The UNHappiest Place On Earth

Yes, I am officially going on record by saying that we did NOT like DisneyWorld.  Loathing to the point of hate actually.  It could quite possibly be our own fault though......

The kids were coming up on their 5th birthday.  We thought that would be a good age for them to go.  Instead of going in their birthday month of April, we went in February to avoid school crowds and the heat.  We opted for the 4 night package but there was a special going on, Buy 4 Get 3 Free.  What a mistake.....

Josh and I were still trying to fix our marriage so there were some very raw emotions still out there.  NOT the best time to take a vacation.  For 8 days.  With two 5 year old children. Needless to say there were a LOT of tears shed.

I made reservations for some really great meals and we enjoyed those so much!!  We didn't care for the in between meals where you're herded around like cattle for a dinky overpriced chicken strip meal.  We didn't have to ride the bigger rides because they were still so little so that wasn't too much of a problem.  What drove Josh crazy was the character signatures.  At 5 years old, when the kids saw a princess, they wanted to go meet her.  If they saw her again, they wanted another autograph. Those characters were the equivalent of me running into Julia Roberts  (by the way, my most favorite actress in the history of ever).   We stood in line after line to get those autographs and it drove Josh crazy.  There were several other things that led to the demise of our vacation.  At one point, Josh had one kid and I had the other and we were in completely separate areas of the park. 

Yeah, this was a baaaaaad idea, as you can tell from Ethan's face.   Good thing you can't see Josh's face.  Not Emmy though!!

The street performers kept jokingly saying "Shhhh don't wake the baby!" and Emmy did not like it at all.  She grabbed his hand and told them to stop  making fun of her brother!!!

I remember pulling into the driveway when we got home.  I met Amanda in the middle and just hugged her like crazy.  Lost it.  Boo-hoo'ed.

We had a LOT of work to do on our family.  What we were doing wasn't working.  I really hated that our trip went so bad.  I'm hoping that one day, before the kids get too old, that we will be able to go again and have a much better outcome!!  Josh and I just recently talked about trying to go back since we're in a better place and the kids are older.  We are either going next Fall or wait for our niece Lillian to get a little older so we can all go as a family.

Later on that year, Emily had surgery #2.  Frenulectomy.  Know what that is?  Google it :)  Our dear sweet Dr. Davis took care of Emily.  Her surgery didn't last 10 minutes.  Recovery wasn't too bad either!

 Since we had such an awful vacation in Disney, we desperately wanted to make it up so we planned our 4th cruise.  This time we left out of Miami and cruised to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Key West.

Talent Show with Funship Freddie

Ethan, Ivan and Emmy

Aunt Whitey, Grammy, Daddy, Poppy, Emmy & Ethan

 

I can not believe I didn't buy this shirt.....

Fall 2009.  5 years old.  That means.....TIME TO GO TO SCHOOL!!!

One Year Later......

This is another copy & paste of something I wrote back in 2008.  This was a year after her surgery.



Emilys Heart Appt in Bham...and some serious thoughts
Sept 17, 2008

I truly believe that God chose to use my daughter.  I absolutely wholeheartedly believe that.  I believe that He knew she had enough of a fight in her that she could pull through this whole surgery issue we've had to go through and accomplish the job He intended.  Look at all the good that has come out of it.
Because of her surgery, Josh and I met some amazing new people that prayed for us when they didn't even know who we were.  I just didn't get that, until now.  Because of her surgery, we now are a praying family. 
Ya know, it's sad that it takes something so detrimental to happen to someone or to some family for them to realize everything we have realized.  It shouldn't be that way and we all know it.  If anyone had asked me a year ago if I would be like this, I would have probably told them it was something I chose not to discuss with anyone and grabbed another shot of Jose.  Yeah, the parties were fun.  And yeah, I laughed until I thought I would pee in my pants (probably did a couple of times).  But NONE of that even compares to the feeling I get when my husband takes time to stop the car on our way to Bham, grab my hand and pray for our little girl's doctor's appt with the most sincere and loving voice I've ever heard come out of him.  Or, on the night before my surgery, hearing him pray to God that the doctors take care of his wife and that everything has a good outcome.  A voluntary vocal prayer coming from someone who wouldn't have thought about it 6 months ago.
I do have some amazing friends.  People that I've hurt in the past that have found it in their hearts to forgive me, (a God thing), people that maintain a bond no matter the distance because of the strength of trust and love in the friendship (a God thing), people that have proven time and time again without fail that they are in it for the long haul and there's no substitute (a God thing)....and that's just skimming the surface.  I have finally been able to surround myself with people that I KNOW I can count on.
Ahhhhhhhhhh, I gotta stop and go to bed!  Im so sleepy from the trip!
Ok, emmy's appt.  The ridge is not back.  Her surgery was a success.  There is a 1 in 10 chance it could come back so we are keeping track of it.  (REMEMBER THIS PART FOR A LATER BLOG) We have to go back in 1.5 years.  She will eventually have to have the valve replacement surgery but that's way later on.
If you took time to read through all of this, then I thank you for doing so.
Goodnight and I love you.....

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The kids were turning 5 soon and it was time to plan our annual vacation!!!
~Allyson~