A Vacation for the Ages

 A year ago this week the six of us spent six days together as a family in Walt Disney World.  It was definitely one of my favorite vacations.  We stayed together in a club suite at the Boardwalk Inn everyone's favorite Disney hotel.  As always it was nice to have food and beverages included in the room charges with a lounge to eat, drink and relax in during the stay.  Cal was the most impressed with the hotel as he hadn't been to Disney World since 2012.  Thus, he had forgotten all of the extra amenities and it's walking paths to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.  It was definitely easy to see why Meg had adopted the slogan "Boardwalk for Life." 

While in Walt Disney World all of us thoroughly enjoyed visiting the parks, trying the different foods in EPCOT's world showcase, traveling on the new sky liners, playing miniature golf, shopping, exploring the new Star Wars land and having drinks at Oga's Cantina.  There were several new rides since Brett and Cal's last visit and we had fun introducing the two of them to these.  The Heinisch children were even able to secure passes to the biggest ride in Disney World to date- Rise of the Resistance.  They absolutely loved the new Star Wars based thrill ride.  It was so much fun to hear them talk about it and I felt incredibly blessed that all of our children chose to spend the week with us.  

On the last day of our trip Doug and Cam's flight was cancelled.  An ensuing issue with their luggage check in made it impossible for them to easily switch flights over the phone.  Thus, they had to leave Animal Kingdom early to catch a ride to Orlando International to secure an outbound flight.  Fortunately they made it home, with only the inconvenience for Doug and I the next morning of having to drive to O'Hare to retrieve the lost luggage and Doug's vehicle.  Before Doug left for the airport in Florida I heard him say to the Heinisch children - "Don't let this ruin anything.  It was a wonderful vacation with a bad ending."  Little did we know that his words would ring true for the rest of 2020 as well.