So what did I do? I promised to blog more often. Yeah, guess what I didn't do? Blog more often. I bet you won't believe any of my promises anymore, but I hope we can still be friends.
Everyone has been asking me lately, "I miss your blog. When are you going to update it again?" It's so flattering to know anyone out there DOES actually read this! Know what else? It makes you feel guilty for not keeping up with it.
Since I have been bad about cooking lately, I thought I might just write a quick post about a trip to Philadelphia this past weekend.
Last week, I was in Philadelphia for my Grandmother's memorial service. She passed away in February, but the brothers and sisters decided to arrange a memorial service later in the spring when more grandchildren and friends could attend.
Oddly enough, this was the first time I have ever slept at this grandmother's house. I always loved her home. It's an old (built circa 1900!) row house located in Roxborough, an area in Philadelphia. One of the coolest parts of her house was the third floor. I always thought it was neat that you could see the skyscrapers of Center City from her third floor window.
My grandmother, Betty (otherwise known to most of us as Mom Mom) had the most infectious giggle. Even though she faced some very hard times throughout her life, she was always able to leave the past in the past and focus on the present.
When we saw her this past fall for her 90th birthday, she was smiling and laughing. I will always be glad I was able to be there to celebrate with her.
On the day of the memorial service, the weather was predicted to be rainy, but it was such a beautiful day. It was just warm enough to make you want to sit on the porch all day. Look at how blue the sky was that day! Amazing. Even though it was a sad day, we enjoyed the time with all of our family who came from all over the country to be together.
The church where we held the service was absolutely beautiful, inside and out. Although I love my home state of South Carolina, there is something special about these old stone buildings.
Saying goodbye on Sunday was especially sad. Have you ever left a parent or grandparent's home, knowing that you will probably never cross that threshold again? It's a strange and sad feeling, like you want to remember every little nook and cranny and the memories you made there.
I know I will never forget sitting on those steps in the living room, waiting for my turn to open presents on Christmas morning.
Or the back (secret) stairwell and racing my sisters to see who could get to the bathroom first.
Or looking out the top story window to see the Philadelphia skyline.
Or eating Cheesesteaks from Dalesandro's at the dining room table.
Or the radiators. Or the stone wall out front.
Goodbye, house. We'll miss you.
For this trip, we decided to surprise Sadie for her 10th birthday. That's right, we had to keep this whole plan a secret for MONTHS! That was probably the hardest thing about the experience. On the morning of her 10th birthday, we dropped her off at school like a normal day, but then we picked her up at lunch and surprised her with the news that we were going to Disney. Today. Like, we are headed to the airport RIGHT NOW.
It was an amazing moment we will all remember forever and she was truly blown away. We had a special birthday dinner in France at Les Chefs de France. I don't know that we will ever top her 10th birthday!
Les Chefs did an amazing job making her feel special. Kevin was our favorite waiter the entire trip!
We had the best trip. You know how something always goes wrong on every vacation? Well nothing really went wrong the whole time, including our flights to and from Orlando- they were both on time! That's a miracle in itself! We spent 4.5 days in the parks and had an absolute blast. I'm telling you, if you want to feel young, just head on down to Disney for your birthday. And wear the Birthday Button-- every where we went, people said to me, "There is no way you are 40! You look 29!" Well, hello, you are speaking my language. And I don't even care if it's all a lie to make you feel good.
On our last morning, we were a little later getting to Magic Kingdom, which normally would make me nervous, because I always have a plan of attack for our days at Disney. However, we were taking our time getting some fun photos when we were approached by a Disney employee who was asking us a little about our trip. As we were talking about some of the best spots in the park to watch the midday Festival of Fantasy Parade, we were shocked when he said, "Would you like to be our Grand Marshals?" We didn't need to think very long about that! Leading the parade at Disney? What a special experience on my 40th birthday and on our last day in the park!
At 3:00, we met up with the Cast Members who lead the parade, where we were given very special Mickey Ears that were personalized for the parade AND we had our own photographer assigned to us. We rode in a fancy car that was open so we could wave to all the crowds and had an awesome driver who made us feel at home and also made us laugh continuously.
After making our way through the crowd, we were given a special VIP location to watch the parade, right at the entrance to Magic Kingdom. We were so close to the floats we could practically touch them. Our photographer documented the whole experience with over 200 photos for us (Thank Goodness we had purchased the Memory Maker!)
All in all, it was an amazing experience and it was truly magical. We enjoyed one last dinner at Be Our Guest and then saw one final fireworks show as we got ready to leave. Probably the best possible way to end a Disney Vacation.
(Some Gray Stuff!)
I've got two other Disney posts planned. I'd like to do one post spotlighting some of the awesome food we ate, and another telling how we made the most of our time (and avoided lines)! Stay tuned!
Posted with Blogsy
→ Service Settings. Then choose your blog platform and fill in your information.
to get to all post information.
to start a new post or open a local draft.
to open an online post in Blogsy to edit.
