Sorry for the long delay! I've had a whirl wind of a time the past 2 weeks! I've had more drugs and medical tests in that time than I've had the rest of my life put together. But first of 8 rounds of chemo are done, and I'm feeling pretty good. The drugs to control side effects are worse than the chemo
I'm asking my Dr if I can skip them next round.
My dog thinks I stink and won't stay in the same room as me for more than 5 minutes, but he uses that time to let me know he's worried.
I weaned Brom, that was very difficult, but we're doing pretty good. Emotional, but good.
And now back to the regularly scheduled programming!
September 1st!! My Birthday! Yay! I was so excited! And it was time for
MNSSHP. This day was going to be perfect! (and it was pretty close to it!)
Our day started late at 'Ohana, which wasn't quite as wonderful as other times we've dined there. It took over 15 minutes to get upstairs b/c there was only one elevator working, giving us only 5 minutes until our ADR time. But there was a 20 minute line-up once we got upstairs. IN hind sight, I really should have gone upstairs and got in line while Ryan navigated the buggy up the elevator, but it didn't occur to us that there'd be such a huge line up. Live and learn, live and learn.
The food was still just as good, we had lovely gluten-free waffles, and loved the potatoes and stitch juice. We were stuffed by the time we left!
Brom loved Pluto, but wasn't sure about Lilo. Mickey skipped our table at the insistence of the handler, and so did Stitch. We had to leave, so we pleaded with our 'cousin' to let us see Stitch before we left, and she got us in line, but the handler was not very friendly about it. Which left us feeling rather sad. Stitch was great to visit with though! Brom was a little hesitant, but, hey Stitch does pretend to be a dog, so it worked for Brom.
After breakfast we hopped on the monorail, ready for our day at the Magic Kingdom! It was gonna be great!
We had a few minutes until Agatha's Pirate's League appt, so we rode PotC, Ella and Agatha weren't happy about the ride choice, they wanted to ride the carpets.
I told them we'd check after, but I was riding this ride. No ifs, ands, or buts. They were happy once they got on the ride, and there was almost no wait, so that heaped a lot.
We did ride the carpets too.
Cordelia, Agatha, and I rode. Ella, Ryan and Brom found the SotMK window we needed. Then it was time for Agatha's PL appt.
She was so excited to be made up as a mermaid, to match her Elsa dress.
Ryan took the others to ride a couple rides, meet Ariel, and get Ella and Cordelia to their BBB appt.
Agatha loved her experience. She had so much fun, and couldn't stop smiling the entire time!
I would have loved to see Ella and Cordelia's visits with the FGMiT, but was so happy to have the time with Agatha. Sometimes it's tough to make the choice to participate in one adventure vs another.
Ella and Cordelia had a blast at their appts as well. Then the 3 girls all and their pictures taken together.
And before we knew it it was time for Dinner. (Almost party time!)
Dinner was at CRT, we were one of the first seated, and we had an amazing window view too!
Brom was much more taken with the Princesses, than the other characters.
And they with him.
We had a few lips to wipe off at the end of the meal
The meal was exactly what you'd expect at CRT, good, but nothing overly special. And then this came out!
Safe for all of us! But it was rock hard.
The good news is it held up great through the entire party and we were able to take it back to the room no worse for wear.
D.D. and her family were also dining at this time, but not with us. They came to our table when they were done, and wanted to make plans for the party, but they completely blocked off the flow of Princesses, so we agreed to meet them at Casey's Corner prior to the first parade. Though we made a point of telling them we weren't planning to watch the first parade, the meeting was just to make plans. At this point, I noticed they weren't wearing wrist bands (but they entered with party tickets only), so I asked her partner about it, and he said he didn't know what was going on, but he was sure D.D. had it all under control. I was worried.
They left to get some rides in, and we left to meet Elsa and Anna! And get our wrist bands.
Both Elsa and Anna had great fun teasing Ryan, scolding him, and got the girls going too, pretty soon everyone was getting mad at Prince Hans. I just wish he'd have changed into his full costume for the M&G, but he was worried about being too hot.
It was almost time to meet D.D. and her family, so we went over to CC to wait for them. They wanted to watch the first parade, so we saved them a nice spot and waited. And waited, and WAITED.
We were starting to get frustrated b/c the party had officially started, we were standing around missing out on our favourite things, and they were no where to be seen.
I ran to Town Hall to get our allergy goody bags for the girls, and came back, still no D.D.
I convinced Ryan and Cordelia to join me for a picture though. Ella and Agatha were so upset with waiting they refused to join us.
Finally about 7:20, they rush up, and say they can't get their wrist bands. And lost their buggy, and they'd be back. They dashed off toward tomorrow land, not once stopping to listen when I was trying tot ell them it wouldn't work. So just before 8, they come back. Ryan was fuming at this point, the girls were all upset, and Brom was crying. I was having a very tough time being patient as well. They rush up, and they still don't have wrist bass, or their buggy, and they're frustrated, but finally agree to listen to me when I telly hem to just go to the front turnstiles. They go, and then come back right before the pre-parade show was about to start. At this point, we figure we'd better just stay and watch the parade, b/c there's no way we'll convince the girls to wait a second time later.
But D.D.s partner doesn't want to watch from CC, so we move down to town square where there's less crowd. Certainly a better spot for their sensitivities, but D.D. made fun of him about it the entire time, and it wasn't a fun teasing, adding that to our already being less than impressed with her, made us very agitated spending time with them. But then the headless horseman rode down, and Phinease and Ferb came out and things perked up!
Until the Haunted Mansion float came out, and our girls were so excited, they were all eager to ride, and D.D. turns to Agatha and says, "That looks so scary doesn't it? I bet it'll be scary to ride!" Sure, she said it with a smile on her face, but Agatha was now terrified of the parade, and refused to ride the HM. At that point if D.D. looked at me again, I probably would have killed her, you do NOT introduce fear to a child! Just don't do it!
Her DD also has gluten (and dairy) issues, but she didn't bother checking things like the candy being thrown to kids, just let her girl eat whatever. We always check our kids candy first. But Her DD was telling ours it was safe, and Cordelia had a really tough time not eating it when I couldn't verify if it was or wasn't safe (later found out it did contain gluten and corn - good thing we didn't let them eat any!)
After the parade D.D. and her family stayed with us and we went to ride the teacups. Her DD rode with the girls and I, normally not a problem, but we were spinning it super fast, and she started to look green, and started to drool. I know what that look meant. So the spinning stopped.
I let D.D. know and she got mad at me and said her child does not throw up and I shouldn't have ruined her ride.
So from here on out, I'm going to stop talking about our interactions with this family, and suffice to say we separated ways shortly there after and had a better evening from that point on.
The big girls and I rode The Barnstormer a couple times, then we ran into play at the playground in the Dumbo line.
Our little Super Mickey had everything under control!
We watched the fireworks from Dumbo, our absolute favourite place! The CMs are awesome and let you keep going around and around as much as you want. So we had the 360* view from the ride and it was perfect. The girls all ohh'd and ahh'd and had so much fun! If you've never done this, you must try it! There is no better view in the entire park!
We did a bit of trick-or-treating, and most of the candy was gluten-free! Yay! Cordelia still had to stick to the stuff we got at Town Hall, but at least she had plenty to keep her happy.
We rode Buzz roughly 4 times, the people mover, and did some more trick-or-treating, but then I realized I was getting super hungry and needed to eat NOW. The problem was that almost everywhere was closed! We finally found a place in Tomorrowland (was it cosmic rays that was open?) I had a lovely salad with chicken, and OJ, and lots of water, everyone else had sandwiches, juice, and water.
It was a great way to end the night.
Then we slowly left the park, taking in the last of the party sights and sounds, and having a great time, talking about all the fun we had.
Please note, D.D. and her partner are separated, and when the trip was booked things were amicable between them, but in the 2 weeks prior to the trip, things turned sour and we seem to have been caught in the cross-fire. Lots of snark happened and it isn't our style, so it was very difficult for us to be in our happy place with it. They are all lovely people, it just seemed we caught them at a bad moment, during the entire trip. I don't like to dwell on negativity, but it seemed to be a big part of each of our interactions with them.
Obviously they've never tried to hold a 1yr old still for 4 hours. 
What better way to cope with this, than planning a dream Disney vacation? 
By the time I found it, Cordelia was asleep, and I couldn't bring a buggy inside, so I just sat there and inwardly cried while trying to figure out how to get a new milk bottle for her. So I walked back to TT, and waited for Ryan - while boiling to death b/c I had to keep walking and had Brom asleep on my back. We met back up and it was time for our MS FP+ (also Soarin - if a CM overrides the number, they can also override time overlap). Since I don't like MS anyhow, I continued to wait outside with Brom and Cordelia. The girls LOVED it! But by then we were hungry and the girls all wanted to ride Soarin'. 
At so many QS locations it take us up to 2 hours to get safe food, but we knew from experience that it was safe there. They also had GF cider, surf-sweets candy, cookies, brownies. If we had a sweet tooth, we could have satisfied it. 
Everyone had a chance to do what they wanted and were happy with the time spent in each location, CM and guest interactions were all positive, we did so much, but still had so much we'd love to do. 
I was so mortified to discover I'd left nothing to the imagination! 
We were over on the sidewalk to the left......I so regret not stopping and saying hello!
By the time we checked in, we had another wait of about 15 minutes to go inside. Children were tired and hungry, but excited to eat at the castle. 
I told her I needed my girls to calm down so I needed her to give them space until breakfast was over. D.D. then insulted me and my parenting. 
