That is my present.  The girls are sleeping over at my mom’s place tonight, and I will be sleeping late tomorrow.  At least, that is my intention.  I haven’t slept late in a really, really long time.  Not sure if I’m still capable of doing it.

Mom calls me yesterday. All excited. “You’ll never believe what I received in the mail today,” she started. She went on to describe a postcard depicting a photo of her taken at Disney World in 1974. She read the text of the card to me, which essentially thanked her for her recent visit and expressed the wish that she enjoy this old photo that Mickey found in his vaults.

Based on her description, I’m thinking that this is the coolest marketing ploy ever. Culling their archive of photos, which must number in the millions, to thank a recent guest for coming to visit the park again. It seemed a little odd that they were able ot match up her image with her name, but stranger things have happened, right?

When I arrive home, there’s an envelope waiting for me. Return address: “Mouse House. Kissimmee, FL.” I open it up and there are two postcards each with a photo of my brother and me and Winnie the Pooh. From 1974. Similar message. I look at the envelope again- the messages are handwritten, and it frankly seems odd. These photos are not professional by any stretch and they even look familiar.

I notice that the postmark is from a post office in Central Massachusetts. I grab the phone. Sophie, Chloe and my husband are laughing as I tell them the story of their gullible grandmother (and mom). “Mom – your brother-in-law – my uncle – sent these photos to us!” I exclaimed. “My god,” she replied. “Of course that’s it. But you know mine didn’t come in an envelope and there was no postmark.” Trying to rationalize. But there’s really no excuse. She was fooled for a good while (enough to convince me over the phone that what she had in her hands was legit and enough to have a conversation with her sister about the marvels of digitized libraries). Thanks for the laugh, Uncle A!!!!

I’m offering to chaperone Chloe’s class trip to a local museum next month.  After years of begging me to chaperone one of her trips, I’m finally biting the bullet and volunteering.

This photo perfectly sums up our day today.  For the first time in a very long time, the four of us didn’t do much of anything.  Yes, Papa and Chloe went food shopping in the morning, and I ran out for a couple of quick errands both alone and with Chloe.

I love this photo of Sophie.  This is the photo I will submit to the next kids’ modeling contest that comes our way.  That face, objectively speaking, is completely irresistible.

A photo like this pretty much sums it up for me.  Both Chloe and Sophie were really happy while at Disney.  Yes, they had their moments of meltdowns.  But overall, the smiles and laughter were far more frequent.  And the girls loved each other most of the time.