Home Away From Home!

Churros, ice cream sundaes, and tasty pastries...while this would seem like Karen's dream breakfast menu, it was actually part of the diverse treats that pleasantly made their way through our digest tracts on our recent trip to Walt Disney World.  Great food is certainly part of the experience, but the mileage we walked each day helped us to consciously justify the calories consumed.

Rides are also a large part of the experience on a trip of this nature.  We were able to get my Mom (aka Gloria), to go on the fast and furious ride of Aerosmith's Rock'n Roller Coaster, which accelerates you into the ride using a catapult system that forces you in the back of your seat and makes your face look years younger.  All of the other rides were fun, and many we had been on before, but I appreciated her bravery to experience this one in particular.  Good job Mom!

This trip marked Sydney's second trip to Disney World, and Corwin's first trip (at least on the outside).  He did participate in the previous trip (before he hatched), which also prevented Karen from participating in any fast, spinning, or strong-gravity generating rides, and sequestered her to more traditional (aka tame) rides, such as It's a Small World (just gagged a little bit), and other slow moving rides featuring upbeat melodies.  Corwin enjoyed his first trip as an independent participant, and Karen liked spending time on rides she missed last year.

We also enjoyed our two hotels.  Boardwalk Villas gave us a short walk or boat ride to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, as well as a bunch of restaurants and shops.  Bay Lake Towers made it convenient for us to walk to Magic Kingdom, or catch the monorail to other destinations.  Both were great in their own right, and we wouldn't hesitate to go back to either.

Although we had a great time on the trip, my Mom had to cut her trip short.  My Grandpa was battling what we thought was pneumonia when we left on our trip, but was later determined to be cancer.  My Grandpa stayed with us until this past Saturday, which gave Karen, Sydney, and Corwin and I a chance to visit and spend some time with him after we returned on Friday.  That time will also be cherished.  You will be missed and always loved!!!

No endurance at all...and I don't even understand
why, they never pushed us!

Who knew the 35 ft. hat would
actually fit Karen...ha ha!

The best Grandpa anyone could ever have hoped for.

Family, Mobility, and other Wonders!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy.  Nana recently arrived from Montana to spend time with us.  It’s nice when she can actually visit in person, since her weekly visits are done via Skype (which is not as great as having her here).  She also brought along her furry family member Alex, so we had built-in floor cleaning, which became especially helpful around Corwin’s perimeter during meal times. 

Sydney and Corwin had a great time with Nana.  Sydney had a Nana-granddaughter day, where they got to experience the local sea-life touch tank, eat lunch, and just spend the day together.  Corwin also got the great benefit of another person willing to play with him, as well as be entertained by him.  And his big smile and laugh are so much better in person.

         In other news, Corwin is motoring around the house with a speedy crawl.  He does walk with his little push wagon (very quick in doing so now), so it’s probably just a matter of time before he takes off running.  Unfortunately, with his increased skills in the mobility realm, it has also resulted in the ability to efficiently climb stairs.  He can make it all the way up the stairs on his own, but the problem is that he does not understand the true gravity of…well, gravity, very well.  On a couple of supervised occasions, he has had the odd slip where he would fall backwards (fortunately into waiting hands).  This has resulted in barricading the bottom of the stairs as well as the top of the stairs to ensure he does not partially scale and rapidly descend the elevation he conquered.  With all of the fences and containment apparatus, it really has begun to look like a concentration camp or a prison cell block.  Maybe we can start calling him inmate 5258 instead of Corwin…haha!

       We also recently celebrated Sydney’s Great Grandpa’s (Harry) 87^th birthday.  It was a special occasion and get-together from the family.  We wish him many more birthdays to come!!!

Grandpa and his kids!