Walt Disney World 2009

It is true…there is something truly magical about WDW….and it is the happiest place on earth. And I love the Mouse so much, I have a tattoo of him on my right ankle.

My sister Shelly, who is also a widow, came with us….having also lost her husband, she has provided me with a lot of wisdom as I go through my grief journey, as she is still going through her own. She said I needed something to look forward to through this first year….Thus I came up with the idea of WDW over Luke’s Fall Break.

Now my love of all things Disney can be traced directly back to my BFF Amy and the trip after our HS graduation. It was my first time to Disney…and who better to go with then Amy and her mom Bonnie (who are the ultimate WDW fanatics). Since then I have been back 4 more times, three of which were with Mark. So Disney holds a lot of memories for me with Mark. We last went together as a family in Feb 2007 (Luke’s second trip to WDW and Kate’s first).

It felt like every corner I turned on this trip, a flood of memories came back to me of Mark. But being in the ‘happiest place on earth’ I was able to embrace those memories with a smile on my face, though I did loose it a few times, but I am allowed to!

Out of the blue as we were just about to enter the Magic Kingdom on the last night of our stay, Kate says to Aunt Sha-Sha (aka my sister Shelly), “Aunt Sha-Sha, did you know that my Daddy died? And that he is up in the sky? And that he cannot come back down? I really miss him”. Definetly one of those moements when we both did our best to hold back the tears….

But it was a wonderful trip. All of us had a great time. The kids did great, though there were a few meltdowns. They loved the pool at the hotel. And if you ask Luke, the best part of WDW: LEGO LAND!! (Seriously). And the one splurge on the trip was breakfast at Cinderella’s Castle in Magic Kingdom to celebrate Kate’s 3rd Birthday….OMG. It was truly magical and the food was delicious (It better be for the price!)

Anyway, we are back in the Land of Hooisers and already trying to figure out our next trip to WDW. I am going to post pics in a seperate post....I have so many great ones, I need to try put up the "Best of the Best"