The count it all Js

Saturday, December 28, 2013

This is a perfect picture of how Vivi coped with the trip. We carry that backpack with us wherever we go to help her with situations that are new/loud/crowded, or for when she's feeling hyper or hypo sensitive. In her backpack is a pair of headphones, which she's actually wearing in this picture, a couple of chewy tubes, which you'll see in a couple of pictures throughout the trip, some sensory brushes and a koosh ball for when she needs the calming sensory input they give her. We also carry extra changes of clothes for her because she can't stand to get wet, so if she's washing her hands and gets water on her sleeve, she may need to change her whole outfit to feel right again. She uses the stroller with the shade down in front of her face when she's feeling overwhelmed. All of that has become second nature to us, it looks like a lot to type it all out!

After running around Epcot for a little bit, we took a boat to a hotel, and then took a bus to Downtown Disney to meet my grandma and grandpa who live in Florida. We went to lunch, where the kids got fancy light up cups

Then they took the kids shopping for their Hanukkah presents. Jeb's came from the Lego store, of course!

And the girls picked gifts from one of the Disney emporium shops. Journey got a giant Dumbo pillow, and Vivi got a Small World doll that sings It's a Small World in English and Japanese. So if you're keeping track, we have 2 of those singing dolls. And it's very easy to accidentally cause them to start singing ;)

Friday, December 27, 2013

Magic Kingdom Day 3

When I was the age my kids are, you would never have caught me on a roller coaster of any kind. My kids are obsessed! Journey wasn't tall enough for some of the rides, but the other 2 were. Here we are just after the big drop on Splash Mountain

Eric and Jeb on Thunder Mountain Railroad

I had spent the last year telling the kids that the characters won't talk to them. Jeb understood that it is because they are just people dressed up, but the girls didn't get that yet. We walked into Town Hall to meet Mickey with our hats (Eric and I got our hats when we were there on our honeymoon in 2007!) and Mickey greeted us and made small talk! After telling the kids so many times that he wouldn't talk, they were a little stunned. Then Jeb, my little thinker, was trying to figure out how it worked by asking very specific questions. He asked what Mickey's favorite color is, and Mickey said "hmmm, well haha, I don't know!" So he tried asking a couple of other questions to get him to answer. A couple of weeks later, he said that he could tell it was radios that made him talk :)

Jeb used some of his gift money to buy a Buzz Lightyear toy. So of course we had to take a picture next to the giant Buzz Lightyear at our hotel! The kids are standing down by his feet, they are hard to see!

There's Journey with her Journey doll that she bought. She sings Its a Small World in English and the language of whatever country she's from (Kenya?)

Happy boy-at Disney, wearing a t-shirt in December, running through Toy Story statues with his brand new Buzz Lightyear

We had gone back to the hotel to nap because the park was open really late that night. I think Jeb was too excited to sleep much in the hotel room, so he fell asleep on the bus!

All the kids' favorite ride, The Barnstormer! Or as Vivi and Journey call it, the Barn Farmer :)

And of course, the Dumbo ride!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Magic Kingdom Day 2, continued

Journey loved the Small World ride, especially these girls, which she thought were her! Every time we saw one of them, she would say "Journey is dancing! Journey is riding on a horse!" It turned out they sold those dolls in the gift shops, and she ended up buying one for herself :)