Florida - Day 2 - The Day Everything Changed

A few weeks ago, Jacob earned the right to watch Space Jam, the old movie from the 90s starring Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters.  Not surprisingly, ever since he's been pretty much obsessed with basketball.  He's got certain basketball clothes, and right before our trip I scored him a pair of clearance high tops at Walmart in red, white and black.  He needed an extra pair of sneaks anyway, so why not?  Well, before we left he was sort of freaking out about wanting to play basketball here.  He wanted to bring a hoop and a real ball.  We compromised and brought a foldable mini hoop and tiny ball.  We also discovered that our resort has a court and basketballs to rent.  From the moment we got here he was asking to go play, and Wednesday morning was as long as we could hold him off.  We decided to take it easy in the morning, get ready, and walk over to the hospitality house to check it out.  We'd play for a bit then head over to Hollywood Studios, which we figured was a good first stop since there wasn't a ton we needed to do there.

So, we headed over and rented a basketball (for free) and went to the court.  The hoop was pretty high, and the basketball, even a smaller one, was tough for Jacob to get that high. 

Basketball quickly lost its luster, and next it was on to volleyball... 

When that got old, he wanted to try tennis...

He liked tennis enough that he wanted to play it again the next day, so I guess that may be his new thing.  We'll see.  It's been brutally hot and humid here, so all of these sports have left the boys pretty gross and sweaty afterward.  We stopped back at our villa so they could clean up.  Jacob also has a lot of homework to do during this trip, so we worked on some of that, as well.  Carter was just being cute in the meantime...of course!

Eventually we were ready to go.  Here's the view from our bus stop...

Not too bad, eh?

We got to Hollywood Studios around lunch time, but our quest to find a restaurant was thwarted by a sudden downpour that lasted a good half hour.  We took shelter under Mickey's sorcerer hat (see the picture below), and tried to plan things out a bit.  By the way, I love the look of the entrance to Hollywood Studios.  It's probably only my third favorite park, but the art deco old Hollywood look is among my favorite scenes anywhere on the property...

After a hectic but tasty lunch, once the rain had tapered to a drizzle, we headed to Star Tours, the Star Wars ride.  I didn't get to ride it when I was pregnant last time we were here (that's going to be a recurring theme in these posts, by the way), so I was eager to do it.  Jacob was excited too.  Craig stayed with Carter and Jacob and I went in.  Walking through the queue he got excited, but it occurred to me that we're not sure how Jacob does with motion sickness, and we had just eaten.  Hmmm.  The ride is basically a 3-D motion simulator.  Here is Jacob in his glasses...

Well, suffice it to say Jacob was not a fan.  About halfway through the motion was getting to him and he ended up pretty miserable.  Boo.  Guess I don't have a ride partner yet...c'mon Carter!  He recovered quickly enough, and off we went to the Muppets 3-D show.  That went over much better.

The boys in front of the Muppet fountain

At one point we headed down into a section that's meant to resemble a Hollywood street scene set, and we stumbled upon a bunch of characters!  Jacob got his picture taken with Chip, Dale, and Jessie from Toy Story.  He and Craig also posed with a Toy Story toy soldier...

And Jacob was excited to pose with Pocahontas...

And even I got into the action with Minnie Mouse!

We wandered back toward the front of the park so I could ride two more rides I missed out on during pregnancy--Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.  The skies were threatening again, and I snapped this cool shot looking toward the entrance...

Both of the rides were great.  It felt so good to be back on a roller coaster for the first time in years!  And for those who know what a roller coaster freak I used to be, I'm almost ashamed that it's been so many years since I've ridden one.  I think I've lost count.  Tower of Terror is a drop tower ride, and it's pretty sadistic, but lots of fun!  While I was riding, the boys noticed a ton of these lizards all over the flower beds...

Ewwwww.

We went back across the park again to the Indiana Jones stunt show, which was cut short because of the weather.  Then we headed back to the Toy Story Mania ride, which was under construction last time we were here.   Here's a better view of Mickey's hat from that walk...

The wait was long and there was no Fast Pass, so we just had to wait the hour. It was tough, no doubt.  Luckily the queue was full of giant toys to look at and even had an interactive Mr. Potato Head...

The ride was great!  You sat in moving cars and were ushered to numerous screens where you shot at targets.  It was sort of carnival themed (ring toss, pop up targets, etc.), and was a ton of fun!  Hard to say that a long wait with two kids is worth it, but we did have a lot of fun.  Of course, by the time we were done it was dinner time...but it was also park closing time, as that park closed earlier than most.  That was a bit of a bummer, but we made do with snacks...a Mickey cookie for Jacob (holy black dye, Batman) and a chocolate and Reese's Pieces dipped Mickey-shaped rice krispie treat for us.  We had dinner back at the resort while everyone got ready for bed...fortunately a lot earlier than the night before.   

So...I'm sure you're wondering what the title of this post is about.  Well...when we were getting ready to head back to Toy Story Mania, Craig decided to call Jacob's doctor to see if the results were in from last weekend's blood work.  He talked to the doctor for a while, and was giving me a lot of looks in the process.  So...based on what they're seeing, all evidence points to Celiac Disease.  Whouda thunk it?  But...perhaps it all makes sense.  While most people think gluten causes diarrhea and other things like that, it can also cause constipation, which Jacob has been dealing with for a while now.  He's also been complaining of belly aches when he eats.  It can also cause malabsorption of nutrients, which would probably explain why he hasn't been gaining much weight in the last year.  And, most importantly, it can cause ADHD-like symptoms, or even other behavioral problems.  Interestingly, Craig's brother just found out he's got a gluten sensitivity, and now that we think of it, we think Craig might have it, too.  He has a lot of digestive issues, as well as some itchiness, which can also be a side effect. 

So...while that's all obviously tough news and a very daunting challenge for me, the cook, I'm not freaking out about it yet because I'm so hopeful that this will help Jacob's behavior, which is a whole other sort of hard thing to deal with.  If it can fix that, it should all be worth it.  But yes, considering he mostly subsists on bread and pasta, this is a definite bummer.  He and Craig don't eat many veggies, so finding food for them is going to be very hard.  Wegmans has a great gluten-free section, though, and we have a lot of resources for tips and tricks, so hopefully this will be manageable.  I'm nervous, but we'll figure it out.  We might go a bit broke in the process, and I might lose my mind trying to make dinner, but we'll do what we can.  But boy is my menu going to have to change.  The other good news is that if Carter's sensitivities include gluten down the road, we'll already be ingrained in it and it won't be a big deal to add another to the mix.  Still, it's a bummer for a lot of reasons and will make eating out very tough, but again, if it fixes Jacob's issues (and Craig's, for that matter), it'll be amazing.  Of course, the doctor said not to do anything yet until we talk to the GI specialist, so we just have to manage Jacob's brutal behavior while we're here and confirm the results when we get home. 

So...yeah, the day definitely turned out to be significant for reasons we never expected.  It's a lot to deal with, but perhaps it helps to hear it here and we'll be ready to face it head-on when we get home.  Maybe. 

Anyway...still a vacation to be had, and next up...Magic Kingdom!