A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.....

Dorian in his mouse ears, meeting Donald Duck! 

The words from the title are from a classic Disney song, that I actually learned when taking voice lessons as a teenager, and at the Disneyland hotel they had throw pillows on the beds that spelled out that phrase; I love that song and it's the perfect theme for our vacation.

As a couple who had a "teenage wedding" way back in 1999; and have been busy raising a family ever since; James and I have often felt a little guilt that we were not able to provide certain niceties for our children; like vacation and loads of toys. I should say, James has mostly felt guilty, because he was raised by parents who were...poor, there's no other way to say it, and he never had a nice bedroom, or toys, or clothes that were considered acceptable by his classmates. I think growing up the way he did, he always saw children who's parents had those things, and felt that his life would be better if there were more money in the picture. I, on the other hand, was very lucky in that I had not only my own room, but my own bathroom, and went on vacation every year; often to Disneyland, and had clothes that were the envy of all the girls I knew. I know, unequivocally, that money does not buy happiness, and I don't fret about buying surpluses of toys, and feel that our children are lucky, in far more important ways. But still, I would often feel wistful when seeing all the commercials on TV about the happy family with the wondrous children seeing Mickey for the first time.

When we decided to take this vacation; and knew that we would be able to manage it financially, it was a dream come true; we almost couldn't believe it! We talked for weeks about how the boys would react when seeing Disneyland, and the ocean for the first time; the anticipation was almost the best part! Almost.....

My sweet Dorian loves Mickey Mouse; he was so looking forward to seeing Mickey, and when he did; Mickey had an appointment to keep and walked right by! Poor Dorian; it was so sweet and sad and cute how heartbroken he was! He had on his mouse ears and everything! (don't worry, Mickey and Dorian made up; he actually "met" him later in the trip). We had such a great time; you would never think we could have had such a great time with the two of us and five boys, but it was! James and I joked that we were actually in a fitness camp, because we walked miles every day, pushing two strollers, and eating was few and far between because we were so busy; I'm telling you, vacation was actually good to my waistline!

We went on several rides as a family, Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my favorites; I brought both Andrew and Bentley on it when they were babies, they both fell asleep; and lo and behold; Elvis fell asleep both times we took him on it! I even got talked into going on the Hollywood Tower of Terror; which was probably the least pleasant part of the whole trip; for the uninitiated; that ride involves sitting in a metal chair in a metal cage, buckling up and then being dropped like a hot potato for several stories....then shot up like a rocket and dropped again. And again! My poor Bentley cried, and I wanted to! At least I can say I did it!

I have enough memories from our vacation to last a while; I think I will be sharing some more stories on many blog posts to come.

On the sewing front; I found gorgeous 100% silk charmeuse in a lovely pale, pale yellow color for my mom's wedding dress; can't wait to receive it! It will be so wonderful to get the chance to work with such gorgeous material! I also received my final approval to sell at a Farmers' Market, and am going to my first Vendor's meeting on Saturday. I ordered spiffy new business cards just for the occasion, it will be fun!

Wow, Friday already in most places; in a half hour for me; still need to unmold some soap and cut out material for my mom's reception dress; Happy Friday!