Magic

Mike and I snuck off Thursday night and, after a HORRIFIC drive down, arrived for 4 days of fun with Mickey Mouse.  Many, many people have asked why on earth we chose to go to DisneyWorld for our "romantic grown-up getaway."  I shall explain thusly:

1) we had 4 days left on our already-paid-for 10 day no-expiration Park Hopper tickets = "free" admission
2) we had some leftover points in our Disney Vacation Club account for this year = "free" hotel
3) "romance" in the traditional sense doesn't happen too much at our house. 

We are not stroll on the beach, gaze into one another's eyes, violin music sorts.  There is absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that I love that man more than anything and he loves me right back.  We just, somehow or another, missed the romance train.  Flowers and candlelight and wine glasses we are not.  Football games, pizza, and laughing at inappropriate things we are.  And we are both SO OKAY with it. In the grand scheme of things, a pre-paid-felt-like-free Disney weekend would be just as good as flopping on the sand somewhere.  All we wanted was a chance to be footloose and fancy free together after such a long, hard year.

We had an absolute BALL.  Our family motto is "Disney or Die," due to the not-so-relaxing pace we keep during our Disney *vacations*.  In true DOD form, Hubs and I never slowed down, and in 2 days at the parks managed to ride EVERY. SINGLE. THING. (Even the Carousel of Progress, which I had to convince Mike is technically a ride.)  We did all four mountains in one day, which is like winning the Disney Lottery.  Mike even conquered his old childhood nemesis The Teacups.

We ate insane amounts of food and shared beverages in all the countries at Epcot... except Canada, because nobody should drink Labatt Blue. 

 

We sauntered around in our mouse ears and exchanged "Go Dawgs!"es with passers-by.  We clutched our phones all the way through Splash Mountain, 3 minutes to go in the SEC championship, frantically checking texts and the ESPN app, only to lose service just before the big drop.  Service returned at the bottom, and we disembarked from our log heartbroken with the rest of the DawgNation, but proud of our boys. 

We snuggled up close on Main Street during the park closing song, watched the castle lights and talked about how excited we were to bring BOTH our boys back in May.  We got lots of Christmas shopping done and whiled away the car ride hours playing trivia on Sporcle.

We laughed and laughed and laughed.  'Cause that's what we do best.

We were SO READY to see the boys Sunday night.  They didn't care one bit that we were home, mostly because they had been spoiled rotten at Naner and Big Tom's house.  Shout out to the best sister and brother-in-law EVER!

There are so many people who just don't "get it" when it comes to Disney and our family.  I don't actually "get it" either, but I know that when I am there, my heart is happy.  It's a place I associate with so many of my loved ones because we have made trips there together.  Lots of my happiest childhood memories are from our times there, and I can't wait to make those memories for my boys.

There are people who probably mock me daily 'cause the back of my car looked like this:

Those people don't know why it brought tears to my eyes  today to finally have a car that looks like this:

We are creepy Disney people and we are proud. :-)

It was a wonderful weekend, I was happy to be in my favorite place, and I just love my husband so so much.  The drive home is always hard, but we have a tradition of making it easier by getting a Ghirardelli milkshake and driving by this exit knowing that it's true:

150 Days 'til the Grand Griswold Adventure for JeanJean's and Parker's birthday!   Can't wait!