june snapchat fun

a surprise meet up

while we were in florida

i got a text from a friend

who i haven't seen in probably 15 years

that she and her kids were in orlando at the same time!

although our trips only overlapped by one day

we met up at starbucks one morning

before heading to the parks -

us to disney and them to universal

although i've seen them on facebook

it was fun to put real life faces to names

and i've since heard that my phone number is saved as 

'future mother in law' in somebody's phone ;)

such a fun surprise!!

all good things come to an end ... with krispy kreme

unfortunately on thursday we had to head home

BUT ...

we had a very fun ...

and busy few days

good thing they had 24 hours in the car ...

and a dozen krispy kreme donuts

to help them recoop

MK from a different perspective

we got to the pool

and it seemed like a typical afternoon

then ...

we heard someone crying/screaming

at this point it is rarely our kids

so we didn't really think anything of it at first

until we realized it was alex.

he and ben had been wrestling in the pool

when his foot got hooked on the ladder of the pool

it got stuck

and without knowing ben went to pull him away

something happened to his foot/ankle

and we didn't know what

but he couldn't walk on it and wouldn't even put pressure on it

GREAT.

no insurance.

in florida.

last day ...

and our favorite night of the trip typically - 

extra magic hours at magic kingdom.

now what?!

well we got some ice

and the poolside server got him a smoothie

we hoped that with time he would feel better.

an hour later not much had changed

so we got a wheel chair to help us get him upstairs

so we could figure out a plan from there

ben and i decided to walk over to epcot

to check out getting him a wheelchair

we did some checking

and tried a cronut from canada along the way ;)

we figured if stacey could get alex to the boat at the dolphin

we could meet them at epcot

get alex in a wheelchair

and he would be ok for the night

we waited

and waited

and were eventually on our way

just in time for some late storms to roll in

we weren't exactly fast getting anywhere

and we missed our first few fastpasses we had set for the night

but alex was doing pretty well

and a very nice cast member

gave us 3 fastpasses that could be used anywhere at magic kingdom

it was a very interesting night

we got to see what it is like to have someone in a wheelchair at disney

as always ...

disney does a great job with details.

everything was very smooth and easy for us.

most rides are handicapped accessible so we weren't able to just walk to the front

BUT ...

there were a few of the older rides where we were able to enter thru the exit

this didn't always mean it was faster, tho.

for various reasons they are only allowed to have so many handicapped/wheelchair

guests on a ride at a time.

we are guessing it has something to do with having to evacuate the ride if it broke down.

so we did still wait

but they were always very nice to ask alex where he wanted to sit

and to make sure we were taken care of

space mountain was one exception.

there was quite a long line

and we were able to walk in the fastpass line

and straight to the front

too bad that's a ride that i can ride once maybe twice

and i'm good for the day ;)

that's our 'ode to drew' pose

we made our way thru the magic kingdom

and got on all of the rides that we had hoped for

the night went differently than we expected

BUT ...

it turned out ok

and it was actually kind of fun to see how things are done

from a different perspective

hopefully alex didn't get too many ideas ...

i can see him thinking getting pushed around

ten miles a day instead of walking is a good idea

way to be a good sport, alex!