Halloween 2009

My little duck 2001
My little cow 2002

My little zombie 2009
Isn't this sweet?

The days of cute costumes are over..........:-(

Disney

We had a wonderful time at Disney. Evan was the perfect age. He appreciated it and found the magic in Disney. Sounds corny but it's true. He never complained, never whined, never threw a tantrum like many of the kids that were there! Kids even older than he was. It was very hot and humid.....of course we were there when they were close to hitting record highs for October! It didn't matter though. We just enjoyed every minute that we were there.

The Animal Kingdom Lodge was gorgeous! We couldn't believe we were staying in such a nice place. Without the help of our friends that let us use their timeshare, we never would of been able to afford it! It was like an apartment. Full kitchen and kitchenette, washer/dryer, 3 flat screen TVs, whirlpool tub in one of the two bathrooms, living room, 2 bedrooms, etc. We woke up to giraffes out our window almost every morning. Zebra too. We didn't spent ALOT of time at the lodge as we hit the ground running come Wednesday morning. This was after arriving at 12:30 a.m. Epcot Wed., Magic Kingdom Thurs., Animal Kingdom Fri. and Hollywood Studios Sat. We hit all the parks AND Evan was able to ride every ride he wanted to-we all did. We LOVED Soarin', Thunder Mountain Railroad, Expedition Everest, Tower of Terror, Rock and Roller coaster. Mom even rode some of them-the best was having her ride Mission Space at Epcot!! Disney was very accommodating when it came to Mom in the wheelchair. They made everything very easy for us when it came to the rides, the buses, etc.

Evan is obsessed with the Haunted Mansion at Disney. We went to Disneyland when he was almost 4 and while he loved looking at it, he did not want to ride it. For almost 5 years, we've read books about it, watched You Tube videos of people riding it, etc. As you can imagine, our first stop when we went to the Magic Kingdom was The Haunted Mansion. 10 a.m. Thursday morning. We made it.........we were there.......The Haunted Mansion. Hmmm, not much of a line. We're greeted by "cast members" who tell us they are experiencing technical problems and the ride is closed. WTF??? You can imagine my response. However, my little guy was awesome. He took it in stride and just said that maybe he could ride it later. We had plans to attend the Halloween party that night and all I could do was pray that it would be open at least for the party. He really wanted to ride it with Liz, Mom and Cathy (who were not going to the party) so throughout the day we kept checking to see if it was up and running. Finally at 4 o'clock we got word that it was working. They took us in another door so that they could stop the moving walkway so Mom could get on the ride right from the wheelchair. So, we're THIS close to the "doom buggies" and then the girl that was helping us says that they were sorry but they had to stop the ride again. Okay, so at this point I'm ready to blow. I was hot, sweaty, tired and all my kid wanted to do was ride this ride! She walks away and this other guy comes up and said come on, we're getting you through the Haunted Mansion. I almost hugged him. So, we went through the mansion all by ourselves! Evan was in heaven. He proceeded to then ride it 4 more times that night when we were back for the party. :-)

The Halloween party was awesome. We had to buy separate tickets for it but we couldn't go to Disney without going to the party at the Magic Kingdom. It was so worth it. The costumes were great, lots of candy was handed out and the parade was so much fun. He was about to fall over by the time we left at 11:30 p.m. He was such a trooper.

I have loads of pictures-go to http://sliferfamily.shutterfly.com to see them. I believe I'll have to give you permission to view the site but it's the only place I wanted to store all of them! More videos to come as well. I just need to get motivated to go through them all and put them together!

Indiana Jones Stunt Show

Some day I will write about our adventures at Disney. Our trip was awesome to quite awesome. My first order of business is sorting through the pictures and videos that I took. Here's my first creation-the Indiana Jones stunt show. I only wish I could of kept the camera on Evan's face the whole time because he was beaming.

The day is here!!

Animal Kingdom Lodge

After almost 8 months of planning and anticipating, we are finally leaving for Disney today!!! It's going to be a long day because we don't leave until 6:30 p.m. and we're suppose to arrive in Orlando at 10:20. Just praying that the flights are on time and there are no delays. It will be a crazy 5 days but I know we'll have a great time. Cathy said she'll probably cry because she's so excited and will be so happy. I'll probably do the same when it comes to Evan seeing and doing all that he wants to do, especially the Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom! Praying for safe travels, good health and good weather!

I feel like a crazy lady!

Kids have been dropping like flies at Evan's school this week. I was horribly sick on Monday with I don't know what. It only lasted less than 24 hours so that was a good thing and nobody else in my house seemed to get it. I am paranoid about two things. Evan getting sick before or during our Disney trip AND the H1N1 virus. Just read that a 14 year old boy died from it at Children's last night. That freaks me out a little bit. I'm not ready to have Evan get the vaccine because I feel as though they've rushed to get it out and I don't trust it right now. I HAVE to get it at work so I have no choice for myself. I worry about my mom too. She can't get a flu vaccine due to her history of Guillain-Barre. I've got a whole bag of over the counter medications to take with us to Disney just in case. I hate to be pessimistic about our trip but I have to be practical I think. My prayer continues to be the same every day-please keep us healthy for our trip! It sounds selfish but we've waited so long and God knows when we'll be doing it again.

A very good Saturday

It was a difficult week for me. It started with the death of a precious baby early in the morning on Sept. 26th. I was with his parents shortly after his death in his hospital room and it was heartbreaking to see their raw grief and sadness after watching their son pass away before their eyes. It was hard for me to see his lifeless body as they hadn't taken him away yet. I can't imagine that being the last image they have of their son. Sunday was the ALS walk which is always an emotional day for me. The next day was Dad's birthday. Wednesday was the funeral of that little life gone way too soon. The idea of going to a funeral for a baby is just not right. The parents were so happy that I was there and while I was teary throughout the service, I almost lost it when saying goodbye to them. The father pulled me close and hugged me tight and thanked me for what I do and also thanked me for being there for his wife. You see, they live 2 1/2 hours away and she lived at the Ronald McDonald house alone for six months and he would come up on the weekends, in between working his two jobs. When saying goodbye to her, I thought my heart would break. She holds a special place in my heart and it saddens me to think of her having to go on without her son. She was so dedicated and faithful while he was in the hospital. She texted me last week and wondered what she's suppose to do now. Her life for the past six months has been in Columbus at Nationwide Children's. I continue to pray for them as they grieve and move forward.

So, after all of this, I was in need of some family time. We traveled up north to my cousin's house, about an hour away. We grew up together in NY and since we're just a year apart, we've always had a special bond. They live in the country (Evan wants to move there) and many of their neighbors are Amish. One of them has an apple press so we took bushels of apples to their farm and watched as their apple press made us fresh cider. It was fascinating to watch AND to see these little children help their grandfather with the press. I WISH I could of taken pictures but I knew I couldn't. From there we went to the Amish bulk food store (I love that place) and got good cheese and meat and candy and then back to John and Betsy's for chili and cornbread. They have a son who is just 13 months older than Evan and then my other cousin's 7 yr old was there as well so they all had a ball together. Evan just loves going up there because they are allowed to just go outside and play and explore without any worries. I had a ball with the 6 wk old kittens that they have! I'm in love. Anyhow, it was a day full of fun, laughter, love and fellowship. Just what the doctor ordered.