Last weekend marked our 1 year anniversary anniversary of becoming Floridians! Time has seriously flown by! I can’t believe it has been an entire year already. Time does fly when your having fun but it hasn’t been all fun and games. Whether you live in Disney World or not, there are hills and valleys. But do we still love it here? Are we still glad we moved? I guess you will have to keep reading to find out!
How Did We Get Here?
Super short recap of how we ended up moving here in the first place, if you want the full story on all that you can read here! We have always loved Disney and used to joke around about dropping everything and moving to Disney World….key word JOKE! Then one day, a particularly down day, we started to talk about it more seriously. We knew we didn’t want to live anywhere super busy or touristy like Orlando or Kissimee as we knew it so we started to look into what other areas were around Disney World.
What we found was pure magic! We found the city of Winter Garden, Florida. A little slice of heaven about 20 minutes from Disney World. Their city slogan is “A charming little city with a juicy past” because they used to be the leading shipper of citrus in the country. I honestly didn’t think I could love a place as much as I love Disney or feel magic in a place like I do in Disney but Winter Garden has a magic all it’s own. We fell madly in love and found ourselves not only longing to be in Disney but also Winter Garden. So the joke became a reality and we started to plan.
Sold, Packed and Moved
Last April we sold my dance studio of 14 years, in June I had my last recital and we had the Uhaul packed and left the next day! You can read all about that “wonderful” adventure here! Hahaha! we got very lucky in finding a great little house in a fantastic neighborhood for a great price for this area. Thatcher can ride his bike to school and the neighborhood has a great park and lots of kids and is right in the between Plant St where we spend a lot of time and Disney World. We can hear the fireworks at night!
So Everything Has Been A Dream Right?
Well no, not really! Life is still life and it’s been more like a roller coaster of ups and downs. The week before we moved my husbands job situation changed and he was looking for work. He found work and lost work a couple times before finding exactly where he is supposed to be but it was definitely hard along the way! Our oldest son has had a hard time finding new friends, 8th grade is hard and although he loves living here he misses his friends in NC a lot. He did finally make some connections at the end of the school year that I hope will turn into lasting friendships but nothing has stuck just yet.
Sawyer has also struggled with his Crohn’s this year here in Florida. Partially because of his own food choices but also just new dynamics and stressors I think too. Thankfully, we have found an awesome team of doctors down here that very much support our food based approach to managing his Crohn’s and are getting him back on track! There has been doubt at times on if we did the right think in moving, usually when we were very stressed and unsure of what the future held. But in the end the answer was always yes, we had done the right thing and were where we needed to be, just had to be patient for things to fall into place.
The Good Stuff
There is always good and bad in everything but I can whole heartedly say that the good has outweighed the bad this past year. We may have had some big stress at times, not had much money and had lots to worry over but we have also had some pretty amazing things as well! We are still, a year later, just in shock sometimes that we can just go to Disney whenever we feel like it. Having a bad day, let’s go to Disney. Having a great day, let’s go to Disney. Have something to celebrate, let’s go to Disney. It’s a random Tuesday and I just feel like it…..let’s go to Disney! It’s been so cool to be here for new openings, our first pass holder previews, special treats and celebrations, big announcements and just all the things!
As I said, Jay has had a hard time finding his place here but he is now part of an amazing company doing a job he absolutely loves with fantastic people. So FYI, if you’re looking to move to central Florida and want a custom home built, Olo Builders is the place to contact! I also found some pretty fantastic studios to work with down here and have had the best time with them this year. It’s new for me to walk in teach and leave with no other responsibilities but I have to say, I like it! I also toured a full season with Dance Machine Productions dance competition this year and loved every minute of it! The traveling got to me towards the end and I missed by boys when I was in and out quickly but it was so much fun.
I got to do competition choreography for four studios this past year and was so honored to be asked to do that. I’m excited to go back to them this summer too! I started working at the new Corkcicle store in Disney Springs and love the team there and meeting all the guests that come in each day. I even got a Disney ID because I’m working on Disney property! That was a highlight as I never had any intention of working for Disney so it’s very cool to work with them but not for them and have some of those perks.
Another huge thing that has been amazing here is making friends. we have made some of the most wonderful friends here and had so many visitors of great friends we already had na love so much! Family coming into town, girls days in EPCOT, cookouts at the house, our 20th anniversary party, it has been a lot of fun to have so many people to get together with! Thatcher has made quick friends with just about everyone he has met of course and is just living his best life at all times! I think I can speak for him in saying the highlight of his year was meeting the Ninja Kidz at his gymnastics gym last October!
The Blog
This blog has certainly been a highlight for me! I started it on a random Thursday night when I was having a particularly rough day and just needed something happy and fun. I originally just started it for myself. Kind of like a journal of sorts or scrapbook of our Disney journey. Now it has turned into something else entirely and I love it so much! It has been very cool to share all the Disney magic as I see it with all of you reading. The instagram has grown so much and thanks to all of you I get new subscribers to the blog site every week! My friends over at WDW Travels have helped me so much with getting it onto a better site and giving me all the tips and tricks to make it better. Make sure you go give them a read!
I still feel like I have a long way to go before the blog is “legit” but for now it’s really fun to share each week with you guys whats on my Disney mind. I look forward to Thursdays every week and I’m excited for what could be later on down the road with this adventure!
New Adventures
On top of all of that there have been some other new adventures since we moved. We gained another fur baby, Gamble, who is the sweetest service dog you have ever met! I became a certified Disney Travel Agent with Wondrous-Adventures, and I’ll be doing the RunDisney Wine and Dine 10K with the Dragon Master Initiative in November and the Princess 10k in February with Corkcicle! That last one is way out of my comfort zone! I am not a runner but I really wanted to get involved with this charity, push myself and just get out of my comfort zone a little. I am fundraising for Dragon Master Initiative for the Wine and Dine race if you would like to donate! They are a wonderful organization who funds research for childhood cancer treatments as well as supports families touched by childhood cancer. You can donate here if you would to! My goal is to raise $600 by the end of July and $1000 by the race in November!
Conclusion
This definitely has been a magical year! It has has it’s valleys for sure but overall it has been the best thing we could have done for our little family. Even in the tough times we have been happy, and it is starting to feel like we are hitting our stride now. If you are someone who feels like your heart and soul belongs somewhere else, I encourage you to take the leap and make it happen. There is rick in everything we do everyday, may as well be where you want to be while you take those risks right? I truly can’t imagine the last year if we had not made the jump to move to Disney World and follow our hearts.
Sawyer just said as we were walking through the Emporium today ” Sometimes I still can’t believe we actually live right here at Disney World, it still feels like a dream that we don’t have to pack up and go home and not see it again for another year.” Made my heart so happy! I have the same thought at times, as I sit here with a view of It’s A Small World writing while the families around me are trying to squeeze out every last second of magic they can before going home, it’s unreal! So thank you all for being a part of this journey and this last year of magic for our family. We are so thankful and ready for another year of magical adventures!! Have the most magical day!