On the same page

At least Mark and I are.  On Friday we had some old friends from Mark's last job over for dinner.  They have two little girls right around Annabelle's age so we knew they would play well together.  Dan and Petra are from the Czech Republic.  They love to travel.  They go on a minimum of three big vacations a year, usually one of those vacations is to Hawaii. 

We hadn't seen them since the summer so we were discussing their vacations and Petra asked to see photos of our last vacation to New Orleans and the one prior to that one in Disney World.  Petra looked at our pictures, asked questions about our trips.  We talked so much about how much fun we had.  Then we asked about their vacations- Hawaii, Czech Republic, Croatia, and Arizona.  They focused on Arizona and all they could say was they saw cactus and mountains.  It didn't sound like very much fun.

Dan asked where we were headed to next, Disney again.  Our third time in three years.  I always said I wouldn't be one of those families, but it seems that maybe we are.  Daniel hates Disney and anything related to it.  He made me feel bad for wanting to take Annabelle back there again.  I stewed on it all weekend, my feelings hurt.  I want to take Annabelle to lots of other places.  I have so many fun vacations planned in my head over the next four or five years.  They may not pan out, money is tight. 

Right now, Annabelle still believes in the magic.  I know that one day much sooner than I'm ready for, she will tell me that Mickey isn't real, that Pooh Bear isn't important to her.  So while I want to go to so many places, Puerto Rico and the Everglades, and Arizona to see a mining town, Virginia Beach and California, we choose to live in the land of make believe as long as possible.

I eventually told Mark that Dan had hurt my feelings a little bit with his anti-Disney tirade.  Mark just looked at me and said, "He doesn't know what he's missing out on.  I love watching Annabelle and you, you're faces all lit up at Disney World.  We have made some of the best memories together there.  We have lots of time to make memories in other places when Annabelle is older."

I know Mark is actually very against our trip coming up in November.  It's very close to our hoped for trip to London the next summer.  But he also sees the benefit of going now.  London will wait for us if we can't make it in 2013.  Annabelle won't be this little forever.  I'm just so happy that we are on the same page.