This trip confirmed, once again, it’s the people you are with, not the location at which you park your house
that makes for a great time. This stop we got to see my mom and Curtis, Carly, Luke and Eli (aka Sugar Shoes).
Eli earned the nickname by walking around Disney World with sugar packets in his shoes for three days taking
him from a non-rider of 39.5 inches to an experienced roller-coaster connoisseur of 40 inches. Hilarious.
After Curly’s (Curtis + Carly) arrival an 2:00am we all got up and started the Disney experience. Like always,
Disney does it right! We all stayed in the Motorhome in Fort Wilderness. We knocked-out the Magic Kingdom,
Animal Kingdom (my personal favorite), Epcot (where a seagull had mistaken my hair for its nest and tried to fly into it
to get to the Mickey head ice cream I as enjoying. Thank you, Brian, for scaring it away before it got my ice cream! LOL
I only caused a little scene.) and Hollywood Studios (Where we all got to celebrate our beautiful Hannah turning 14 years
old).
Following Fort Wilderness, we sent The Wave in for some minor service and spent the week in my parents timeshare. Yes, a REAL
bed with a REAL bathroom. The family experienced Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure together.
A highlight for me was going to Kennedy Space Center where we got to experience the shuttle that imitates the feeling
of the rocket launch (where I learned that it is possible to feel your neck fat jiggle) and the girls got to meet
astronaut, Frederick Gregory. I want to be an astronaut. I am pretty sure the girls are wiped because when we arrived
I said “surprise, we are going to the moon” and Zoe replied “But, I don’t want to go to the moon today, I am too tired”.
LOL So there’s that!
The BEST part of the trip though, was being able to give my mom her a bucket list dream of swimming with dolphins. She has
always loved these beautiful mammals, but this day she got to spend some quality time with them and took a ride on a dorsal fin.
She also got to snorkel and do a few other things while she was there. Mom’s pass also came with a free admission into Sea World,
so she braved that all by herself and the next morning experienced Uber. It’s like she is all grown-up! Haha It was great to
see her happy and smiling!
On a humbling note, Carly’s Nona (grandmother), Alta Leoncini Potter, passed way. A lady that was loved and admired by all of us.
She has the warmest soul that always offered the best, most level-headed, and loving advice. She will be the first to tell you
that she was happy and that she “truly lived”. It was a life lesson for us to experience a “peaceful passing”. One of joy and
excitement for her to start her next adventure. Thank you for always making us feel like family. We love you, Nona.
I thank this sabbatical for getting my head and heart to a place where I can recognize and feel the deep appreciation and gratitude
for the world and my loved ones around me.
XO
Tina
Boondocks and Bliss