Just a note...I realized I've been VERY picture deficient in recent postings...some of that is due to photobucket being difficult...anyhow, I've tried to make up for lack of visual stimulation in this chapter!!
NYPDWife...this one is for you!!! Hope your week is improving!!!
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Where were we? OH YES...I was stripped of my ability to breathe...
If there is one thing in this world that I really really really don't like...it is to feel totally out of control.
Asthma attacks do this to me. My lungs betray me. They have minds of their own and there isn't a THING I can do about it. If ever an inner Donald is going off full tilt, it would be over an asthma attack.
Jay also has asthma. As a child he was told he would never be able to play sports or do anything strenuous, such was the severity of his asthma.
Of course Jay is just as much of a control freak as I am. Around the sixth grade he decided he was NOT going to have asthma anymore. He started running on the treadmill every day for an hour, playing basketball for hours and hours at a time...and pushed himself THROUGH his asthma. Refused to use his inhaler when he got wheezy, he just slowed down a bit...made his lungs recover...and they did. He stopped needing his inhaler completely by the seventh grade. He played basketball in high school and went to college on a basketball scholarship...
*DISCLAIMER*--Do NOT try the Jay method of banishing asthma at home! Jay is a nut!
The POINT being, he is SOOOO not one to give me advice on whether or not to push through an asthma attack!
I was breathing easier little by little. I got a good pull off the inhaler and was able to draw in a good bit of air.
Jay and the nice paramedic kept chit chatting about ME...QUACK...and I was struggling to get my voice back so that I could tell them that I was FINE. We would be finishing our visit to France, heading to the UK and Canadia and then changing into the DARLING outfits that I have been waiting MONTHS to see the kids in for our ADR at CORAL REEF!!!!
All the while Teddy kept singing and Sally kept up her Hail Mary's. They are both such great kids. They had each taken a seat on either side of me. Teddy was patting my foot and Sally was keeping an eye on the hem of my dress!
Thanks Sal!!
I started to stand up and Sally popped up and gave me a hand. She's a strong girl!
Jay and the nice paramedic both turned and gave me appraising looks.
I plastered on my best smile.
"Jay I'm fine. Really. I just needed to get a good puff and now I'm good. Seriously. We do NOT have time to do this. I am fine."
Teddy hopped up and did a little happy dance.
"YAY!!! MissCammie is better now!!"
I gave Jay a look that said "SEE!"
His "I don't THINK so" look remained firmly in place.
Just to prove my fine-ness I started getting our things together, all the while ignoring the looks of Jay and the nice paramedic...who was saying to Jay:
"Well if she can talk and feels okay enough to move around, then it's probably okay..."
Yes SHE can talk...SHE can HEAR TOO! QUACK!
My voice was still croaky...quacky even...but I managed to thank the nice paramedic for his help in a fairly confident tone, promised him that if I felt I needed a breathing treatment I would go and get one...but this "attack" was brought on by inhaling a sudden burst of perfume to my face and once I got that out of my lungs I'd be A-OK!
He SO didn't believe me. He was thinking I was one of those crazy people who refuses medical help at all costs.
not true...at ALL...
*ahem*
Seriously though, I know myself. I do. I know my lungs. I don't have asthma attacks often. The last one was in 2006. I RARELY use my inhaler...I am not a fan of being dependent on my "wheezer". This attack was not an out of the blue thing. It was environmental. Had I thought I needed a nebulizer, I'd have found one and hooked up! Mostly I just wanted to get this silliness over so that the kids could go back to having fun. I didn't want them remembering black eyes and asthma attacks. (Am I a drama magnet or WHAT?!)
I just wanted them to remember having FUN. It was my intention to manipulate the children's brains so that all dramatic happenings that were not Disney related and/or FUN, would be banished from their memories!
*ahem*
Before we were able to restart our lovely trip through World Showcase, Jay wanted to "speak to someone" about the Perfume Ninja. He wasn't hearing my protests either. He was mad and somebody was fixin to hear about it. He told us to find a table and he'd be right back. And then he was gone.
Sally gave me a sideways look and said "Daddy's gonna go yell at somebody...So GOOD because that girl DESERVES IT!"
He did indeed speak with someone. He spoke to the manager and the manager's manager. He explained the situation and his concerns regarding the practice of spraying perfume into the faces of unsuspecting park guests...his wife in particular! Jay said they were very apologetic about the whole thing. They told him that the Perfume Ninja had "misunderstood" her job...she was to OFFER perfume spritzes...NOT assault people with them. She wasn't even supposed to be standing by the door...Jay wasn't over happy with the explanation. He feels that if people are going to be working in a place with other PEOPLE...most especially children...they need to be on top of their game. If they can't be...then it's the STOCKROOM or unemployment! Period. Especially since asthmatic children can have a much harder time recovering from such an assault.
The managers told Jay that she would be removed from the area right away. Which was the main issue of concern and all that Jay was after.
It seems that at the end of the "meeting" Jay was offered some Disney dollars or vouchers or something like that. He thanked them but said no thanks. He doesn't make complaints to get stuff. He just wanted that girl removed from that particular job and the practice of perfume spritzing attacks to be ceased and banned immediately!
Done and done.
YAY Jay!!!
The kids and I had found a table outside at the Boulangerie Patisserie . We had a nice time sitting and people watching. When Jay had finished his righting of wrongs *ahem* he found us and brought Diet coke and lemonade for all!! After about 10 more minutes of sitting and breathing and drinking Diet Coke
I felt ready to head out. I was breathing better and actually felt fine.
I still wanted the kids to see "France"! And I wanted to stroll a bit through the gardens and such! So we did. We strolled nice and slow and MissCammie got her breathing right back on track.
Here's the Beauty and the Beast Window!!!
Pretty!!!!
We caught sight of the chair guy again too!!!
After our recovery stroll, it was time to head out. The kids climbed into the kid transporter. We stopped at the kidcot station so they could get their tags, although Sally wasn't so sure she even wanted a "death tag" on her mask!
She holds a grudge our Sally...
As we crossed the bridge and headed into the UK, Teddy waved good-bye to France. Sally refused.
Gotta love a girl with such Loyalty!
I love the UK section of the World Showcase. It's so cute. I was much cheered just to see it! There are always fun street performances to watch...and the sky even looked an appropriate shade of "tut tut, it looks like rain!!"
Sally was rather cheered herself b/c she had spotted Mary Poppins!!!!
Oh we love us some Mary Poppins!!! I had introduced this movie to the kids just a few months before. It was all Sally wanted to watch for WEEKS! She subscribes to the Mary Poppins way of life...fun is good...but RULES first!
She hopped out of the kid transporter, grabbed my hand and hauled me towards her idol! (Despite her rush to get to Mary Poppins, Sally asked me twice if she was going too fast!)
Getting that Autograph!
Mary was SO sweet to Sally!
Sally has the picture of Mary Poppins and herself together in a frame on her dresser. She had been so sweet to Sally. Sally had told her right off that there had been a RULE BREAKER in France. Mary Poppins was sufficiently shocked. She told Sally what a lucky family we were to have such a good girl for a daughter and a sister. This brought such a twinkle to Sally's eyes. She IS a good girl and it does her soul good to hear it...especially from Mary Poppins!!!
Not too far beyond Mary Poppins we spotted Alice. The line for Alice was really long though and that ADR was hanging over our heads and I wanted to make it to Canadia!!!
I asked Sally if she wanted to see Alice...she made a "not really" face. She's not a big fan of Alice. Sally finds Alice to be very silly. She doesn't follow rules...she eats things she shouldn't AND she's a cry baby. (All of this according to Sally!) Alice is NOT Sally's kind of girl AT ALL. So we passed her by...
This is the only shot we got of silly, rule breaking Alice...
We wandered among the shops of the UK and looked in windows and such. Teddy was beside himself with joy when we came across a shop full of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff!! When he was 3 he was nuts for Thomas. He doesn't so much play with that stuff anymore, but he was so excited to see it at Disneyworld. They have a whole table set up in the shop, just like the table he has at home. He was very happy to play for a few minutes with some other boys who had gathered at the table as well.
It was at this shop that I inadvertently captured a "moment" that I think every parent has...sorry it's so small...I had to crop and fiddle with the picture to get it centered!
In taking a picture of Teddy playing with trains, I captured this man on the other side of the table. It was weeks later that I saw him while I was going through vacation pictures. I remembered him. He had been the man who was trying in vain to convince his wife that they didn't NEED any more toys to bring home. His daughters had been screeching PLEASE!!!!! at him...clearly he LOST the battle...Sally and I had both felt sorry for him!
Mostly I remember him b/c as we were leaving the store, Sally looked over her shoulder at the man and said very simply,
"Poor him..."
Definitely!!!
We strolled around a bit more. Took some more random shots...
Ducks and Bunnies frolic about in harmony at Disneyworld!
After the kids had gotten their Kidcot tags it was time to head to Canadia! (I realize it's spelled C-A-N-A-D-A...but when I was little I had heard someone say "Canadian" once...so I thought that Canadians came from Canadia...naturally...) This was a long held belief...right up there with the way a doctor could tell if they had just delivered a boy or a girl was that girls were born with Bows in their hair...
came up with that one all on my own!
As we headed into the friendly, frozen Neighbors to the North area (as my Canadian friend referred to the place of her birth...) I marveled at what long way it seems to be from Mexico to Canada...
no kidding!
It's very pretty here!
I gotta say, we weren't able to spend a lot of time in Canadia...it was beginning to get on towards late afternoon...we sort of turbo browsed. Sally kept an eye out for the kidcot station! She spotted it in no time flat. The kids brought their masks to the Canada kidcot table to retrieve their final tag.
The woman manning the station was VERY animated and excited to see the kids...I almost had to wonder if Sally and Teddy were the first kids she'd seen...in like...days...
She was very nice and congratulated them on making it to Canada. She then began to describe her homeland in great detail...
she talked about where she was born...how long she had lived there...when they moved when she was just five...and again when she was in grade 4...and once more when she was in grade 8...she talked about the flora and fauna of the NEW regions she had moved to...places she liked in Canada more than others...which places were colder than others...which places spoke mainly French...did Sally and Teddy know who Celine Dion was? Did they know that she was from Quebec? Did they know that she didn't speak English when she first started her career? Did the kids like Moose? Not the food, the animal...had they ever SEEN a moose in person? SHE had seen a LOT of moose in her first home, but not so much in the new home...mostly in the home she lived in when she was five...
Sally and Teddy were listening politely. Their little eyes began to glaze over... At one point Teddy laid down and took a nap...when he woke up the nice Canada lady was STILL talking...about Canada...when she was five...
*ahem*
Finally...after about six HOURS...not really...but it felt like it...the nice Canada lady took a breath...I took that micro second of silence to thank her, grab the kids and RUN for the door.
She was still chattering away as we found daylight once more.
Sally shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness...after having been indoors for HOURS...*ahem* gave me a wide eyed look and said:
That lady talks MORE than Teddy...
Teddy's response to that was purely New Jersey:
"MissCammie!! I know right?" He was in total agreement...the Canada lady definitely talked more than he did...and that was not easy to do!!
Either way, the kids had collected all their tags. They were very happy with their accomplishment! Jay and I took the parenting opportunity to congratulate the kids on finishing something they had started...and how it had been worth it to make it all the way around.
We are firm believers in "Once you start something, you need to finish it..." even at Disney!!
cuz we're mean.
As the sounds of the Canada chatter began to fade from our ears, we heard the sweet sounds of Off Kilter floating towards us!!!
Teddy whipped his little head around in search of the source of the music.
"MissCammie!!!! It's IRELAND MUSIC!!! Can you HEAR IT?! What in the heck is it doing in THIS LAND?! Is IRELAND NEXT?!"
as we headed toward the music I told the kiddos about Off Kilter. I love me some Off Kilter!!! Jay rolled his eyes and sighed rather heavily...I told him he was being unpatriotic...where was his Scottish pride?! He gave me a snort in response...(Jay gets annoyed by my ultimate fan status when it comes to Off Kilter!!! )
I tease b/c I love!
Teddy was beside himself with disbelief and then laughter when he saw "Grown up men wearing dresses!!!"
I explained a bit about Kilt's...and the Scots...and his heritage that he should NOT be laughing at...
He still had a hard time holding back the giggles. Either way, we sat and listened for a bit. Teddy did a little dance party all by himself. Sally pretended not to know him...it was a classic Campbellscot family moment!!!
As Off Kilter was taking a break, I looked at my watch and figured it was time for our "costume change". I had gotten the kids some DARLING outfits for our dinner at Coral Reef...I certainly didn't want us having our very civilized dinner in sweaty clothes we'd been wearing all day long!
So we headed towards the bathrooms to change. We had juuuuuuust enough time before our ADR to keep us from feeling rushed...
just so long as...y'know...the SKY didn't fall or something.
I sneaked a hit off my wheezer and prayed for the best!!!
Up Next:Coral Reef...and the MEANEST lady in Disney!
. I've been weepy enough this week and that's all it took. I pulled myself together as best as I could and read on.
Shocking idea nowadays - responsibility and that the world doesn't bow at your feet - isn't it?? 
On the plus side I "met" some really amazing people who assured me I was NOT an ogre...much...
)
I'm going to try and remember all of your great parenting tips for when I've got kids.
