Flah-duh.

My sweet great-aunt passed away this week. She was a sweet, sweet woman. She was the spitting image of the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. The Fairy Godmother...with a New York accent.

 She lived ten hours away from my family so I only saw her when we would go stay with my grandparents {when they lived in Florida}.

My Grandpa and most of his sisters lived in the same neighborhood at the time and they would visit each other in their Florida rooms for iced tea most days. It was always so fun to go visit them. My Grandma and Grandpa's house was always cold enough to house penguins and was impeccably clean. My Grandpa's workshop would be full of odds and ends that he'd collected at yard sales all year long. It was like the cave in the Little Mermaid. Except better.

The first day we got into town, we could always expect to be welcomed by the aroma of homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs.
 Grandma kept a little tin on her kitchen window sill with the word "love" written on it. She always told us it was her secret ingredient. {I snuck over and opened it one day to discover it was empty. I thought she lied. I didn't get the whole sweetness of the analogy until a few years later. I know, I know. don't be so uptight ellie. sheesh.}

 My brother and I would ride bikes all around their little neighborhood and stop off at all the relatives houses. They usually fed us and then we'd go back outside to catch lizards. My sweet little Aunt Pat {She was a good deal shorter than me last time I saw her and I'm only 5'1". } had one of these in her shed which she let use.

Needless to say, she was probably our most frequent stop.


Once when I was in middle school and feeling so lame that all of my friends were growing by the foot and I...wasn't...She told me "Ellie, don't chyoo evah forget..dynamite comes in smawl packages." :)

She was a sweet woman with a heart full of kindness. She will be greatly missed.


We're all going to Florida tomorrow for the funeral.

We realized as we were preparing yesterday that Solomon and I are on Spring Break all next week and Jonathan has most of the week off. So, what do you do when your going to Florida with your whole family and you don't have to be back home for a few days? You go to Disney World. Thats what.

I've been asking to do a family excursion to Disney for my graduation celebration since... my freshman year of high school. So, next week is a combo: Spring Break vacation, Last Hoorah for the Mestas Big Kids being able to vacation with the rest of the family, and, Celebrate-Ellie-Being-Done-with-School trip. It's going to be a party. {I wish Melissa, Randy and the Pearcelings could come with us! :( }

BUT. Shhh.. Solomon and the Littles don't know! {THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT'S COMING TO THEM!}Solomon and the youngest three have never been and the older twins have only been to Disney Land.
Commence: Mission Impossible. Aka...keep the secret until Monday. We have been speaking in Spanish and spelling things out and doing everything possible to ensure that we don't spill the beans...but I'm probably going to blow it because its all my brain wants to think about. {I have dreams of making my home above one of the shops in Downtown Disney Land.} While spelling things out today my dad and I had this cute conversation.

 Papa: "Do you know what I'm most excited about? What my favorite part is?"
Me: "The r-i-d-e-s's?"
Papa "Nope. The looks on your f-a-c-e-s's." AWW. My cute Papa. I love him to pieces.

But for real. I just want to tell them all and see them freak out with excitement already!

The Happiest Place on Earth is about to get a whole lot happier. The joy level is going to burst the roof off Cinderella's castle. I hope they have castle insurance.

Life is a spontaneous adventure.