Halloween 2010

Halloween in our neck of the woods this year was b-o-r-i-n-g.

Our parish decided to move the trick-or-treating to

Saturday night instead of tonight.

We only had a handful of trick-or-treaters,

including Joseph's friend Katie who dressed up as a Musketeer.

Joseph stayed home to hand-out the candies.

He waited at the end of the driveway for kids to drive up.

Might as well taste a candy while waiting...

Oh well, more candies for me to taste!

Oh, we did have a scare on the wee hours of this Halloween. We woke up to an alarm going off at 4AM for carbon monoxide in the air! It turned out that the stove was left on at low last night and the pilot light went out. I usually check the locks and the stove at night before I go to bed, but I didn't last night. Brady cooked supper for his friends and cleaned up the kitchen very late last night. I, for one reason or another, felt too tired to go out and check everything and just went to sleep. We dodged a major bullet this time. I could think of a few bad scenarios had we not have the carbon monoxide alarm. Whew.

Wish Trip Day 6 - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Temperature: 91 degrees F. Humidity: 55%. Feels like: 96 degrees F. Those were yesterday's numbers. That's how it pretty much felt the whole time we've been down here, including today. What happened to Fall and the cooler temps? Anyway...

On our last day, it was a toss-up between going back to SeaWorld to see the shows or checking out Disney's Hollywood Studios. After we figured in the $300.00 or more that we would have to pay out of pocket to see the dolphins and Shamu, we decided to check out Disney's Hollywood Studios since we already had passes for it. We were so glad that we went.

First stop was, of course, a late lunch at Hollywood & Vine

where Joseph finally got to take pictures with his favorite Disney characters.

Then it was time for the 3pm parade - the Block Party Bash.

It was an interactive parade, and Joseph was able to join in the fun.




After the parade, we walked to the Animation Courtyard to see the
Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage!

Then it was time to go, if we were going to make it to our dinner reservation.

KidsWish arranged for us to go to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure. We were supposed to go last night, but Joseph had other plans, and our wish coordinator -Jill was able to reschedule.


This was Joseph for the whole duration of the show. He loved it.

Time for a picture with the pirates/actors.

And here is our sunburned little pirate.

And as always, all things must come to an end.

Tomorrow we drive to Pensacola for the first leg of our trip home.

And Friday evening should see us home.

Wish Trip Day 5 - Back to Magic Kingdom

Tuesday - Joseph and I stayed in the hotel today for some R&R. He played computer games while I tried to read my book. Brady and Austin went to EPCOT. We wanted Joseph to rest during the day because we were expecting a long night in the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party: 7pm Trick or Treating, 8:30pm Parade, 9:30 PM Fireworks.

Time to trick or treat

Waiting for the parade

Waiting for the fireworks

It was awesome!

Wish Trip Day 4 - Universal Studios

At the Bubba Gump Restaurant, fueling up before our long walk to the farthest end of Universal's Islands of Adventure Part to get to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Oh my goodness, the humidity was unbearable, but finally we got to our destination.

Now what? There really was not much for Joseph to do here.

The rides were definitely inaccessible. The shops and streets were crowded.

And we heard a lot of British accent in the park.

Joseph was getting bored. I don't know where he got the idea of a love potion in one of the shops. Didn't know where to look for it, and the shops were really crowded. I settled for a chocolate frog, a cauldron cake and a bottle of juice cocktail with pumpkin flavoring that I tried to pass off as the love potion.

We don't know why Joseph did not want his picture taken with the train,

and so Brady settled for this.

Just as we were leaving the Harry Potter area, we came upon a magic show.

We all enjoyed it. We were, otherwise, very disappointed with what Universal Studios

had to offer to Joseph; there was not one accessible ride, not even the carousel.

The oppressive humidity did not help either, so we decided to return to the hotel.

It was Monday Night Football anyway. And that was just fine with Joseph because he had been missing his computer time.

Can't leave home without it.

Wish Trip Day 3: Magic Kingdom

We started late today, and only planned to stay in Magic Kingdom for 2 to 3 hours. After our experience with the trick-or-treaters in SeaWorld last night: big crowd, driving and maneuvering Joseph's power chair and running over toes and nearly destroying a stroller, Brady and I figured that we would stay 3 hours tops to save our sanity and marriage ;o) But, the 2 hours stretched to 5 hours and we all had a great time.

We started off by taking the monorail to the Kingdom,

Joseph's first monorail ride.

Because we didn't get to Magic Kingdom until 1pm

(after the drive, monorail ride and waiting for the passes) we were hungry.

Add the warm weather and the humidity, the day was not looking good.

We decided to eat first and thankfully, good food AND the air-conditioning

at the Plaza Restaurant made us all happy.

We explored the place and before we knew it, people were lining up to see the parade.

We found the special spot for individuals in wheelchairs and got

front-seat view of the parade. The characters in the parade made sure

to stop in front of Joseph and acknowledge him.

Brady told me that he was so touched by the special attention given to Joseph

that he teared up. I, on the other hand, was too busy trying to take pictures

and steadily complaining about the heat.

Woody (at least a part of him) saying Hi to Joseph.

And there was Mickey! Even in my middle age, I still got excited to see him!

Mickey Mouse pointing to Joseph
This is the back of Joseph's head. See his left hand?


.Then we headed to Mickey's Toontown to look for him.

We found him and Minnie, too.

We could not get on any rides because of the wheelchair situation.

So we went on our way to the Jungle Cruise to see if it could accommodate

Joseph and his power chair. On the way there, Brady took this picture.

Yes, my stepson is much taller than me now.

Not that I am very tall to begin with.


We found the Jungle Cruise. And yes, Joseph could get in it!

Out of all the rides in the Magic Kingdom, this was the ONLY one

that could accommodate a power wheelchair.

When we were just checking out Disney World online, and all its attractions and rides last year,

Jungle Cruise was the main thing that got Joseph's attention.

And so Brady and I were so happy that he got to experience it.

Almost time to leave the Magic Kingdom

While the three guys waited for me to check out the shops,

they got to see two more parades.

As we were leaving, Joseph stated that he loved Disney World.

He liked the parades most of all, especially the very first one

when the characters came up to him.

It was close to 7pm when we got back in the van, and we were hungry. The KidsWish Network had arranged for us to have dinner at Friendly's. (We missed the one at the Cheesecake Factory last night because Joseph was trick-or-treating in SeaWorld and then we couldn't find where the restaurant was. The GPS kept saying that we had arrived at our destination and yet we couldn't see any sign of it. It turned out it was in the Mall and we just felt so tired, and being that it was close to 8pm already we just went back to the hotel and ate there.) Tonight, though, we made it to the restaurant. We were not sure about what food they serve because it looked like an ice cream place. It IS an ice cream place, and their food was really good. We all had a great time. And Joseph was particularly proud of his "creation", in which you decide the size, the flavor and topping of your ice cream. Tonight/today was great.

Wish Trip (Kids' Wish Network) Days 1 and 2

Warning: I plan to post quite a few pictures each day while we are on this KidsWish trip. It is as much for me as for our families and friends who want to be updated on Joseph. I like to look back and remember the good ole days, and the pictures are such a great reminder of days gone by.

Day 1: Drove almost 10 hours from home to Tallahassee.

That included four stops along the way.

We stayed at the Candlewood Suites.

And we highly recommend this place for people like us

who value more than enough room to accommodate a power wheelchair.

Day 2: We drove almost 5 hours from Tallahassee to Orlando.

That included 3 stops and more than three toll gates.

And We Are Here.

Well, it's just the gift shop at the hotel.

First destination for this trip: SeaWorld

And surprise! SeaWorld is having Halloween Spooktacular this month.

Joseph's ninja costume came in handy.

Some sea creatures mingled with the trick-or-treaters.

Joseph's stash

One tired boy, with a medium Shamu that his Daddy won for him.

Here's hoping for a more magical day tomorrow

(with less stress and aggravation for Mommy and Daddy).