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Back from the Magic Kingdom

Posted by Kathy Torrence on May 3, 2008 in Family Stuff, Our Goldendoodle Puppies, Today's Photo

I finally have a moment to post about our wonderful weekend in Florida – we had an absolutely AWESOME time!

Thanks so much to my friend Linda for hosting us at her home and treating us to a fabulous girl’s birthday weekend!

We went to the beach on Saturday and had a lovely sunny day – it was so nice to feel the warmth again – I could feel my body soaking up the vitamin D!

The grown-ups also went out to a yummy dinner at a fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot (thanks to Linda and her friends for making me laugh all night – and thanks to Tom for watching the children):

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We also got to meet our goldendoodle Geddy’s brother, Buddy. Linda had Buddy shipped to her in Florida when she found out that no one had adopted him…

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They also have another dog – a Westie named Max who is 18 years old. Max (who has to wear diapers now, unfortunately) took it upon himself to take up residence in my suitcase…

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Hmmm….I love dogs and all, but I wasn’t crazy about this…

We also visited a local arts festival where the kids got to create some pottery pieces…

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That’s Linda’s son Zachary with Kylee learning to throw clay on the wheel.

Emily also leaned how to play the bongo drums…and she was surprisingly good at it!

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On Sunday, we visited Linda’s church – Georgianna UMC on Merritt Island. I was so moved during the worship service – the Holy Spirit was obviously alive and active in that gathering. I hope that we can capture that energy in our own church soon.

On Monday, we visited the Magic Kingdom (certainly a different kind of kingdom 🙂 in Walt Disney World. The day was fantastic – our timing was great, the weather was super, the kids held up well…we even got to meet Cinderella in the VIP room:

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I almost didn’t think I was going to have anything interesting to blog about! Until the “Princess Tragedy”…

It all started out well enough – after our day at the park, we scheduled princess makeovers for our darling girls at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Downtown Disney. The girls were treated to their own personal “fairy godmothers” styling their hair, makeup and nails – and to save a little money, we decided to pull a BYOD – Bring Your Own Dress. Emily had a gorgeous sparkly pink dress that Linda had given her for her birthday – here she is after her makeover…

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Doesn’t she look happy? Unfortunately, after we left the boutique to go to dinner, Emily decided that her dress was itchy and uncomfortable…things went downhill fast…

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In a moment of motherly-panic, I felt I had no other choice but to purchase another dress – we just spent a large amount of money to have Emily’s hair and makeup done and it was running down her face! The whole makeover experience was in jeopardy!

So I frantically searched through the Disney Store and could find no costumes in her size except for Jasmine’s…

I’m really trying to focus on living in the “now” – I am reading the book, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, in an effort to help me still my mind and deal with those things that come my way without stressing. I tried to pause and take a deep breath – I tried to remind myself that there are no “problems” – only “situations”, as the book recommends.

I was doing well until I took the costume, rushed back to the bathroom to change Emily…and the pants were so big, they fell down her tiny hips. There were no other costumes to be found – not even Jasmine in a smaller size! No problems…just situations…

I rushed back to the counter and with that mother-desperation in my voice, asked for some safety pins. Of course, they had none (but the woman at the counter had witnessed the princess meltdown and was very sympathetic). Finally, I went back to the boutique and found some clear rubber bands that I used to gather the material on the pants…we had a happy princess again!

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Then it started to rain…no problems, just situations…

Of course, we were forced to purchase a very expensive Walt Disney World “souvenir” umbrella…but we had to keep the newly coiffed and outfitted princesses dry…

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Which, of course, let to a couple of very cold princesses. No problems…just situations…

At which point I pulled out my final “mommy-trick” – a sweatshirt that I just happened to purchase a few hours earlier…all was well!

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And I got through it without having my own meltdown…I’ll keep working on it…

Emily loved her new outfit so much, she wore it home on the plane (and loved all the attention it brought her). And the fairy godmothers used so much gel and hairspray, the hair stayed in for three days! At least I feel like we got our money’s worth and that all the effort to avert the Princess Tragedy was not in vain…

Thanks again to the Brandons for a wonderful weekend!!!!!

 
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Happy Birthday, Emily!

Posted by Kathy Torrence on May 3, 2008 in Family Stuff

Six years ago, I was lucky enough to give birth to the sweetest, most beautiful little girl I could ever imagine.  I can still remember as if it were yesterday when they placed her on my stomach for the first time right after she was born – I looked into those tiny little blue eyes and fell in completely and totally in love!

I thank God everyday for my precious gift – Happy Birthday, sweet Emily Rose!!!!

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