Orlando Trip

At the beginning of December we took a trip to Orlando to see the Gaylord Ice Exhibit.  The morning after we got to Orlando we had breakfast with Pluto and Goofy at the hotel where we were staying.  Everett was super excited and loved the characters.  Anderson was terrified and screamed any time the characters came toward him.

Later that day we went to the Gaylord to see the ice exhibit.  The ice exhibit featured Madagascar portrayed in these amazing ice sculptures.  It was SO cold that I don't think I could properly take the time to appreciate the incredible detail.  Everett really liked all of the characters.  After we went through the exhibit we walked through the Gaylord and saw their alligator exhibit.    

That evening we planned to go to downtown Disney.  Instead, Chance ended up taking the boys to Downtown Disney alone because I was having a gallbladder attack.  At the time I thought it was food poisoning, though.  Everett wasn't feeling great that night either, but we figured he was just overtired.

In the wee morning hours I rolled over and felt the heat radiating off of Everett.  He was BURNING up with fever! I had a thermometer in the diaper bag, and took his temp and it was 104.5.  I called the nurse line for our insurance company, and they said that with his heart history we needed to get him to the ER ASAP.  I called his pediatrician's office and left a message for the doctor on call to see if they could call ahead to the ER so they he didn't have to wait amongst all of the germs.  I was actually at the ER by the time the doctor on call got back to me, but she said I did the right thing and to make sure they checked him for the flu.  He was tachycardic and his respiration rate was sky high, both from the high fever.  He tested negative for flu, but had a double ear infection and a sinus infection.  They gave us drops for his eyes because they were weeping, an antibiotic for the infections, and when his fever came down they sent us on our way. Despite the way the trip ended, we had a fabulous time!

Halloween and Thanksgiving

For Halloween 2012, Everett decided he wanted to be Luigi from Super Mario Brothers.  Naturally, I decided Anderson would be Mario to match.  The only problem was that I couldn't find a Mario costume small enough to fit Anderson.  I looked on Etsy and found several, but they were SO expensive.  I ended up finding one that was more affordable so I ordered it, and ended up with an adorable Mario and Luigi duo.  Chance had to go to NYC to cover Hurricane Sandy so he was gone during Halloween.  He was supposed to be gone for four days, and he ended up being gone for nine days!  It was awful.  We missed him SO much!!  I don't know how military wives cope with their husbands being gone for long periods of time.  We went to a Halloween party on the Saturday before Halloween with their playgroup, on Halloween day we went to Everett's Halloween party at school, went to Chance's work to trick or treat, and then on Halloween night we were invited to have pizza and go trick-or-treating with the Close's.  We had a great time!

Chance had to work on Thanksgiving Day.  I decided not to cook a feast for the four of us, so we met our old neighbors (they moved away recently) at the Cracker Barrel for a Thanksgiving meal before he had to go to work.  We had to wait well over an hour, but the food was good and we really enjoyed catching up with Karen and Kelly. :)