Disney Trip

On November 7, we started out on what turned out to be an amazing trip. To Disneyworld and back with Amy's dad and his wife along for the ride. Their help was invaluable and I cannot imagine doing this trip without them. By the end of our trip Lorraine and Amy were such a well-oiled machine in changing Angela, they could have competed at the Indianapolis or Daytona 500 in the pit crews! :o)

About 7:30AM on 7 Nov 09 we were picked up by an airport limousine. What I thought (or hoped) was going to be a stretch limo to the Philadelphia airport turned into an airport limousine similar to a bus moving from one hotel to the airport and back. To be honest, a stretch limo would have been difficult for us. It would have meant breaking down Angela's wheelchair and packing it in with our luggage before we even got the airport where we would need it again. The airport limo was set up for a wheelchair and we were able to leave Angela in her chair for the ride down, which was a help.

We got to Philly and made our flight without an major incident, other than the post-911 security. All of Angela's medicines and formulas were marked enough for the security to give us the go ahead to head to our gate. Our flight left the airport around 11:00 and we landed in Orlando a little before 1PM. There was a slight hiccup as it took a while for us to meet our greeter from the Make-A-Wish foundation. The poor woman was the only person on duty for the foundation and she had to hustle from back-to-back-to-back flights, and the first flight was delayed in landing. Still once she met us she helped us to get to where we met a h/c accessible van that was ours to use for the entire time of our stay. We drove back to the van rental hq and after securing our permissions for the van we drove to the Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, FL.

We had to check in to the village similar to checking into a hotel. But once we got our "home away from home," we felt at ease. The village was a fantastic place to stay. They only have about 100 actual paid employees. The rest of the village from the food serving lines to the maintenance is done by roughly 1,500 volunteers a week. These people range from local college students to church groups from across the country that want to volunteer their time. It was really an amazing place to stay and as with much of our trip, one week seemed way to short to really enjoy everything this place had to offer.

The first and second days were very similar in that we travelled and rested up. We thought about trying to go to the Magic Kingdom on Sunday 8 Nov 09, but Angela seemed a little worn out from the flight. So rather than risk her, we stayed put until that evening. A good friend of ours and fellow SLO mom, Kelly Roberts for dinner at a restaurant in down town Disney. We got to spend lots of extra time with Kelly this past summer at our SLO Conference and knew that if we go to Florida we should try to meet up with her and her daughters Abby and Stevie. (This is her daughter Stevie wearing my Penn State hat at dinner. I was working on brainwashing her into coming north for college in a few years...lol) Kelly is a wonderful person and gave us lots of insight as to how to go about our trip. I am hopeful that she will come north at some point and let us take her and her girls to Hersheypark for a day.

I will leave you hanging from here. I have other duties to attend to for the evening, but suffice to say this is just the tip of the iceberg of our trip.

I promise to update soon

As I look back it's been three months since anything was posted here. In that time we have gone to Disney and back. Had Thanksgiving with Amy's family. Angel has been up and down with colds and little illnesses. And the big news of having Nick's family in for the Christmas and New Years. It's hard to find the right time to do this. We are both busy and much of our time is divided between Angela and our personal events like getting a newer van, Army drills, working and a women's Bible study group for Amy. We have lots of pictures and stories to tell. I hope to sit down with Amy and work out in our minds what happened when so we can let all of our fans out there in blogland know.

It is now 2010 and we are already looking at possibly new surgeries and events for the year. While we will know more in a few weeks, but right now it looks like Angela will need back surgery sometime in the early part of the year. Her spine was at a 45 degree angle last March when she was last seen by her spine specialist. On December 23 after another x-ray was done, we were told that is has increased to 80 degrees. We will be told more in a few weeks, but right now just send us positive thoughts and prayers as we go forward.

Hope we can see all of you in the coming year.

Andy

Army Ten Miler Weekend

Last weekend Amy and I took Angela to DC so I could run in the annual Army Ten Miler race. We had a goo time. While were down we stayed and visited with my aunt Bruna. We always enjoy spending time with her. The warmth and love that she gives to us always makes the time go fast.

I only wish that it had translated into my run. I completed the run in 1:41.06. I had hoped to be a little faster, closer to 1:35, but I still finished and had fun. Several of our friends from Harrisburg came down to do the run as well, which helped. Amy and Angela stood out on the course and held a sign cheering me on. On the other side of the sign they also had a sign that cheered on our friends as well.

When we got back to Bruna's I was very tired. I took a long hot shower, but was exhausted. Angela had been up with us since 6AM, and so we made sure that she got a nap before we headed for home. She is still small and does not take up much space, so I decided to join her. It was very much needed or else Amy would have been driving home. ;-)

Amy woke me up after a short break so that we could eat a late lunch/early dinner with Bruna and my uncle Lou. We soon packed up and came home. All in all it was good weekend getaway. Now we can start focusing on our upcoming trip to Disneyworld in a few weeks!

Rabbit Season!

The Rabbit Stander arrived late last week. So far our difficulties have been getting her body in a proper position, as she likes to turn her feet out instead of straight. Starting on 9 Oct 09, she will again be getting extra physical therapy at Lebanon Valley College. We are planning on taking the stander with us that morning so that they can get her positioned correctly and show us how to adjust it better for her.

For now, we try to put her in for about 30 minutes. We have to fight with her a bit to get her to keep her hands on the wheels. The idea is to have Angela understand that she can move them on her own. As soon as she is trying to motor all over the house, it will time for us to find a bigger place. :-)

Rabbit Stander coming!

We got a call today saying that Angela has been approved for a Rabbit Stander. It will be similar to this picture, and it will allow Angela to grow and start to move around more on her own. We requested this several months ago, as the people at DDS suggested it for her. At first we were told we might not get it because it had wheels and it was too similar to her wheelchair. Somehow someone got through to the powers that be to see that while they both have wheels and can move, the purpose of the items is very different.

It should arrive within the next few weeks. Once it does and she is in it for a bit, we'll post some pictures for all to see!

Update

It has been waaay too long since we put something out here. Between running around for the Army most of the summer and Amy working many extra hours at the library we have neglected our blog.

We went to the shore for several days at the beginning of September. As we were arriving into N. Wildwood, NJ, the Cookie-mobile's Air Conditioning blew out. It was operating on borrowed time from nearly the moment we got the van. Thankfully it chose the moment we arrived in town to quit, while smoking and having an acrid smell that made us nervous. When we got it to a garage to have it looked at, we were told that it could either cost us $1000 to not only repair the A/C and bring it up to speed with current standards, or roughly $100 to replace the serpentine belt and enable us to get home. Needless to say we took the lower cost, and have decided to start looking for a newer van. It will probably not be handicapped accessible, as the Cookie-mobile has been. But it will be newer and not cost as much to maintain. After costing us $3000 last summer to pass inspection and another $700 this year, it is fast outpacing our means to support it. Angela likes it, and we like the cargo space it gives us, but the costs are far too high for us to keep it.

But our vacation was fun. We rode a bike two days straight with Angela sitting on the back. Pedaling the bike on the boardwalk was tough, and easier on the cement we would ride across. But we had a good time. We also got her to put her toes in the ocean, a big first for her. She was a little tentative at first, but soon relaxed. She left little footprints in the sand and made a favorable impression on everyone she met (no surprise there). We hope to continue to make this an annual trip. Going to the beach is starting to grow on Amy.

We got home late Thursday evening. We made a slight detour so I could have Amy and Angela meet the family of one of my soldiers. SGT Mark Wagner has been working day to day at my unit since mid-April and his wife expressed interest in running the unit's Family Support Group. Amy once helped with that at one of my former units, and was interested in meeting with Linda so they could talk over plans and get to know each other. Our trip up was longer than we had anticipated because of traffic and accidents. Everyone had such fun that we are hopeful to do it again sometime.

Friday was our day off to get back into the swing of things at home and get last minute missions done to get ready for Angela sixth birthday party. While Amy went back to work at the library and Betty, our nurse, took care of Angela, I was able to get little things done, like getting the canopy from my buddy Kenny Hannaford. And no birthday party for Angela is complete without an appearance by Jimbo the Clown. Every year when he comes in he has some new tricks or balloon creations. This year he made a balloon character that looked similar to Angela.

We had a great time. Amy and I love the fact that many members of our extended families come to the party. It is fun to see Eli and Maggie and to watch them interact with Makayla and Rowan, and laugh at everyone playing with Angela. My little girl loves being the center of attention, and she gets lots of it when the parents and cousins are around. She seems to especially enjoy sitting on my Aunt Bruna's lap and snuggling up to her in comfort.

After the party, we took a break from running around for a few days. The biggest thing we did was go to a local playground to let Angela sit in a swing for a while. It is hard to describe the enjoyment she got from it. The howls and squeals of laughter coming from her as she went back and forth need to be heard to fully grasp. It was the perfect way to close out a busy week of travelling and partying.

On the road

In a few hours we leave for the biennial SLO conference. This year it is being held in Boston. Please say a prayer, cross your fingers, light candles or burn incense that the Cookie-Mobile holds up for the trip. Last weekend I got my friend Jeff Heffner, who did lots of the work last year, to weld some metal in place to repair two holes on the "shotgun" side in the front. One of the holes was right along the edge at the top of the wheel-well. It was difficult but not impossible to repair.

We also found out what large piece of the motor assembly was missing, the air filter housing! A few months ago I had noticed the engine running a little louder and Amy was smelling anti-freeze. That was when we found the hole in the body on the passenger side. When I opened up the hood I could see that there were hoses that did not connect to anything. Now I will admit that I am no mechanic, but I can understand that when there are hoses that don't connect something is wrong. Jeff explained to me what was missing and I got an Army buddy to order me another one. I am hopeful that we can pick it up on our way back from the Conference on Monday.

The trip should be good, as we get to stay in the same hotel as we did when we went to Ian and Lauren Schmellick's wedding two years ago. We also plan on stopping on the way back in Connecticut and visiting with my aunt Weze. We plan to use her house as an overnight stop to break up the trip some for Angela.

Hope to have new pictures and some insight from the conference posted within the next week.