I am excited for what the future will bring.  It continues to amaze me that one man’s vision could possibly impact so many people in the world.  Thank you, Walt Disney!  As you know our son Ben is autistic, but he has possibly the greatest imagination of any child or adult I know.  He is constantly designing concepts for new worlds, new cities and infrastructures and it makes me wonder: what if he had the foresight to create Ben Vitek World?  What would it be like?  Ben is our “imagineer” and absolutely loves to draw.  I can’t even begin to count how many reams of paper we have gone through over the years, but art has given him the ability to understand and make sense of his world through his drawings.

Confession time.  We have never been to The Magic of Disney Animation at the Studios.  It didn’t make our list during any of the three trips, and I think back as to why, and I’m sure time was the primary reason.  When you vacation, you are limited in what you can experience, and unfortunately some attractions never made the cut.  However, as interested as Ben is in drawing, you would think it would have entered our minds at one point!  One of the joys of living so close to Walt Disney World is we will have the opportunity to do all the things we never had time for before.  Ben is so looking forward to participating in this at the Studios.

It makes me think of all the different career opportunities that will be available to the kids in Florida that are simply not an option in Wisconsin.  Walt Disney World in itself offers a multitude of employment opportunities, but even if you look beyond the world of the mouse,  careers in zoology or marine biology are a feasible option for Catie to pursue, as she is quite the animal lover.  For sixth grade Catie attended a virtual school, and I could only help but think how much more varied and enriched the experience would have been if we had lived in Florida, and had the opportunity to experience more science field trips and hands-on learning.

We are fortunate and blessed to have the children attending a public school that is A rated; moving into a city and neighborhood we don’t know is always a gamble, but we feel secure in the path we have chosen for this year.  Catie will be in high school next year, and the particular high school  she is on track to attend doesn’t rate as high, so we will need to examine the best option for her.

Both kids are really excited about the move next week, and we are so thankful for that as well.  If we had to do it over, we would choose to move earlier in the summer, as they will have less than a month of summer vacation left once we arrive; school starts August 22. It’s wild to believe it’s already mid-July; school supplies are out in full force here and it’s a little odd not to be buying them or even thinking about what might be needed.

As I close my thoughts, it is my hope and prayer that friends in our Disney community recognize that we are not infringing on other blogs, and that our content is unique to our family.  We believe this is in the spirit of what Walt Disney would want.  We intend to keep this blog active, but it will remain a blog dedicated to the ins and outs of moving to a new city, and the challenges and joys we face there.

Sending pixie dust to all our readers,

Jen