Merry Christmas

December was a crazy month for us, filled with lots of travel and family fun. We started out by celebrating Noah’s 11th birthday. Can you believe he’s that old? We’d given Noah “Toy Story 3” a little early so he could watch it on our Thanksgiving trip, and he just loved it. When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said he wanted a Toy Story 3 birthday cake. Even though Noah doesn’t like cake, he knows you can’t have a birthday without it! So I bought a Cosco cake and decorated it with little TS3 figurines. I took it to pack meeting so that Noah could celebrate with his church friends, and it was a big hit! Noah also wanted a computer for his b-day, and we found a cute play laptop. It’s fun to watch him use it - - he tries so hard to look just like his dad.

The next big event was the FINDS Christmas party. I’d been involved by making the invitations, which turned out really nicely. We had a lot of people come, almost 200. Just like every year, we had a big brunch and fun door prizes. The entertainment was a lady who danced with the kids, always a surefire hit. It was hilarious to watch Noah dancing with his little friends Leah and Vanessa. Meredith danced too, and everyone said how cute she was and how much she has grown. It was a great party.

As usual, I had to have all the Christmas stuff ready a week early, because we celebrated before we left on our trip. There was no way to take our presents or even our stocking stuff to Florida, our car was just too full (more on that later). So we celebrated Christmas one week early. As I told the young sons of a friend of ours (after his mom gave me a panicked look), we asked Santa to come a week early so we could celebrate before we left on our trip. (The son said, “I didn’t know you could do that!” and I replied that it was for special occasions only and required a lot of paperwork.)

We had planned to leave by noon, but after opening our presents and stockings we were just exhausted and the kids wanted to play with their stuff. Ethan got an “air-soft gun,” which is a rifle that shoots tiny bee bees, using compressed air. His friends all have them and enjoy playing together. It was a big deal for me to finally say yes to one, but Scott and Ethan wore me down. He has to always wear the safety gear and only play in certain areas outside. Ethan actually is a great shot, he did really well in target shooting at camp last summer. So he took his gun and played for a while at a friend’s house.

Noah got a zoo, it’s by Fisher-Price, and has 26 animals, one for each letter. It’s really cute. He was pretty excited when he got it. It is so fun to watch Noah open up his presents because he’s always so overjoyed with whatever he gets, even socks.

Meredith was so fun to buy for this year! She got some cute puzzles, some stuffed animals, and an Elmo doll. She loves Elmo. The doll she got says, “I love you” when you push on his hand. She was excited about the toys and wrapping paper. She also got a “feel” book about animals with fur or scales on the pages. In the picture she is feeling the fuzz with her face. She is so cute!

I gave Scott a framed picture of him with Ethan at Machu Picchu (thanks for the photo-editing, Mom!) He got me some cute matryoshka measuring cups from Signals. And Santa got us AT&T Uverse for the house (like Tivo but better). We’re sick of our internet/cable provider, too many glitches.

So after all the gift opening and playing and packing we didn’t leave until about 7 p.m. We’d discussed renting a minivan so we’d have a little more room, but once we got the car all packed we couldn’t bear the thought of unpacking and repacking everything, so we just said, “let’s go!” And we did. Scott is amazing at powering through and we drove all the way to Louisville, Kentucky. We got in around 2 a.m. and slept well. We left around 10 the next morning and drove straight through to Orlando, arriving again at about 2 a.m. We were packed in the car like sardines, but we made it work. Noah was in the far back, surrounded by suitcases, with his toys and pens and paper. He did wonderfully well. Ethan and Meredith were in the middle seat, with snacks and the diaper bag stacked in between them (so everyone had their own little space.) Meredith was a great little traveler too, and of course Ethan had his gameboy and DVD player, so he was loving life. We had the overhead DVD going too - - way too much Barney, but it kept Mer and Noah happy.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo in Orlando, which was great because we had space and a kitchen and laundry facilities. That is the way to do it if you’re staying for a while! The first day we were there we didn’t do much besides recover from the long drive. The resort had a kids’ club, so I took the kids over there and hung out for quite a while. There was a climbing thing and Meredith did a great job climbing up and going down the slide. It was so fun to watch her! That night we had dinner with one of our adoption agents that we had worked with the whole way through but had never met. It was wonderful to spend time with her, and she was so happy to be with one of her "success stories." Meredith was her usual darling self and the other kids were well-behaved. We had a great time.

The next 5 days we did 5 parks. Not the way I’d recommend it, because it’s very tiring, but there was a lot we wanted to see. Disney World is Noah’s favorite place on earth, so he was in heaven. The first day we went to Animal Kingdom, which was fun for Noah and Meredith. They got to see a lot of cool animals. Animal Kingdom is usually the least busy of the parks, but it was still pretty crowded.

The next day we went to Universal Studios and met up with our friends the Worthams. Their son Adam is one of Ethan’s best friends, and the 2 of them had a great time together. I was so glad they could hang out together, because my one worry about going to Disney was that Ethan would get bored with all the little kid stuff. It was good for Adam, too, because I don’t think he would have gone on the roller coasters without Ethan to egg him on. So we all had a lot of fun together. Universal opened up a Harry Potter section of their park in June, and we were looking forward to seeing it. I have to say I think the creators grossly underestimated how many people would be interested in it - - we had to get a ticket for what time we could enter that section of the park (and it wasn’t until about 6:00). It was so crowded! There was a line to get into the section, even though we had tickets. There were lines for all the rides. And, good grief, there were lines to get into the shops! Talk about a money maker. I did stand in line with Amy Wortham and her daughter Amanda to go into one shop (Honeydukes/Zonkos). It was fun, there were some cute candies and tricks, but it wasn’t amazing. What was amazing was the price - - $8 for a chocolate bar’s worth of chocolate in the shape of a wand. I was tempted by the “U-no-poo” candies, but even I could tell they were just m&ms in a fancy jar. I did buy some butter-beer for everyone though, after a 15 minute wait, and it was quite good - - like a very rich cream soda with a marshmallow-cream head on it. I would have regretted not tasting it. I wish they’d served it hot (they only served it cold or frozen). It was pretty chilly by then. Anyway I wouldn’t recommend going to Harry Potter land unless you’re a maniac (and there were a few people there in full wizarding robes!) until it gets a little less crowded!

The next day Ethan hung out with Adam at his family’s condo and Scott and Noah and Meredith and I went to the Magic Kingdom. This was the most fun for Noah because he got to go on the Peter Pan ride, his very favorite. Noah is a great person to go to Disney with because he gets a special needs pass and can go to the front of the lines. It is very helpful, especially when the lines are over an hour long! It was really fun taking Meredith on the little kid rides like Dumbo.

We went to Disney Hollywood Studios the next day, and then Epcot Center on Christmas. It was kind of weird already having had our Christmas, but we had a fun day. We really lucked out with the weather, it was cool but not bad and it only rained on the day that we left.

We drove to South Carolina and spent the night with some friends (Scott and Michelle) who have a beach house there. We’d known them for several years, and Michelle’s mom is our attorney (she specializes in special needs trusts). They have such a cute house, all the houses in the area are painted bright pastels, like the color of sherbet. Scott and Michelle have 2 cute boys, and the younger one was so enchanted by Meredith. He was 8, and he followed her around and wanted to help her and play with her, it was so cute! They also have a dog, a really old one, who is more like a rug than a dog, and Meredith fell in love with it and climbed all over it. Amazingly patient animal!

In the morning we walked on the beach and saw 2 dolphins less than 50 yards away. It was such a fun surprise! We walked around the cute little town a little, but it was really really cold. We left around noon and drove straight through to DC.

The next day Scott took Ethan and Meredith to Charlottesville, Virginia, to visit the UVA campus, and then they went to Buena Vista, where Southern Virginia University is located. They visited some friends of ours there as well. Noah and I hung out at the hotel and slept and then had dinner with Kim and Val and their kids that night. We went over to their house and hung out - - Noah and Spencer really bonded! It was so great to see them!

The next day Val and Ellie and I went shopping together. It will be so fun when Meredith is old enough to enjoy shopping (right now she kind of hates it!) Ellie is such a cutie and I was stunned by her bravery in getting her ears pierced without even a wince. We went to some cute stores and had hot chocolate and soft pretzels. So much fun! I wish we lived closer together!!!
We stayed in a hotel downtown the next 3 nights, a really nice one with a wonderful breakfast (yes, I pigged out). On Thursday Scott went to the Holocaust museum with Ethan and Meredith and then we met Kyle and Linzi and Evy for lunch at a Lebanese place. So great to see them, and I’m excited that they’re having a girl! Ethan went back to the hotel, but Scott and Noah and Meredith and I spent the afternoon at the National Zoo and had a blast seeing the animals. I love zoos.

The next day we visited some other friends that live in DC, Dave and Andrea and their son Jacob. Jacob has autism, so his mom and I had a lot in common to talk about. They used to live out here but we hadn’t seen them for quite a while. Andrea is a doctor (general practice). It was interesting to talk to another parent of a child with special needs. Autism is so difficult, and Jacob has some tough behavioral issues. He played nicely with us, but when our time was up he was very anxious for us to go! We made plans to see Dave and Andrea again sometime, without the kids, so we can have an uninterrupted conversation.

Then we went to Kim and Val’s house for New Year’s Eve. Kimball and Kyle were working in the basement and Scott went down to lend them moral support. He felt bad that he couldn’t help out but they were grouting tile, which you have to do on your knees, and Scott can’t kneel. Also he knows nothing about grouting. Val and I and Kimball did some cooking - - Ethan helped to make a delicious chicken salad. The kids had fun playing together - - although Taylor was a little wary of Meredith and she was fascinated by him and wouldn’t leave him alone! Noah and Spencer played Wii most of the time and got along great. It was fun to watch Ellie and Evy play with Meredith too. I was amazed at Val’s cooking skills, she made Betiza (spelling?) and it was amazing. We had lots of delicious food when we finally got the men to come upstairs and join us.

Then we went to the living room and had a long, involved discussion about . . . well, bathroom issues. I don’t know why we always end up talking about poopy accidents and hemorrhoids, but somehow we do. I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. It was so fun! Oh I hope Kim and Val and Kyle and Linzi and the kids can all come and visit us in Chicago sometime!!! The best part of the whole trip was spending time with family!

The next morning we visited Katie and Dan, who had been stuck in NYC in the snowstorm. I wish we could have visited them for longer, but we had fun talking anyway. Then we hit the road and drove straight through to home. I don’t know how Scott does it, but he sure can drive for long periods of time!!!

We will be sending out individual thank yous, but we do appreciate the wonderful Christmas gifts from you all. I wish we all could have been together over the holidays, but I’m glad we could at least be with the East coasters. We wish you all a wonderful 2011!!!!