Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is such a cool place. It's so cool to walk through the different areas, and to feel totally transported to another place. We started by heading over to "Asia." Our first ride was Everest Expedition. G, Ralph, and I all went on it, and it was INTENSE! I really thought I was going to pee my pants for a few seconds. The ride starts out tame enough... a nice slow roller coaster. And then you get to the top, and the tracks are "broken." The roller coaster goes backwards, really fast, in pitch darkness. I didn't know if I was right side up or upside down. Of course, they took a photo during this part, and I look like such a goof... and Ralph and G have the same very still expression on their faces. G was a little scared by the Yeti, but he sure had fun. Next we went on Kali River Rapids. L and Ralph got completely soaked... and Ralph wore my shirt until his dried (I had a tank top on underneath). We explored some wildlife exhibits, then had lunch in a very cool themed restaurant. G ordered a huge dish of noodles and shrimp, and ate most of it! After lunch we headed over to the Africa area. The highlight of this area was definitely the Safari. We saw a bunch of elephants, and a big rhino even ran at our truck. G had to make sure to tell a cast member about the poachers that we heard during the Safari. He took his job of watching out for poachers very seriously! We tried going to the Bugs Life attraction, but it was too intense, and the kids were not interested. So, we went to DinoLand and spent awhile in a huge, fun play structure (thank goodness there was only one exit, because there was no way to keep an eye on everyone in there!). It was a gorgeous, hot and sunny day, and it was definitely time for a cold drink after this playtime!

After a long day at the Magic Kingdom the day before, and a full day at Animal Kingdom, we decided to head home so that G and Grandpa could go for a game of mini-golf and so that everyone could swim. Ralph and I went back for a date at Epcot during the evening. It was nice for the kids to get some time alone with Grandma and Grandpa, and nice for us to have a date night. We went to the World Showcase and walked through all of the areas. We had a great Tepanyaki supper in the Japan area, stayed for the fireworks, and went home.

More favourites

The Magic Kingdom was our first stop at Disney World, and I think it was everyone's favourite. Aside from the Princess show at the castle, a highlight for L was having her face painted like Sleeping Beauty in Toon Town. She definitely could not be convinced to wash her face before bed! Both she and M loved the Dumbo ride, the Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh rides, and everyone loved exploring the Winnie the Pooh play area, Mickey and Minnie's houses, and meeting Mickie and Minnie.

G's favourites included Pirates of the Carribean, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Blast (which we went on multiple times). I anticipated that he'd like the roller coasters. He's always been a bit of a thrill-seeker, and the jarring impact and intense motion of the roller coasters really regulated him well! It was so fun to get off of intense rides (hearing his little squeeky screams), and to have interesting, fluid conversations with him, to have him easily referencing us, and keeping pace with our walking.

We had lunch at the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle House, which was G's pick. It is also so amazing to see him being so adventurous with food! He's developed a real taste for asian food, which I'm grateful for (given his new diet of mainly stir-fry, noodles, and rice).

Grandpa was happy to take the kids on "It's a Small World" (his favourite), and he and G decided to tell us that it's been renovated since the last time we were on it. I think they were playing a joke. It was so nice to have Grandpa and Grandma with us, so that we could all take turns riding with G on the more intense rides. The kids also went on the Tomorrowland Speedway with Grandma and Grandpa, and we all rode the train together around Disney World.

Despite having a very long day, we didn't get too far into AdventureLand or FrontierLand. We ate supper in FrontierLand, and then waited for the evening parade to start. It was worth the wait! We decided to stay for the fireworks, even though M had fallen asleep in her stroller. They were truly magical.

One of the most magical things about Disney World for me was how inclusive it is! When we arrived, we went to Guest Services and told them about G's disability. We had documentation along, but there really weren't even any questions. We received a special pass which allowed us to use the wheelchair entrance on the rides, which meant that we didn't need to wait in crowded line-ups, and the cast members knew exactly how to treat him. It was so nice to be in a place where everyone knew just what to do, and the few minor incidents that occured with G (getting stuck standing on the street while they were trying to clear it for the parade, getting anxious about restaurant menus that didn't have something he wanted) were not a big deal at all with so many understanding cast members.

They're REAL!!!

There is something that is so magical about entering DisneyWorld and seeing the castle. For L... it was a dream come true. The real magic happened as we walked up to the castle just as the Princess show was about to begin. The show began with Mickey and Minnie, and when the princesses came on stage, L's mouth hung open for about 1o minutes straight. What a perfect introduction to Disney World for this little princess... she got to see that the princesses are REAL! She was in heaven and totally engrossed in the show. When Malificent came out, and Mickey and Minnie told everyone to shout "Dreams come true" to make her go away, both G and L shouted like crazy! This experience certainly was a highlight for this little girl, and so magical for me to experience it through her eyes.

A day of relaxing

After a long day of travelling, we decided to begin our holiday with a day of relaxation! We spent the morning swimming in our pool. G was determined NOT to wear a lifejacket, and to swim in the deep water. By the end of our holiday, he was able to swim the width of the pool in 5 foot deep water! It wasn't the most technically correct swimming, but he didn't drown either :-) M loved to play on the steps going into the water, and would jump from one step to the next. Her legs were covered in little scrapes and scratches, but they were not deterrent. She kept saying "hot water" and "I'm swimming in the hot water" whenever she was in the pool. She also had a ton of fun playing with cups and spoons at the edge of the pool. L loved just swimming around in her lifejacket. She can paddle around pretty well already, and even jumped into the pool a few times. She also loved riding on her dad's back while he swam underwater.

In the afternoon, the boys went for 18 holes of golf. Once M woke up from a nap, the girls went to DisneyWorld to buy tickets, and then to a huge outlet mall. Our first stop was a Disney store where the girls chose their souvenirs. I picked up a few outfits for the kids, and a pair of shoes for myself at a great deal. We made it back to the house in time to barbeque steaks for supper. After supper, Grandpa took G mini-golfing (where he got a hole in one and a free round of golf... boy was he excited!) and we stayed at the house and went swimming with the girls before bed.

A slippery start

Our holiday began with a slippery start... two days of freezing rain meant that school was cancelled and we made a decision to go into the city the night before our flight. The roads were okay, but we were surprised to see miles of semi trucks held up on the highway on our way into the city. We're thinking that the road was closed because of an accident. It ended up being a good decision to go in for the night. Everyone had a good sleep, and we had time to eat a good breakfast before a long day of flying. We had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, which was not too long. We deplaned outside and needed to walk all the way across that enormous airport to get to our gate, so 3 hours meant just enough time to eat supper, get to our gate and pick up a few snacks for the flight to Orlando.

When we landed in Orlando, it was so nice to feel heat and humidity the second we stepped outside! Grandma and Grandpa showed up just as we were heading toward the baggage area. The kids were so excited to see them (and so were we)! We picked up our van, and then drove to the house we rented.

Renting a house for our stay was a very smart decision! We had a four bedroom house, with a pool, hot-tub, and games room for our stay. Grandma and Grandpa stayed with us, which was nice, and there was lots of space for everyone to unwind, and to sleep comfortably. Our pool was almost hot-tub warm, which made for awesome swimming during cooler evenings and early mornings!

A lot has changed around here

since the last time I posted!

We had a fantastic vacation with the kids and Grandma & Grandpa in Orlando! I'll post more about that later.

Just before we left, we started giving G a daily dose of melatonin about half an hour before bed. I'd read about it a number of times, and seen very promising research results about it, but the tipping point was when we received a medical recommendation to try it. Well... it's changed our lives. G is now sleeping within half an hour of going to bed! The first two nights he woke up at 3 a.m., because his body was used to so little sleep. Now, he's sleeping between 9 and 11 hours a night! We're enjoying struggle-free bedtimes, and some extra time in the evenings. Getting more sleep is doing wonders for G too.

Last week, I took G to a naturopath. I've suspected for a long time that he has always had some food sensitivities, and I've read a lot of anecdotes about a Gluten-free Casein-free diet making a huge difference for kids on the spectrum. In order to commit to such a drastic dietary change, we really wanted to have some medical testing done to verify that the foods are in fact causing problems and that the sacrifices involved in the diet will be worthwhile. The naturopath did some extensive bio-feedback testing, which was consistent with symptoms that we've observed. The result of the testing is that G has multiple food sensitivies that have damaged his large intestine, causing improper nutriet absorption (and some nasty stuff growing in there). Dairy and Gluten are the two big culprits, but the damage they're causing are making him sensitive to many other foods. So... he's now on a very strict elimination diet to allow his body to heal (no dairy, gluten, eggs, soy, citrus or tropical fruit, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, sugar, etc.). Hopefully, we'll be able to expand the foods that he is able to eat if we follow this diet carefully. He's also taking a natural immune system booster, and Grapefruit Seed extract to reduce the levels of yeast in his system. I think the testing was a good idea, although we could have done this by trial and error. G watched the results on the screen, and talked to the doctor about them, so he understands why he has a list of foods to exclude and foods to eat, and he understands why we're doing this. He's been quite good about reading labels and accepting "no" as an answer. He's had a few tears when daycare friends have been able to eat eggs, but a bit of his stir-fry as a substitute cleared those right up. I'd be lying if I said he doesn't miss macaroni and cheese, but he's being a very good sport. The good news is that we've noticed some changes already (in less than a week). He's no longer showing signs of stomach pain, has WAY less gas, is walking on his toes less, the circles under his eyes are lightening, and his scalp condition is clearing up. We've all made major adjustments to our diets as a result of this. We're eating brown rice and brown rice pasta, green vegetables, and chicken pretty much every day. Most of the grocery store has become irrelevant to us... and we're cooking everything from scratch!