Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Here We Come Disney World!

This has taken much longer than it should have to get posted - I feel like I am a month behind on everything these days!

The morning of departure for Disney World started with a cold and cough for Cole. Oh well, had to happen at some point so we moved on with our morning. I was like Clark Griswold going to get a Christmas tree. This trip was happening and everybody was going to catch the joyful spirit because I had enough for everybody if they didn't have it. Forgotten camera cords, coffee getting postponed and drank way later than it should be in the morning, colds, Travel Cole, Travel Ava and Travel Lila, dammit.

So the first thing is we forgot to get gas, or make that I forgot to get gas because I'm the one who drives my car. We stopped at the Love's at the end of Sutton Rd. I noticed while sitting there waiting for the tank to fill up that I was feeling pretty good about remembering some of the harder things that usually get forgotten at home and then I sucked in a breath so hard I choked on my luke warm coffee. I realized I had forgotten the battery chargers for the digital and video cameras.

I already know we are driving back home for the forgotten battery chargers, but I asked anyway "Should we drive back?" I was trying to get my feelers out to play this safe and act like it was no big deal just in case it brought up non joyful talk and feelings. The conversation went a little like this: "I don't know, how important is it" "I don't know, pretty important," "Can we make it through the trip without it." "Probably, maybe, not really."

We knew from previous trips that a forgotten battery charger would land us with an amazing photo opportunity and then the camera screen will say "Battery Life Expired." There goes that once in a lifetime moment. "Ok, yeah so we should go back and get it." In the time we took to debate, we could could have been at the house already. So what that we tacked on an extra 15 minutes, still no joy stealing allowed.



Finally after driving an 8 hour drive that usually turns into 8ish to 11ish hours for us with small children, we did not enter the enchanting Walt Disney World Entrance on the first day in Florida. We went straight to the time share. We all needed to be away from the car and let our mushy brains get settled before venturing into the magical world of Disney World.



I am just going to fill you in early here so you know what led to bad pictures and bad monetary decisions to get what pictures we could. Our very loved and needed camera ate up the pavers that so beautifully cover The Animal Kingdom over in dinosaur land the first day of being in Disney World. It didn't even bounce:( It landed lens first, but I had hope that it was a tough Nikon. It was not, but when you think about it, what camera would be that tough? It didn't even make it to lunch time. So no more pictures and no camera. All I could see flashing forward was a whole week we had left at the happiest place on Earth and all the "moments" I was going to miss because our camera had met it's maker. I think my eye started twitching.

What led to this disaster?

I was going to take a picture of the kids with a statue of a dinosaur and Cole went one way and Ava another and Lila was strapped in the stroller with all of our belongings piled on it. I needed to go after Ava one way and Cole another and stay with Lila at the stroller. Matt was a few yards away walking towards us after paying for the first purchase of the trip, more toys or figurines that will probably end up loved for about two weeks and then go into the "I used to be loved" pile. He saw it all happen. He probably had a great view of our camera dropping straight to the ground from my hands. My brain and body must have froze because I didn't even lunge for the camera. In the one second it took to fall I saw our lovely children leaving and the one decision my brain made in autopilot was our children were more important to catch. I was kind of hoping part of me would have chosen the camera. If I were a mommy snake or mommy shark I could have saved our camera. We might or might not have our children, but by george we would have pictures, but now that I think about it then we might not have our children in those pictures.

I held back tears the rest of the day for destroying our camera. Matt was very gracious. Even the ice cream cone we all shared that cost as much as a steak dinner didn't help the wounds I was licking.

After a day of being on the verge of tears and trying to take pictures of special moments with Matt's camera phone, and trying to be thankful that we at least had that, I had to get over it and remember why we were there and what we were celebrating.

For those of you who didn't know why we were taking this trip and when we took it, it was to celebrate no more surgeries for Cole and celebrating every day of life, especially after the scare Cole gave us. Since then we have been reminded of the reality of Cole possibly having a stroke coming out of surgery or after surgery. We know of one child who stroked a few times that had surgery the same time as Cole and is the same age as Cole and is alive and doing ok and another who stroked recently out of surgery and passed away, he was 17. We don't want to stay in that mindset 100%of the time, but we tend to get comfortable in life and get very busy and forget how precious our minutes are with each other. We also wanted to celebrate that even though we don't always like each other as a family, we always love each other:)





To start some of the celebrating, we ate at Chef Mickey's which is character dining with Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, and Minnie. They had asked at the beginning of the meal if we were celebrating anything special and we told them what we were celebrating and they brought this special cupcake. The Mickey on there is made of chocolate, yes boys and girls, they think of everything to make it impossible to say no to every little thing they offer that will make the trip that much more special:). Mickey and the gang and the wait staff came around and sang a song and waved napkins. It was all very festive but about 30 seconds into sitting down Matt and I had the table of children that made everyone feel extremely proud of their children and glad they did not have our children. Matt and I feverishly tried to hush them and talk sternly through gritted teeth and tight lips and warning eyes. I tried every kind of bribe, every kind of food, snacks, dum dum lollipops etc..
I also was having a wardrobe malfuction in the middle of all this. I had worn the wrong shirt to be taking care of a 5, 2, and 1 year old that were being a 5, 2, and 1year old. There was bra and skin everywhere. I was sweating. My eye was starting to twitch again. It was all very ugly. Matt had angry eyes and Matt never has angry eyes. It was all very non-Disney World behavior.



They did have the best Mickey shaped waffles though!


Matt and I felt very defeated after that breakfast - like what had we gotten ourselves into for 5 more days! We were so outnumbered and the enemies (our three children) were relentless! We also knew it was us against them which makes you want to wave the white flag immediately. It did make Matt and I draw close knowing we were all each other had:)

Then we had a light bulb go off as to why they were unusually bad at a place to eat, other than their ages. Cole had not slept because he had a cold and by then Lila had already started the cold too. They didn't sleep the night before. So no sleep from coughing and runny noses and getting settled into new sleeping quarters made for a rough morning.

It's so hard when you want those special moments to be really special, but the reality is normal life still happens, even at Disney World. The sooner you accept this the better off you are in your trip. I thought I had prepared myself before ever leaving our house. I went into it knowing there were going to be ugly moments but nothing could prepare us for some of those moments our children gave us. They were like little, ugly, unwanted boogers on the tip of their finger that make you gag. We wanted to walk away until they acted like they have some sense.

So next was the Magic Kingdom. Off to meet more of our children's movie stars and ride flying, spinning, and floating rides.

It is magical but don't think the Griffin children can't keep it real even in Disney. Most of the time we laughed at how we must look to the rest of Disney because standing in line for anything usually looked or sounded like this...................
I would hold Lila and the diaper bag, loaded down to survive Disney for the day, Matt would hold Ava's hand, Matt and I would both try to corral Cole using a leg or one of our other children or the diaper bag, Lila would have a diaper or something else from the diaper bag in her mouth and the rest strewn all over the ground.

We usually sounded like this.........

stand still, stand up, stop licking the hand rail, stop hanging on the chain for the line, Matt hold Lila, Matt get Cole he's trying to climb up that man's leg, Cole stop grabbing the ladies bum in front of us, Cole stop screaming, Cole stop hitting Ava, Ava stop provoking Cole, Mom Cole's hitting me again, You know what Ava I don't think I have the energy to care anymore, Lila stop kicking Cole in the head.


But........ what made some of those crazy moments worth it were, the faces on our babies faces! This trip wasn't about mommy and daddy relaxing. It was about helping dreams come true and nobody else is going to do that, nor should they, for our children. Getting to give them this experience and watch dreams come true felt like a huge gift to be given. We watched their little faces look in wonder as they couldn't believe what they were seeing or being so excited they couldn't stand still and would run in place and clap their hands.






Those faces and reactions were why we could walk and walk and walk and carry and walk and push the stroller and walk and carry some more. It was like musical mommy and daddy and stroller. Ava and Lila would be in there because Cole wanted to walk. Then Cole didn't want to walk but neither did Ava. So we would unstrap Lila and carry Lila. Then we would trade who carried and who pushed. Then every few feet someone was thirsty. Then when our arms were shaking with fatigue from the carrying we would move Ava out and put Lila and Cole in and let Ava sit on the front and that is how we made Disney 2010 happen. We think after it was all said and done we were there 2 days too long.


We knew Woody, Jesse, Mickey and the gang would make both Ava and Cole happy but we were unsure of what Cole would think of waiting in line to meet princesses.


Well, we met Cole's first love, Princess Tiana. This is what boys in love look like,




and then the Belle in life comes along,







and then the Ariel in life comes along,




and then the Cinderella in life come's along,






I'm a little embarrassed as a mom to say he was like Puss n' Boots in Shrek the Third when he is at the boat dock with all the girl cats and he's saying "I love you, and I love you, and I love you, and I definitely love you." He went to each princess he met and it was like the one before never existed. He was most bashful with Cinderella. He wouldn't go up to her. Ava did because this is her favorite princess, but at the very end Cole ran back and jumped in her arms and cut off another child who was taking their turn:(


and then the Repunzel in life comes along, but those boys seem go back to whoever their Cinderella is because we saw her again and he was the same way.




I totally thought it would be Repunzel! She was beautiful! Just shows beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The one thing we love about this time of year at Disney is everything being decorated for Christmas and we do Mickey's Very Merry Christmas. Even Matt and I are in awe. The castle is decorated with icicle lights from top to bottom and it changes colors every now and then. There is real snow made by snow machines that falls softly over Main Street as you walk down the middle of all the shops. There is a big Christmas parade with all the characters and Santa is at the end with his reindeer. There is a firework show at the end over the castle. There is a lot more but it is amazing.




"To Infinity and Beyond!"

This was the one "movie star" Cole had talked about and couldn't wait to go to Disney World to see. It was amazing to get to see this particular dream come true! Giving him new memories to fill his eyes and ears and mind with helped us as parents heal a little from watching what he has gone through for three years.




Thank you to everyone who has supported us in love and friendship. Thank you for praying, thank you for crying tears we didn't have in us to cry at times, thank you for crying with us, thank you for realizing what this time for us as a family meant, thank you for making our story personal to you when there are so many families who have faced or are facing some scary moments in their lives.

5 comments:

Lisa L. Newman said...

Awesome story. It really made my day....your children are beautiful. Treasure them always. Disney World is for kids....it is their ultimate fantasy.

Betty and Wilma said...

Wow lots of fun. You have a lot of memories here. Some good photos and a lot of written memories to look back on. Well thanks for the read and allowing me to live for a moment through your eyes.

Griffin Family said...

Lisa,
Thank you for leaving your comment!

Griffin Family said...

Betty and Wilma,

Thank you for your comment and using your precious time to catch up on some reading with of all things our Disney trip!
You have an amazing story the tiny bit I got to read, right down to your names:)!

modern mum said...

fantastic reading