Because of my over-the-top carpy internet situation, I am going to give you the short version of the next couple of days before the real pre-Disney, yet very much Disney related (at least in my heart), part of my journey starts. Furthermore, it will have to be pictureless, only because adding those would delay the chapter by a few days. IF (imagine that is written in very large letters) I get a chance (not likely) to add a few pictures later, I’ll let you know…
Monday, the day after we got Andrew all moved in, brought massive excitement to the Steppesister Crew- young and old alike. The house was all aflutter, and bags, boxes of food, swimsuits, fishing rods, marshmallows, bottles of wine, board games, several dozen decks of cards, and cheap novels made their way into every crevice and cranny of the 6 vehicles traveling to the Lake for our houseboat vacation.
Background: My recently passed-on grandfather owned not only a VERY large houseboat , but also the marina at which it is parked. I’m sure there’s a word for parking a boat, but I do not know it, nor do I care. It might be “berthed”, but that’s too much like what I did 5 times, so parked works for me. After he was gone, my mom and her sister decided that of all the zillions of properties and other estate “stuff”, the houseboat was the one thing they would not sell and keep as a permanent vacation perk for the family to use when they wanted. Thus, the “annual” houseboat family reunion is born. No one is complaining.
So, as everyone throws their lakey vacation stuff in the casr, we headed out caravan-style. Getting 19 people to do anything in a sychronized fashion is about as funny as dropping your shoe down the outhouse. As in not really. I think the sychronized swimming in the Olympics is way cooler than say shot put, because I now know how difficult it must be.
This is where I’ll interject where my heart was at this point. As much fun as a houseboat vacation sounds with family we hadn’t see in over 2 years, I just wasn’t feelin’ it. My mind kept wandering back to where I’d be in about one week from then; spending time with myself, making my own plan, enjoying the freedom of doing my own thing, not being held hostage to the “group plan”. Judge me if you want, that’s where I was.
The short version is that everyone had a great time NOT catching fish, roasting and eating enough s’mores to put everyone participating into a deep sugar coma, playing Go Fish enough to drive the still sane adults into hiding or contemplating throwing themselves overboard , and zipping around in the speedboat on tubes and skiis. The highlight? Watching all 3 of my older kids get up on the skiis their first pull!!! That was cool. What was definitely NOT cool was when my brother-in-law told me to, “watch the rope”. Thinking he meant go stand over there and feed the tow rope out to the tubers (I make them sound like yams or taro, don't I?) , I dutifully stood there and nearly became the headless houseboater as it became tangled around my neck, getting tighter and tighter. Seriously, I thought I was goner for about 3 seconds there.
The 4 days passed VERY quickly as we enjoyed each other’s company , consumed cases of pop and beer, and generally made the houseboat look like something straight out of Animal House. When THAT many teens and pre-teens gather in one place, things are gonna get atom bomb messy. Meantime, as my trip to Disney drew closer, my mind continually drifted back to my Disney itinerary. I found myself daydreaming about which park would be my favorite, which snacks would be assaulted first, and how many characters I’d actually be patient enough to stand in line for. IT was getting closer, and I could feel it in every way. The pre-Disney excitement was mounting, for very soon, I would get that week of Freedom I had obsessed about for almost 2 years, and finally get to hang out with 2 really great friends doing what we loved to do most!!
Next up: The REAL pre-Disney MegaMeet!!
I don't have much time for the DIS at the moment either. I hope next week will be a bit more relaxed!! 
I love his PG cartoons, it helped me break the crying jag and laugh for a few. 
I guess that explains a little how their life would head in that direction....... 
Thank you.
here, but....yesterday I went in the back door of our church to go get something out of the kitchen and noticed something on the bulletin board that I have never noticed before. I the Oblivious-ness must have rubbed off from The Captain's report. 
