Happiness and sadness . . .

I haven't checked in for about 10 days.  And while I remember the last 5 days pretty clearly, the 5 prior are a little blurry.

On Tuesday night, Matt left for his middle school band trip to Universal Studios in Orlando.  The band had the opportunity to record their own soundtrack (or at least a portion of it) to Despicable Me on site.  Bonus, since their "performance" was in a recording studio, no uniforms required.   The rest of the trip was spent enjoying Universal Studios, Island of Adventure and Volcano Bay water park. Matt had a great time, minus the 11 hour bus ride down, which was an overnighter.   He didn't get much sleep (reporting somewhere between 4-6 hours depending on the version of the story you get), but no matter, it's not enough for a kid who is grumpy when he gets less than 9.

Lucky for him, we saved him from the bus ride home by traveling to Orlando ourselves on Wednesday night.  Bassam, Gracie and I spent one day in Epcot and another in the Magic Kingdom, before meeting up with Matt on Friday night, then enjoying a relaxing 1/2 day around Disney Springs and then flying home.  

It was strange having only one kid while roaming the parks, but Gracie enjoyed getting to choose which rides we went on and where we headed next.  And given the number of unhappy children you see around the "happiest place on earth," only having one middle schooler (with no one to bicker with), was kind of sweet.  Still,  I was super glad to see Matt on Friday night and no longer felt like I had forgotten something. 

 Unfortunately, while we were in Florida we found out my dear Aunt Jane had passed away.  Jane is my dad's younger sister.  She was a wonderful light in this world and my heart is so incredibly heavy. I will forever keep her smile and contagious laugh in my heart.  As I was looking for photos of her today I was struck by this one of her and 5 month old Gracie.  Gracie is clearly as fascinated and delighted by her Aunt as I was.  Aunt Jane was one of a kind. 

So those are the highs and lows.   With fall break in the books, we are most certainly on a roller coaster ride (which by the way, Gracie has now decided she loves!) to the holidays. 

Hang on.