Sometimes, when your kids prove that they’ve been listening and learning the best things in life from you it’s pretty magical. It’s what we hope for during all of that other stuff…you know…potty training, ballgames, homework, dance lessons, laundry, nagging, emergency room visits, late-night-worrying, and the rest. Parenting mistakes were made to be sure – some big, some small. Turns out, in spite of all that, kids can turn out to be very awesome humans in spite of your having had no manual for raising them. Our children are adults now and on Mother’s Day, they went all out to give me an experience I’ll never forget.
It started Saturday night as Megan, Grant, Joseph, Lyndsey, Raymond and I were out at a party for our nephew’s upcoming wedding. Joseph and Megan told me that when the party was over, they were both spending the night at our house. Knowing we were planning to run together in the morning, I thought this was just a fun and happy convenience. I envisioned staying up watching movies and hanging out. They had other plans and I was told to go to bed. Never one to pass up the opportunity for a good night’s rest and only a little disappointed, I did as I was told and wondered what they might be up to.
My Disney Mother’s Day Experience
Sunday morning, everything looked the way it had when I went to bed. We grabbed some breakfast and hit the road for our weekly long run. I was still clueless what the rest of the day would hold. When we got home, I played outside with Junior for a while, took a shower, and was informed at that time to “stay out of the kitchen”. This was going to be challenging! The kitchen is very much the heart of our home. I love to cook and when we’re all together, we tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Together. I turned on the TV, found a movie, and settled in to wait. From time to time, I secretly took pictures of what I could see of the kitchen action (there were some serious game-faces).
There was a LOT of activity going on in the kitchen. To keep me out, I was served my favorite Epcot beer, Innis & Gunn, in a Rose & Crown pint glass. After a while, I was brought a big spread of cheese, crackers, spreads, and prosciutto. Junior faithfully stayed by my side, but it wasn’t easy. For either of us. The WAITING! The MYSTERY!
Raymond, who’d been working outside for most of the afternoon, came in and set the dining room table. I asked for someone to bring me a bottle of water and the response from Joseph was, “I can’t right this second, I’m flambéing something.” Now I was imagining flames shooting everywhere and the potential for catastrophe, because, hey! It’s what moms do, right? I stayed right where I was (I should get major points for that) and before long, dinner was served.
The made-from-scratch bread looked familiar and when I found out there was a dipping sauce made from a Guinness reduction, I was on to them! We were eating food from Raglan Road!!! This Disney Springs restaurant has been one of our all time favorites for many years. We have had so many great dinners there! Those memories are precious to me and clearly Megan and Joseph know it. I was blown away and very excited to sit down and dig in. (Clearly, in my excitement I was unable to take a clear picture of the bread.)
Aside from Irish Brown Bread, there was an incredible Cashel Blue Cheese Salad with fresh raspberry vinaigrette, Lamb Pasta Ragout (this dish has like 17 different ingredients) and finally, Traditional Bread and Butter Pudding for dessert (incredible!). Pictures do NOT do this meal justice. 
It was ALL so delicious!!! Joseph as master chef with Megan as his sous chef spent five hours cooking up this amazing meal…just for me. After we finished eating, I received The Raglan Road Cookbook as a gift.
From their earliest childhood, we tried to teach our children to value experiences over things. It’s a fact: Creating happy memories will mean more in life than accumulating stuff. I think they learned exactly what we intended and I couldn’t be more proud. (Thank you Megan and Joseph! I love you!!!)
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I seriously had no idea what the deal was. Turns out, the globe used in Illuminations is stored backstage and moves into the World Showcase Lagoon via this little waterway-with-a-drawbridge.
I was a little surprised at how unassuming and kind of small the globe looked. During Illuminations it’s the amazing centerpiece of all the action. Arriving at the “theater” it looked rather like an unadorned actor heading for make-up and wardrobe. Or a super hero as his or her alter ego maybe.
The crowd around us was boisterous and having fun. I was even enlisted to take a photo for a group of young adults clearly celebrating something (or just having a really great time involving lots of adult beverages). When the globe moved on and the drawbridge lowered, we were on our way to what we would soon find out was a closed Frozen attraction. I was happy anyway – I’d learned something new about Epcot and got to see the famous Illuminations globe up close in the light of day.
