I just got word from our county coordinator to say we are still IN the program! When she was evaluated right before her birthday, her case manager was pretty certain Jordan would be out of the program. I immediately stressed about the loss of the incredible services she recieved from the organization: Access to equestrian therapy, funding for Camp No Limits and a grant that helps pay for some of the expenses on her prosthetics.

We’re still in! I’m so happy and surprised and happy.

I did jump to conclusions and I feel bad about freaking out on the blog. But I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the help we get from our county family resource program. Wow.

Just wow!

[We spent four days at Disney World and I figured I'd document the trip as best I can]

Day Four: Hollywood Studios

By this point, we had a system going. I woke up first, would run down to the cafeteria and wake the kids up with mugs of hot chocolate. We were ready to hit Disney’s Hollywood Studios and have some fun. Jordan kept that birthday pin on – but we also decided our final day would be reason to celebrate her brother for being a great brother. The grownups wore pins that said “I’m Celebrating” and we wrote in “Cameron” at the bottom. Jordan wasn’t too excited about that – but I explained to her that her birthday pin would get her enough birthday wishes that she’ll be okay. The first thing we did once we got to the park was ride the Toy Story Mania ride and pick up an extra Fast Pass for the ride. It’s really popular and known to run out of Fast Passes really early in the day. Just waiting in line for the ride is a toy explosion.
Then we hit a snag. Once again, Jordan was too short to ride the Rockin’ Roller Coaster… and her brother LOVED it. He ended up riding it four times. Jordan was crushed. Luckily we could all ride the Tower of Terror… and even though we pretended to be super scared, Jordan loved it. We ended up riding it a second time at the end of our day.
One of the coolest things we did was eat lunch at the Sci-Fi Movie Drive-in Theater. It’s a huge studio that makes you feel like it’s at night in a drive-in movie theater. You actually eat inside a convertible car while watching sci-fi b-movies. The kids were bummed we didn’t get to watch good movies. I loved it. I’m surprised Jordan didn’t fall asleep since it was dark and she was sitting close to me in our car. This was our view:
We went between action movie activities and things Jordan would like. She was really not interested in watching things blow up. Her brother loved it. We had a chance to see fast cars and the Indiana Jones show. Jordan got to see a Little Mermaid show with her dad while the rest of us rode the roller coaster again. (It’s fast and fun and it’s hard to not laugh while you ride it.)
We ended the day with a HUGE dinner at the 50′s Diner where you eat in a 50′s-style kitchen. We had a lot of fun with our waiter and we ate HUGE milkshakes and all kinds of food Mom would make. We all got New Year’s Eve hats – but Jordan’s head was a little too small for it.
We’ll never forget how our waiter got the entire restaurant to sing for Jordan’s final birthday cupcake. She just loved the birthday attention – even though she took the pin off a few times. Maybe she liked the anonymity from time to time.
The final show we attended was Fantastic. If you ask the kids to explain the show, they have a hard time. But basically it’s a mix of water and fire and fireworks and movie clips and characters all mixed together for a fabulous show. I caught one magical moment when Mickey had control of the fireworks.
We left the park a little before midnight to avoid the rush… Not to mention the kids were exhausted. They both fell asleep in the bus on our way to the hotel. We tried to get Jordan to walk back to the room, but she kept falling asleep on her feet.
She woke up in time to watch the ball drop in New York City and we all got to watch fireworks from our hotel. We had so much fun and we have all kinds of stories to share with friends and family. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to take the kids to the parks every other year. Four days seemed just right… Maybe three. We were so tired. But it was great to be able to play in each park and not worry about bouncing back and forth between parks when its just a busy time of the year. Snagging Fast Passes early in the day and just collecting them as we went was awesome. We realized that the time on a Fast Pass is not the time when you MUST ride the ride. It’s the time when you can get another Fast Pass. So we used our Fast Passes on our own terms and it was great. I look forward to our next trip and who knows what I can dream up for that one!
Happy 2011! Who knows what kind of adventures we have ahead for us this year!

[We spent four days at Disney World and I figured I'd document the trip as best I can]

Day Three: Animal Kingdom

We were tired, really tired by our third day at Disney World. But we weren’t going to let that stop us! We wanted to get to the Animal Kingdom early enough to really enjoy the park. My parents had to go home that day, but my brother remained in the parks to play with us. But we started the morning on our own. Early in Animal Kingdom is magic. There aren’t many people and we walked right onto the safari ride. Plus, it was feeding time, so we saw almost EVERY possible animal. Even the cheetahs made a brief appearance. Jordan and her brother Cameron had a great time. And it’s a bummer my brother missed out. By the time he got to the park, the lines were out of control and the Fast Passes were used up.
Jordan may have been a whole day into her sixth year of life, but she wasn’t ready to stop celebrating. She kept her birthday sash on from the previous day and continued to enjoy hearing every person wish her a happy birthday. We even bumped into Baloo – who happened to be hanging out with King Louis from The Jungle Book.
Once again, there’s an awesome roller coaster at Animal Kingdom. It’s called Expedition Everest and it’s awesome. But Jordan wasn’t tall enough to ride it and that KILLED her. I had to pull out some paper and some crayons I found in the bottom of my backpack to try and appease her while we waited for the taller family members to get through the ride. My brother also helped her keep the smiles going. They’re funny together.
The day included many adventures including a great lunch that gave us priority seating at the Nemo show. (It’s the Tusker House if you’re curious.) Near the end of our stay in Animal Kingdom, we bumped into Thumper! I was taking pictures of Thumper with the kids when Thumper thumped his foot loud enough that he made me join in on a picture.
I also stumbled onto a cute lucky fin moment. Jordan and I found a Nemo Christmas tree. I thought it was worth a picture.

After we left Animal Kingdom, we hopped a bus and then the monorail to get to the Contemporary Resort. We had dinner planned at Chef Mickey’s. It’s a buffet where you get to see all of the Mickey clan. We’d already had a chance to see them in Epcot, so it was a relaxing chance to hug and take pictures – no need for signatures. Jordan was inspired and had started drawing Mickey non-stop on any piece of paper she could find. So when Mickey came up to say hi to us, we asked him to sign one of her pieces of art.

[We spent four days at Disney World and I figured I'd document the trip as best I can]

Day Two: Magic Kingdom Birthday

Our second day at Disney was also Jordan’s big fifth birthday! A very very sleepy little girl woke up to excitedly get to Disney as early as possible. The park opened an hour early for people staying at park resorts. I reserved an early breakfast at the Crystal Palace – that’s where you can eat a yummy buffet and hang out with Pooh Bear and friends. It was FREEZING cold outside that morning, so we were really happy to get into the restaurant, drink hot chocolate and hang out with some of our fuzzy friends from Hundred Acre Wood.
We made a quick run for Fast Passes at Space Mountain before Jordan got to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and Cameron had an appointment at the Pirates League. I surprised Jordan with a Rapunzel dress… something she’d begged me for. Then she had a chance to get a total Rapunzel makeover.
Just like two years ago, Jordan took the makeover very seriously. She had her nails done and a very, very long blonde wig that’s braided with flowers… Just like Rapunzel in Tangled. (Which Jordan liked very, very much.)
After the big hairstyle, Jordan was quick to have buyer’s remorse. The wig was made to hang down a child’s left arm with a tie to connect to her wrist – but Jordan doesn’t have a left wrist… so her boutique worker tried to bobby pin it onto her dress. But the wig was heavy and itchy… and Jordan wanted it off almost immediately. But she did get a chance to try a photo shoot (when she kind of smiled).
The wig came off… except for when Jordan had a chance to meet Rapunzel. A small group of kids every hour would wait to hang out with Rapunzel and Flynn. The kids got to color, learn a dance and meet with the two characters. Jordan loved it… and that’s when she really smiled with that silly wig. She especially enjoyed telling Rapunzel how she was FIVE years old.
Jordan’s princess fun wasn’t over… She had a chance to meet Cinderella and many other princesses at Cinderella’s Royal Table inside Cinderella’s Castle. It was a big deal. (Oh, and I replaced the fancy wig with princess Mickey ears.)
After the princess fun, we started looking for fast rides. Jordan wanted roller coasters… she isn’t tall enough for Space Mountain. But she did get to ride a few things. For some reason, she really liked the Haunted House. She thought it was funny. But I’m certain Splash Mountain was her favorite in the Magic Kingdom… She only got a little wet.
By the end of the day, Jordan was out of the princess outfit, without pretty hair… it was all kinds of messy. But she was happy. She was so proud to be five. And even more fun, my parents and my brother got to spend the day with us.
We took some pretty fun pictures of of the family together with the help of the Disney PhotoPass staff. I ordered the CD of all of the pictures, so I look forward to sharing a few of those when they finally arrive.

[We spent four days at Disney World and I figured I'd document the trip as best I can... Even though it was a week or so ago!]

Day One: Epcot
Jordan caught a cold right before we went to Disney. She was a bit drippy and having a tough time sleeping at night. She never really complained about being sick. (Which I think is funny because when I feel icky, I am very open to complain.) But the night before we started our four days of fun at Disney, she barely slept. I was nervous about how it would go. We got to the park early – that’s something we did every day. It seems like you get to do a lot more and have more fun if you start the day when there aren’t a lot of people. It’s key when you visit at the peak of the holiday season. The first thing we did was find Mickey. Epcot is known to have fewer little kids who want to meet and greet the characters, so the wait time can be shorter than in other parks.

I gave the kids autograph books for the first time. I thought they’d enjoy the experience and it would be a fun thing to look back on. What I didn’t realize was the challenge of juggling the pen and the pages and the quick time capturing photos all at the same time. I was a pro by the end of the trip, but our Mickey and friends visit felt very complicated. We decided to do Disney without a stroller. Since Jordan was a day away from five years old, it just seemed worth the try. We were ready to rent one if needed. But Jordan is a tough kid and never asked or needed one at any point in our trip. But I’m pretty sure the lack of sleep the night before and the lack of a stroller led to Jordan’s exhaustion at our dinner that night. The moment we sat down to our table, she fell asleep. Not a little, but a lot. Since we were there to celebrate her birthday, there was a polka band that actually played a birthday song for her… and she slept through it. All of it!
She woke up in time to enjoy the big fireworks at Epcot from her dad’s shoulders. It was a fabulous show. And we were exhausted and ready to go back to the hotel and sleep! We had a big birthday to look forward on our second day in the parks.
(I’ll write more about that soon!)

I had to do it… I put together a little video of our Christmas. There are so many other stories to tell and see… But we fell into a song thanks to Target’s free holiday music collection and it inspired me to create this video. Have fun!

We’re going to Disney World!!

The kids are super excited! Cameron noticed the trend of how we’ve gone to Disney World every other year – the first time was for one day, the second time was for two days and this year he hoped for three. Incredibly, we’re going for FOUR!! They found out thanks to messages inside their stockings. It was kind of obvious:

After the big reveal, we had time to play with all kinds of super cool presents, check out the details for our trip (like when and where we’re staying) and then we enjoyed fun at the beach!

I hope you and your family is having a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Jordan and the rest of our family are enjoying the Christmas holiday. For those of you who read this blog and celebrate Christmas, I hope your celebration is wonderful. We’re having all kinds of fun. The kids had a chance to go for a swim today – twice! The first time was venturing into their grandparents’ unheated pool. That didn’t last very long. Later, they got to enjoy a heated pool… It still wasn’t THAT warm out. So the kids didn’t last very long.

But it was enough to tire the kids out. Jordan actually FELL asleep while cuddling with me on the couch. The only reason I had gotten her to cuddle with me was because she felt a little cold and I was so tired from wrapping, I wanted to watch a little bit of Planet Earth – which is an incredible series about nature if you haven’t watched it yet.

Anyway, the kids have been pretty good and focused on trying to stay on Santa’s nice list. They had fallen into naughty earlier in the week and that has helped the two kids treat each other a little nicer. I wish I had remembered the power of the naughty list earlier in the season. Putting them on the naughty list on my iPhone was one of the smartest things I’ve done in a while.

Along with pool and sun, the family celebrated Christmas Eve. That usually includes a yummy meal, celebrating the holiday and openings gifts. We had a great time unwrapping my day’s work and checking out the incredible gifts we all gave each other. Jordan and the rest of our family are so dang lucky and I hope we all appreciate what a wonderful life we’re living and celebrating.

In the morning, we’re going to surprise the kids with the ultimate trip. I can’t wait and I can’t wait to post video!!

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this blog and celebrates Christmas!

We are on a whirlwind holiday tour. We tried to cram a full Christmas celebration with Randy’s side of the family in 36 hours. So we told the kids we were having a “Mini Christmas.” it was anything BUT mini! The kids got to spend awesome time with their great-grandpa (Daddy Jr.), grandparents and uncle. We had a great group of visitors who all visited with unexpected gifts. We played a lot of basketball, climbed trees and got to visit a neighbor who puts on a heck of a light show in his yard and dresses up like Santa. We had a ton of fun other than Jordan deciding to hide my wallet long enough we though it was gone. But 12 or so hours after that revelation, I’ve forgiven her. We’re ready for our next holiday adventure!

Every time we show Jordan video of a person doing something cool with a limb difference, Jordan just does not react much. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. We’ve given Jordan access to so many awesome and able limb different people, she doesn’t expect anything less than awesome. So when Randy found this video on ESPN, she watched with interest, but didn’t seem too shocked:

Another ESPN film that I think is pretty awesome is “A Fighting Chance.” It’s a movie produced about Kyle Maynard who is a quadruple congenital amputee. It’s a super strong wrestler and an incredibly positive person. (He wrote a book called “No Excuses.”) For more than I year, I’ve worked with the producer who was trying to collect videos and photos of limb different kids to show people who watch the film that Kyle isn’t the only kids who is inspirational. ESPN ended up cutting the montage out of its version that aired on TV, but it’s going to be a DVD extra when it goes on sale. (Hopefully soon)

If you’re interested in seeing the film, it has one more chance for viewing ESPN Classic at 5pm ET on December 25, 2010. You can see a little on the film’s website. I look forward to the DVD!

Another project I have quietly followed is nearing completion. It’s called “The Sweetest Gift” and is about arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC). It’s a film focused on telling the story of this condition and how children and adults are living life. This is a condition I hadn’t heard of until a friend of mine had a sweet little baby and doctors think he might have AMC. I don’t know when the full piece will be complete, but here’s this film’s trailer: