Adventures with Jude: I think I need a vacation from vacation!!

We've taken it easy few weeks for "Spring Break." Holy Week was a lot of running to get ready, so a lighter classload than usual. We spent Easter week at Disney World, and had probably the best trip we've had in a long time. Last week, we had another "light" week, since I was playing catch up. Finally, we're back to work and heading down the home stretch to June. The current plan is to finish up most of our work around when the big kids are done, and just work on reading and maybe some Math over summer (plus, of course, Arts and Crafts!).

Relaxing at Cracker Barrel in Florida on a day where we did a grocery run!

Our vacation was fantastic. We had a very laid-back schedule. If we wanted to go into a park, we went; if the kids preferred to go swimming, we spent a few hours at the pool and went to a park for dinner. We had a few meal reservations, and it was just enough to get us moving (Mickey waffles motivate Matthew to get out of bed) but not so much that we felt like we had to keep stopping and changing gears. Traveling with medically needy kids is often dicey, because either one of the "Twobeys" are beeping, or somebody needs to time a med dose, or just the sheer sensory input overwhelms and we have a meltdown. What makes the "bulk went awesome" so much sweeter is we started out with Jude not wanting to go at all, followed by a huge meltdown on Day 1. Before we left, he was trotting out every excuse NOT to go he could think of. He even made a big show of cuddling with the cats ("We can't leave them!!") when he usually cries for someone to move them away from him. I think he just didn't want his routine messed with. Finally, I offered him a stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch - he could get a hamburger and french fries. He thought about this for a few minutes, and then my little weasel started bargaining: "Can I get a root beer, too?" Done! T-minus 12 hours, and Jude is finally willing to get in the car because he now has been promised a root beer when we get to South Carolina. When we got to Florida, of course it was much warmer than New Jersey -- shorts weather! Except Jude couldn't quite grasp the idea of "shorts are a different kind of pants." He had a huge meltdown because, in his words, "My legs are too long for my pants!" Not only were the highs forecasted for the mid-to-upper 80s for most of the trip, but he only had one pair of long pants (the ones he wore when he left New Jersey). Once everyone was dressed in shorts and he realized that they were a fashion choice, not a "Mommy didn't buy you new pants when you grew" thing, he settled down (a bowl of cereal and half an hour of cartoons helped put some distance there, too). I was worried we were going to have a battle every morning, but once he was over it, he was over it. He did confirm that he was wearing "shorts, not short pants" when he got dressed, but other than the first first morning, we were ugly meltdown free. (We had a few minor ones, but nothing else that involved tears and flying fists and eyewear, thank goodness!)

We've been home for a week now and are finally getting back into the swing of things. I feel like I never left! I originally planned to join Marcy at Ben and Me for Blogging through the Alphabet weeks C and D, with the idea that C was for Castle, and D was for Disney, but since we were too busy having fun and recovering, I never got that far! So this week, my theme is "E is for Everything I didn't get a chance to share!"

Tailgating with Tubeys! We left at 3 am, so when we stopped for breakfast for everyone, we got the tubey kids fed.

We were so happy to see beds! Due to several bottlenecks in the Carolinas, we were about three hours behind schedule.

The Twobeys. Celia was such a mother hen on this trip, taking care of Damien and his tube.

Kali River Rapids. Jude was willing to go, knowing he'd get "A little splashed." Yeah, well, we were on the tsunmi side and got drowned. He wasn't impressed.

Dried out and ready for the Jammin' Jungle Parade.

We put the little kids to bed in one of the bedrooms so the Easter Bunny had room to hop. Celia and Jude look so calm and peaceful...and you can practically hear Damien snoring!

Swimming!

Around the hotel (Art of Animation).

Breakfast at Chef Mickey's - one of our favorite places.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was one of Walt Disney's first characters, created when he was an animator for Universal Pictures. Disney recently acquired the rights to him, and he's become one of Matthew's favorite characters.

Strawberry Ears, limited edition, for the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, and especially adorable since strawberries are one of Celia's two safe foods.

Jude's sole reason for wanting to go to Epcot - to play on the fire truck.

We changed hotels (to Saratoga Springs Resort) and Jude went with Daddy to replace Mom's keycard. (The one that she left on a food tray and threw in the trash. Not smart.) Someone gave him a few stickers...

Tom Sawyer Island, Magic Kingdom