This is the absolute truth as I know it. You can buy the best of everything for your kids. You can buy them every gadget that hits the stores. You can take them to every Pixar film made. You can dress them in the most fabulous clothes. You can plan every second of their day with educational, fun, brain-stimulating activities. You can plan an extravagant trip to the most fun place on earth, with the best rides, characters, 3D movies-just a fantasy world. But every time you ask them, days later, what the best part of the trip/day, etc. was, they will almost always say something, that, to you, seems really small. Or simple. Those are the memories they keep with them. It's the unexpected detour for ice cream. Or the little dog you see on your way to the theme park. Or the snack you gave them in the car. Or the silly songs you sang that morning at breakfast.

We had a big reminder of that in Orlando. After days at Disney, my dad was just itching to take the girls to an orange grove. They were in the middle of a Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground at Hollywood Studios, and the second we asked them if they wanted to go, they all immediately jumped off what they were playing and said an enthusiastic YES!! So we spent the afternoon at an orange grove sampling fresh, delicious juice, picking oranges, learning about different types of oranges, and basically making ourselves sick on the abundance of fruit that was before us. And guess what my kids say when you ask them about our trip? They always talk about how great that trip to the orange grove was. Sometimes, they barely even mention Disney World.

It's definitely the simpler things in life that bring the most blessing.