Busy 5 Days

This past 5 days have been very busy - Wednesday we took Aunti Vi to have her tooth pulled at the oral surgeon's. She did fine during the extraction and had very little pain/discomfort from it. We stayed with her until about 4:00 and then headed home. I did call her later on in the evening and she was still doing okay. 8:00 Thursday morning, she called me and said her left leg wouldn't support her and she couldn't walk. I couldn't do anything at that point since I was leading Bible study at 9:30. I told her we would stop down after Bible study and check on her and make a decision about her dentist appointment that afternoon (they needed to get an impression so they could adapt her bridge).

When we got there about 12:15, her leg was not back to normal but she was able to use it and walk with her walker. I had made an appointment with our regular doctor after the dentist appointment, but Aunti Vi decided she didn't want to go to the doctor so I cancelled it. After the dentist, we went to Wal-Mart and picked up some soft foods and then headed back to her apartment. We heated up some food for her which she ate. We left her about 4:00 and headed home. Thursday night Bible study went well and we didn't have any messages when we got home so we went to bed thinking Aunti Vi was on the road to recovery. However, it was a false sense of security.

Friday morning at 7:05, we received a call from the nurse at the retirement home where Aunti Vi lives and said Aunti Vi could not move her right arm and right leg and they were calling 911. She asked which hospital we wanted her taken to. We told her which one and got up and headed to the hospital. She hadn't arrived yet by the time we got there so we waited. About 15 minutes later, we were told she had arrived and we could go to admitting and get her paperwork filled out. By the time we got all of the paperwork filled out, she had had all of the tests to find out what was going on and we were told we could go back and see her. We then waited another 5 hours before we were told anything - we didn't know if she was going to be discharged or admitted. Finally about 2:00, the doctor came in and said she had had a minor stroke and was going to be admitted. At that point we headed out since we hadn't had anything to eat and had things to take care of. After getting some lunch, and picking some things up at Aunti Vi's apartment, we headed back to the hospital. Aunti Vi, by the time we got back, had regained use of her arm and also could move her leg some.

Yesterday (Saturday), we didn't go to the hospital until dinner time. When we got there, she was in bed but got up (with a lot of help) and sat in the chair to eat dinner. She was able to move her leg and use her arm some, but was far from normal. After leaving the hospital, we came home and rode our bikes out to the beach and home (13 miles round trip). We thoroughly enjoyed it and biking was a great stress reliever.

We didn't go to the hospital at all today. After the last four days, we just needed a break. Tonight we drove out to the beach for sunset, took our shoes off and walked in the gulf. It's up to 82 degrees so it was just delightful.

I called Aunti Vi when we got home and she does not sound good at all. Her speech was slurred and she was having trouble composing her thoughts. The neurologist who doesn't know her has put her on some new meds. I'm not sure if the slurring is a result of the meds or if her condition is deteriorating.

Tomorrow afternoon we're going to head over to Sea World for the afternoon and evening. We haven't been there since we were there with Dad in February, so it should be fun.

Time Flies

It doesn't seem possible it's been 15 days since I last posted. Days fly by and before I realize it, another week is gone.

This past weekend, we went over to Orlando to the Gaylord Palms for the Scrapbook Expo. We had never stayed at the Gaylord Palms and it was lovely. Sarah and Eric also went over. Our plans were to go to Sea World on Friday and then to the show and crop on Saturday. However, when we got over to Orlando on Friday, it was pouring rain and had been for several hours so the time at Sea World didn't happen! We stayed around the hotel and enjoyed walking around discovering all the resort had to offer. We met Rick and Csilla and the girls for dinner at a barbecue place we really like and then headed back to the hotel. Sarah and Eric had been upgraded to deluxe suite which included a dining area with a large table so Sarah and I spent Friday night cropping pictures and laying out pages we wanted to work on on Saturday at the crop. View from our balconySarah and I before starting - we only were at the crop on Saturday even though the Expo ran Friday and Saturday.This was the table next to us - obviously the ladies were there for the long haul!!!

By about 4:00, our creative juices had about dried up. I had gotten 8 pages done and Sarah had gotten about the same amount done. When Dan and Eric called and said they were on their way back to the hotel (they had spent the day at Sea World), we packed up and headed back down to Bradenton after a stop at Giordano's for stuffed pizza!

Tomorrow, we take Aunti Vi to the oral surgeon's for her tooth extraction. Thursday is Bible study morning and evening and then in the afternoon, we're taking Aunti Vi to our regular dentist so he can get an impression for her new bridge.

We used to have scrapbook night at church once each month, but we stopped due to lack of interest. However, we were talking at Bible study last week and several of the ladies in the evening session are scrapbookers and would like to start the get togethers again. We'll see what we can work out.

It's now 12:36 AM and we need to be up early tomorrow so I'll sign off for now.

Update

Today was a busy day. It started out taking Aunti Vi to the dentist. She only has 7 teeth left - 6 in front and 1 molar (probably a wisdom tooth). She's been having trouble with the molar - sensitive to pressure and an occasional ache. The dentist said she had 2 options - a root canal or extraction. She chose the extraction, so I called the oral surgeon and she's having it done the 27th.

After we took her home, we came home for a few minutes before heading out to see if we could see the space shuttle launch. We went up to the rest area north of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and had a perfect view of the contrail!! We were too far away to see the actual shuttle, but we could follow the trail until it was out of sight.

Tonight, we headed out to the beach for sunset. It was too windy to bike today, so we decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was the first time we had walked on the beach since I had my knees replaced. It felt SOOOO good to be able to walk on the beach and not feel any pain. We walked for about 45 minutes while the sun was setting. The sunset was absolutely glorious.
Tomorrow, we have hair appointments and we'll take Aunti Vi shopping. Then tomorrow night, Dan has brass ensemble rehearsal. Wednesday, right now is quiet. Thursday is Bible study morning and evening. Friday, Sarah and Eric are coming over for an evening of scrapbooking and Saturday Rick and Csilla are coming over for the weekend.

Disney Studios 20th Anniversary

Friday, we left home about 8 AM and headed to Disney Studios for the 20th Anniversary celebration. We had registered with WDW Celebrations (www.wdwcelebrations.com) to be part of their group and its associated activities. We arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort about 10 and checked in. Our room was available, so after finding our room (we were in "Aruba") and unloading the car, we headed to the Studios arriving just in time to get the materials for the scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt was involved to say the least. The list included 69 items to locate and document and only 4 hours to do it. By 1:00, we had made it through less than half of the items and we had had enough! The intense sun and the heat made the saying “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun” cross our minds a number of times!

We were getting hungry, so we headed to the Studio Catering Company to get lunch. We both had pulled pork sandwiches (YUM!!). By the time we finished our sandwiches, we were both too full to eat our dessert so we packed them up to eat later. After eating, we decided to head back to the hotel to cool off and take a nap.

We woke up about 4:00 and headed back to the studios. Earlier, while we were working on the scavenger hunt, we had gotten fast passes for Toy Story Midway Mania (TSMM). At 11:30AM the return time was 5:00. We had reservations at The Prime Time Café for 5:30, so we weren’t sure we would be able to take advantage of our fast passes. However, when we checked in with the hostess, she said to go ahead and have fun and come back when we were done. We rode TSMM and got back to the restaurant at 5:33! DH had pot roast and I had the fried chicken. We both had brownie sundaes for dessert and again, could not finish them.

After dinner, we headed back to TSMM, where the WDW Celebrations group was meeting to ride together. We met them and rode TSMM again. After the ride, we headed for the exit planning to take the boat ride over to EPCOT. However, our car was parked at the Studios and the boat was not returning to the Studios. We got off at the Swan and Dolphin stop and waited for the next boat going back to the Studios. We got our car, and headed back to the resort.

Back at the resort, we explored the resort and took pictures. We were really wiped out, so we headed for bed, not sure of what we would do on Saturday. When we woke up on Saturday, the heat and activities from Friday had taken their toll – we were beat!! We ate breakfast at the resort food court and then headed for home.

Embroidered Placemat and Napkin

I finished one set (3 more to go) of a placemat and napkin. I am very happy with the way they turned out. It took almost a month to complete the set so I figure the whole set of 4 will take about 3 more months to finish!

This week flew by. As mentioned in the previous post, we were over at Disney until Wednesday, Thursday was Bible study morning and evening and Friday, friends came over for dinner. Today we went to the wedding of friends from church. Tomorrow is church in the morning and a concert in the evening. And so starts another week. . .

Our Mini Disney Vacation 4-20 to 4-22-09

We arrived at the Polynesian Resort about 4:00 on Monday. Since we had never stayed at the Polynesian before, we spent some time exploring the resort. We decided that any time we need a Hawaii “fix,” we’ll come over here! The hotel price is about the same and it’s about 11 hours closer and doesn’t entail airfare!

After exploring, we walked to the Ticket and Transportation Center and caught a ferryboat over to the Magic Kingdom (our room was in the Tahiti building so we were just steps from the Ticket and Transportation Center). We weren’t sure what to expect at the Magic Kingdom, since it was open until 11 PM, which is usually indicative of high occupancy. However, it wasn’t crowded at all. We headed to the Columbia Harbor House to get something to eat. After eating, we went to the Haunted Mansion where the sign said a 10-minute wait. However, it was more like 3 minutes. We got in a "Doom Buggy" and for the first time (at least for us) the ride stalled while we were in the staircase section of the mansion. It stayed stalled for about 10 minutes and then proceeded normally. When we got to the end, there was a tech type person at the control panel, so the ride computer must have “burped.”

After the Haunted Mansion, we headed over to Splash Mountain, where for the first time EVER, we walked right to the boarding area, right into a boat! Splash Mountain is so much fun and both of us wound up getting soaked! As we were getting off Splash, we heard the music from Spectromagic, so we stood and watched the parade (we STILL prefer the Main Street Electrical Parade). After the parade, we went over and rode Pirates of the Caribbean, again walking right onto a boat, in which we were the only passengers. After Pirates, we stopped and got Dole Pineapple Whip (YUM!) and then it was time for the “Wishes” Fireworks. We stood and watched it from near the Crystal Palace. As always, it was beautiful! After the fireworks, we headed for Tomorrowland. and rode Buzz Lightyear! For the FIRST time, I beat Dan!! When we got off, he wanted a rematch! Yes, he shellacked me the second time through and no, I didn’t let him win – we’re both too competitive for that! We then headed to the exit and took a launch back to the Polynesian where we promptly hit the sack and fell asleep immediately.

Day 2

When we got back to the Polynesian last night, we decided to have room service for breakfast. We made our selections and hung the menu on the door. We set the alarm for 8:30 since we ordered breakfast to be delivered between 9:30 and 10:00. We ordered the Tonga Toast which is a THICK slice of sourdough bread stuffed with sliced banana, dipped in egg, deep fried then rolled in cinnamon and sugar while warm. Dan ordered it with bacon and I had sausage. Breakfast was delivered at 9:25 and it definitely met our expectations (we’ve had the Tonga Toast before - even though we had never stayed at the Polynesian, we had eaten there). After breakfast, we hung out in the room until checkout at 11:00. We then drove over to the Contemporary fully anticipating being told it wasn’t check-in time yet and our room wasn’t ready. Our reservation was for a room in the tower facing Bay Lake. We gave the CM our name and she looked up the reservation and saw the room we had been assigned wasn’t ready. She then made a phone call and asked if there was another room available. She came back to us and said we had been upgraded to a room on the 11th floor, facing west overlooking the Magic Kingdom and Seven Seas Lagoon. What a view!! We’ve been taking pictures from the balcony all day! What a birthday treat! No, my birthday isn’t until tomorrow (Earth Day), but I’ll take the upgrade as an early birthday present!
Both of us were not ready to head to the parks yet, so we lay down and slept for an hour. After waking, we caught the monorail to EPCOT. Since we hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, the first thing we did was go to the Electric Umbrella and had a light snack. We then walked around taking pictures of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival taking pictures of the beautiful flowers and topiaries (we had been over for the opening day March 18th and could see the vast difference in the displays since then – much more in bloom and denser). Between the 2 of us, we took almost 300 pictures (gotta love digital photography – we took a total of 486 pics in the two days!). We stopped in France at the patisserie and had a bite to eat and then headed to the monorail to head back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, we didn’t do much of anything but kick off our shoes and put our feet up for a little while. After 2 days of walking the parks, exploring hotels and other miscellaneous walking, our feet (and legs) are letting us know they aren’t used to this “abuse.” We still hadn’t had dinner, so about 8:30 we headed down to the Contempo Café and ate. By the time we finished, it was time for the electrical water pageant, which we could watch sail across Seven Seas Lagoon from our balcony. By the time it finished “sailing” by, it was time for “Wishes.” WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had seen it last night from the Crystal Palace perspective, but to watch it from our balcony on the 11th floor of the Contemporary was phenomenally indescribable – something neither one of us will soon forget! After the fireworks, we called it a day.

Day 3

My "alarm" this morning was Dan singing “Happy Birthday” to me. After getting packed, we headed over to Perkin’s in Lake Buena Vista for breakfast. We then went to EPCOT and got my birthday gift card (we have annual passes so the gift card option is a wonderful alternative to the free admission on your birthday promotion). We were both sad that our mini vacation was over, but knew we had to get home.

Excited!!

My birthday is fast approaching (about a week and a half away). Where are we going to spend it? At Disney, of course!! But what is going to be really special is we're going over and staying at 2 of the resorts we've never stayed at - the Contemporary and the Polynesian - 1 night at each. We've stayed at all of the value resorts, all of the moderate resorts, camped at Fort Wilderness, and stayed in the cabins at Fort Wilderness. We've also stayed at Wilderness Lodge and the Grand Floridian. We've stayed at the Treehouse Villas at Lake Buena Vista before they were changed to lodging for college interns. The only resorts we haven't stayed at are the two mentioned above, the Yacht Club, Beach Club, the Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Boardwalk Inn (I know the Swan and Dolphin are also on Disney property, but they are not Disney resorts as they are managed by Westin and Sheraton). We also haven't stayed at any of the Disney Vacation Club Resorts (we probably never will since we don't need the space the DVC resorts offer - more like condos than hotel rooms).

I'm really looking forward to our 3 days over there. Friends went over to EPCOT this past Tuesday and took many pictures of the flower show displays. It was amazing to see the difference 3 weeks can make. The flowers were so much more in bloom than when we were over there on opening day. From their pictures, it became evident there were many displays that weren't present on opening day.

This week is shaping up to be relatively quiet with just taking my aunt out on Wednesday and Bible study Thursday. With a light schedule, we may even find time to take a bike ride or two!!