An APRIL Adventure in Autism: 2008 (8/8) Time to Say Good-Bye....

[KathyRN137]

awesome update, Kathy!!

I don't like pineapple either and have decided I don't really care for Dole Whips. I am still a DISer!

Maybe we need to start a club...

DISers against Dole Whips. Nah, too strong.

I don't like Dole Whips but I am still a DISer. Nah, too long.

DISers for the Love of Plain Vanilla. Uh. No.


Ok...I got nothin'!

But I don't like them either, Kathy!

Oh, Maroo, that's funny!

I really should try one before I decide, though!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

I like pineapple a bit but LOVE orange & vanilla. I had my first Dole Whip in May & it truly was so good, the next day I had one for breakfast - you know, that healthy pineapple juice plus the dairy of the ice cream! Two food groups there!

All right! Way to rationalize the calories, Erin!!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

I love Billy's fractured funny bone!


He does love to laugh... not always at what everyone else would laught at but at least he is happy most of the time!

Awww.... Tricia. NOTP can be frustrating in it's own way...

Perhaps the impending departure from Disney was getting to Tricia... up until then, the two of them had been getting along so well!

I was beginning to get a bit blue myself... leaving stinks!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

So sorry to read about the issue with Tricia and Billy . You and Ed walk a fine line to keep both of them happy. I can't wait to see how you worked it out.

Only problem is... then it will be the last part of our last day!!


Kathy

 

[ILuvWishes!]

It was fun and cute, although I’m still hoping for my husband to be “That Guy” someday! Ba-dum-bum!!

During our trip with no kids last November, my DH ended up being "That Guy" after I promised he would not. I still hear about to this day!!

 

[annnewjerz]

Hi!!

After catching up on the last few pages of your Halloween PTR, I just realized this weekend that you an active TR!!

I get a kick out of your PTR and figured I would pop over to your April Adventure and I spent hours on Saturday reading the whole thing.

I'm caught up now! Sounds like you guys had a blast---can't wait to hear what happens in the next installment.

 

[DisMomAmy]

I love your tidbits of trivia Kathy!! New book or old book??

Sounds like Billy was just trying to keep you on your toes... and testing out your new non-OTP style...

 

[jcc0621]

Hey Kathy,

Go away for the weekend and come back to an update

I've never had a Dole Whip either Jim and Jimmy have and loved it though!

 

[KathyRN137]

During our trip with no kids last November, my DH ended up being "That Guy" after I promised he would not. I still hear about to this day!!

Oh, I'll bet you do!

Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

During our trip with no kids last November, my DH ended up being "That Guy" after I promised he would not. I still hear about to this day!!

Oh, I'll bet you do!

Hi!!

After catching up on the last few pages of your Halloween PTR, I just realized this weekend that you an active TR!!

I get a kick out of your PTR and figured I would pop over to your April Adventure and I spent hours on Saturday reading the whole thing.

I'm caught up now! Sounds like you guys had a blast---can't wait to hear what happens in the next installment.

Hi Ann! Almost done with this one... I'm so glad you popped in to say hi, it reminds me that I need to catch up on your plans!!

I love your tidbits of trivia Kathy!! New book or old book??

Sounds like Billy was just trying to keep you on your toes... and testing out your new non-OTP style...

I think he just wants what he wants when he wants it!!
I have both of Lou Mongello's WDW Trivia books... these tidbits came from vol. 2 (2006)

Hey Kathy,

Go away for the weekend and come back to an update

I've never had a Dole Whip either Jim and Jimmy have and loved it though!

Hope you had a great weekend! I've got to try one just to say that I did!


Thanks for reading, everybody!

Kathy

 

[All7OfUs]

Sounds like Tricia and Billy have had a typical brother/sister spat. It IS a fine line to walk keeping siblings all happy. You seem to always do such a great job at it!

 

[AmandaSparks730]

I'm back!

Aww, poor Tricia. It must be hard, having a brother with "special needs".

 

[KathyRN137]

Sounds like Tricia and Billy have had a typical brother/sister spat. It IS a fine line to walk keeping siblings all happy. You seem to always do such a great job at it!

I try. I never had a brother, so I can't relate.

Perhaps five younger sisters = one younger autistic brother??

I'm back!

Aww, poor Tricia. It must be hard, having a brother with "special needs".

It can be, certainly.

Of course, we parents know that kids often try to use guilt to get what they want, so there could have been some of that going on!
And moods often fluctuate on the last day at Disney.... anticipatory sadness, I think.

****************************************​

Sorry I haven't posted on this lately; I've been busy working and planning our Halloween trip.

Working on the next update.....


Kathy

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

 

[jcc0621]

 

[wvdislover]

All caught up, now. Didn't have my computer for a few days, as DH was doing "work" on it (still not totally back to normal ). I was afraid you'd be totally done by the time I got back on! Great updates! Sorry about the Billy/Tricia episode, but it sounds like normal brother/sister stuff. My girls do it, too, and we also have the "why do we do what Sarah wants" stuff (lately, it's been "why is Sarah always messing with my stuff?"). So sorry to see your TR coming to an end Maybe you can just post a few sentences at a time, just to string it out and make it last longer, or just make up some stuff, like, we were so sad to be leaving, we decided to stay another week, so here's what we did...

 

[TaraLee4]

 

[mommytothreeboys]

I've been slowly but surely catching up on all the TRs I'm following....now I can cross this one off the list!

First..the pics of Ed and Billy at sunset in the WS are PERFECT. You really captured a beautiful moment.

Those marionettes in China draw my boys in every time. We brought 2 home this past trip!

Laundry on vacation...UGH!

That HM line is insane! WOW!

Good for Tricia for being rewarded for acting the way a young lady should! It's nice to get a pat on the back every now and again!

I haven't seen the HOP since I was at WDW in 1992. We skipped it our first trip and this past trip it was closed. I'll have to make my boys do it next time!

Looking forward to the rest of this report! I'm back and ready to stay on top of it!

 

[KathyRN137]

Chapter 33: Divide and Conquer (the Endoftripitis)


Friday, 4/24/08

~The Magic Kingdom~


I left off with familial unrest brewing in the Magic Kingdom. After passing up an opportunity to see the Hall of Presidents, Billy had urged us toward Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain, followed by Carousel of Progress, Buzz, and the Laugh Floor. As we stood on the hot concrete contemplating our next move, he once more seized the role of Trip Director and announced his desire to see the HoP; a wish we parents were happy to fulfill, but which was vehemently rejected by his big sister.


“I don’t want to see the dumb old HoP!” she whined. “You had your chance, Billy!” Her role was now that of Pouty Patricia. She put her hands on her hips and her nose in the air. “Why do we always have to do what he wants to do?” Hmmm. The guilt card... one of the many devices found in the Teen Bag of Tricks. It was being played now in an obvious attempt to get what she wanted, but I also recognized that it had been a long week. Fatigue, the heat, and the reality of our vacation coming to an end might also have contributed to her sudden irritability.


“What is it that you want to do, Tricia?” I asked, trying to tune out the increasingly screechy and irritating sounds of frustration coming from her brother. “I want to go shopping!” she declared. “You said we could do some shopping and today’s our last day!”


BINGO!


Ed, who had been doing his best to get Billy to calm down, offered to take him to the HoP while we girls enjoyed some shopping time. This seemed to be the wisest plan... why spend time arguing and lecturing the children about the virtues of compromise on our final day? We were in the Magic Kingdom for what we thought then would be our last Disney trip for a very long time. "Divide and Conquer" seemed to be the way to go. Tricia would be happy to avoid sitting through a show she didn’t care for and Billy (let’s face it, Billy and Ed) would be happy not to be dragged through the stores and forced to stand around waiting for us to finish shopping.

It was a win-win situation!

After agreeing to meet in FrontierLand once the boys were done seeing the presidents, we parted ways and a now smiling and happy Tricia began walking with me across the bridge to the Hub. From there we carefully stepped over the curved trolley tracks, turned left, and leisurely ambled down a sunny Main Street U.S.A.


I must confess that Main Street is one area of the Magic Kingdom that our family tends to overlook. Upon entering the park, we’re inclined to walk quickly past all the lovely shops on our way to the first attraction of the day in an effort to avoid a long line. At the end of the day, we’re usually too tired to do anything but gaze appreciatively at the many artful window displays as we slowly move with the crowds toward the gate and the bus stops beyond.


Perhaps most guests do the same thing because it’s one area of the Magic Kingdom that is covered in-depth during the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. Ed and I were fortunate to have been able to take the tour a few years back on a weekend Disney without the kids. What a delight it was to give ourselves permission to linger there and hear how the Imagineers turned Walt’s dream of paying homage to his boyhood home in Marceline, Missouri into bricks and mortar!


I realized that I rarely took the time to take pictures of the gingerbread-trimmed shops situated along the “gas-lit” street, so I remedied this as we walked from the Hub to the Rail Road Station. (Note how most of the guests are already headed out of the park.)

During the KTTK Tour, I was fascinated hearing about how Walt envisioned a guest’s entrance to the park as an experience not unlike that of a person entering one of the grand old movie palaces of yesteryear. There were the velvet ropes, the posters of coming attractions, and even the aroma of fresh popcorn… all designed as fitting introduction to his ultimate “show.”

“Coming Attractions” posters under the RR trestle:

Hmmm. Forgot to get a shot of the popcorn cart!

Funny thing is… although Tricia had lobbied for a shopping excursion, I don’t recall that we went inside any of the shops! Perhaps she had been searching for a particular pin. This is the only “action” shot that I took... at the pin cart just outside the Confectionary:

The flagpole area and the walk back up Main Street toward the Hub:

Please excuse my DD, she's not sticking her tongue out at YOU!!

I love this little side street paved in bricks and dotted with flowerboxes:

I took a picture of Walt Disney’s window, situated above the ice cream parlor. It is the last window on the street. The names on the windows are like the “credits” listed at the beginning of a movie and the Director’s name is always last.

Checking my watch, I realized that we’d better just head directly to FrontierLand. Oh, how I wanted to stop at Liberty Square for just a teeny peek into the Olde Christmas Shoppe! But alas, there just wasn’t time. Ed was texting me that they were on their way, so we hustled it over to meet them in front of Big Thunder Mountain RR.


Looking ahead..

Looking behind...

We soon arrived and Hmmph! They weren’t even there yet! Tricia spied one of the pressed penny machines and, despite the fact that they had never before piqued her interest, she asked if she could press a penny while we waited for the boys. Sure, why not?

Ahh, here were the men folk… now that we were all together again, we hightailed it over to “the wildest ride in the wilderness” for some rootin’ tootin’ rip-roarin’ fun!

Kathy

 

[Charleston Princess]

The Teen Bag of Tricks! Oh how well I am learning the contents of that one!

Love all your pictures on Main Street -- how peaceful it looked that afternoon!