Autism Takes a Holiday (Sort of.)Here are some photos from our trip. We stayed at the Marriott Orlando World Center, a beautiful property.
Day 1: We had two rooms (six people.) Mia slipped out of the room while I was in the connecting room. Aye yi yi. 2000 rooms. Several wings. Six pools. One panicked Kim. RUPERT in security was cool, calm and collected. Had that little ear telephone thingy and alerted staff all over the hotel.
A grandmom named CAROL TAYLOR from Liberty Missouri saw Mia in an elevator, recognized "autism" right away, and brought Mia safely to the lobby. Why? Because Carol has a grandson with Autism. One of several people we met during the trip with a child on the spectrum. Carol Taylor is our Fairy Godmother. Carol runs a travel business you can see HERE. Send her an email if you'd like! Tell her Mia's Mom sent you. Those of us with kids on the spectrum will depend on the Carol's of the world to keep our kids safe and sound.
Day 2: SEA WORLD! My Gianna loves all things Manatee. Bella and Mia slogged through the day. Gianna was in her aquatic glory.
Day 3: POOL! That's Mia on the slide!
Day 4: The Magic Kingdom
Day 5: Pool and then The Magic Kingdom Halloween Party at 7pm. The park was full of kids in costume and adults too. Never see so many Pirates or Princesses in my life. Few, if any, resembled Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) or Cinderella. More like Jack Fat Turkey and Funnelcakerella. Lay off the transfats, people.
Bella had a great time playing with this little guy named David. He didn't speak a lot of English but that didn't matter as, well, neither does Bella! My lens didn't open all the way!
Day 6: Pool and dinner at the Japanese Steak House where the chef prepared the food in front of us. Gianna got a real kick out of the flying shrimp tails!
Day 7: HOME! 
Mom and Dad and GrandE (my Mom) are tired!
Mom and Dad and GrandE (my Mom) are tired!Monday. Back to my book revisions!
One more thing. This is important. I met a lovely woman from Northern England, near Leeds. She had a heavy accent and I couldn't decipher the name of her village. We started talking and I told her about the girls. She told me her son had died last spring - he had severe cerebral palsy. My heart broke for her. Sometimes when autism gets me down the Good Lord sends me a reminder that I am blessed with my girls. I can kiss them every night. I am fortunate. And for the Mom of Jacob C. in Northern England? I'm sending you a little motherly karma from Connecticut.
14 comments:
Great pics Kim! So glad the kids had fun.
Awesome pic of you and your hubs. You two are "hot!"
Welcome back! Glad to hear the trip went well...
"Jack Fat Turkey and Funnelcakerella" ROFLMAO!! Too funny! Hey, I just went to the fair and had loads of transfat...hey! :*) LOL...
Fairs are cool. You must eat funnel cakes and such at fairs. I for one, buy a corn dog when I go to a fair. Love them. Love them. Love them. But only about once every three years at a fair. I'd love to try to deep fried Snickers. Yes I would. And even that deep fried Twinkie. And I adore Italian fried dough with powdered sugar. I just never eat the stuff. I like being thin more than I like food. I'm not a big food person. I eat to live not the other way around. Makes me sort of boring actually. Like on vacation? No desire to splurge on goodies. Plain oatmeal for breakfast, one day I thought I spied Beignets and got all excited to have one. I ordered the stupid breakfast buffet to score one. It was a Krispy Kreme donut. No way. I'm a Dunkin Donuts girl. NO KK's for Miss K. Sad. I did want a Beignet! There, have I bored you to tears?
KS
Awww. I am one of the few people in the world who loves Disneyland (World).
Pics are so cute. Mr. Kim is a hottie!
I'm so glad everyone is home safely!! I have needed too many Carol Taylor's myself. I thank God for them everyday! LOVE the pictures and as always your accompanying wit!!
I am going to follow in your footsteps and try our 1st trip to Disney world during Christmas Vacation. Chris' parents and his sister are meeting us there but I will still be an anxious basket case. Thanks for all of the GF/CF info at Disney! We decided to rent a house so that I don't have a vacation from cooking, LOL! Too many different foods to avoid with all 3 of mine unfortunately. But it's nice to know there will at least be a treat or two that I will not have to cart around! I'm sure we will be spending as much time as possible near Woody and Buzz! I'm not sure I'll be able to tear CJ away.
I am eat to live at home but all goes out the window on Vaca! You must have tremendous will, oh but I already knew that. Fried dough will most likely be the end of me but I'll have to hide while eating it! LOL!
Did you see anywhere you could swim with the Dolphins???
Sea World has a dolphin swim I think. Call them! There are NO Trader Joe's in Florida. Shame! The Buzz Lightyear ride was fun! But VERY loud and lots of fluorescent colors. You have a space gun of your own to zap Surg so there's lots of "spling spling spling" sounds pinging off the walls. And you can spin the car around 360 degrees. I was warned off the Lilo and Stitch ride by Manic Mom. TOO SCARY. We've never seen that movie anyway so it didn't matter.
Have fun!
In all, it sounds like a great trip. Glad you met Jacob C's mom; sometimes a little perspective is a huge gift, eh? I remember watching babies die while we were in the NICU for 7 months. All of a sudden a few more weeks didn't seem so bad.
Kim I'm so glad you had fun but DEAR GOD those pictures are of HELL ON EARTH!! I would NOT survive there, not even for half a day. I'd be INSANE...and if I feel like that, what would it be doing to my girls? They'd be scared for life! so, I suppose that's the difference betwen us country bumpkins and you big city folk!
Allison,
I've been to Discovery Cove in Orlando. It is a beautiful paradise but I would NOT recommend it for swimming with dolphins. You don't actually get to "swim" with the dolphins and it’s very expensive. You stand in the water and just pet the dolphins while professional photographers take pictures. These are NOT happy animals, very exploited and bored with people. If you want to really "swim” and interact with playful dolphins- go to the Research Institute on Islamorada Key near Key West. These dolphins are free to leave the research center and are not trapped in a small lagoon. The researchers limit the amount of time that the dolphins spend with humans so they are really excited to see you and eager to please. I swam with Flipper’s daughter, Theresa, and grandson, AJ. It was the most wonderful and captivating experience. I've gone to both places and there is no comparison. I left Discovery Cove feeling very sad for the dolphins’ plight.
I hate funnel cakes, I had an elephant ear; dough fried goodness. I haven't been in years! This was the first time in several years...it was good.
My grocery store sells frozen Italian fried dough. I drool my way past the freezer case. Maybe this year for Christmas Eve. My Grandmother used to make fried dough with cheese inside, with anchovies (that whole Italian fish thing) and powdered sugar for us kids. She was the best baker. Turned flour into fantasy.
BEST LINE EVER:
More like Jack Fat Turkey and Funnelcakerella.
And God bless Carol, the woman from Northern England, and YOU, Kim. You are amazing.
And love the photos!!! thanks for sharing!
PLEASE visit www.thebreastcancersite.com and click on donating a mamogram. It won't cost you a thing but the sponsers are counting hits for donations
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