Hello from Disneyland!

Sorry, no pics tonight, but they will be up soon. I will start by saying we are having a blast! The kids are doing great, we've met characters, got on the rides we wanted, all is good. But I have one gripe and one precious story.

My biggest gripe: The Disneyland Hotel.

We decided to fork out the extra $$ to stay on property, thinking it would be closer for Ty and just a special way to celebrate our first vacation as a family of four. We are not rolling in money--far from it. I am so disappointed. The walk is just as long to the park as it is to stay off property. The hotel is boring at best. I had expected it to be a little more over the top disney, but it's quite bland. The pool, which is known for, was FREEZING cold. We only needed it on Monday, and we had one very frustrated little girl on our hands. We did have a fabulous dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I'm so glad we came because Kacie is still young enough to love the characters, and Ty's eyes light up too.

And now the precious story: Tyson met Pooh!

Today I got pretty emotional. Tyson loves Winnie the Pooh and all that goes along with it. I was surprised when I saw pictures of his orphanage at Changzhoubecause it has paintings of the Winnie the Pooh characters on the wall. When we got home, I had a Winnie the Pooh and piglet stuffed animals for him, as well as a set of books of the four main characters. He has always enjoyed them.

Today we went to Critter Corner and while everyone went on Splash Mountain, I took Tyson to see Pooh and Eyeore. Ty saw Pooh and just lit up! But he didn't understand we had to get in line to visit him. But Ty seemed OK with that, so we just stood near the front outside the ropes and just watched everyone get their pictures taken. I tried taking him to the end of the line a few times, but he would just freak out. So there we stood, Ty in his stroller, and me beside him, watching him bask in the happiness of being 5 feet away from his beloved bear friend. Out of nowhere this lady, who was in the front of the line says, "Would you like to go ahead of me? I've seen you waiting." I said, "Oh, it's OK, he won't get out of his stroller, and he won't get in line, so it's OK, I can't get the stroller in there." Well, the guy working there said, "Hey, just let me know, and we can bring him in! I'll undo both ropes!" I was just shocked, "Really?" I asked. And the next thing I knew, the ropes came down, and the man said, "Pooh, we have a very special friend here to visit you!" And Ty was just beaming. Pooh was very sweet to Ty, even more so than to the other kids (I think anyway). Then we went to meet Eyeore, and he was just as enthralled. I didn't get any pictures, but I have the photo pass and will order them when we get home because to me, they are priceless. I had tears in my eyes and a joy in my heart like I could never imagine.

I was walking back, and I realized I didn't thank that lady who offered for us to go ahead of her. As we waited for our family to get off Splash Mountain, the lady came up to me and said how cute Ty was and how great it was to see him with Ty. I was glad she stopped so I could thank her and I told her I realized that I hadn't thanked her. She said seeing Ty's face was thanks enough. I then started to cry, and I just felt like I needed to share the story of why Winnie the Pooh is so important in Ty's life. I will never know if she was Christian or not, but I could totally feel God at work.

Then she had just started to walk away, I had tears streaming down my face, and my family and friends got off of Splash Mountain, pumped up from the big drop and laughing at Dan who was all wet. And there I was...so glad I didn't go on that ride because I had just had one of the ups of our wild ride with Tyson.