Spinal Dalmatians, Eliminations, and The Merry Go Round of Life...June 2011 New 2/19

[Sooze]

I am so glad to see that someone else is working on a trip report from June!! I updated mine last night for the first time in over a month! Sometimes it's so hard to sit down and focus on a TR, isn't it. Not that we don't want to do it, it just comes after the million other things we have to get done in a day!

Anyway, I remember that rain VERY well!!! It looks like you all managed to stay in good spirits, despite the nasty weather!

Keep on updating when you can! I'm still here!!

 

[shocky5]

I'm still here! I can't get over all of the rain you've had! We've been in June twice and just had the typical fast rain shower mid-afternoon... and maybe some night sprinkles. But I agree with prior poster - you have a good humor about it all!

 

[PirateKate]

That rain looks crazy! I hate it when it rains like that at Disney. I'm glad you all found an empty gift shop to wait it out at. That's the good thing about Florida rain- unless it's something tropical, it'll usually pass over pretty quickly.

 

[teachermommy78]

Hi everyone! I haven't updated for awhile because my 4 year old has been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. We found out that something was wrong in early November at his well child check up. His blood pressure was very high. Long story short, he is having heart surgery on January 17th to repair a coarctation of the aorta. Basically his aorta has a section that goes in like a bottle top. The surgeon is going to go in through his rib cage, separate his ribs, deflate his lung, and remove the section and reattach. He will be in the hospital for at least 5 days. He is on blood pressure medication 3 times a day. At his last blood pressure check, his blood pressure was 184/92! Normal for a 4 year old is 90/60. I appreciate any prayers or good thoughts you can send! I have set up a caringbridge website so I can keep all my updates in one place, of you'd like to check it out! It is http://www.caringbridge.com/visit/griffin. While in the hospital, I hope to do a bunch of work on my TR!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Oh no, so sorry to hear about this. Will keep you in our thoughts and prayers. I will check out your site.

 

[hannahsmom7]

Hi everyone! I haven't updated for awhile because my 4 year old has been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. We found out that something was wrong in early November at his well child check up. His blood pressure was very high. Long story short, he is having heart surgery on January 17th to repair a coarctation of the aorta. Basically his aorta has a section that goes in like a bottle top. The surgeon is going to go in through his rib cage, separate his ribs, deflate his lung, and remove the section and reattach. He will be in the hospital for at least 5 days. He is on blood pressure medication 3 times a day. At his last blood pressure check, his blood pressure was 184/92! Normal for a 4 year old is 90/60. I appreciate any prayers or good thoughts you can send! I have set up a caringbridge website so I can keep all my updates in one place, of you'd like to check it out! It is http://www.caringbridge.com/visit/griffin. While in the hospital, I hope to do a bunch of work on my TR!

Awww, poor little guy! And poor Mommy too, I'm sure you must be stressing about it. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I just read your whole trip report . I'm glad you bumped it up, I definitely enjoyed reading about your experience bringing your three little ones and look forward to the rest .

 

[ZFamily5]

Poor Finn! Thinking of you guys and hoping everything goes well!

 

[IluvXU]

I am so sorry to hear of all that you are going through with your son. Sounds so scary... praying all goes smoothly for your son and prayers for your family during this unsettling time.

 

[Kat in GA]

How scary!! But it sounds like you found a good doctor and that you have a correctable problem. Will be thinking of you and sending prayers your way!

 

[reelmom]

I will be praying for Finn and your family. I will also be following your CaringBridge site.

 

[crazycatlady]

I just got done catching up on your trip report and I am really enjoying it!

My DS16 was a worrier growing up. As a toddler, he would be devastated when we had to leave the shopping cart behind when we left a store. He asked the same sorts of questions that your little guy asks and wanted to be reassured by us. He would ask me if I was "ok" about 10 times a day for years. He outgrew it and is way more laid back now.

Poor little Finn! I will definitely keep your family in my prayers!

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

I just found your trip report from another trip report and just spent my evening reading along about your family's adventure this summer! Such a great family you have! I am so sorry to hear about Finn. I will say prayers for him and your family.

 

[wishin' on a star]

I just read your post on Judy's (blessedmom4) TR and wanted to stop in and let you know that I'm praying for Finn. My DD Catherine had a coarc repair when she was 10 days old. She has a laundry list of other medical issues along with this. I'm sure Finn will come through with flying colors, but I know how hard it is to send your baby into surgery. I am on my way to your CB page next!

 

[teachermommy78]

Oh no, so sorry to hear about this. Will keep you in our thoughts and prayers. I will check out your site.

Thanks so much!!!

Awww, poor little guy! And poor Mommy too, I'm sure you must be stressing about it. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. I just read your whole trip report . I'm glad you bumped it up, I definitely enjoyed reading about your experience bringing your three little ones and look forward to the rest .

Thanks so much! The TR will be finished! If I can remember that long ago!

Poor Finn! Thinking of you guys and hoping everything goes well!

Thanks sweetie! I will be catching up on your TR soon!

I am so sorry to hear of all that you are going through with your son. Sounds so scary... praying all goes smoothly for your son and prayers for your family during this unsettling time.

Thank you so much!!!

How scary!! But it sounds like you found a good doctor and that you have a correctable problem. Will be thinking of you and sending prayers your way!

We have the best doctors! I'm sure everything will go great.

I will be praying for Finn and your family. I will also be following your CaringBridge site.

Thank you! Finn appreciates it!

I just got done catching up on your trip report and I am really enjoying it!

My DS16 was a worrier growing up. As a toddler, he would be devastated when we had to leave the shopping cart behind when we left a store. He asked the same sorts of questions that your little guy asks and wanted to be reassured by us. He would ask me if I was "ok" about 10 times a day for years. He outgrew it and is way more laid back now.

Poor little Finn! I will definitely keep your family in my prayers!

Thank you for reading! I promise to update again soon. Ethan is much better even now. Hopefully it was just a phase.

I just found your trip report from another trip report and just spent my evening reading along about your family's adventure this summer! Such a great family you have! I am so sorry to hear about Finn. I will say prayers for him and your family.

Thanks so much for reading!!! I need to get moving on the rest. And I think they are pretty great myself. We are a happy little group.

I just read your post on Judy's (blessedmom4) TR and wanted to stop in and let you know that I'm praying for Finn. My DD Catherine had a coarc repair when she was 10 days old. She has a laundry list of other medical issues along with this. I'm sure Finn will come through with flying colors, but I know how hard it is to send your baby into surgery. I am on my way to your CB page next!

Thanks so much!!! I'm sure Finn will do great. We are at a top notch children's hospital with the head of cardiology. I thank you so much for your prayers!!!

 

[ARmom30]

Good luck to both of you Tuesday! I'll be praying for everyone involved.

 

[reelmom]

I will be praying for Finn , your family, and the doctors.

 

[teachermommy78]

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Finn! The day of the surgery, we got shocking news. His surgery was going to be open heart instead of through the rib cage as originally planned. He ended up having constriction throughout his aorta and the doctor would not be able to access all the spots that he needed to repair. I won't bore you with the details. If you are interested in reading about those details, you can visit his caringbridge page. www.caringbridge.org/visit/griffin. Click on journal. I updated throughout the entire ordeal. Long story short, he did AMAZING and is healing well. It will be about 6 months until he is fully healed, but he is already back to school and playing with his brother and sister and friends. I am going to go reread where I left off on my TR and do an update! Thanks for sticking with me!

 

[teachermommy78]

Where I left off, Sophie was about to make a purchase at EPCOT. We were all seriously drenched and the rain was letting up a bit. We decided to book it to Japan where we'd be able to roam a bit. Can I just say that I hate being hot, wet, and under a plastic poncho? Oh, I was so aggravated. Add that to the fact that one of the strollers kept behaving badly and wouldn't turn well. The one I was pushing, of course. I think that Scott went to do something at this point. He definitely wasn't with us. Sophie decided that she REALLY wanted to pick a pearl. She had a bit of money left. Enough for the pearl. My mother in law agreed to pay for the rest so that she could also get a setting. She chose a little golden slipper and a chain.

The pictures are so foggy because my camera had gotten a bit wet and condensation formed in the lens. OOPS.

Scott joined back up with us and we all decided to go to Maelstrom again. When you get Scandinavians together, it is just normal to be drawn to Scandinavian stuff. We love Maelstrom!

We decided that it would be fun to try another Kimpossible Mission with the cousins since the last one failed so grandly, so we got a Kimunicator and headed to Mexico.

This one was much more fun. We really liked it!

We happened to look over and saw Mexican Donald! Yahoo! Scott's aunt was in line with a few of the kids and the rest of us were kind of off to the side. So I dragged everyone else with me for the picture. We went in front of another family to meet up with the rest of our group. That family didn't care, but I heard parts of MY family grumbling about that. I couldn't understand their logic. We only took 2 pictures. We all wanted to be together. It's not like us waiting behind that family a second time would have made sense. We didn't take extra pictures since there were more of us, it would have been the same either way. Oh well. I let it go.

It was close to dinner and I really wasn't feeling well. My stomach was acting funny. Everyone wanted Chinese food, which I was really ok with since I don't really like Chinese food.

I THINK after this, we all separated, and I am pretty sure that Sophie and Ethan did the China Kimpossible. It may have been another day that they did that, though. It was OK. Definitely not as fun as the others (well, except France since we didn't finish it!).

On our way out I captured this gorgeous sight.

We decided to call an earlier night. I wasn't feeling well still and Sophie and I had an early morning breakfast date! Girls ONLY!

 

[teachermommy78]

The next morning, Sophie and I awoke bright and early. I was thankfully feeling much better. We were headed over to the Kona Cafe for breakfast! That stuffed French Toast was too much for me to resist. I had been looking forward to the mommy/daughter breakfast for the entire trip. I think I will do this on each trip, though we will have the kids take turns.

You can see Sophie's new necklace in this picture!

Sadly, I didn't get ANY pictures of my food! But it was SOOOOOO good. And the strawberry sauce was worth doing the sit down instead of the counter service. YUMMY! I will be getting it next trip for sure!

After the breakfast, we took the bus over to Animal Kingdom where we'd be meeting up with the rest of the crew. We got there right at rope drop. The rest of the maily was still at the hotel. You know where we were headed straight to, right? EVEREST! Here are some pics on the way!

We walked right on! Then we went straight to the end of the line and had a 10 minute wait. By the time we got off, the rest of the group was there, and we went on again. 20 minute wait. It was SOOOO FUN!!!!!!!

We decided to head over to Camp Minnie and Mickey for some character fun!

We were then met by a singing cast member who made up songs on the spot. Our cousin got picked!

I am, for some reason, missing a bunch of pictures. I'm at school on my break right now uploaded from a memory stick, so I think I forgot to transfer some pictures over. I will have to add pictures here later.

Everyone then went off to see "Bugs Life." If you read my PTR, you know why I chose to stay behind with Finn. No way I am subjecting another preschooler to that! I was nervous about Ethan going, but he ended up doing fine and thought it was a funny show.

We headed off to see the Lion King Show. Ethan was sitting right on the end and actually got picked for two different things by two different cast members, but refused to go. BOOOO! He was just too scared. It was a cute show. Not sure if we'd go again on the next trip, but I would enjoy seeing in again.

We putzed around animal kingdom some more. Got into standby for a 20 minute dinosaur wait only to have 500 brazillian teens get into the fast pass line. So, we left. We had an early dinner to get to, so we said goodbye to the cousins and headed out.

 

[teachermommy78]

We were off to The Whispering Canyon Cafe! This night was just full of memories. We love this place!

Everyone ordered shakes except for me. I knew about the huge mason jar they may bring if I was quick to order a refil of diet coke. I was hoping my father in law would order soda, and planned on trying to get him the jar, but he wanted a shake. So I sucked down that coke and ordered another. Sure enough, the waiter, Bob (SOOOOOO AWESOME) sighs, gives me a hard time, and returns with this.

It was SO worth it to see my family's reaction!

Sophie knew the ketchup shenanigans, so of course had to ask for ketchup!

She happily brought the ketchup to another table.

Scott took advantage of the free shake refills and seriously had at least 4.

We loved Bob so much!

Horsie races!

A vinymation trade sophie made.

At one point Bob came out and said he was REALLY thirsty. He grabbed a bottle of ketchup and drank the whole thing! The kids' eyes BUGGED out of their head. Then Sophie burst out laughing. It was tomato juice. The kids still talk about that so fondly. We couldn't eat even a quarter of the food at the table and all took our desserts to go. We will DEFINITELY be back.

Up Next is...A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR MEEEEE! The kids are transformed. ARGHHH!