Home sweet oh my goodness am I behind!

All the doctor visits between kids and cats, preparing for the Disney trip, being quarantined with sickness, plus the trip itself .........when Monday hit, it hit me with full force as it usually does.

Christmas is a week from Sunday and I'm not ready.  I had gotten behind on laundry and other chores and my tendency to be disorganized has bothered me more than ever.  I opened the cabinet beneath my sink and peered at utter chaos and gazed in embarrassment at the mounds of mess I call my closet.  The clothes are neatly hung, but the randomness of items stacked on the shelves leaves much to be desired. 

I have multiple errands to run than just aren't worth running with both kids in tow.  Combine that with a traveling husband and I'm not sure they will get done. 

Back to our trip.  The villa we stayed at was great!  The 1,300 square foot living space we had for 3 days spoiled us from the usual cramped hotel room.  The property was amazing with multiple pools, play areas for kids, it's own little sandy beach on a lake, 3 restaurants, little shops, a spa, a golf course.....we didn't even need to leave to have a wonderful little get-away.  We left the Grand Vista for our day at Disney Friday morning and my mom stayed behind with Adley. 

If you ask Elyse how Disney was, she will answer "dark".  I never thought about Disney through the eyes of a two year old, but now I have and she's right, it is "dark".  The rides aren't very cheery and often have villains popping out of hidden corners.  Even the live Little Mermaid show had her burying her head in Matt's shoulder when the sea-witch octopus came out.  She loved Dumbo and meeting the characters, she liked the parade and the Jungle Cruise, but other than that, it just flat out scared her.  She hasn't seen any of the movies so she doesn't really know many of the characters, the noise, lack of nap, repeated waiting (even though the lines weren't bad at all), I'm not sure if the fun she had outweighed the "darkness".  Poor kid.  We just took her too young.  I'm extremely thankful we didn't have to pay to get in to learn this. 

She still loves simple things like splashing in the heated pools they had on site and playing chase across the lake bridge.  As parents we wanted to show her so much, take her to the place whose motto is "where dreams come true"......I'm hoping she didn't leave with nightmares.  We can show her so much more with our attention, time and focus, and that can happen in our own backyard or on our family room floor.  One day I'm sure she will beg to go back and I'm sure we will take her, but with much different expectations and a much different plan in place. 

Around dinner time we took her back, bathed and fed her and got her ready for bed.  My mom put both girls to bed so Matt and I could enjoy a date night at Epcot.  We bounced from country to country sampling foods and drinks and finished up just in time to watch their Illuminations firework show.  It was a date night like no other.  The "cast" at the different countries were native to those places, combine that with Disney style scenery and ambiance and you're instantly transformed by sights, accents and smells to a far away land.  10 minutes later you do it again and before you know it, you've traveled the world. 

I'll post a few pictures when I get a chance, but I promised myself an early bedtime tonight and I'll scarcely stick to that if I end now.