A Break with the Mouse

In the midst of this we decided to take our family to Disney World. Some people think Disney is fun; some people love Disney; our family adores Disney World. We totally think thousands of dollars spent in a made up world for a week is a good investment. To us, Disney represents a whole week where everyone gets along, there is no complaining, everyone is happy, and everyone is positive. Who wouldn't spend money to achieve that? And the thing is, looking back, we could have used that money to experience some place like Europe or San Francisco but I don't regret a minute of it.

Disney is still fun even when it's raining.

Half the fun Of Disney is in the planning. When we lived in Jacksonville, Florida we bought a season pass for Florida residents. It gave us deals not available to the outside world. For our youngest son's 1st birthday we stayed at the Wilderness Cabins but he got sick and we had to leave. This is how awesome Disney is: I called and said we had to check out early and why, and not only did they not charge us for the unused days, they sent us deals for the Polynesian a few weeks later. So we went again and stayed at the the Polynesian, a dream of mine since I was a little girl. It was everything I hoped it would be. Our memories from there are priceless. The Polynesian has 2 queen beds and a day bed so there was tons of room. The pool area and grounds alone are what normal resorts are made of. You could never go the parks and still have a blast. Anyway, in our planning for this new trip we discovered that Port Orleans Riverside had a trundle bed so we could all fit in one room. Since we were no longer Florida residents, we really couldn't swing anything like the Polynesian.  We booked a room at the Port Orleans. When we got there, it was obviously not as nice as the Polynesian but it was charming and the grounds and pool were beautiful.

Everyone in Animal Kingdom

The first day we left super early and got back really late. We were all exhausted and dragging when we approached our room. When we got close we could tell the lights and tv were on and there was something in the window. At first, the kids were confused--we know we didn't leave the lights or TV on. The stuffed animals that we had brought had been set up to watch the Disney channel--Stitch was holding the remote. Other ones were swinging in the window blinds.The housekeepers had set this all up as a surprise. Can I say how much I love Disney? What an awesome ending to a great day.

N and E with Darth Maul--a little creepy!

Things like Disney kept our family sane during this horrible time. We could all forget that my father was slowly dying and losing himself every day and that our house was filled with disgusting bugs that we couldn't get rid of. We know Disney is made up. We know that real Floridians disapprove of the mouse. But for me and my family, there is no better value than a week of happiness in the Florida sunshine.

more of the same

My sister graduated from college that May. Dad came to the ceremony, gray and shaking, but still having a grasp of what was going on around him. He sat far away in the shade, just patiently waiting for someone to come get him. Growing up, he was not the most patient man and if I'd have to guess, I would have thought he would be a mean and grumpy old person. The thing is though, he was so gentle and quiet while all of this was going on. He never lost his temper. Me, I would have ranted and raved and shook my fist to the world at the unfairness of it all. He was just so brave. He knew what was coming and he met it with dignity.

Since it was now May, you know what had come back again? That's right, sewer flies! It was our second summer with them. I called the big pest control companies like Orkin and every plumber I could think of. Every single guy thought he had found the problem-We weren't using the tub downstairs enough, the hose from the washer didn't have a seal on it, the bar sink wasn't working, etc. All of these problems were believable because of the true awfulness of the house. So they would "fix" it and for one or two days things seemed to improve. We kept at it until fall came. That made the score sewer flies  2(summers) and us 0.

We were still working on improving the house. Every single light fixture was changed out. Every single surface got the wallpaper removed, and every single surface had to be repainted, including ceilings. We changed out all of the old fake brass doorknob. We stripped down the fireplace to the studs and built it back up again.