So I considered a spring break trip. The kids have 2 weeks, Loren has 1. His week is the first week of the kids' break so that worked for us. Then we thought, why don't we ask my dad if he wants to go with us. I priced the trip, asked my dad if he could get the time off work, told him the portion he'd pay (basically his dining and tickets), and waited for his response.
Then, of course, I started daydreaming about how awesome it would be to have him there! But I didn't want to get my hopes up because I didn't know if he'd be able to or want to make the trip. Not long after I asked though, he said he would LOVE to!
At this point, I was really anxious to book the trip but we had to wait until Loren got his school refund (something he gets each semester) and taxes. Normally, I'd have booked it and started paying on the trip little by little. But the remainder is due 45 days before the trip. Which we couldn't do because of the timing of those two lump sums coming in. So I had to pine away for the planning part of the trip. Everything had to be done in "hypotheticals".
Then, here and there, Loren started making comments like "I don't think we're going to be able to make that trip" and "we just need to postpone it". Which was heartbreaking for me to hear. I had been researching and documenting potential itineraries for months. The kids had already been told of the trip and when we'd be going. And I knew my dad was super excited.
I just kept praying that the finances would fall into place and the Loren's heart and mind would be changed. It's such a frivolous thing to pray for. But I think often of our first trip 2 Christmases ago and how wonderful it was. We had an amazing family trip. No major squabbles and not even a lot of sibling fights either! Disney World is truly a magical place. I long for times like that.
So when the time came for the refunds to come in, I did some budgeting and realized if my dad paid just $500 more of the trip, we'd be okay. So I asked if he'd be able to swing that. He was absolutely willing to so here we are! Planning and planning and packing already! We will be there for 3 full days and two half days. I asked my dad if he wouldn't mind leaving at 6 in the morning so that we could enjoy time in the parks from dinner on. And then the last day we'll stay until lunch. Going to every major park! Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom (which we didn't do last time), and Hollywood Studios! Trying to meet more characters this time and take less breaks! We went back to the room all but one day last time, Pax was a monster that day! But he can handle shorter naps now. And we won't have to set aside so much time for dinner because we are doing Quick Service dining this time.
In 20 days, we will be partying in Magic Kingdom and probably totally geeking out over being at the most magical place on earth! My dad will experience something new too! Not sure if this is on his bucket list, but he can cross it off if it is!
I can't wait to take tons of pictures! I even found a list of the best places to capture the castle and other awesome photo ops! And I'm pretty stoked about this...I have an iPhone again and it's just much easier to handle for me and will allow me to take pictures and then make a little slides how story thing complete with music with this app called, Story. I documented the first trip pretty well, but I'd love to turn this one into a photo book. Luckily, Rachel is teaching me photo shop and I'm pretty confident that I'll come out with some amazing shots!
And the icing on the cake...the kids get another week to recoup from the trip before going back to school!
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