Bumps, bruises, too many teenagers & swimming with sharks! NEW 11/17 pg. 32

[MeMom]

Love these 'learning' faces! I wish I could get the kids in my classes to have such interest in what I am teaching.

I need to see these boys again. They were a delight to be with! Maybe we'll have trips that will overlap again one of these days.

The girls loved hanging out at Stormalong Bay on this trip. Brooklynn got to go a second time after Bella left.

 

[MEK]

The boys looks they are really enjoying their ice cream.

glad you had such a great dinner.

Thanks for the review of your trip up to this point.

Sorry you and DH's stomach were not loving the motion rides at Disney Quest. They really do have some great arcade games and the boys look they are having a ball. Fun pics.

 

[eandesmom]

The E's are dying to go to DQ and try both cyber Space Mountain and POTC. We've been there once but only for about an hour and didn't really do much. They've both asked, hoped and hinted for this trip but it's not going to happen. I can't see paying to go just there but it is a nice option if you have the water parks and more on your tickets (or most of them lol).

Sorry it made you guys feel so icky though

Feeling hostage to your tickets is no fun! 2 hours isn't enough for a signature dinner, I can see where that would be rushed but glad you had a date night!

SAB looks deserted!

 

[KatMark]

Finally caught up, Amy. Looks like the boys (ALL of the boys) had a good time at Disney Quest. We've not been since the year it first opened. I was a "bad" mom and told the boys that it closed after the first year because enough people weren't using it. I just couldn't see spending our time away from the parks and pool there and it was so expensive (that was before you could get it as part of a pass).

Love the pictures of SAB.

 

[starrzone]

You guys really look like you're having so much fun! I had never seen detailed pics of Disney Quest; now I want to go there just for all the classic arcade games!

 

[DisMomAmy]

My boys would love DQ. We have thought about going there in the past but b/c my DS15 lives for video games it's nice to have him game free on vacations.
But after seeing it and his reluctance to going AGAIN next year maybe this would be a welcome change of scenery for him. It really might get him to change his mind!

I completely understand wanting to stay away from the video games on vacation but it is a fun break from the parks for the boys.

Oh, I'm sorry you and Tim felt so crummy. I get really motion sick so definitely will never be able to do that. Bummer. I'm glad you had a nice night out!

I'm guessing Cyber Space Mountain wouldn't be the best ride for you. But there are plenty of other things to do.

Love these 'learning' faces! I wish I could get the kids in my classes to have such interest in what I am teaching.

I need to see these boys again. They were a delight to be with! Maybe we'll have trips that will overlap again one of these days.

The girls loved hanging out at Stormalong Bay on this trip. Brooklynn got to go a second time after Bella left.

I was impressed with how long they worked on that song!

Maybe I'll see you in October... but the boys won't be with me! My dates are 10/10-10/14 - those are the same dates you'll be there, right?

SAB can be a lot of fun - especially when it isn't raining.

The boys looks they are really enjoying their ice cream.

glad you had such a great dinner.

Thanks for the review of your trip up to this point.

Sorry you and DH's stomach were not loving the motion rides at Disney Quest. They really do have some great arcade games and the boys look they are having a ball. Fun pics.

We'll definitely be back to Beaches & Cream - it was a perfect spot for dessert that night.

Dinner was awesome! Shula's is one of our favorite spots. Not sure what we'll do once Alex ages out of the kids clubs!

I suspect we'll be back to DQ some time but Tim & I will sit out Cyber Space Mountain & leave that to the boys.

The E's are dying to go to DQ and try both cyber Space Mountain and POTC. We've been there once but only for about an hour and didn't really do much. They've both asked, hoped and hinted for this trip but it's not going to happen. I can't see paying to go just there but it is a nice option if you have the water parks and more on your tickets (or most of them lol).

Sorry it made you guys feel so icky though

Feeling hostage to your tickets is no fun! 2 hours isn't enough for a signature dinner, I can see where that would be rushed but glad you had a date night!

SAB looks deserted!

I agree that $40 for a ticket is expensive for video games but in the right situation (and with waterpark + tickets to spare), we'll probably go back sometime.

Hopefully we won't feel hostage to our tickets next year... I already have an AP for Zach and new park hoppers for Tim & Alex. I'll just need to get myself a new AP.

Finally caught up, Amy. Looks like the boys (ALL of the boys) had a good time at Disney Quest. We've not been since the year it first opened. I was a "bad" mom and told the boys that it closed after the first year because enough people weren't using it. I just couldn't see spending our time away from the parks and pool there and it was so expensive (that was before you could get it as part of a pass).

Love the pictures of SAB.

I'd be happy to tell the boys that DQ closed! But it was a nice break for them so I'm sure I won't. Tim liked it a lot too. I'm in no hurry to get back there but I'm sure we will at some point.

You guys really look like you're having so much fun! I had never seen detailed pics of Disney Quest; now I want to go there just for all the classic arcade games!

The classic arcade games were pretty cool - I even enjoyed a few of them!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Sounds like a fun relaxing Disney day.

Did you buy the song the boys made? We went to DQ on our honeymoon and I made a song for my DH and we still have it. It's so corny.

DQ is such a great place for kids that love video games, my DH can't wait to take the boys, but I want to wait until Joey is just a bit older. That virtual game stuff can be really sensory overloading, I remember we tried like two games and that was it. Glad the boys had fun with everything.

Hooray for another date night Love the ice-cream pictures too, the boys looked like they were enjoying themselves. Can't wait to read your next update

 

[brookelizabeth]

The fake crocs were at the beginning of Living with the Land during those scenes you can see from Garden Grill. We got to see the real animals later but they were in tanks.

Thanks for the NYC info! We'll definitely look into the parking situation a bit more before then. I'm not sure if the $80/day lets us come & go but we aren't planning to drive anywhere while we are there so it doesn't matter.

I'm glad you think 3 hours is enough at the museum. We definitely want to check it out but don't have a big enough chunk of time to do more than that. I won't feel guilty about paying less than the suggested donation since we'll be getting there so late. Thanks for the reminder! Only 4 weeks to go!!

Ooooh, THOSE crocs! I had forgotten about those.

Your welcome with the NYC info! We were just at the AMNH today for 3 hours. Henry found a great gift for $15 where you dig a dinosaur out of "dirt" (a big block of basically dried clay) and then you build the dino. Really cool for $15! If your boys are into dinos, it was in the "DinoStore".

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Finally all caught up after being away for our 10 day camping trip! Great updates!

HDDR looks so fun! Maybe someday it will fit into our budget and schedule. So cool that Zach got to ring the bell!

I'm so glad you and Tim had a nice night out. I know how worried you were about the childcare and it seems like it's been really great!

I actually enjoyed DisneyQuest more than I had expected. I thought I'd have motion sickness issues, but I managed to stay out of the nausea zone! I did do quite a bit of watching, but I was able to do the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, and the Buzz Astro Blaster rides. My boys had a blast...glad your boys did too!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I think I would find Disney Quest a sensory overload for myself, but it looks like the boys had a great time!!! I keep avoiding mentioning it around Charles and Connor because I know I would find myself spending the day there. LOL!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Sounds like a fun relaxing Disney day.

Did you buy the song the boys made? We went to DQ on our honeymoon and I made a song for my DH and we still have it. It's so corny.

DQ is such a great place for kids that love video games, my DH can't wait to take the boys, but I want to wait until Joey is just a bit older. That virtual game stuff can be really sensory overloading, I remember we tried like two games and that was it. Glad the boys had fun with everything.

Hooray for another date night Love the ice-cream pictures too, the boys looked like they were enjoying themselves. Can't wait to read your next update

We didn't buy the song. They were just goofing around & having fun with it. That's cool that you have the song from your honeymoon!

The boys had fun but I'd say that they probably wouldn't have enjoyed it before this year.

Date night was fun & the boys definitely enjoyed the ice cream. Now we have to go back when Tim & I have room to eat some!

Ooooh, THOSE crocs! I had forgotten about those.

Your welcome with the NYC info! We were just at the AMNH today for 3 hours. Henry found a great gift for $15 where you dig a dinosaur out of "dirt" (a big block of basically dried clay) and then you build the dino. Really cool for $15! If your boys are into dinos, it was in the "DinoStore".

I saw your museum pictures & they got me excited to see it in person! 11 days to go!!! I think we bought that same block of dino dirt at the Dinosaur gift shop. Zach has it half excavated & it's sitting in a bowl unfinished! It's hard to get through.

Finally all caught up after being away for our 10 day camping trip! Great updates!

HDDR looks so fun! Maybe someday it will fit into our budget and schedule. So cool that Zach got to ring the bell!

I'm so glad you and Tim had a nice night out. I know how worried you were about the childcare and it seems like it's been really great!

I actually enjoyed DisneyQuest more than I had expected. I thought I'd have motion sickness issues, but I managed to stay out of the nausea zone! I did do quite a bit of watching, but I was able to do the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, and the Buzz Astro Blaster rides. My boys had a blast...glad your boys did too!

I hope you had a fun camping trip! I would definitely try to make it to HDDR some day. It's a lot of fun.

Wow - I can't believe you made it through all those ride without feeling yucko! I was surprised that it got to me so easily. I'm not usually bothered bythat stuff at all.

I think I would find Disney Quest a sensory overload for myself, but it looks like the boys had a great time!!! I keep avoiding mentioning it around Charles and Connor because I know I would find myself spending the day there. LOL!

DQ was definitely a sensory experience! I don't blame you for keeping it your little secret.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I have had a major Disney planning bug lately… but I haven’t had much time to scratch it! I’ve had a hard time keeping up with this TR (but don’t worry… I will finish it) with so much going on this summer. Camp & summer school schedules have been crazy so I feel like I’ve been “Mom’s Taxi Service” more than anything else… trying to squeeze work in when I can. Hopefully, this being a slow work week, I’ll have some extra time to get caught up on my subscriptions & write another update. We are also down to 11 days until our trip to New York City!! We are all very excited!!

On the trip planning front, I’m anxious to plan for next April. Airfare won’t come out until fall, timeshare availability won’t be good until at least fall… although somehow we booked in August last year so I guess we’ll just have to wait & see. I have purchased park tickets for everyone except myself… I’ll be getting a new AP! We also need to get Aps at Universal – good for April 2013 & February 2014!! We’ve also invited lots of guests… We are going to skip visiting Jeff & Karen and have instead, invited them to come stay with us for a night or two. I told them we could do Disney, Universal or just chill out by the pool. We could always hit a park while they relax if we wanted. We won’t be hostage to our tickets this time!! We have also invited our really good friends Nicole, Chris & Anna to come down & join us. Nicole’s parents own DVC but I don’t think they’d have points to use. She’s just finishing up school to become an RN so money is tight & she doesn’t know what she’ll have for vacation but we extended the invitation. They LOVE Disney & we love hanging out with them so it should be a lot of fun if they can join us. As long as we don’t have everyone wanting to join us during the same dates!

Some of what’s been keeping us so busy recently has been a bunch of doctor’s appointments. Alex had some neuropsych testing done (normal stuff every few years for kids on the autism spectrum…) and we also had a visit to Boston’s Children’s Hospital to FINALLY see the kidney specialists. For those who may not already know this, he had a kidney stone in March (and probably one last year). We saw a pediatric urologist from Children’s (but didn’t have to go all the way into Boston) in March but he recommended we go to the Kidney Stone Clinic in Boston… but that took until July to finally get in! The good news is that he doesn’t have any new stones in his kidneys. The bad news is that he has something called nephrocalcinosis. He has calcium deposits all throughout the tissues of his kidneys. He had a new ultrasound done, then we met with then a different urologist, then finally the nephrologist (the doctor we were most anxious to meet). We actually got to meet with two… the main nephrologist and her fellow (medical school graduate but not yet full fledged, work on your own, doctor). The fellow (Dr. Jain) was amazing – she spent at least an hour (over two different days) on the phone with me earlier this week. Basically what this all means is we’ll be going back to Children’s every six months to monitor Alex’s condition. He should be OK if the nephrocalcinosis doesn’t get worse. Google tells me it can lead to kidney failure so I need to stop browsing! The doctor told me his kidney function levels and they are currently great. He was started on a diuretic as well as a magnesium supplement. He already takes a fair amount of medication & hates to take more but we’re dealing with it. He has to have blood drawn in a couple weeks to make sure the medication is lowering the calcium level in his urine adequately. Unfortunately, the new medication seems to be throwing him off a little bit. He’s been extra hyper & very sensitive… more tears than usual. But summer does that too….

Anyways… When I last left off, we had visited Disney Quest, gotten some upset tummies, but recovered with a nice night out at Shula’s (kids at Sandcastle Club) and lingered at the BC with some ice cream at B&C.

I’ve been working on writing this update for DAYS… can I just tell you how much I am hating photobucket recently. What other free photo services are there that you like??

Day 7 – Wednesday 4/25

Wednesday was our big Magic Kingdom day! We were already on day 7 of our trip, and other than the short time we’d spent at MK on Day 2 (a wet day 2), this was our first real chunk of time dedicated to MK. We planned to spend the morning at the park, take a mid-day break, return in time for dinner at Chef Mickey’s, then walk over to MK to spend the evening. We were also planning to attend the Wishes Dessert Party. We had a big day planned. We had hoped to make rope drop to be able to take advantage of the less busy hours early on.

From the monorail:

We made it for rope drop!

And we were off! Heading on down Main Street!

Hmmmm… where were we headed first?

Continued next post…

 

[DisMomAmy]

Continued…

Almost there…

Finally! We’re here!

We had checked out the new Storybook Circus area on Friday night but had only ridden Barnstormer. We wanted to catch Dumbo at rope drop when the line would be short. It didn’t disappoint.

Fantasyland construction photos from Dumbo:

Continued…

 

[DisMomAmy]

Continued from previous post…

Then onto Barnstormer – Tim sat this one out.

Then the boys rode a second time:

After Storybook Circus, we headed to Tomorrowland. I love walking the back way.

The Speedway:

More speedway:

TTA:

Time for a ride through Space. Kermit Hands:

It was just before 10:00 and we had been on Dumbo, Barnstormer twice & Space Mountain twice!
Then we headed off to defeat Zurg:

Then we spun on the tea cups:

More construction photos as we headed toward Winnie the Pooh:

I can never get good pictures in here:

I'm going to stop here for now, but I have the next part already typed up so I'll be sure to post it very soon!!

 

[eandesmom]

I LOVE the Dumbo pictures! So very fun and the colors are just popping.

Looks like a very very productive morning. Glad to hear that you are getting news and info and in with doctors, bummer that it is something you'll have to monitor ongoing like that but at least now you know. New York should be a blast!

 

[MEK]

I did not know about Alex's kidney stones. Wow! I have been hearing about younger and younger kids with kidney stones lately. I hope that his meds do lower his calcium level and you get a good report next visit. I hope he also gets used to his meds so they not irritate him as much.

Woo Hoo for the upcoming NYC trip!

Loved this update. I felt like I was taking the walk back to Dumbo with you. Amazing to watch the crowds thin out from Main Street to Dumbo.

Looks like a fun ride on Space Mountain!

 

[Charleston Princess]

You have been busy! Hope things are calmer for you soon, and you can do some Disney planning!

Gorgeous morning at the Magic Kingdom! I do love mornings in the parks! So nice! You got some great pictures in the new Dumbo area!

 

[MeMom]

Maybe I'll see you in October... but the boys won't be with me! My dates are 10/10-10/14 - those are the same dates you'll be there, right?

October 5 - 13, so we will work something out and find a place to cross paths. Sorry we will miss the boys, though.

Nice pictures from Magic Kingdom. The water feature on the Dumbos now really adds to that attraction. We got to experience 'soft opening' of the interactive queue on our trip, and it is fabulous.

Hope you get all the medical issues cleared up completely and quickly for Alex. We do not like our DIS kids going through pain.

 

[natebenma]

Sorry to hear about Alex's kidney stones. I hope he hasn't been too uncomfortable. There's nothing worse than seeing your kids in pain.

What a great start at MK- Looks like a beautiful day, and I hope it stays like that for you.

Love the rope drop show. You got lots of great pictures of it.

I enjoyed the walk over to Dumbo with you. I have never been on Dumbo duck: while my Disney fan card is taken away), so I really appreciate seeing the pictures.

Good redneck ride photos- awesome that the words don't cover the boys' faces!

And I would have to say that your pictures in Pooh are not so shabby!

 

[Angies1274]

I'm all caught up!!

I'm glad the boys liked Disney Quest! My boys loved it as well. I agree about Cyber Space Mountain!! It was definitely more intense than I expected it to be.

Love early mornings at MK!! The details at Storybook Circus are amazing! We loved it! It looks like a successful morning so far!

Your NYC trip sounds like fun!! I hope you have a great time!!