When it rains....it pours!

"Vacation?" Part III (see previous posts)

The puking stopped, but the rain started. When we woke up on Thursday, Zachary had gone about 12 hours without vomiting but was still very warn down. Since it was raining, we took the time to eat breakfast at the buffet in our hotel (Shades of Green Military Resort) and contemplated our next move. The rain let up as we were finishing our waffles; so, we decided to stick with our original plan and went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. The day was overcast and cool, but very comfortable.Looking at this picture, you can see that Zachary lost some weight from not eating but he was still drinking and keeping hydrated. He was either being pushed in the stroller or carried all day since he didn't have any energy. He is so itty bitty! We met Timon from the Lion King.
And the boys' favorite: Goofy!

We met Winnie-The-Pooh...
...and Tigger too!

And don't forget my favorite gloomy donkey, Eeyore.

There were occasional sprinkles and of course raindrops falling from the trees. One of them landed on Zachary's jacket and formed:

a perfect heart!

The boys had the most fun in dinoland.

To enter you walked under a long neck dino.

Once up the stairs, you could also walk through him! Mikie loved it because long necks are his favorite.

Most of the slides at the dinoland playground were closed due to the rain, but we walked through and took a few pictures anyway.

The boys received their Animal Kingdom passports at an education station and had to complete tasks in each "land" to get their stamps. Here Mikie is matching up jawbones of different dinos.

They each played two games and won a stuffed animal.

Zachary threw the balls into the colored cups and won this very large dragon.

Mikie played the ball racing game and won a small green turtle.

Again, this would have been the perfect field trip for one of his upcoming books: Tigers At Twilight.

Zachary seemed to be doing better so I encouraged him to eat a few pretzles from our trailmix that I had brought. Oops! They didn't sit well and he ended up throwing up again two more times. Thankfully, I saw it coming and pulled him out of the stroller so it never got on his clothes.

On our way into the park (picture above taken at that time), we noticed they had a Rainforest Cafe so we went ahead and made reservations for 4:30. At about 2:00 the rain got a little heavier. We ducked and dodged under awnings and into stores to get to the Finding Nemo show at 3:15. When the show was finished, it was pouring! With the stroller soaked, no raincoats or umbrellas, and no sign of the rain stopping, the only thing we could do was make a beeline for the Rainforest Cafe. I was now feeling like the world's worst mother because I had not only taken my puking two year old out into public, but now he was soaking wet and surely pneumonia was about to set in. Dripping wet with two very upset boys, I scoured the Rainforest Cafe for a new pair of pants for Mikie and found nothing. I had brought a change of clothes for Zachary expecting him to have thrown-up on himself earlier and quickly got him into something dry, but Mike was just going to have to tough it out. I think this picture speaks for itself:

Notice the 'two toned' top I have on...just a wee bit wet.

I'm calling this our lucky zebra. It happens to be Zach's favorite animal and we were fortunate enough to sit right next to it. It had now been 24 hours since the onset of Zach's stomach problems. When our food came, he said he was hungry and began eating. I had the plastic bags ready (just in case) but never had to use them....for him at least....read on.....it only gets better! LOL! We had plenty of time to kill before we could catch the next bus back to our hotel so we went ahead and ordered the volcano dessert brownie. Mikie was thoroughly enjoying every bite! Just as he stuck a huge forkful into his mouth, I wiped a bit of chocolate off of his cheek and he immediately began choking. I threw the plastic bag at Michael and was sliding out of the booth to prepare to do the Heimlich when he started spitting it out. There are many times when my child has gagged (just ask Amber), but very few where I have actually been scared. This was one of them. From the look in his eyes, he was scared too. We left the lucky zebra and posed quickly with the elephants before heading back out into the rain to catch our bus (this time under the protection of two umbrellas Michael purchased at the Rainforest store).

As eventful as day 5 was, it pales in comparison to day 6 which began bright and early at 4:00 am to the sound of my husband vomiting in the hotel bathroom. He unfortunately didn't escape with just the chills from day two like we thought he would. An hour later, Mikie wakes up: "Mommy, my tummy hurts." To which I shout, "get in the bathroom!" The toilet is occupied, the sink becomes our target. And in that moment I deem this the worst vacation we've ever had! I spend the next 24 hours feeling sorry for my husband, anticipating when Mikie is going to vomit, calling housekeeping for extra sheets/towels/blankets/etc., washing my hands with scalding hot water every five minutes, spraying every surface with travel sized Lysol I just happened to purchase before this trip began, occupying Zachary with TV/airplane shooters/dino bowling set purchased yesterday, and wishing we would have remembered the charger for my phone so I could at least have access to the Internet.

Healthy Summary day 5: Mikie-Nebulizer & near choking experience, Zachary-stomach flu, Michael & Tracy-exhausted and expecting the worst

Health Summary day 6: Zachary-recovering, Mikie- Nebulizer & Stomach Flu, Michael- Stomach Flu, Tracy- In constant prayer!

Titanic Field Trip #17

We left Jacksonville on Wednesday and drove 2 hours to Orlando. After being bombarded with the Florida pollen (see previous post) the doctors suggested we try to keep Mikie inside as much as possible. We decided to go straight to the Titanic Exhibit for his field trip #17 Tonight On The Titanic.

Boarding the Titanic in First Class!

The telegraph room.

First class accommodations.

The restaurant with ivy growing up the walls.

Captain Smith.

Comparing the map on the wall with the map in our book.

The Grand Staircase! (excuse my lack of make-up...remember I was getting over pink eye)

The glass dome.

The boiler room.

While we were on the Bridge, the tour guide acted as if we had just hit the ice burg and told us to quickly get to a lifeboat. Mikie was a little worried and asked me if the water was really going to come on the ship.

Mikie gets to touch the ice burg.

Mikie was very interested in the model of what the Titanic looks like at the bottom of the ocean.

We told the boys that if they were well behaved on the hour tour of the Titanic, then we would take them mini-golfing. Zachary was so quiet the whole time, and as soon as we were finished he looks at me and says, "Was I a 'dood' boy Mommy?" I said "Yes, Honey. You were a very good boy!" To which he replies: "Now I doe mini-dolfing." Well, we knew that we had to feed them first and opted for fast food to speed things along. The McDonald's was the closest; so, in we went. What we discovered was "The World's Most Unique McDonalds." Every inch of the walls were covered with murals and the two story building was filled with games of every kind. The best way to describe it is to imagine a McDonalds, A Rain Forest Cafe, and a Chuck E Cheese all under one roof. Needless to say, our 'fast food' took us a lot longer than expected. However, the boys did get to play their very first 10 pin bowling and Mikie was able to get another nebulizer treatment since there were electrical outlets for us to use.

Video of 10 pin bowling:

The boys napped in the van and we drove around Orlando until they woke up. Now fully rested, they were ready to play the Congo River course.

We were very hopeful that our health situation was improving because Mikie was responding well to his breathing treatments and my eyes weren't bothering me very much anymore. However, the adventure was only just beginning as we would learn while sitting in the parking lot tally up our mini-golf scores. The boys were strapped in their car seats with the air conditioner on and I had just given them a drink to cool down a bit when I glanced back to see Zachary throwing up all over himself. A quick change of clothes, and many baby wipes later, we were back in the van heading towards our hotel thinking that he must have just been a little too hot from being outside. That theory went out the window 10 minutes later when he vomited again, and again 10 minutes after that, and again in the hallway of the hotel on the long walk to our room. I knew then that it was indeed the stomach flu. I spent the remainder of the night grabbing the trashcan every time he coughed, moaned, or flinched. It was a long night!

Health Status: Mikie- on nebulizer every 4 hours & Zyrtec, Tracy- eyes are back to normal, Zach-stomach flu

Check back often for the next chapter in our adventure from h**l!

The adventure begins...

I was having a very hard time finding a field trip for Mikie's Magic Tree House Book: Tonight On The Titanic. When I mentioned to my husband that it's too bad we weren't closer to Orlando so we could take him to the Titanic exhibit, he told me that he had been needing to go to Jacksonville for Navy business anyway. As it turned out, it was perfect timing (or so we thought!)

Zachary had just recently gotten over a pink eye virus. Mikie was on the last few days of having it. And I was right in the middle of the annoying symptoms which forced me to back out of teaching Sunday school, allowing us to leave early that morning. We drove seven hours and made it to Savannah, Georgia where we ate "mudbugs" and spent the night at a Winngate Hotel (which Mikie later told us was his favorite part of the trip..yes, the entire trip!...Why?... because it had a balcony that looked down over the lobby. Really? Why did we even bother going to Disney??? ). The next morning, we only had about 2 hours left to get to Jacksonville, so we took a short detour to Amelia Island and enjoyed an hour on the beach.

The boys enjoyed picking through piles of seashells, finding their favorite ones to keep and also the ugly ones to throw in the water.

Mikie got a little too wild with his throw and ended up falling into the water.

Another wild, spin throw:

He didn't like the feeling of his wet pants so it was off to the car for a change of clothes and then back to the beach to build a "volcano" in the sand.

The boys & their volcanoes:

Zachary loved spending time with daddy throwing shells in the water and chasing the seagulls.

We drove into town and ate lunch at the hottest restaurant in town. Seriously, it was actually on fire! As we were driving towards the little restaurant that we remembered from our first trip to the town more than 7 years ago, the fire trucks passed us and we jokingly said, "Hope it's not The Happy Tomato Cafe." Turns out, the kitchen was on fire, but they were still serving food; so, we enjoyed lunch and sunshine on the patio. About this time, I was beginning to worry about Mikie's cough, his complaint of being tired & head hurting, and his lack of appetite.

The boys napped in the van as we drove down to Jacksonville beach and found mini-golf course #1 at Adventure Landing.

The hazards of mini-golf in Florida:

The crocodile almost looked real, especially with the live ducks swimming right next to it! LOL!

We all played the first 18 holes, and then just the boys played the second 18 hole course due to the sunsetting. Mikie got two hole-in-ones on both of the last holes! We played a few games in the arcade and were blessed with our first random act of kindness (there'll be one more later in the trip). A young couple gave us their 1200 ticket voucher to turn in for prizes. Their generosity allowed both boys to get airplanes propelled by a gun shooter and nubby gertie balls, amongst many other small things. From here, we drove to Carraba's and the trip started to sprial downhill faster than we realized. Michael was getting the chills and felt drained while Mikie was still complaining of all the previously listed symptoms. We promptly checked into the hotel and got a good night's rest.

In the morning, Michael was much better and had to go to meetings on base. I too was headed on base to take Mikie to the ER for a suspected sinus infection. After 3 hours, they diagnosed him with an upper respiratory infection brought on by allergies, but told me his lungs sounded clear. I walked out of there with a sackful of free medicine (a phenomenon I haven't experienced in over 2 years since every trip to our ped's office costs us upwards of $100 in homeopathic medicines) and a very uneasy feeling about their ability to hear my son struggling for breath. Heeding the advice from our regular pediatrician, I started giving him allergy medicine as well as nebulizer treatments and with-in a day he was improving and complaining less.

When Michael came back that evening (feeling perfectly fine), we went to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. I didn't know until after we walked in how perfect this place is for Mikie's next Magic Tree House Book "Buffaloes Before Breakfast." We'll be finding one closer to home in the next few weeks and returning with his book for reference.

Health Summary Day 1: Mikie Asthma & Tracy Pink Eye

Health Summary Day 2: Mikie Asthma, Tracy Pink Eye, Michael Chills/Exhaustion

Health Summary Day 3: Mikie ER visit Allergies/Asthma, Tracy Pink Eye almost healed, Michael totally fine