Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Day 3: Welcome to Hollywood









So Andy has already called me a nerd for doing a trip report on the blog. The way I look at it with three kiddos I am bound to forget something about this trip soon. I had better put it in writing so that later on when I am scrapbooking these memories, I can just come to the blog and all my journaling will be complete. See folks, I have a plan. So on with the show!




Day 3: started a little later than Day 2, but still early in my book at 7:00am. We got up and headed to Olivia's for breakfast again. I had the oatmeal this morning with fresh blueberries, Andy had another omelet with a yummy hashbrown casserole that I kept sneaking "just a bite" of. Tristan and Ty once again had Mickey Waffles. I tried to be really good about what I ate at breakfast. Throughout the course of the day though, my willpower was shot. Too many yummy treats all calling out my name. We did the Disney Dining Plan, which allows you a sit down meal, a counter service meal, and a snack per day. This is tons of food, and I recommend it to save yourself some money if you plan on doing any type of character meals or sit down meals. Those babies are quite expensive, and the dining plan takes most of that expense away. You do still have to pay for tip, which is different than in the past. They used to include the tip in the plan. I kind of like having to pay the tip now though, b/c in my opinion we got much better service. If you know you have to work for it, you do a better job, right? So after breakfast we hopped on the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Let me say this, our bus service at Old Key West was less than desirable. We had to wait a lot for some of the buses, and then once we got back to the resort from the parks we were the last bus stop out of 5. So we would generally ride for around 15-2o minutes inside of the resort before we got to our stop. Not so bad if you don't have kiddos, but with Evan squirming to get down constantly, this was rather non-enjoyable.

We have only usually stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, which is by far my favorite of the two. The bus service here is great, and it is also so close to the Magic Kingdom. Let's just say that next time we go it will probably be Wilderness Lodge again.

Once we finally arrived at the Studios we had a mission to go get Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania. We did this but our return riding time was kind of late in the day so we decided to meet some characters. We met tons of characters, but the Studios was so crowded that we left and didn't return back that evening like we had originally planned to do. So we did not do hardly any attractions here. The place was bombarded by cheerleaders. They were there for a competition that was held in the Indiana Jones Stunt Show building. They were really, really loud. They cheered incessantly, but then again most of them were middle school aged so what should I expect. Here are some character highlights of the day.

Buzz and Woody were great! Woody kept tickling Tristan and she was squirming trying to get away. He would just hold on tighter and tighter. When she finally got away, he held his arms up in a muscle man pose to prove that he was "the man". It was too funny! Ty and I were cracking up. Although once again Ty looks as though he was in misery. Another "I will not smile for this picture" moment. We did wind up taking his artificial eye out for the whole week. It is not fitting correctly so it would slide over to the side and we couldn't get it straightened. It also was really goopy, so we made the decision to take it out for the week. He couldn't care less. In fact, my child cracks me up. We were at dinner one night later on during the week and he saw a little boy staring at him. He then proceeded to cover his eye and he started to fake cry, "Oh! Oh! my eye. My eye is hurt." I thought I would die! I am so thankful that the Lord has given him this type of spirit of humor to handle all of the stares and comments. As his mama, I don't always deal with it so great. He teaches me many, many times.










Here we are with one of the green army men from Toy Story. How cool!


Here we are with Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc. Yes, before you think your eyes are playing tricks on you, that is Evan in the picture. Sully was his first character encounter. You see Andy and I both agreed that if Evan was sleeping, we wouldn't wake him up for some pictures with these characters just for our enjoyment. He really was great the whole time. He slept alot during the day so that is why he isn't in many of my pictures. He couldn't really figure out Sully though. He wasn't too sure about him.











After our visit with Mike and Sully we rounded the corner to find the Power Rangers. Ty was excited about this one. The lines were really long for all of the Rangers so I had Ty pick which one he would like a picture with. He chose the green Ranger. I love how Ty is just holding on for dear life to his hand.














Next up was a picture with two of my favorites, Lightning McQueen and Mater from the movie "CARS". I have seen this movie so many times that I really feel a close bond with these two ;)








Next, it was on to the most important part of the day. Mickey Ice Cream bars. Yum! Yum! Check it out, even Evan got his first taste of these delicious treats.









Since the Studios was packed and we were all getting kind of tired, we decided to head back to the resort for our afternoon nap. We had dinner reservations back at the Studios that evening. After our nap, the kids really wanted to go swimming. So instead of heading back to the studios for more crowds and dinner we opted to stay there and swim and eat at Olivias. It was fun and Evan had his first swim in the pool since he was a little thing. He loved it this time around. The pool was probably in the 80's and was so warm. It had a cool slide that looked like a sand castle. Andy and the kids had a blast going down this. I wish I had pictures, but I didn't have my camera with me for this. I need a waterproof one for the summer :)
After our swim it was back to the room for bedtime. Tomorrow we were headed back to the Magic Kingdom and breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends.
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1 comment:

Jenny said...

I am enjoying your Disney posts so much! I feel like I am right there in Disney World with you. You can tell that you all are having such a fun time together. You'll have to help us plan our trip whenever we decide to go!

March 25, 2009 at 8:03 PM

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Ty's birthmark

Ty's birthmark
Ty before laser treatments

Tyler's Birthmark

A port wine stain (PWS) is a congenital birthmark that affects approximately 3 out of every 1,000 people. They are most commonly found on the face and neck, but they can be found elsewhere. The underlying dilated blood vessels cause the red/pink color of the PWS. When Ty gets upset or hot the blood flow to his face increases causing the birthmark to appear redder. When Ty is colder and the blood flows away from his face the PWS can appear invisible. If left untreated, the vessels may become enlarged and elevate the skin causing the surface to take on a cobble appearance. Sometimes the PWS can also develop into a deep purple color. Occassionally, the vessels can create overgrowth causing the area where the PWS is to become larger than normal.
PWS are present at birth and usually clearly visible. PWS grow with the person and never regress. The problems of PWS can now be treated by laser.
With different wavelengths a laser beam can be made to react upon materials of only certain colors and densities. The laser is tuned to only affect the darker more dense blood vessels deep in the skin that cause the birthmark, leaving the lighter less dense outer skin with minimal damage.Unfortunately, at this time, most people do not see complete removal of their birthmark by laser treatments. 10%-15% of those treated see 75%-100% fading, 70%-80% see 25%-75% fading, and 10%-15% see 0%-25% fading.
Treatments have a better chance of being effective when a person is still young. The skin is thinner and the mark is smaller. The skin has also not been exposed to the sun as much on a young infant or child. The sun thickens the skin and makes it darker, which in turn keeps the laser from penetrating the skin and hitting the vessels. Ty has had 15 treatments so far, beginning when he was 2 ½ months old. He will be 5 years old in Sept. 2008. He has had 80%-90% lightening in most areas, and almost complete clearing of the pws on his neck. The hardest areas to treat are the mask area around the eyes, and his lip area. Ty’s laser doctor is Dr. Roy Geronemus. He is the director of the Laser and Skin Surgery Center in New York, Ny. Ty goes to New York’s Eye and Ear Infirmiry for his laser treatments and eye surgeries/appointments for treatment under anesthesia. The healing time varies for Ty’s laser treatments. It is usually between 10-15 days, but we may see fading for up to a few months. There's no definitive number of treatments that Ty will need. So far we have always seen some improvement so we continue to get them. He will always need to maintain treatment in order to keep the PWS from getting darker again.
A PWS may also be a marker for associated syndromes such as Sturge Weber. Sturge-Weber Syndrome (encephelotrigeminal angiomatosis) is a congenital, non-familial disorder of unknown incidence and cause. It is characterized by a congenital facial birthmark and neurological abnormalities. Other symptoms associated with Sturge-Weber can include eye and internal organ irregularities. Each case of Sturge-Weber Syndrome is unique and exhibits the characterizing findings to varying degrees.
Ty has had three MRIs to check if the vessels were involved in his brain. Brain involvement is one of the symptoms of SWS, and it can cause seizures. All MRIs were clean for vessels in the brain. Ty does have a malformation behind his eye in the area called the chrodial area, which is another marker for SWS. Since his birthmark covers his eyes, the blood vessels are causing the intraocular pressure in his eyes to elevate. Therefore, he has been diagnosed with glaucoma in both eyes. This malformation, along with his glaucoma, attribute to Ty’s diagnosis of SWS. One reason why his eyes stay so squinty and red all of the time is due to his glaucoma. Glaucoma can cause light sensitivity and watering of the eyes. It can also cause loss of vision and enlarged corneas. Ty has had 9 surgeries to control his glaucoma. Unfortunately, it can not be cured only controlled. He takes three different types of drops two times every day. He will most likely have frequent surgeries on his eyes for the rest of his life, or until a cure for glaucoma is found. In May of 2007, Ty developed a severe bacterial infection in his left eye. He was in the hospital for a week getting his eye injected with antibiotics. The result of this infection coupled with his severe glaucoma has left him blind in his left eye. This is also the reason for the droopiness and the physical appearance of his eye. He has since been able to see an ocularist. She formed a new partial prosthetic eye for him. You can not even tell that it isn't real. It is so cool. We are still learning day by day about PWS/SWS/Glaucoma. The hardest part about Ty's condition is not knowing what the future holds for him. We just take it day by day and rely on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to help us through.

Thank you for taking the time to learn a little about Ty and his condition. For more information, please visit the sources of the above information at http://www.sturge-weber.com/, http://www.birthmarks.com/, and http://www.laserskinsurgery.com/

What Ty's skin looks like after having a laser treatment

Tyler after 15 laser treatments

Sturge-Weber Syndrome Awareness