, Mom didn't bring her passport.  So that idea died.  However, I had mentioned something in passing about us running up to Disney, so after the cruise idea was embalmed and buried, we turned our stir-crazied minds toward the potential of a weekend jaunt to Disney World.  Hmmmm....

We took off Friday evening after my babysitting gig, and we headed up to Disney World.  This is where I got surprised.  Now, as many of you know, I don't get surprised too easily and too often because I am nosy and demanding (hey, truth hurts, right?!).  Well, this time I was surprised- genuinely!  I thought we were staying at the Fairfield Inn, but my folks sprang for some extra Disney Vacation Club points, and we stayed two nights at Old Key West- a Disney Resort- super fun!

Long story short.... (scrolls up)... ok long story not so extremely longish...ness...esque...... we ended up staying two nights at Old Key West and we visited Magic Kingdom on Saturday.  It was a GREAT weekend- and an awesome way to prevent us from going bananas waiting on a close date.

T.J. did WONDERFULLY!  He was so excited to see Mickey Mouse!  The first character he met was Pluto.  While we waited in line, we all excitedly talked about how he was going to see Pluto soon and talked about how nice he was!  My dad told him he was Mickey Mouse's dog and talked with him all about Pluto.  Well, Pluto was his FIRST character, so we kind of expected him to shy away.

Not my child.

He waltzed right up to Pluto with his pen and autograph book extended, got the autograph, HUGGED Pluto, said "bye bye", etc.!  I was floored.  And he had a great reaction with every character!!  But the best character, by far, was Jessie from Toy Story 2 and 3.  WOW.  She was SO nice!  She spent tons of time with him.  He hugged her, kissed her, and got her autograph.  T.J. had Woody with him, and Jessie picked Woody up, made him dance around, and then she noticed that we hadn't signed his boot!!!!  So what did she do??  She took a permanent marker and wrote "T.J." on the bottom of Woody's boot, of course!!  But she didn't want to feel left out either, so she signed HER OWN BOOT as well!  It was adorable and fantastic!  T.J. met Pluto, Jessie, Buzz, Woody, Tinker Bell, Periwinkle (I don't know, Tinker Bell's sister or something- a new Disney show thing... I can't keep up...  ::hobbles out with walker and shakes fist in a crotchety manner:: "GET OFF MY LAWN YOU WHIPPER SNAPPERS!!!!!"), and Mickey Mouse.

T.J. also went on a few rides!  His first ride was the Winnie the Pooh ride in Fantasy land.  Not a great idea considering the scary music, thunder, lightening, rain, etc.  Oh well, he didn't lose it, just fussed a little while we scrambled to distract him.  He also went on It's a Small World, the Tea Cups, Peter Pan's Flight, Little Mermaid (a new ride!), and Splash Mountain.  Just kidding about the last one (wanted to make sure you were paying attention).

We topped the evening off by watching the Electric Light Parade which was awesome and soooo crowded!  My parents were then nice enough to take T.J. back to the resort so Travis and I could spend some time together going on the more intense rides like Space Mountain and the Buzz ride with all the aliens (might have been a touch intense for the Teej) as well take time to enjoy a treat together from Main Street.  Meanwhile, T.J. crashed out the millisecond the car started.  Haha!  We headed back to the resort to find T.J. crashed completely out in the Pack N' Play.  Thanks Mamaw and Papa!  =]

Overall, it was an amazing weekend.  I can honestly say it was the most fun I have ever had at Disney World.  There is nothing quite like the joy of watching your child have fun and experience new things!  It is amazing how different it is to enjoy Disney from the selfless viewpoint of "What would my child enjoy?" instead of "What do I/we want to do next?".

I want to thank my folks for treating all of us to this magical experience, spoiling T.J. (AND Mommy and Daddy) over and over again with treats and souvenirs, and allowing Travis and I to enjoy all of the characters and rides and experiences without having to worry about pictures and video by taking care of those duties for us.  They were incredibly helpful, giving, and fun to be around!  The trip wouldn't have been nearly as amazing without them there to share it with us (and help us out, too)!  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Magic Kingdom was more magical than ever seeing it through the eyes of my child.