Where Dreams Come True

Perhaps the most significant event in the Marsh world of late: we just returned from Florida. Not just Florida, but 1) DisneyWorld, 2) Nana-and-Pa's-House and 3) a kid-free three days in Marco Island, all rolled into 8 warm and sunny days. All this while Iowa was being pelted with 12 inches of snow and subzero temperatures.

Nana and Pa moved last fall to south Florida, specifically to Boca Raton ("mouth of the rat"). When Peter and I tell people that his parents live in Boca, people assume he is much older than he actually is. I mean, really, if you have parents who are old enough to move to Boca, you must be pretty old yourself. (Hee, hee!) Anyway, as far as we're concerned, Florida is a great place to visit, so you won't hear us complaining.

They graciously agreed to watch Molly and Rebecca while I attended a women's health conference over on Marco Island (west coast island, near Naples). Peter kindly agreed to join me. So the kids got to water Nana's plants, paint pictures, meet some sea turtles, eat junk food, explore the beach, go to the Miami zoo and buy Cinderella III on DVD. All the while, I was learning about colposcopy and the new HPV vaccine during the day and sailing into the sunset at night with my loving hubby.

With careful planning and frantic execution, we managed to scoop up the girls and drive to DisneyWorld after the conference, just in time to have dinner with Cinderella & Prince Charming. The girls just could not have been happier. They were dressed in Cinderella and Snow White dress-up outfits. We spent a very long 13-hour day at Magic Kingdom, followed by a very long day at Disney-MGM (9 hrs) and back at Magic Kingdom for the Pirate-Princess Party (4 hrs). The Marshes are an active bunch--we go non-stop, with only brief stops for the bathroom and MAYBE a drink of water.

I only took 300 pictures (in 2 days) and 2 hours of video footage. I am my father's daughter.

My Disney impressions are thus: 1) DisneyWorld is best enjoyed diaper-free. I am so glad we waited to do this. 2) There is truly something magical about the machinery that is Disney. Things run smoothly, the FastPass and the Rider Switch make lines for rides bearable and sometimes non-existent. I felt like I was in a well-oiled fairy tale. 3) Staying in a Disney hotel is key. Thank goodness we decided to spend some extra bucks to do this. When your 40-pound 5-yr-old is asleep as dead-weight on your shoulder at 11 p.m., you will be grateful for the door-to-door Disney bus. And 4) It's really as magical as they say, even though you sometimes feel like a cog in their wheel. It's a nice, clean, fun wheel.