A whole new World... UPDATED with Animal Kingdom Day

[maroo]

We have mostly really great news after our appointment this
afternoon. Lydia's lung pressures are down and it seems that the
medication is really doing a great job. She still has her other
issues but they're nothing that they're worried about right now. So
we're breathing a sigh of relief. Thank you to all who's been
praying and giving us support, we really appreciate it!

Oh, thank You Jesus! That is FABULOUS news!!!!

I am so happy for you guys and so thankful she is doing better!

I am also so thankful that you guys seem to be surrounded by such wonderful people that are lifting you guys up and supporting you guys!!!

Please continue to keep us posted!!!

 

[Khalana]

Okay, I know it's been waaaay too long since my last installment... I guess I could blame it on being preoccupied and worried and stuff, but still pretty sad. Oh well. I'm going to try and make it up to you.

Last time I left you with this beautiful sight:

Ahhh....

So we were entering the Disney area and trying to find our way to Animal Kingdom. As we got to the parking booths I was telling Michael to please change the lanes so that he could be the one to show our pass as I was feeling embarrassed and scared that they would ask questions that I couldn't answer or... I don't know. But NO! He had to get into the lane that had the booth on my side of course. And I was, well, slightly panicking. They were all teasing me about it for a long time.

Anyways, I made it through (without any difficult questions even!) and they told us to follow the handicap lane (great parking! ). We got to park really close and had just a short walk up to the gates. As we walked into the park I remember being so surprised at what it looked like. I'm not quite sure what I had imagined but I think I thought it would be more open and you could see different parts of the park (kinda like in Universal) but it's like walking into a jungle, which is kind of the point, I guess. It was soooo beautiful and there was stuff to look at everywhere. We had planned to do the safari first thing so we walked towards the (I actually had to look up the name of this ) Harambe village. There was a musical show going on and we stopped to watch briefly.

We were very excited to get to the safari and after talking to the cm we got into the fastpass lane. We pretty much walked right up to where the busses leave from without waiting at all.
This picture gives a really good idea of Lydia's reaction:

She was clapping and laughing and looking at all the animals. I think her favourite must have been the elephants we saw and the giraffes. The animals seemed to be quite active and walking around and we got to see quite a few (not that I have anything to compare with). We all LOVED it!!! It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. It just was so cool. I loved how they had even made the roads all bumpy on purpose. The story in the background is maybe phony but we thought it was just funny. Lydia was quite concerned for the baby elephant in the back of the truck (but not too concerned, luckily ).

Just a random picture of my mil:

This is after we got off the safari (not the greates picture). We just kinda followed the crowd and went right into the Pangani Forest trail.

More to come....

 

[Khalana]

We weren't as impressed by this part of the park. It was nice and all but had more of a zoo feeling and it got a bit crowded. But there was a couple of things we really did enjoy. One was the hippos that we could watch through the glass under the water. They are HUGE!!!!!!! I sure wouldn't want to meet one of them while swimming. I'm so sad I didn't take a picture of it. I think it was possibly because of this guy with a huge camera that was trying to take lots of pictures right where we were standing. It didn't bother us, though. He probably got some great pictures. The other part that we liked was seeing the gorillas. Lydia was wondering where his clothes were! "Where did his clothes go? He's all naked."

Here she is looking at it with Grandma.

The kids found a fish pond with these huge blue fish and they were quite fascinated (doesn't Tobias look fascinated?? ).

At this point we headed back towards the Tree of Life as we needed the babystation. Someone had made a stinky (bet you can't guess who). These are just a few pictures taken on the way (well, to be honest maybe one or two are from the way in ).

She loved that ledge for some reason.

As we walked through the Harambe village I took a picture of Lydia on this bench. I tought the "sign" on the wall was pretty funny.

We went inside the baby station and I changed Tobias' diaper while Lydia got to watch a bit of the new Tinkerbell movie. It was really nice to be able to rest a little bit and get out of the sun (it was getting a bit hot and I had a major headache going... ). Michael bought some Advil that they conveniently sold right there and he was quite pleased that it didn't cost an arm and a leg. We should have brought some along but among the diapers, extra clothes, snacks etc it got left at the house. The lady that worked there was so sweet and tried to engage Lydia in conversation, but she was in her movie trance. We let Tobias walk around a bit as he had been cooped up in his stroller all morning. Here he is snuggling with Papa.

We had to practically drag Lydia out again as she was really enjoying the movie. Here she has a whole park at her disposal and she'd rather sit and watch a movie! Kids are funny.
Outside I decided to try to let Tobias walk holding my hand for a bit. It didn't work so well. He was more interested in exploring than holding my hand so it didn't last too long.

 

[Khalana]

At this point we weren't quite sure what we should do next. I had planned to go all the way over to Asia to do the Maharaja Jungle Trek there but it was a bit away and we just didn't feel like walking there. So we headed over to Dinoland.

Tobias was getting a bit cranky and hugnry so the guys decided to get a snack while me, Grandma and Lydia went on the Triceratop Spin. She really enjoyed it.

When we met up with the guys we realized that we had to go see one of the shows right away if we were going to get on the next show. We had planned to see the Nemo show but a cm had really reccomended the Lion Kinfg show so we decided to go see that instead. We got to the building literally 2 minutes before the show was going to start and I was thinking that there was no way we were going to get seats. But as we walked up to the entrance and showed our pass the cm there guided us in, across the stage area and right to the first row benches!!!! We had the BESt seats ever! I have to say that this show was my absolute favourite Disney experience. It was amazing!!!! Goosebumps the whole time... I really love the movie too and this was just awesome. The reast of the gang was totally spellbound too. I hadn't been sure if Tobias would sit still for that long but he was totally into it.

At the very end of the show, one of the monkeys came and "scratched" Tobias' head as if he was a monkey too. It was really cute.

After the show we headed back to the parking lot to go home for lunch. At this point Lydia was very tired and overstimulated and so she refused to either sit in the stroller or hold someone's hand. This was the result:

But don't worry, she didn't cry for long.

We had lunch at GKTW (hot dogs and sandwiches) and then we all had a nap. It was heavenly.

That evening we were going to 1900 Park Fare and dine with Cinderella and co. so we needed that nap.

Next up: a meal fit for royalty? Or total chaos?

 

[kimmylaj]

excellent update...loving all the great pics, cant wait to hear about park fare...we love it there

 

[PrincessLeighsDaddy]

Great update! We have been praying for you guys!

 

[maroo]

Wonderful update! Thank you so, so much for sharing your trip with us!! I am so thankful Lydia is doing so well!

I am glad you guys enjoyed the safari!

Can't wait for more!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

What a wonderful story , pretrip report and trip report. I just sat here and read it from the beginning! Your kids are adorable, and little Lydia is so precious. I cried while watching your video of her with that song. So beautiful. I am so glad that Lydia's appointment went well, I can't even imagine how you felt waiting for that appointment! Lydia's excitement shows in all of her Disney pictures, can't wait to see the rest!!

 

[Khalana]

excellent update...loving all the great pics, cant wait to hear about park fare...we love it there

Thank you! Yes, Park Fare is great but... well, I guess I can't tell you about it yet.

Great update! We have been praying for you guys!

Thank you, Tom!

Wonderful update! Thank you so, so much for sharing your trip with us!! I am so thankful Lydia is doing so well!

I am glad you guys enjoyed the safari!

Can't wait for more!

Aww... Thank you, Maroo (still haven't heard from you if it's okay to call you that? ). Yes, we LOVED the safari! And I'm so sad that you didn't enjoy it as much. I think partly because our kids are so young and take it all in it makes it more fun for us too. I guess I'm pretty young at heart.

What a wonderful story , pretrip report and trip report. I just sat here and read it from the beginning! Your kids are adorable, and little Lydia is so precious. I cried while watching your video of her with that song. So beautiful. I am so glad that Lydia's appointment went well, I can't even imagine how you felt waiting for that appointment! Lydia's excitement shows in all of her Disney pictures, can't wait to see the rest!!

Thank you and WELCOME!! Yes, we were pretty sick to our stomachs waiting for that appointment... But now I feel so much better and we just have more hope again. Lydia's issues might not be behind us but we have hope that she will be fine. Lydia was very excited about everything during our trip! I just love that about her. She gets sooo excited about the smallest things and she was totally over the clouds seeing all the things she had dreamed about.

 

[maroo]

Aww... Thank you, Maroo (still haven't heard from you if it's okay to call you that? ). Yes, we LOVED the safari! And I'm so sad that you didn't enjoy it as much. I think partly because our kids are so young and take it all in it makes it more fun for us too. I guess I'm pretty young at heart.

Uh oh...Did I fail to answer a question over here?

I try so hard...I have too many threads going...I can't keep up!!!

Of course you can call me Maroo! It is actually my real nickname! I was so excited when they had it as a user ID. I guess there are not many of us out there! Lauren and William call me Maroo all the time. I don't use that name in the business world as much. I can't imagine being introduced as "Maroo" when I am about to speak or something. But my friends can call me Maroo all they want! I also answer to Mary. But if I am on the boards, I don't usually get called Mary...just Maroo!


I love the TR!!! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!!!!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the safari and FOTLK so much!! I can't wait to hear about Lydia's dinner with Cinderella!!!

 

[maroo]

Hi there!

I was just thinking about sweet Lydia and wondering how she is doing?

I hope you guys are doing well!

Still praying for you guys!

 

[Khalana]

Awww, thank you Maroo! We are doing very good! Lydia seems to be in great shape and is running around with the rosy red cheeks that we like to see. Her next appointment is in another 2 months or so but we're really hoping and praying for the best. Thank you so much for praying for us, that means so much!