A Flurry of Activity
Whew! We spent the week of Thanksgiving at Disney World, with one day squeezed in to see the Harry Potter portion of Universal Islands of Adventure. Talk about your crowds! We were there three years ago, when my boys were six and eight and a bit wary of going on many of the rides. This time around my oldest went on virtually everything (except the crazy roller coasters–the ones I won’t go on), and loved it all. The younger one still wasn’t interested in anything with drops, spins, or loops. Or anything 4-D.
On the first day, my younger son, PFB (peanut-free boy) was selected to participate in the Flights of Wonder show at Animal Kingdom. He was brought on stage with a macaw, and the two were asked simple math problems, in a race to see who got the answer first. Well, on every problem (all of them having the answer ‘4’: ‘3+1’, ‘2×2,’ etc.), the bird answered first, and then three beats passed and my son would answer. We thought he was just following directions and maybe hamming it up a little. Turns out, they didn’t tell him not to answer first. He just wanted the bird to get the answer first. I’m oddly touched by this sweet side of him–he’s usually very competitive.
The trip was a little bit of a challenge because my older son, GFB (gluten-free boy) has been diagnosed with celiac disease. While Disney has lots of options, they’re not always options my son is willing to eat. So, I was always referencing lists, checking ingredients, and carrying back up food, just in case. But, despite the lines, the heat, the rain shower, and the occasional ride-induced dizziness, we had a good time. It’ll hold us for at least three more years. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was amazing, but crowded to the point of ridiculousness. Both my boys downed mugs of Butter Beer and came away with wands. PFB picked Snape’s wand, and GFB picked Narcissa Malfoy’s.
Since we’ve been back, I’ve discovered that I too have celiac disease (I had an upper endoscopy before the holiday), and today I took PFB for the same procedure as his bloodwork came back positive as well. We should know in a few days if we will be a gluten-free family. Just as we’re starting into the Christmas holidays…with all those delicious Christmas goodies. I’m not sure I can convince myself to start the diet until after the new year…I have no physical symptoms.
I’ve decided that for the month of December, on days that I do not have an alternate post planned, I will be doing a “Best-Of” medley of posts from years-gone-by. Believe or not, I’ve been posting to this blog since 2005! But lots of my posts have probably never been seen by another human eye, so it’s almost like they’re fresh. Get excited!
I’m also going to try to sneak in a viewing of my favorite kooky Christmas movie…Susan Slept Here. What’s your favorite holiday movie??
11/30/2011 at 7:52 pm
I do not know the proper thing to say when someone finds out they have celiac disease. Well I don’t really know the proper thing to say at anytime but I really am sorry.
11/30/2011 at 9:03 pm
Oftentimes, Sarakastic, you know exactly the right thing to say! Thank you.
12/01/2011 at 3:43 pm
My girlfriend said the same thing about Potterworld. Apparently JK Rowling had say in the design, she wanted it built to size per actual world, not built to scale per actual crowd expectations. So it’s beyond gridlock there. Too bad, if you think about it.
But I’m glad you had a great trip!
And I think celiac sounds like a pain, but fortunately it’s a dietary thing, not a progressive sort of disease, right?
12/02/2011 at 4:44 pm
Yes, just dietary, Green Girl. And definitely a pain, but I’ll live.