And That's The End of That.

Dear occasional visitor,

It is my hope that this blog will amuse you and encourage you to document your own trip to GKTW and the Disney empire. I have regularly come back to it to reminisce about the trip and the many happy memories we made that week.

The past month, it has become even more important to me. On 30 January 2012, we lost Kayla. True to form, she slept through it. We had always known that Kayla was unlikely to outlive us, but we always thought we would have plenty of warning and there would be time to gather the family around for the final hours. Instead, she was dead within hours of a diagnosis of pneumonia/sepsis. The onset was sudden to us, and the end was a confusion of medical staff, procedures and urgency, but ultimately she didn't have the strength to beat it back this time.

Treasure your trip. Preserve the memories. But above all, enjoy yourself and don't experience the whole thing through a viewfinder. Your memory will provide all the high points for your review for many years to come.

Day 7, Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig!

Wow, another long day.  Up at the crack of toodamnearly.  Gina gave packing a good try last night, but she was just too out of it to do any good.  If you saw yesterday's blog post before my editing job, you probably know that I wasn't in any better shape.

Day 6, The Final Countdown

Go ahead, try and get that song out of your head now.

Day 5, Nothing's out of reach in the backyard beach!

Time for a day off.  We've done so much walking and sweating, and such light eating, that I've probably lost 30 lbs.  I've had to tighten my belt a notch!  I haven't been this thin since the last time I was this thin.  I could get to like the Disney Diet Plan.  The problem here is that I'm already so thin I look like I only gained my third dimension last month.

Day 4, Living life to it's fullest.

Ah, the Magic Kingdom!  Just thinking about it reminds me of the trip we made when I was 12.  My standout memories of that one are the Haunted Mansion and Snow White's Scary Adventures.  I love childhood trauma.

Chapter 3. In Which Everyone Becomes Dampened.

Ah, Tuesday.  The Plan:  Get up at our usual time, breakfast at the Ice Cream parlor and be ready to hit Animal Kingdom at the 9:00 opening.  Easy-peasy, right?

Day 2. I thought I was tired yesterday....

First full day, and first park visit!  Wore me OUT!

Today started off with some character photos.  Micky and Minnie were in the theater.  Kayla visited with Micky for a bit while Minnie distracted Jason and Emily.  Then they traded so Minnie could have some quality time with Kayla.  Once she had spent some time with each of the stars, they came together and we got some family shots.