The Day We Almost Went To Disneyland...

...but then Elise barfed. AFTER we paid a total of $30 for parking, of course. But, after clearing the contents of her stomach, she decided she felt better, so we continued on because our vacation was planned 'just so' in order to cram everything we wanted to do in such a short amount of time. Kind of like how I crammed it all in that last sentence.

Anyway, this was the only day that worked for the ENTIRE family to be there. My dad was off, and my older (but still younger than me) sister, Laura, was planning on meeting up with us, too. Unfortunately, Elise started feeling yucky again while we were in line to get our tickets, and when a kids says they'd rather go to Disneyland on a different day, you know they really don't feel well. So, we took a group shot (except for Laura), and strolled around Downtown Disney instead. By that point, Elise had perked up again, but we stuck with the decision to come back when we would have a whole day with no barf. At least we still had an enjoyable afternoon.

Well, for the most part, anyway. This also was one of my scariest days as a parent. Ranks right up there with almost losing Trevor to asthma complications a couple years ago. But I'll get to that in a sec.

Now, look closely between the next two pictures. See anyone missing?

After we rode the tram back to the parking structure, after we rode the escalator all the way to the top, and after we walked all the way back to our cars and started loading up, my mom asks, "Do you have Abby?" My heart stopped.

No, I didn't.

Abby had already been alone for  at least10 minutes at that point. I threw my camera to my sister, telling her to look at the tram pictures to see if Abby even made it to the tram. She didn't.

Long, traumatic story short, after what felt like an eternity (but was probably only 20 minutes from the moment we realized she was missing until actually finding her; so around a half an hour for poor Abby), we found her. She had stopped to fix her shoe, but nobody saw her and we all kept walking. When she looked up, we were out of sight. I have no idea why I didn't do a head count before getting on the tram, and if I let myself 'go there,' I can really beat myself up about it. I had to learn how to truly take every thought captive, as the absolute worst was raging through my mind then, and the what-ifs try to eek their way in whenever I think about it. It really was horrible. I am so very, very grateful we were given a happy ending.

On a side note, that day was also the day my not-so-little brother turned into my big brother. He hopped on that tram with me and was such a comfort to my panicked soul during that ride. Thanks, Steven. ♥

If nothing else, we learned some really great tips on how to prepare the younger kids in the event of separation!

I feel like that is such an abrupt ending to this post, but that is all I can remember from that day. That, and getting my Jamba Juice before that whole fiasco.

Thank you, local Walmart, for carrying frozen Jamba smoothie mixes. I have a couple in the freezer, so maybe I'll go make one.