Monthly Archives: June 2010

I Know Every Mile Will Be Worth My While

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 I’m a thinker…it’s just who I am. I like to think about the past, the present, and the future.  I’m also the type that can either brush it off one day, or worry about every detail the next…again, it’s just who I am.  When Carl and I came up with relocating, we went through every scenario imaginable on what would or could work, and what just wouldn’t fly at all.  So what does a Disney fan do when they are handed lemons in life?

 They throw them aside and order up a Dole Whip! Our “DW” moment came last week Friday when Carl lost his job.  The economy plus other things out of our control have brought us to an interesting point – now what? 

 We gave the weekend to think on it, and as we vacationed by family, we talked often of our good friends Judy and Stephen.  They have JUST realized their relocation dreams to FL and have safely made it to the great state. As we went on our daily walk, and it rained on us on an early Sunday morning, the excitement just grew.  What if we left at the end of this summer? Could we pull it off? 

 Carl is now in the position again of having to find a job, and there is a lot more opportunity for his line of work in FL.  I have made an agreement with him that if he finds a great job he can count on in FL, we will have no problem moving.

 The only monkey wrench is our daughter, Belle. She just finished her sophomore year of High School and would be really hurt by this move.  We have tried to explain that we need to find Dad work soon, and the plans of moving to FL are inevitable, it would just be MUCH sooner.  The pros for her is that she would have 2 years in a new High School to make friends that may go on to college with her, and she would get to know the colleges in the area before taking the plunge in 2012.  If any of you had to move with teenage kids, we would love your help on this one.

 Now our little Jessie girl… she is ready to go!  After a rough school year that involved bullying last year, she has had enough.  You would think these days that kids knowing a child has dealt with Cancer is a “hands off” situation… guess not.  She is ready for a new life, and we will do anything to help her out.

 So now it comes to me and my job.  I love my job, but it also isn’t going up any ladders, if you know what I mean.  What I do now, I would still be doing 10 years from now, and that isn’t excitement and adventure to me.  Stability is great, boredom not so much.  I plan to apply to be a Cast Member at WDW after we have settled in and have the kids all set up.

 Now, again, this is ALL if Carl can find a job in the next month or two. Do you live in FL? Carl is an expert in Information Technology, so please feel free to email us at relocatedtourist@yahoo.com  if you may have a job opening in your area. We are looking to live near WDW, but Carl has no problem commuting out of the area for work.

 We are excited, we are nervous… and the possibility of moving soon has me on the edge of my seat.  We have finally realized that “WE”, with our Lord’s help of course, control our destiny.  We want to live the life we want, and not what others expect of us.  So please keep us in your thoughts and if you know of any IT job leads, we would love to hear them.

 “No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing… the dream that you wish, will come true.”    ~Cinderella

 Have a most magical day, and don’t forget to listen to our story on the Be Our Guest Podcast today! www.beourguestpodcast.com

 ~Ellie and Carl Peters~

When Somebody Loved Me…

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We debated back and forth on whether to share this story on our blog, as it may let some of you know who we are. But, because it’s such a COOL story, we are taking the risk…  If you do know our true identities, please help us keep up our anonymity for now. Now sit back, relax, and grab the Kleenex, you are going to need it!

Our youngest daughter, ‘Jessie’, was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 when she was a year old.  We would travel in total 5-6 hours every three weeks to have her examined and treated only to find out we would have to go back again in another three weeks. By chance, we found a Jessie doll somewhere and our youngest just fell in love with her. She came with to every treatment, every doctor visit, and was a part of every bedtime routine. On many occasions ‘Jessie’ had to go to the operating room at the hospital. We would be able to carry her into the OR, hold her while they put her to sleep, but we would always have to leave the OR right after that. The one thing they would allow her to have, was her Jessie doll. We always tell Jessie when we see her at Walt Disney World that she was there for our ‘Jessie’ those times when we could not be.

 Our baby girl fought the cancer for a year, but we had a setback when at one appointment they found her eye to be littered with tumors.  She lost her left eye to the beast, but we got to keep our daughter, and that was ok with us.  We stared at our daughter’s face for the longest time the night before her last major surgery. Knowing that eye would be gone the next day was just too much to bear.  But, as always, that Jessie doll would be there for her, and it was a comfort for us. 

 We are happy to announce that our daughter has been in remission for many years, and she has kept that same Jessie doll on her headboard.  So I was surfing the net several weeks ago, and came across the D23 Facebook page that announced that Ms. Joan Cusack would be signing a limited edition doll at the Disney Store in Chicago.  I looked at Carl, he looked at me, and the plan was on to email in to be on of the 40 chosen to save their doll and a spot in line.

 Several days passed after the email was sent…and after school Carl announced “WE GOT IT!!!”  The plans were on for Chicago, getting work off, getting the GPS to handle the directions, and figuring out what to do after the Disney Store meet and greet that morning.

 We arrived in Chicago this past week, leaving home at 4 a.m. We wanted to make sure we got into the city without having a lot of traffic. Carl did an amazing job driving into the city, and we parked under Millennium Park.  I have to tell you, those parking garages under the city unnerved me a bit…they seem to just swallow you whole!

 As we exited the parking garage, a gentleman strolled up to us and said “Tourists, huh?” Was it that obvious? We smiled and laughed as he told us all the cool places to go…only in the Midwest!  We casually enjoyed our walk down Michigan Avenue, as every Tom, Dick, and Harry walked briskly to work.  Carl said at one point “I feel like we should be walking as fast as them” which I replied “Not a chance, this is OUR vacation.” We just made sure to walk along a certain side to let the workers pass us.

 We arrived at the Disney Store…and folks, it was beautiful! We loved the lights, the architecture, the Mickey Mural on the ground, and the animation quotes on the wall.  We were second to line up at 8:15 a.m., waiting for the store to open up at 9.  Now we knew that you HAD to buy the doll to meet her and get her autograph…that was the catch.  But, as always, there were folks there who thought they could get anything signed, and we knew it was a matter of time before they would be told what was going to happen.

 9 a.m. the store opened…we followed the line to the left side of the store where we waited some more. People who were in the back of the line ran ahead of us and cut us off…it was one of those moments that I wanted to say something, but it just wasn’t worth it.  We were third in line, and ‘Jessie’ would be the first kid to have her doll signed.

Carl went and bought the doll while we stood in line- seeing ‘Jessie’s’ eyes as he brought the doll up to her was priceless.  The excitement grew as Joan walked into the room to talk to the press… I thought our kids were going to burst!  Time passed and they finally had the “rope drop” and our line was ready to go.

Joan Cusack signing Jessie Doll at Disney Store in Chicago We watched the others before us, smile and get her autograph.  They allowed each family, couple, or person to approach her while the line waited back, so no one was hovering around you while you talked to her.  It was finally our turn, and Jessie had drawn a picture of Jessie for Joan to have, so I handed that to her first.  As I told her that our youngest had made it special for her, Joan was all smiles.  I took the opportunity to then explain to Joan our story about our daughter and her journey with cancer.  I really wanted Joan to know that the cowgirl she has voiced over two movies now means so much more to our family.  We had Joan tearing up, I had tears, Carl started… it was the sweetest and coolest moment ever. 

 Joan hugged our daughter several times and made a big deal of letting her know that the drawing she made was going up on her fridge when she got home.  As Joan talked to us, I could see her adorable sons telling the press our story. Within minutes, we had several cameras taking our pictures with her- it was surreal.

 We said goodbye to Joan, and as we walked away, we were asked to do several interviews. Our daughter was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but I explained to her it was her 15 minutes of fame and to enjoy it.

 You may have seen the pictures, you may know us personally, but you will never know what that moment meant to us.  Sitting at the Cheesecake Factory minutes later, we couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces.  It seemed like one amazing dream.

 We are back home now, the pictures are printed, the Jessie doll is in our daughter’s room, and we have seen “Toy Story 3.”  We will never forget the day we met Jessie in person, and I will NEVER forget my daughter’s face for as long as I live. We got to thank the real Jessie for creating that wonderful character, who was there for our ‘Jessie’.

 Thanks for reading!

Ellie Peters

A surprise trip to Walt Disney World in 2005

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Hello readers, it’s Belle again! I was thinking about what to write a couple of days ago and I remembered that I wanted to share with you one of my favorite family trips to Disney World. It was in December of 2005, and Jessie was five years old and I was twelve. The thing about this trip starting out was that my sister and I had no idea we were going to Disney World. We had packed up our suitcases and mom and dad told us that we were headed for my uncle’s house, who lives in Minnesota. We picked up mom at 10pm, and Jessie and I were all camped out in the van ready to snooze away the road. Through the night I would wake up sporadically (I don’t sleep very well in cars) and watch the road signs go by. There were a few that puzzled me like…hmm I wonder why we just passed a sign that says “Chicago 10 miles.” but it didn’t really phase me much due to being half asleep. I remember waking up that morning with my sister in the van, still driving, and it was around 6 in the morning. I asked “when will we be at Uncle’s house?” and I think it was mom who said “Oh, I don’t know, six hours?” and Jessie and I would moan. I was extremely confused at this point, knowing that Minnesota wasn’t THAT far away, complaining that we had driven all night and that we should already be there. Mom and dad exchanged glances that I hadn’t caught on to.

We stopped at McDonald’s to eat around 7am, and we were all ready to stand and walk off the long hours of sitting still. I remember walking into McDonald’s and seeing a bunch of guys in the corner (no joke) in cowboy hats and boots, all talking in a southern accent. They gave us a funny look and I didn’t really care. What my sister and I didn’t know was that while we thought we were in Minnesota just outside of my Uncle’s city, we were smack in the middle of Kentucky.

We sat down in a corner booth and mom and dad looked like they were about to jump out of their skin to tell us something. So they pull out these two boxes wrapped in Christmas paper and tell us to open them up. We’re confused but too excited to care because AHH IT’S PRESENT TIME! We ripped open the presents and opened up the box to be…even more confused. I pulled out a lanyard (a Disney one of course) which I had already owned, a Disney pen that was brand new (hooray new pen?) and a few other Disney things we had already owned. Jessie acted excited anyways, and it was adorable because she was so little, and mom was looking at me expectantly waiting for me to come to a conclusion of some sort. I just stared back, grinning. Mom had then said “girls, we’re not going to Minnesota…we’re going to Disney World!”

This was my reaction: “YES! OH MY GOSH REALLY? YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!” more screaming and happiness. This was Jessie’s reaction: tears well up in her eyes and she says in her little voice “we’re not going to the Disney store??” (We were planning on going to the Mall of America while visiting my uncle to visit the one Disney store they had there and Jessie really wanted to go!) so we all start cracking up and my parents tell her “it’s okay Jessie, we’re going to a BIG Disney Store!”. She finally giggled and got excited.

On the way down, at every stop they gave us a cool Disney coloring book or some more awesome pens or a stuffed animal. It was an amazing trip down, and yes, my sister and I did get a little car sick, but we had never driven this long before and it was something else. When we finally got to Disney it was in the early morning hours, and all of our exhaustion just evaporated seeing the big Disney sign. When we got to our room at the All Star Movies resort (we had the 101 Dalmatians section) we found it to be already…occupied? Yes, there were shoes in the room and a coat hung on the door and it smelled strongly of nail polish. So confused we all headed back to the main office and told them about the room and we got a new one. It was surprisingly chilly out at the time, but again, we were too excited to care.

Our trip as a whole was unforgettable, we didn’t see the Christmas party, but we did get to see the Osborne lights at Hollywood Studios, and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, complete with snow falling on our heads. I know I will never forget that trip, just because it was so much fun getting there and even more fun experiencing new things with my family.

~ Belle Peters