It’s happening! We’re going on vacation. A REAL vacation. Without our cameras. (We wish with our cats.) There will be no shooting, speaking, teaching, coaching, or anything else remotely related to work on this trip! (Don’t worry, though, we’ll have our trusty iPhones to capture our own memories!)
One day, we looked up at our calendar and saw something we hadn’t seen in a long time: no weddings. For. six. full. weeks. Our longest stretch in about two years. Now, of course, we have plenty of other scheduled events in that time frame, like conferences and shoots, but there was an entire week of time where we weren’t committed to be anywhere! This is pretty much the equivalent of finding a mythical unicorn right in the middle of our calendar. So, we put the calendar down, picked up a map, and Jordan asked Amy one question: Where do you want to go?
Disney. That’s where she wanted to go. Since we live in Phoenix, neither of us has been to DisneyWorld since childhood. The last time we went to DisneyLand, we went together, as an engaged couple. Amy wore the white glittery Minnie ears with the veil and everything. Jordan wore cargo shorts and flip flops. At least he didn’t have frosted tips in his hair anymore. Some bad habits die faster than others, we guess.
Other habits shouldn’t die, though. Like loving Disney. We both grew up on the stuff. It’s like happiness drugs for the heart. We’ve been hooked since we were in diapers and we’ve been addicted ever since. Not to the diapers. We grew out of those.
As a little girl, Amy’s favorite Disney princess was Ariel from The Little Mermaid. In the summers, she’d wade into the cool blue water of her backyard pool (pink ruffled bathing suit and all) and float. Just float. Pretending to be a blonde-haired version of her red-headed idol. It was a totally normal thing for a little girl to do.
Jordan’s favorite Disney character was not. Normal, that is.
He loved Sleeping Beauty and watched it over and over. His favorite character as a child? Maleficent. The villain. Weird, right?
That’s not even the weirdest part.
One Sunday, at church, preschool-aged Jordan (maybe younger) stood in line for communion. Before receiving communion, each person in line would tell the priest their name. Kinda for a special, more personalized blessing. When Jordan stepped up to the proverbial plate, the priest looked down and a smile came across his face. He was trying not to laugh. Jordan was covering his head with a towel, like a maiden’s head scarf. “What’s your name?” the priest asked.
Without flinching, Jordan replied, “Cinderella.”
The priest did everything — everything — within his power not laugh. How he managed, we’ll never know. But he, in good humor, played along. “Okay, Cinderella. Here you go.” And he handed Jordan the communion wafer.
This story is a Demos Family legend at this point. One of the first stories the family ever told Amy when she first started coming around. And a story that comes up time and time again during family gatherings.
So why share that story on the internet? We’re not exactly sure. It just kind of happened while we were writing. So when you see Jordan next time, make sure to embarrass him. Call him by his real name.
In all seriousness, though, we’re seriously excited about the next week. We have plans to conquer all four DisneyWorld parks in two days. By drinking five dozen eggs in the morning. Like Gaston. We have strict instructions from our five-year-old niece to send her regards to Elsa from Frozen. So that’s happening. Amy’s looking forward to wearing her Minnie ears again. Jordan’s pumped about his traditional Mickey Mouse ice cream bar. And Animal Kingdom. He loves animals. With all the sights to see in such a short stint of time, expect photos of us in tennis shoes. And maybe fanny packs. If we can find some.
From there, we’re jumping on a three-night Disney cruise with two dear friends. We haven’t done a cruise since our European adventure two summers ago. And we’ve never done a Disney one before. But we hear there are characters on board. Who don’t even know they’re about to get their very first #demossandwich. Look out, Goofy. We’re comin’ for ya! We plan on eating in the formal dining room for all three meals every single day, because we feel special, like we’re on Titanic. Plus, portion control. There’s a waterslide on board, so we’ll definitely be the only people over five feet tall in line for that one. #noshame
We’ll still be blogging this week — and we’ve got a few new sessions and free tips for photographers that we can’t wait to share — so check back in when you get some time, okay? We love having you here! Until then, we’ll be in the world of Mickey and Minnie, thanking God every step of the way for providing us with more than we deserve every single day.
PS For our fellow Disney-lovers and Spotify listeners, we just found the most epic playlist for you! It’s an album called “We Love Disney,” (cheesy title, we know) but it’s full of amazing covers of some Disney classics, like Tori Kelly covering “Colors of the Wind,” and Ne-yo covering “Friend Like Me.” We’ll be listening to it on replay this week, so if you’re looking for some new work tunes, you should definitely check it out!
