Here's to you, Walt.

I know you're all anxious to hear about the Disney Cruise, but to tell you the truth...it was relatively uneventful. There's really not much to tell.





I'm totally kidding.




It was probably the single most exhausting week of my entire life...beginning with the three hour drive to the boat, and ending with the three hour drive home.

Have you ever seen that Norman Rockwell painting, Coming and Going? It shows a family on their way to a vacation, bouncing with excitement...and coming back: dirty, exhausted, angry, annoyed. I wish I had taken pictures of our car each way to show the comparison...

Everything inbetween was basically what you would expect...

-Singing and dancing crew members...check.
-Disney characters arond every corner...check.
-Standing in line with Mia to meet the characters...check.
-Mia melting down when it is finally her turn and making Goofy cry...check.
-Really narrow, incredibly long hallways through which it is nearly impossible to navigate a stroller...check.
-Sharing a room with Mia...check.
-7 a.m. wake up call from Mickey Mouse...check.
-A three year old screaming, "Brooksie, is it Mickey Mouse?!" at 7 a.m....check.
-Norbert, our server from Hungary, who sounded a lot like Dracula...check.
-Mia throwing temper tantrums in the middle of the restaurant and Norbert being the only one who could calm her down...check.

It was a Disney cruise with a three year old and a nine month old. Lots of sun, a little rain, lots of poolside drinks.

I'd like to break for a moment and explain to you what we have been up to since returning from the cruise, and why my post is somewhat tardy.

We went on the cruise with Mia's grandparents, two of her cousins, and their nanny. (welcome to the blog, Laura Ann)

Mia's cousins have a little sister, Ann Hinckley, who is sick, so she and her parents were unable to come on the cruise with us. She has Aplastic Anemia, and since we have returned from the cruise we have been working on a Bone Marrow Drive in her honor. Ann Hinckley needs a bone marrow transplant, and she does not have a family match.

I would love it if you would all take a moment to visit Bethematch.org.
It's free and it only takes a few minutes. They will send a swabbing kit to you, and you just mail it back. After that you will be entered into a national registry for potential bone marrow matches...and you could be the one to save a life.

If I can't be a match for her, I hope that I will one day be able to be the match for somebody else...and I'll give my bone marrow happily, all the while thinking of Ann Hinckley.

So from Norbert and all the gang at Disney Cruise Lines (and me)...here's hoping that when you wish upon a star, as dreamers do, that all of your dreams come true.