by Sarah | Jul 25, 2019 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, Disney Mom, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, Universal Studios Mom
Once upon a time, Denver was an adorable tot.
No, seriously, look at that face…how adorable??
Okay, okay, that’s a baby pic, but don’t you wanna smoosh those cheeks?
ANYHOOZLES.
Way off topic here.
He was cute. He was the only child, grandchild, he was spoiled…
Which meant for approximately 3 years when he fell in love with the movie Mary Poppins I watched that damn thing, at least in part, EVERY DAY.
Let me clarify this for you…
Every day. For at least 3 years. At least 1095 days. I watched at least 20 minutes of Mary Poppins.
I grew to hate that snobby bitch.
I mean, sure she’s great on the first watch. Maybe even the second. Then you begin to realize her ‘practically perfect in every way’ rhetoric is just SO ANNOYING.
(For the record, I have since watched the 2nd and I do love the fun Emily has with the role. No offense to Dame Julie Andrews, whom I adore, but it’s a LOT of Mary Poppins).
Fast forward to 2014. We are at Disney for Kennedy’s Wish…and innocently wandering through Epcot…
When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a beautiful Mary Poppins standing innocently in midst of the UK. Not surrounded by millions of people or a handler, just…there.
You KNOW what I did.
I mean, how could I not?
THREE YEARS, people.
You bet your butt I forced Denver to get a picture with her.
You can see his extreme joy at being forced not just into a picture, but one with Mary Poppins herself.
A mother’s memory is long…and revenge truly is a dish best served cold.
by Sarah | Jun 20, 2019 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, Disney Mom, Florida Dreaming, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, Universal, Universal Studios Mom
Our road to Disney and Universal was not paved with flowers and sunshine. That goes without saying. I could go into logistics about Make A Wish’s former CF rules, refusals, and hope coming our way again, but that’s another story for another blog post. Suffice it to say, it was a bumpy, long road…until it wasn’t.
When the time came for us to approach the kids and say they were getting wishes, and to ask what they wanted, both of them thought pretty hard. I, myself, hoped for Disney, but didn’t push either of them in that direction. I did mention to the obsessed-with-Harry-Potter Kennedy that there was this magical place called Diagon Alley at Universal Studios, but we discussed other options. Things like trips in an RV, remodeling the bedroom were discussed among others.
When the day came, the wonderful Wish Granters asked the kids what they wanted.
Kennedy said, “I want to see Harry Potter World!” (It was only then that I learned when you wish for one FL theme park, you get both) I was not upset by this declaration.
From that moment everything flew by in an instant. Before any of us knew it, we were in the limo and on the plane for Florida.
Months of planning, talking, anticipation all came down to that one moment…
You know the one…
The one where we stepped through the brick passage and onto Diagon Alley.
Every moment after when Kennedy’s face looking like this —->>
Excitement. Spotting everything left and right, pointing out everything.
When Ollivander selected her and her sister (believing them twins, methinks) to get their own matching wands.
When she saw, and felt, the dragon breathe fire down on us.
When she sat in the sidecar (look how tiny, my goodness).
Every moment in Diagon Alley that day was so much magic we could have gone home right then and never complained a moment that it wasn’t worth it.
To see K become completely immersed into the world we both loved so much.
Every single second was one I wanted to bottle and hold onto.
That was the moment I knew magic was real.
And the look on her face made every struggle that led us up to and through the brick passage way was worth it.
So damn worth it.
by Sarah | Dec 21, 2017 | All About Erik, All About Family, Disney, Redefining Perfect
My husband has a big crush.
I suppose I should be jealous.
I mean, she’s super cute, sweet, clever, and talented.
It’s Tinkerbell.
I can’t compete with that…
except she’s a fairy.
So I can, a wee bit.
After all, he can’t forever live where they shrink you down to fairy size.
Right?
Right?
by Sarah | Dec 14, 2017 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney Mom, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, Universal, Universal Studios Mom
Our trips to Universal through Make-A-Wish were amazing. Hands down. The cast members, the rides, the amazing treatment we received. Universal WAS Kennedy’s wish. She wanted to see Harry Potter world. That was her ultimate goal.
We had the best time.
We also had a strange curse afflict us while there.
See, we had two days at Universal. That was more than enough time to ride every ride we wanted to ride. Even some we weren’t sure of.
Both years, we were able to ride every single ride, but one.
It was always one we really wanted to ride. Always.
On our first visit, we made it through most of the rides on our first day. We decided to save Big Mama…i.e. Rip Ride Rockit for our second day, on the theory of saving the best for last.
Our second day at Universal happened to be November 1st, and an odd thing happened that day. The weather decided that since it was November, it was going to show us how cold Florida was capable of getting. The temperature dropped into the 40’s (Thank goodness we had our jackets from home with us), and the wind picked up like you wouldn’t believe. The sun was shining bright though, so we set off on our newest adventure…
Here’s the thing…like I said, it was windy. Rip Ride Rockit starts with a super-tall straight-up climbing tower of track.
High winds.
Tall tower.
See where I’m going with this?
The ride was closed for the day. We hung our heads, made sad faces, but figured it was all right because Kennedy wasn’t tall enough to ride anyway. We didn’t know when we’d be back, but we figured once we did go back, K would be able to ride, too. (And she did, but that’s another story).
The second time we went was for Denver’s trip. He’s not a roller coaster person, but his Mimi (my mom), totally is…and by his request Mimi had come with us on the trip.
Because of the incident the year before, we made Rip Ride Rockit our top priority. We rode, it was short but glorious, and has a story to tell later.
As we made our way through the parks with my mom, I was excited to take her to the Hulk coaster because it had been so amazing the previous year.
After much of the day we finally get there to find what you see in the picture over there. The ride was closed, being torn down in Universal’s plan to make it even better. By all accounts, the new ride looks amazing, but it totally cut yet another coaster out of our trip.
I can’t say enough good things about Universal and their staff…
But whenever we do return (2019, maybe?)…I’m going to plan to fully expect at least one awesome ride to be down for whatever reason might occur.
Maybe if I plan, and expect such a thing I’ll be pleasantly surprised and the ride will be available. Yeah? Maybe?
by Sarah | Feb 9, 2017 | All About Denver, All About Family, All of Us, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect, The Teenager
To have heard Denver tell it way back in 2014, Kennedy made a “stupid” wish.
How could he, a 16 year old, ever expect to have fun at Disney World?
This picture he almost appears to be smiling, but he wasn’t. 1, because he hates pictures, and 2, because we were at Disney.
Can I tell you how much magic Disney World holds?
It holds enough to take a teen so dead-set against going to Disney, and in three little days turning him into a die-hard Disney fan.
It turned him so quickly and completely that he wanted to change his wish, but didn’t think he could. We were all slightly giddy when his original wish fell through and we were able to return – because of course the teen picked Disney for his second wish.
From that point on, all Denver has wanted is to move to Florida and work for the mouse.
A week ago today, his dream came true.
Denver is moving to Florida. He’ll be working for Disney – and you’ll be able to find him at Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe.
From a Make-A-Wish kid…into a Disney Cast Member.
Living proof that dreams can come true.
(And let’s not talk about the fact that the next day as he was on the phone with Disney, Give Kids the World Village also called to request an interview for a job there, as well)
I’m so excited for him, it’s easy to hold off the tears (mostly).
He is the inspiration to all of us in this house that we can achieve our dreams.
I can’t wait to follow the kid to the land of sunshine and magic.
For now, I’ll rest happy knowing one of us made it out of the land of winter.
And look forward to visiting him as often as humanly possible.
Once upon a time, Denver was an adorable tot.
Fast forward to 2014. We are at Disney for Kennedy’s Wish…and innocently wandering through Epcot…
