It's All a Balancing Act: Vacation

Warning: This is going to be a long post. I just want to record it for our family. Feel free to skip the text and just look at the pictures [grin]

Two weeks ago while sitting at the office, feeling a little melancholic and guilty that we had not done much with the girls this summer, I decided to take a little “break” and do some internet surfing for affordable things we could do.

Looking into cheap airlines, I decided to check on Allegiant Air. I had heard of friends finding these amazing deals, but I had never done any research on it. Mainly because I rather drive than fly places, you know, with my anxiety and control issues. But this day I decided to check them out, and there it was, an “amazing” air fare, $19.99 each way from Grand Rapids to Orlando. In a rare display of spontaneity, I decided we would go to Orlando for a long weekend. I called my husband to see if he thought he could get the time off work, but he couldn’t. I felt a little guilt at just going without him, but decided to go for it anyway. So I bought the tickets and then promptly freaked out. I don’t “do” spontaneous, so doing this was a little out of character for me. But the deal was done, so the plans started. I called the girls and told them the news, and they were shocked but very excited.

At the beginning of the year, the girls and I had joined Disney’s volunteering program “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day”. We volunteered eight hours at our local Goodwill (it took us a whole month since we did it two hours at a time) and when we completed our time we got three vouchers for a free day at Disney. We did not think we were going to be able to use them before they expired, but now it was the perfect opportunity.

We arrived in Orlando on Thursday morning, and after picking up our “tiny” rental car, drove straight to Downtown Disney. Natalie had a one track mind. All she wanted was to buy another Build-A-Dino at the T-Rex store. She couldn’t really enjoy anything until we went and she got her Dino. Unfortunately, I was so hot I didn't even feel like taking a picture. You will just have to imagine her happy face while getting her Dino stuffed. She named it "Ricky" since she had named the one she got last year "Lucy".

Another fun thing we tried was pin trading. A friend of ours collects Disney Pins and she loves trading them at the parks. She had given us some pins to trade for her and although at first we were a little unsure about the whole thing, it turned out to be really fun. The only thing is that Natalie, kept choosing pins that she liked, instead of the pins our friend was trying to collect. So we ended up with a lot of Disney princesses and Minnies and not so many Mickeys or Evils or Toy Story pins.

After walking for a couple of hours in over 90-degree weather, we decided to head out to our “hotel” (it was $45 a night and it looked more like a motel) and check in. The room had a small kitchenette, so we went out for some groceries and spent the rest of the evening just relaxing and trying to keep cool.

Friday was Magic Kingdom day. We were at the park a little before 8AM ready for the day.

We all knew the drill! Get to the front of the crowd right behind the cord and prepare to sprint towards Space Mountain as soon as the cord comes down. Except it is a lot harder to run when it is so hot and humid. Kaitlin just kept going, but Natie and I were huffing and puffing the whole way.

The forecast said it was going to rain all afternoon, so we hurried along following our trusty Touring Plan.

By 11:00AM we had hit all of the major rides more than once never waiting in line more than 20 minutes. I highly recommend using the Touring Plans, they work like "magic".

After lunch we took a more relaxed approach and visited some of the attractions we had not seen before. Natalie was very impressed with the Hall of Presidents.

We took the train around the park, walked around Mickey's Toontown Fair, and tried not to melt. In most of the pictures the girls have "suffering" faces but that is due to the heat, not that they weren't having fun.

We had a wonderful time! Even with the heat. Believe it or not I did not take that many pictures because the sun was so bright, it was just impossible to get good ones without harsh shadows. I think that was one of the girls favorite parts [grin] not having to pose for pictures so much.

I truly enjoyed this day. I felt so lucky to be able to do this with the girls. Even though I kept having small anxiety bouts about riding all the rides. Just for fun I will show you what I looked like during our first ride on Space Mountain.

But hey, by the third time I was feeling a little braver. I even opened my eyes and faked a smile for the picture.

We left the park around 8PM exhausted but happy.

On Saturday we drove to Cocoa Beach. Again, it was so hot, I thought I would surely melt, but this was our last day and we all decided we were going to enjoy it. We "borrowed" a sheet from our hotel room and set up camp. Kaitlin had planned on staying dry and just sit by the water, but she quickly changed her mind when she realized how hot it was. We spent the whole time playing in the water getting trashed around by the waves. Natalie also collected some shells. Even though I put on 55 SPF sun protection I still got horribly sunburned. The girls seem to tan much better than me.

We ended up leaving sooner than expected due to a storm coming. You can see the dark clouds behind Kaitlin. As soon as we got in the car it started to rain and it rained during our whole drive back.

We closed out our day with Dinner and a Magic show at Wonderworks. Dinner was not that exciting, but the show was amazing. Natalie has been in a "Magic" kick lately and she was just in heaven watching Tony Brent do his tricks. It was the perfect ending to our mini-vacation.

And now is back to real life. The girls started school today and I go back to work tomorrow. School year 2010-2011 here we come!

It was a great vacation! I would not say it was relaxing, because Disney World is not the most relaxing place on earth; but it was a lot of fun!

I am, however, in a bit of a funk. I have this problem every time a big event comes and goes. After all the planning and anticipation, it is a big let down when it is over and it is time to return to the regular routine.

We had a good time together, but I wish there would have been less tense moments between the adults. It is hard to coordinate a group that big when everyone has a different idea of what the vacation should be like. Some in our group needed space from time to time, others thought we needed to be together the whole time.

In the year I had to plan this vacation, it always sounded so magical in my head: the kids would be having the time of their lives, jumping from one adventure to another. The adults would enjoy their time together, sitting by the pool sipping cold drinks while the kids played.

The reality turned out a little bit different. Some of the kids got overwhelmed with so many activities, for others it was not quite enough. Some of the adults resented what they perceived was my need to control things. Some feelings were hurt.

The lesson I am learning from this is that although fantasies are just that – fantasies, and real life is never as glamorous or “shiny”, having fantasies can help you set goals and motivate you to strive for them. I know the picture I had of what the vacation would look like, did help me re-focus whenever a negative situation rose.

In the end some of my fantasy dreams really did come true…

The kids wearing their Red T-shirts in front of the Cinderella Castle.