Solo day and family trip... two, two, two reports in ONE!

[davidsprincess]

Hey Molly! Really good TR. I can't wait to read more!

 

[Sherry E]

Where is that light fixture located? It is cool!

 

[bumbershoot]

That there light fixture is hanging from the ceiling at PCH Grill, isn't that odd? It doesn't "go" at all. We were seated in the half of the restaurant near the buffet lines, and our table was near the doors for the CMs to go through (so far from the door to get into the restaurant), and that's where it was.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

My mom is the opposite of snooping. For years, I would mention that I wanted something for Christmas and she would then say, "oh good, I already bought it for you." I eventually had to preface everything by saying "don't tell me if you already got it, but . . ."

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh SK, you poor thing! Silly mom....

 

[bumbershoot]

Let's see let's see let's see....we had dinner, decided to go back to the room, hubby got us coffees and got presents for me and Boyo.

DS was dreadfully overtired, but hubby is in charge of the sleep routine now and kept trying to get DS to sleep WAY too long. Then I was called in (I'm the reserves, ever since DS stopped requiring milk to get to sleep, instead of the go-to person) and within oh, 30 seconds of me lying down next to Eamon, E was snoring. Yay for Molly.

Then R slept, I read for a few minutes, I turned out the lights, and I guess I fell asleep, because 7 hours or so later I woke up, and everyone was in the exact same position we'd been in when we fell asleep. No one had moved, it was amazing (we're all flip-floppers while sleeping).

And so we started our Sunday!

It was another Magic Morning, but hubby and I had had more than a few hours of sleep this time. Whew.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, that hubby's blood sugar readings in the morning was 89. In early September, he was diagnosed with diabetes after a weekend of thinking he was going to die, with a blood sugar of 443. There has been serious disagreement between his various health care providers (diagnosing doc, family doc, endocrinologist, naturopath who specializes in diabetes), meaning that he needed to research and make up his own mind. He decided to not start by taking medicines (they did give him a shot of insulin at his diagnosing appointment because they were terrified as was he), but to start with diet and exercise. He's now walking a difficult line with being a low-carb vegetarian. It's not easy! But he feels terrific. And since he has had such incredible results, he won't be taking medication any time soon, as he's hitting as low as 89 now, and he doesn't have big swings after eating anymore.

So congrats to Roberto! He was already feeling good, and this made him feel even better.

Alas, our athletic shoes were all still wet from Grizzly the day before. So we had to wear Crocs.

That was OK for me; my new-ish Sauconys don't fit very well (they swallow my feet and my ankle bones sit weird and hurt) so the Crocs were fine. Eamon loves his Crocs. But hubby has been wearing special orthotics from our chiro, and he realized that day just how excellent the orthotics are for him! Thanks to those orthotics he FINALLY realized how wrong he was about his foot size...when I first met him he was squeezing his feet into a size 10. Then he went to a 10.5 b/c I commented so often that his feet looked squished. Well the orthotic, which was sized perfectly to his feet, would NOT fit into the shoes he was trying to buy a few months ago! We just couldn't get them into the shoe. So he went up to an 11. Still couldn't get them in. And he found out he's a 12 across the board. Ouch! I know women do this often, squeezing into a smaller shoe for vanity reasons, but I didn't know men would do it. So he thanked our chiro for her part in his figuring out how much comfier his feet could be.

All of this has to do with how painful hubby's feet were in his Crocs! His whole body, hips and spine included, poor guy.

But we had to soldier on, since wet shoes would have been yucky.


OK so on to MM.

We got there before the gates opened, and noticed the phenomenon of people simply lining up where others are, even if there are EMPTY (but MM marked) gates nearby. Even I did it, going to a familiar gate, and hubby had to point out a gate with only one person there. So we moved over.

She and I got to talking, and she was there with her mom and daughter. She was SO nice. I asked if she "did any planning online", which is my way of asking if she was a dis member, but she said no. They had been there twice inside the year, and were planning more trips, so I suggested an AP and she was going to do that. Their first trip, she WON! How cool is that?

Last week or so someone here mentioned that they got to open the park with their large family, and we were there that day. It would be so fun! Hubby, who usually complains about getting up early but had PROMISED he wouldn't this trip (and he didn't), was sad that we had been late getting out, because he wanted that honor too. I was still riding our Big Kahuna honor, and didn't need much else. I did admit to still wanting some ears, but gosh when you're staying in a suite while paying AP7 rates, who needs more???? OK hubby does, but I was content.


At last the gates opened.

OH! By the way, for anyone who hasn't been, and especially if you are using vouchers to exchange at the GATES (not ticket booths), read on. If you're in the first few people, before the gates are officially open, they will physically open the gates. They will scan a few tickets/APs so you're all prepped to go. And that worked with the vouchers, too, on Saturday. They scanned hubby and son's and printed out their passes, before they had officially opened. It's a very nice thing they do, to get a little rush of people going into the park.

So we went in, and today was our Fantasyland morning.

I had read someone asking for a picture of the partner's statue with the castle, and even though they didn't ask me, I took one on our way in.

Oh, I hadn't noticed that, but the woman with lovely long brown hair in the picture was the woman we were talking to! We saw her SO many times that day, it's not surprising she was right there after meeting up with her family (they were at different gates to see who got to a certain point first).

 

[bumbershoot]

Dagnabit! I have to backtrack.


In the morning of Saturday, we got a locker inside the esplanade, to the right of Disneyland. We entered Disneyland and R and E's vouchers were exchanged for ticket-size vouchers for the APs. Later, we decided to "hop" before going to the AP center, so they got hand stamps.

But we wanted to swap out some things in the locker, and hubby refused to believe me that we had "rights" to the locker all day long. So we got in line at Guest Services. Thankfully not many people were getting their CP passes at that hour, and we were helped asap. Yes, it was verified, we could go in and out of the locker all day. And yes, they could print the APs right there right then, since their info was still in the system. Excellent! Instead of bothering with spelling E's name (he is hyphenated with mine and hubby's last names and no one knows how to spell his first name) we just handed her his expired AP. That decision made something Monday morning a bit harder.

But at that time, it was all good and easy and simple!

OK, backtracking done.

 

[bumbershoot]

MM started at 7. I snapped that picture and we continued on. The Peter Pan line was a breeze. I read yesterday that someone else from our DLR forum was at PP in the first bit of MM that day, so if you saw the following kid, that was us:

He was colder than he thought he would be, he refused his own coat, so I gave up my sweatshirt for him. As you can see, it was a gown on him.

Very short line, lovely ride, and we all admired how Skellington on his gloves glowed during the ride, along with the stamps on our hands! No we don't have to get stamps when hopping, but since the guys only had the vouchers the day before, hubby was nervous so they got stamps. And since they did, I did, for solidarity.


Eamon didn't feel like Toad, and went straight for Dumbo after that. Kids! They think they know better than the Dis! So first we all went on Dumbo.

Now class, this is one of the things that has changed my mind, just a bit, about Magic Mornings. The Dumbo line:

Of course it was a cold, cloudy early morning, and even up until 9ish it was still quiet, but I'm sure 7 was better than 8 anyway.


Gosh Dumbo is fun when your kid takes control of the up/down and he likes jerking it in those two directions! Gosh it's joyous.

I kept looking behind at Robert's elephant, with a pained and a bit green look on my face. Second time through, E begged me to go again, but he was riding with Robert this time, so I skedaddled out the exit instead of getting in an elephant. I told the CMs on the way so they had an accurate guest count, of course.

Then the guys got on the Carrousel, of course! While that happened, I was going to ride Mr Toad's. But it was down! It was NOT down as E rushed past it for Dumbo, and I never did ride it this trip.

After that, the Mad Tea Party was ridden twice, but NOT by me. It's a perfectly fine ride, but I much prefer to let them have their turn-around fun while I take pictures of joy like this.

While waiting for them, I realized I was standing next to Ed Begley Jr. And I was not the only dis'er to see him. Actually I think I read posts on mouseplanet and micechat, from different usernames, that others there had seen him too. Then again, I have a different username on those sites than I do here, so it could just be me and one other person who saw him, posting all over the place, LOL. He seemed calm, peaceful, and pleasant. He too was merely watching friends or relatives on the ride, rather than actually riding. He wasn't taking pictures, though, like I was. Flowers near the teacups.

After that, Robert wanted to check out the hat shop right there. I can't remember what he was looking for for E, but then he wanted ME to get something. Luckily, that pink cowboy had with the tiara was finally gone, so I wasn't forced to buy that. I was *thisclose* to buying a santa-sort-of-hat, but in purple and with Tinkerbell on it, but I realized that I would overheat in it. Later on as I was boiling and saw someone else wearing that cutey-pie hat, I was thankful that I know myself. Much better to see someone else in it, than have to tear it from my head before exploding from the heat.


There was no intention on my part to buy E another hat, but then he saw the Peter Pan hat and fell in love. It's such a sweet and simple, innocent, hat, and of course we got it for him.


That led to moments like this, which cracked up bystanders!

Oh and we were VERY mindful of where he was, where he was swinging, and the people walking by. Once a crowd was approaching we were sure to stop him so that no one was in peril. Ya gotta be mindful of others!


The hat seemed to empower him, as he was then happy to go on....Alice in Wonderland! He went on it once and then declared no more, but this time, he went twice in a row! There was *someone* in the vehicle in front of us, a woman and her young family and her husband, and she was *someone*, I just know it, but I never figured out who it was so she will remain "I know she's famous but can't get my brain to work enough to come up with a name".

After going around twice (without needing to get off), the line was long enough that they wouldn't have let us stay on for another time. Once we were off, we parlayed the braveness into Matterhorn!

Last year, I was wearing a skirt, and didn't feel comfortable with the Matterhorn and having Eamon sit with me. Well hubby sat in the very front toboggan (sled? whatever they are) and E was in front of him sharing his seat, so really, E was right in front. That was a mistake, and especially since Robert didn't think to talk him through, E didn't enjoy it.

This year, we had it planned, so we were prepared when E agreed to ride.

Robert sat in the seat in front of us, so we had his broad back protecting us in a way. And E sat with me, so I could squeeze him when I felt he needed it, and warn him about Harold.

Alas, we were on a string of sleds (or whatever) with some young, screaming girls! I knew from the moment the ride started that I was going to have to figure out something. And figure something I did!

I had Eamon practice making crazy silly noises! If those young women could scream, we could certainly say "yip yip yip" really really LOUD, right? Oh gosh it worked, it worked! I would say in his ear "OK now let's growl" and we'd growl. "Now let's say 'yip yip yip'" and we'd do that. At one point, we were about to do one of the swinging turns and I coincidentally say "OK let's practice ROARING at the yeti", and as we started roaring, boom, there was Harold! I couldn't have tried for better timing on that.

So this time, at the end, we were both laughing, and one of the girls in the screaming group hadn't enjoyed it, and her friends were pointing out the smiling 4 year old and teasing her for it.

We got out of the exit, asked how it was, and he said "I likeded it!!!"

Yay.


I think it was around this time that Toocherie called, and we got the message (since we never hear our phones at DLR) that she couldn't meet us. We were sad. We like Cheryl. Sniffle sniffle.


And so, we continued on, heading over to IASW. I have since found out that it is often/always open during MM, which I wish I had known! I could and would go on it time after time, and I would have been happy to do so while the boys rode their spinny rides. But I know for the next time, if we have access to MM.

There was almost no line for IASW. The ride was most excellent. It just sparkled with cleanliness! Some have reported that they see no difference, but I disagree heartily. It was getting dirty and dingy. In fact I think I mentioned the awful ceiling tiles back in my trip report from our first one-day trip. The tiles were so nasty that I totally got "out" of the mood of the ride. And I LOVE the ride, and LOVE the song! I do! Ask my stepmom (who hates the song and ride but went with us to Disneyland when I was a kid)! But it was so dirty and gross that I had to really force myself to get back into the spirit of the ride.

But dirty no more, it is fresh and clean and sparkly (and not just the sparkles on some of the things in the ride) and wonderful! If it took that long to get it that clean, I'm fine with it.

At some point during our IASW experience, I noted the time. The time was 8:37.

PP, Dumbox2, Carrousel at least once, Mad Tea Partyx2, hat shopping, Alicex2, and Matterhorn, all before 8:37am.

Nice.

 

[bumbershoot]

So there we were, done with what we wanted to do in Fantasyland, right near ToonTown, but TT wasn't quite open yet. So we wandered around in the toy shop near IASW. Eamon showed his great memory by playing with those little robot remote control (OK they have a wire) dog things, which he did about a year ago at the store near Autopia. He was actually pretty good about listening to us, which we were happy about.

Got him a pressed quarter with Cinderella, I believe, on it (his choice). We'd been getting pressed coins all along, for fun and in an attempt to rein in the souvenir shopping. Sigh.

He found this cute light spinner that I later saw was in all sorts of princess designs (even Minnie).

Her skirt was just floppy and normal until you pressed the button. With the button, her skirt spun around and lit up tremendously! I had to figure it out, and I did. Some little LED lights in the seam of her skirt, and when the skirt spun so fast it played a zoeotrope-like trick on the eyes and made it seem like there were tons of lights in there. It was really cool. If he didn't have two spinners already, I would have considered buying it for him, because, frankly, I like it that he's still good with princess things, and also it was cool.


Finally ToonTown was open! We of course grabbed Roger Rabbit FPs, even though we've never seen it with a long line there. We wanted the option of the FP, in case we could convince Eamon that the ride isn't demonic, LOL. But he hates the sounds in there and he doesn't like it when RR gets electrocuted (something I do not remember, but he does, from our September '07 trip).


Our time in TT was really disjointed. E refuses Gadget's and RR. Turns out that Mickey was "stuck on Main Street" so was NOT in his house, not for another hour. Minnie was outside, though.

She didn't pose for a picture with him, though, she moved on to a group of girls. Kinda weird, but he does have a thing where he steps back as the character signs, and then he hands the book over to me, and she might have thought he was done with her. E and I will have to work on that, I think!


We went through Minnie's house, and we were the ONLY people in there. So we were really able to be as slow as we wanted, but of course this time Eamon didn't want to go slow in her house!

This is a painting on her wall; what is it?

The dishwasher, when you turn it on and it starts and lights up. So cute!

No pictures of the oven this time; it's even dustier inside than it was in May, and I hope it doesn't take them years to clean it.


Hey look, he posed properly with Pluto!

I think that makes at least 5 Pluto signatures he's collected...he looooooves Pluto.

He played in the "gag" area, pushing buttons, pulling up lids, and so on. He always enjoys that. He could NOT be convinced to go on RR, so I finally urged hubby to go on his own. While he did, E and I sat at the fountain and were giggly.

Well, according to my photo timestamps, it was around 9:30. Time to head on over for b'fast, which Robert had dictated (ha) would be at WhiteWater Snacks.

Instead of walking all that way, we decided to take the train from the ToonTown/PFF station. Well our stroller was still out near IASW, so I went out to get it while the guys were supposed to go wait at the station for me.

The guys ended up going into the craft/coloring area of PFF instead of waiting for me, which meant we got to wait for the *next* train, but, sigh, that was only another 20 minutes. With nowhere to sit.

While they did that, I snagged the stroller by cutting through the very long IASW line. Wowie wow! I've seen it longer than that, but not so early in the day!

Way back towards the end of the line.

Here you can see that the line isn't winding around that strange pavilion area so that's nice, but it was still long enough.

Anyway, we caught the train, took it to the Main Street station. By this time, Robert's feet, legs, hips, and back were hurting, so we were going slow. Then we ran into one of our remaining blips in communication, because Robert mysteriously wanted to go through the Sephora/DTD GCH entrance, and I decided to go along with it.

Turns out he didn't realize that WWS was soooo close to the GCH/DCA walkway, and I was afraid of sounding naggy, so I didn't remind him. Therefore we walked a weensy bit further, and weren't able to get a Soarin' FP. Oh well!

By the time we got over there, I was super-hungry so our mini-plan of me running over to PPH to get Robert's athletic shoes had to wait until after I ate, too. We got into WWS we saw the sign that said b'fast was only being served for another 15 minutes. Since you actually order at the cashier, we had to get in line quickly.

Hubby did that, even though his blood sugar was doing nutty things (he doesn't check more than twice a day now, but when he was checking all the time he found that there was no noticeable difference, even while his mood was swinging around) and he was CRANKY. A customer two groups in front of him was using a few gift cards and they weren't working, and the cashier was having to type the numbers in. Robert was getting really mouthy and loud about it, and I was having to wrangle a hungry Eamon AND try to calm down a wonky husband. NOT FUN.

Turns out he was hungry earlier when I thought he was hungry and I offered him a Mojo bar, but he refused it (saying he wasn't hungry which confused me) because...he had been looking forward to WWS for ages and didn't want to fill his tummy with mojo bar. Sigh.


So anyway, I got him to shush about the giftcard guy, the family in front of him was quick, and he got our food ordered. Whew.

The person whose idea it was to put videogames *right at the door* should be thrown in the pool on a freezing cold day. Videogames should be put well away from a door so that nervous parents with enormous imaginations don't have to make sure they have sightlines to the videogames when their 4 year olds want to go check 'em out.

At last our two breakfast burritos (without meat), two coffees, and french toast sticks were done. Alas, my burrito tasted funky. I tried hubby's and it tasted the same. Dangit! I only ate half of mine. I have issues with the smell of eggs at the best of times, and smell issues with cooking oils, and those two things collided by getting one of the last breakfasts they served, and it was a really miserable burrito. Hubby LOVED his though, and the part of mine I couldn't eat (he was hungry).

They gave E many many french toast sticks, and I ate a couple of those, and they were scrumptious. Obviously we don't eat their maple-flavored syrup, but just alone they were very good. Yay.

Well obviously I was done with my food and they weren't, so I got a list of things they needed, and I took back several toys that E felt it necessary to bring that morning.

So I made my way over to PPH to get Robert's shoes. Dropped off various things like R and E's ponchos (they stated strongly that they would NEVER want them, they LIKE getting wet!) and E's toys, got R's shoes. I changed shoes, puttered around, looked at the pretty suite.

I've mentioned that I was taking the fast, glass, elevator. I didn't like it at all on our first trip, but the quick trip was better, so I just stood with my back to the glass, trying to not look in any reflections. Worked well for me. Well enough that I was able to look outside a bit.

First, a picture of part of the proper wall in the elevator.

Turning around...

I went back to join them and E had finally finished his food. My cutie leprechaun, er, Peter Pan...

Next??? Best ride ever! Well, OK, there are a few Best Rides Ever at DCA. But one of them.

 

[Sherry E]

1. Is that picture with the half man-half horse and the grapes possibly from Fantasia? I am not sure, but it seems like I have seen it before somewhere (other than in Minnie's house).

2. I have never taken the PPH glass elevator. Is it right near the regular elevators, or where does one find it?

3, That bear statue that Eamon is posing with in the GCH used to be located in the DLH before they did their big remodel in the '90s, and it was sitting outside of Sgt. Preston's Yukon Saloon, which later became the Neon Cactus.

4. I miss Dumbo. I have not been on that ride in years and years. I can't even recall the last time. I would like to squeeze it in again this trip. That is definitely a kid ride with enough fun for adults! Because of the reports of the crowd levels, I think this is DEFINITELY a time to utilize the MM. I usually have to eat some protein before I ride anything, but as long as we head straight to Fantasyland at 7:00 a.m. and I eat immediately after FL, then I should be okay without my blood sugar going haywire. I think it would be very worth it since IASW is open during the MM hour, and we could hit that, Dumbo, Alice, the Teacups and the Storybook Land boats before the lines get too hideous. I would like to ride Peter Pan too, since I also have not ridden that in centuries, but I don't think my friend likes it and she wouldn't be willing to go on it if there were ANY kind of line at all, so we will have to play that one by ear!

 

[kaoden39]

The picture is Fantasia. That was my oldest daughters favorite movie for years. I stayed at the PPH years ago when it was the Emerald Hotel and was across a street from Disneyland. I loved that elevator. I remember that bear from Sgt Prestons I loved that place. I was there not long after turning 21 it was loads of fun. I am with R on the Diabetes and it is amazing how much diet and exercise can help with the blood sugar. Yay for being able to get it under control.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Congrats to your hubby! It's amazing what diet and excercise can do for blood sugar especially without him starting with any medication!

I love love love Eamon's Peter Pan hat. I was always thinking of getting one and your son totally made my mind up for me to get one.

I look at Eamon and wow I wish I was blessed with light hair and eyes like him. My parents are like you and your husband, my Dad is very fair skin, blonde hair (it's turning brown as he's getting older though) and light green/sometimes blue eyes and my Mom is dark with dark hair and dark eyes. And what do I get? Light skin (lighter than my Dad!), dark eyes and dark hair. Boo. I always wanted red hair. My Grandma has red hair. What about me?

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Just agreeing with the others as I believe the pic in Minnie's house is from the Pastrorale sequence in Fantasia.

It's funny how one person's perception varies from another. As a Disneyana collector, with a collection focused on Sleeping Beauty, I have a fair number of Aurora related items, but have never remotely considered getting that spinner since the likeness doesn't meet my demanding standards. Not that it isn't "cute" however one defines that, but I tend to be pretty picky. Of course if I had a little girl who wanted it, that would be a very different story.

 

[bumbershoot]

2. I have never taken the PPH glass elevator. Is it right near the regular elevators, or where does one find it?

If you have left the front desk, turned around, and are heading towards the main bank of elevators, stop. Look to your right. It stands alone, you think it's a special elevator like in a hotel with a proper concierge section with special elevators that require a coded keycard. There's rarely anyone waiting there because it doesn't seem "right", just like how people go to gates with people lined up instead of breaking free and standing at an empty, but marked open, gate. On our first trip I actually took the normal elevators while hubby and son took the glass one, because I couldn't handle it, but it's amazing what just turning my back to the view did for me!

3, That bear statue that Eamon is posing with in the GCH used to be located in the DLH before they did their big remodel in the '90s, and it was sitting outside of Sgt. Preston's Yukon Saloon, which later became the Neon Cactus.


Fun!


4. I miss Dumbo. I have not been on that ride in years and years. I can't even recall the last time. I would like to squeeze it in again this trip. That is definitely a kid ride with enough fun for adults! Because of the reports of the crowd levels, I think this is DEFINITELY a time to utilize the MM. I usually have to eat some protein before I ride anything, but as long as we head straight to Fantasyland at 7:00 a.m. and I eat immediately after FL, then I should be okay without my blood sugar going haywire. I think it would be very worth it since IASW is open during the MM hour, and we could hit that, Dumbo, Alice, the Teacups and the Storybook Land boats before the lines get too hideous. I would like to ride Peter Pan too, since I also have not ridden that in centuries, but I don't think my friend likes it and she wouldn't be willing to go on it if there were ANY kind of line at all, so we will have to play that one by ear!

Definitely go on Dumbo, you won't be the only adults on it, not at all.

For Peter Pan, if you can get there bright and early there wont' be much wait. The biggest, or rather smallest literally, problem with PP is the aisleways of the line. They are NARROW. And then there's the turn when you go through the turnstyle, and it's a beast, it's so small. 50+ pounds ago, it would hurt Robert's feelings so much, how he had to squeeze through it. If I have a purse that's near my waist I have to go up on tiptoes and go through, but before I *had to* go through sideways. I would hate for PP to be down for any period of time, but I HATE how narrow that queue is!!!!

But it's a terrific ride. Send your friend to the Carrousel while you do PP nice and quick. Or if she doesn't want to walk briskly, put her in line at Blue Ribbon to get coffees and breakfast, while you run off to ride PP and Dumbo!

The picture is Fantasia. That was my oldest daughters favorite movie for years. I stayed at the PPH years ago when it was the Emerald Hotel and was across a street from Disneyland. I loved that elevator. I remember that bear from Sgt Prestons I loved that place. I was there not long after turning 21 it was loads of fun. I am with R on the Diabetes and it is amazing how much diet and exercise can help with the blood sugar. Yay for being able to get it under control.

Good to know it's Fantasia!

I was just reading an MSN article about a JAMA article about what seemed to be a surprise to them, that a low-glycemic diet can, gasp, help with diabetes! Since Robert was counseled on eating a low-glycemic diet back in September, from all but the doofus family doc, I'm not sure this is actually a surprise. So I don't know why JAMA is still doing studies on it! In addition, when I was pregnant my otherwise-really-dumb midwives gave me info about low-glycemic eating, so again, don't understand why it's a surprise!

And it's done amazing things for Robert, most definitely. I think even he's been surprised at the results he has had.

Then again, from what we've learned, there are way more types of diabetes than just 1 and 2. It's just that unless you get a doc who really wants to learn about it and do tests and everything, you're not going to know it.

Robert's mom is type ONE, but she absolutely refuses to take insulin, and has it under some sort of control with an almost Atkins diet, metformin, and something else (that I think is just a heart medication but she really doesn't understand complicated English and just lumps it in with her diabetes stuff). We *thought* she was type two, because she doesn't take insulin, and were surprised to find out she's 1 (by the way, talking about this on the community board got me SLAMMED, lol), but she is what she is, she does what she does, and while she's nowhere near the numbers that Robert has achieved, it's better than it was when she was diagnosed.




Thanks for continuing to read! I have to make gingerbread cookies with Eamon shortly. Sounds funny to make them after talking about diabetes, but it was actually Robert's experience with the pumpkin muffins from the disneyland AP site recipe that caused him to think "woah, there's something very interesting happening here". It's because he had one right before bed, and he wakes up VERY early so there's not much "fasting" time overnight for him. And his blood sugar that morning was lower than it had been, at that time, since his diagnosis.

He looked at the recipe and realized that it was the cinnamon. He saw an ND a few years ago, and was tested, and wasn't even pre-diabetic in numbers at that time. But because of his weight, the ND wanted him to take tons of supplements, and at the time hubby didn't think the ND was taking him seriously, but we still have the bottles and about half of them are blood sugar controlling supplements.

So he takes a cinnamon supplement and I try to find things that have that spice in them, because it has a proven blood sugar lowering effect. And the gingerbread cookies certainly do have cinnamon!

 

[bumbershoot]

I love love love Eamon's Peter Pan hat. I was always thinking of getting one and your son totally made my mind up for me to get one.

I look at Eamon and wow I wish I was blessed with light hair and eyes like him. My parents are like you and your husband, my Dad is very fair skin, blonde hair (it's turning brown as he's getting older though) and light green/sometimes blue eyes and my Mom is dark with dark hair and dark eyes. And what do I get? Light skin (lighter than my Dad!), dark eyes and dark hair. Boo. I always wanted red hair. My Grandma has red hair. What about me?

Oh woman. You're like Snow White! Or Pocahontas as we've discussed before. You have great coloring.

When I lived in CA I had "dirty blond" hair, and it's curly, and even though I HATED it, others wanted it. Meanwhile, I lived for years wishing I had been born Japanese, because of the sleek black hair and the gorgeous dark eyes.

We all seem to want what we aren't, and I think I've finally reached a place where I believe those who say my hair is great (it's now blondey browny reddish and way curlier than when I was in dry CA) and while I wish my skin were either lighter or darker (I'm not "white", I'm "pink", I say) others seem to like it. In fact, just like I've always admired the Asian look, hubby always admired my look, and my whiteness, much to his mother's chagrin, is what got him to notice me (that and my very dramatic looooong hair at the time, which he saw first in the sunlight). So if I were different, I wouldn't have Robert, and I wouldn't have Eamon!

By the way, having a kid that looks different from what you expected is very shocking! Hubby's sister looks exactly like him, and the father of her girls is a western European mutt like me, and their kids look MORE Korean than their mom does. We had an expectation based on them. So when we saw E with his, no lie, Ronald McDonald hair and blue eyes (Asian babies don't have the blue eyes at birth), well, I would have fallen over if I hadn't been lying down already. Shocking!

It's funny how one person's perception varies from another. As a Disneyana collector, with a collection focused on Sleeping Beauty, I have a fair number of Aurora related items, but have never remotely considered getting that spinner since the likeness doesn't meet my demanding standards. Not that it isn't "cute" however one defines that, but I tend to be pretty picky. Of course if I had a little girl who wanted it, that would be a very different story.

Well it was more the way it was done that impressed me. It could have been any skirt, or it could have been a prince with a spinning cloak, and I would have thought it was cool.

Eamon noticed your avatar the other day and said "why does she have a lightsaver?" (he says b as v) He was very confused.

 

[Daisybelle]

Excellent report as always! Your son looks like the perfect Peter Pan!

I give a big thumbs up to the cinnamon too. My doctor recommended I start taking cinnamon tablets to combat a pre-diabetic state. I had never heard of it but it does help!

 

[bumbershoot]

Excellent report as always! Your son looks like the perfect Peter Pan!

I give a big thumbs up to the cinnamon too. My doctor recommended I start taking cinnamon tablets to combat a pre-diabetic state. I had never heard of it but it does help!

I wished we had that hat the day before! But of course we didn't know we were going to run into PP just walking along.

Yay for cinnamon! Food can be such incredible "medicine".



Sherry! You had mentioned blood sugar stuff, and even though Robert refused to eat the MoJo bar on Sunday b/c he wanted to save his appetite for WWS, when he DID eat them, he did really well. I can't remember the carbs, but the important part is the 8 or 9 grams of protein. It really helps hubby's levels stay level (and probably mine and DS's, but we aren't poking our fingers to find out) and keeps his mood and body-feelings on an even keel.

They are from Clif Bars, and I've seen them from anywhere between 1.79 per bar down to around 1.00 (buying a box on drugstore.com or through REI.com for store pickup have been the cheapest I've seen). We like the Mountain Mix flavor.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Eamon noticed your avatar the other day and said "why does she have a lightsaver?" (he says b as v) He was very confused.

That sounds about like my sister who wondered why in the world I gave Sleeping Beauty a lightsaber. Of course, my sister is 25, so she's older than Eamon, but I confused her too.

I think the best reason as to why I gave Aurora a lightsaber is because in order to find a Jedi Princess, my princess would need to be a Jedi, so she would need to have a lightsaber. Or you could simply say that I'm delusisional. That's pretty accurate too.

 

[kaoden39]

Dill pickles will also drop your blood sugar. I have eaten a dill pickle late at night thinking oh good low cal snack and had my blood sugar drop like a rock.

 

[Sherry E]

I wished we had that hat the day before! But of course we didn't know we were going to run into PP just walking along.

Yay for cinnamon! Food can be such incredible "medicine".



Sherry! You had mentioned blood sugar stuff, and even though Robert refused to eat the MoJo bar on Sunday b/c he wanted to save his appetite for WWS, when he DID eat them, he did really well. I can't remember the carbs, but the important part is the 8 or 9 grams of protein. It really helps hubby's levels stay level (and probably mine and DS's, but we aren't poking our fingers to find out) and keeps his mood and body-feelings on an even keel.

They are from Clif Bars, and I've seen them from anywhere between 1.79 per bar down to around 1.00 (buying a box on drugstore.com or through REI.com for store pickup have been the cheapest I've seen). We like the Mountain Mix flavor.

Yes! I have eaten Mojo bars before - actually have eaten all the Clif products. I just got some Mojo's recently. They are delicious. Clif makes some pretty good, tasty stuff. (And I am a cinnamon lover too, so yay for cinnamon!) I found that the energy bar that seems to work best in terms of packing a mighty punch of protein is Promax (I like their Cookies and Cream bar). It has a lot of protein in it - the only trouble is, because it tastes so great and non-protein bar-like (you know how some of them taste like lead or mud?), it has too much sugar in it! Drat! But that is the tastiest of the protein bars I have had so far, and it has something like 20 grams of protein.

My blood sugar is dandy as long as I keep the protein coming - like the lean stuff such as skinless chicken breasts and turkey breasts (with mustard only, no mayo) and that kind of thing - and as long as I don't drink too much coffee before I eat my protein. See, last time I was at Carnation Cafe for breakfast, I was tempted to order the delicious-looking cinnamon roll French toast, but that would have sent my blood sugar in all kinds of crazy directions because of the bad carbs, so I had to stick with eggs and the two sausage links on the plate. And when I am at Goofy's, I load up on the eggs and good carbs like fruit and bananas. At Storytellers, I was tempted to order the banana French toast, but again, too many bad carbs, not enough protein! I could not go and eat the gingerbread man with ears cookie or messy cinnamon roll from Blue Ribbon without having had something with protein in me first.