The Happiest Place On Earth Part 2

Hello. It's the morning of our last day. This trip was not at all like I had expected going into it. I have had a wonderful time with my children and parents. The whole thing has been fantastic! Griffin and Molly have been amazing, and I don't think I've ever had so much fun with them. Everybody says that their kids are cool, blah blah blah, but my kids really are the coolest. They're great sports and easy-going, no whining or complaining. Plus, they just totally embrace the joy of this place. I won't bore you with a bunch of "Aren't they the greatest?" stories. But I have to share my two favorite moments.

Griffin and I have bonded over the "scary" rides. His favorite is the Matterhorn. My favorite is Splash Mountain. He did so well on the other coasters that I thought Splash Mountain would be no problem for him. I talked him into going with me. To cut this story short, the ride terrified Griffin. When we hit the bottom of the big drop and I turned around to high-five Griffin, he was shaking and completely ashen. He looked like he was going to throw-up. We got off the ride and Griffin was silent and not looking so good. I knelt down to his eye level and said, "Are you ok?" He shook his head no. I gave him a hug and said, "I'm so sorry Griffin! I didn't know it would scare you. I feel really bad!" He was trying really hard not to cry and said, "It's ok, Mom. I forgive you." Oh, man. That made me feel even worse! What an awesome kid! The cherry on top was that they snap your picture as you plummet down. I bought the picture because the sheer horror on Griffin's face as he realized that his mother had led him to certain death is priceless!

Molly's favorite ride was It's A Small World, so we definitely didn't see eye-to-eye on the rides. She was mesmerized by all the fairy tale details of Fantasy Land. For a whole day she stopped trying to act like a teenager and turned into an 8-year-old girl. It was wonderful. My favorite part was watching Molly watch the big parade that goes down Main Street every night. She was clapping and pointing and interacting with all the characters that came over to her. She waved her hands in the air and imitated the dancers. She sang along with the music. I don't know how to describe the energy that was coming off of her. It was like her little 50 pound body could not contain all of the happiness that she was experiencing.

And I've kept up with my workouts and tried to limit my eating to a reasonable level. Mom wanted to buy me a souvenir and I managed to find a workout shirt with Mickey on it. This morning I got up in the dark, snuck out, and ran longer than I ever have before. We're going to go to the hotel's water slide in a little bit and then we fly back home.

So, yeah, it's been a trip to remember forever.