play day

It is like Christmas Eve to me... the night before going to the Magic Kingdom. Every hour, I am awake... peeking at the clock... and then I finally give up around five o'clock... and start to get ready for the day. I don't need to be the first one to the park... but just don't make me late and miss the opening. I just want to be there... early. I would rather wait outside the gate... than in my hotel room.


It was a different trip for us this time... Dumbo and Pooh Bear no longer a priority... heading straight for the Speedway and Space Mountain. And Laura really wanted to explore Tom Sawyer Island. We have skipped it in the past, or not spent as much time there... and I was so happy to let them just play... for almost as long as they wanted. When children are twelve and fifteen, there is just never adequate time for play. So they ran and ran around the fort... up the stairs... out the escape route... and back again.




Eric and the kids raced ahead in the caves... so they could jump out and scare me... or whoever was just a little behind. Their laughter made the scare worth every gasping breath.

After laughing across barrel bridges... after being drenched by two geysers... and after lunch... there was a parade. How I love the fanfare and the celebration! How I love to see the characters who come alive in my heart.



We live closer to Disney than most... but I have never wanted it to become ordinary to my children. I want them to always feel the magic... I want for them to never lose the excitement... I want them to always believe in the fairy tale... I want them to have this love in their hearts... for the magical place that Disney is. Though it was more crowded that I have ever seen it... Disney is still that place for me... that magical place that bursts with excitement and glows with the promise of fairy tales.