Super Bowl Thrill!!

Well, we had the opportunity of a lifetime, as many of you heard. Carrie and I flew to Orlando (and drove to Tampa on Super Bowl Sunday) to root on our beloved Arizona Cardinals. Yes, I said the Arizona Cardinals and Super Bowl Sunday in the same sentence. Back when they clinched the NFC Championship, I awoke the next morning thinking that it was all a dream, but it was real.

Everyone knows the outcome, but we are so proud of their accomplishments and how they played and almost beat the favored team. Vegas doesn't like us right now. 60% of the bets won since the point spread was -7. They lost big...serves them right and makes up for all of the years that they won big on crazy spreads only to see the Cards get blown out by double the spread.

We originally thought some friends would join us, but the economy situation did not allow them to make the trip, so we went on our own and had a blast. We spent Saturday at Universal Studios (pretty fun but very expensive in my opinion). We got up and headed to Tampa Sunday morning, arriving about 11:30 a.m. We spent the afternoon at the NFL Experience. It was included in the price of the ticket...actually only ticket holders could attend the NFL Experience on Sunday, so of course all of the fans were decked in their Pittsburgh and Arizona colors. I would say it was 5 to 1 Pittsburgh to Arizona. But one Pittsburgh fan pointed out to me the obvious...it is -10 degrees and snowing there so everyone is looking for a reason to get away. Arizona is warmer than Tampa so there wasn't the need. Besides, Pittsburgh is a storied franchise and has very loyal fans all around the country.

We went into the stadium about 3:30 p.m. and watched warm-ups and pregame ceremonies leading up to the kickoff. Jennifer Hudson was awesome and the Thunderbird's fly-by surprised us and scared many of us. We weren't expecting it, but it was surreal. Bruce Springsteen's show was excellent as well. But my favorite part of the day was watching my Cardinals almost beat the Steelers...oh so close. I was bummed, but not disappointed or embarrassed. They played great and gained the respect of the world. We are not the same 'ol Cardinals any longer.

It was a long drive back to Orlando, but the hotel we stayed at was gorgeous and the room was luxurious for 1/3 of the price they were charging in Tampa for a Days Inn or Super 8 Motel. It was a smart move and we found that a lot of people did the same thing we did 'cause the highway was packed all the way back.

Carrie and I went to Walt Disney World on Monday (shhh...don't tell Nathan - he would be mad at us). We went to Epcot and Hollywood Studios only. It was a wet, soggy day. We brought our ponchos and expected it to rain, but not as much as it did. Our dinner was the highlight of the day. We ate in Japan at Teppan Edo at Epcot. It was a teppanyaki (sp?) style meal...they fix it on the grille at your table. It was delicious and a first for Carrie and I as a couple. She had never had it, but loved it and we will eat at another soon.

We traveled home on Tuesday with more than half of the plane being Cardinals fans. We are back home and back to reality. As a sidenote, I read an article in the paper today about a United Airlines flight from Denver that hit a large bird yesterday and had to turn around safely to Denver shortly after takeoff. Thank goodness that wasn't us even though we landed and departed on United Airlines in Denver.

As requested, attached are some pictures...

We have arrived...stadium is in the background

Punt, Pass and Kick (first time kicking a ball from a tee and it went 30 yards)

Photo is taken from out seats... posing for picture 6 rows down

The Most Respectful Student Award

Yesterday, when I picked Nathan up from school he had a huge smile across his face. I knew something good had happened to him by his face. He said " I don't know how something this great could happen to me!" Well what happened? "I got a respect award" I still wasn't quite sure what he was talking about. Luckily about that time his teacher came over and told me he was chosen as this quarters most respectful student and he got a gift card to office max and his picture would be in the school news letter.



When we got to the car he told me that he wanted to use his gift card to buy something for his school instead of for him. I hope he never looses that loving, giving heart he has.

Dorothy and The King

First Tooth Gone

Nathan lost his first tooth last week. He was very excited that the tooth fairy gave him a dollar. He has been showing everyone his window.

Nathan's school sends home a new book for him to read each night. He is reading so much better after his first month of Kindergarten. Nathan is very analytical and he loves math because it is always consistent and follows all the rules. But unlike reading, where he has learned the rules for complex words, many words in the English language do not follow the rules. For example, if a word ends with the letter e, the 'e' becomes silent and the vowel in the word says its name, or if two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. When he is reading a book and a word like have or their comes up, he gets so frustrated. He said “When I get done learning this English language, I want to learn a language that is smart enough to follow its own rules.” I thought he should talk to his Aunt Gisele and see what language she recommends. Luckily, he has memorized most of the troublesome words, but he still just likes to complain about them.

Lauren's Getting Orthotics

Her therapists have been concerned about her left foot. Lauren has always had very tight achilles tendons. This is a common trait among children diagnosed with Sanfillipo. Her left side is weaker than her right. If Lauren gets overly fatigued her left foot will start collapsing in and turning out. The orthotic specialist is going to make her foot inserts to take some of the pressure off of the achilles tendons and stop the left foot from collapsing in. They made the foot impressions by casting Lauren's feet. For a few minutes she had purple casts on both feet. She did great and was in a great mood. She sang Old Macdonald, Mary Had A Little Lamb and Itsy Bitsy Spider for her. It was some of the easiest to understand singing I have heard from her in a long time.

Lauren has been doing great at wearing her hearing aids. I am praying the more she hears the easier her speech will be able to understand again. Lauren had been wearing her hearing aids all day long with out touching them. Her therapist forgot they were even in. I guess Lauren had decided they had been in long enough. She put one in her mouth and chewed up the hearing aid and the mold. Luckily we have insurance on any kind of damage the child causes to her hearing aids. So she will be getting a new hearing aide in a week or two.

Almost Home

Yesterday, we spent all day (literally) at Knotts Berry Farm. Now this is my kind of amusement park. 0 to 90 MPH in four seconds, up 10 stories in the air, constant 70 MPH speeds, etc. is my kind of rides (Dianna's too). I don't remember the last time I was at Knotts, but it had to be 20 years ago. It does not even resemble today what it was last time. There are maybe 4 thrill rides remaining and 8 added. It was a nice change from the slow pace of LegoLand and Disneyland in the earlier week. Although, Disneyland has a few rides that interest me. I just wish my stomach could still handle the G forces that these thrill rides give you.

Today, we are travelling back to our timeshare in Ramona, which is outside of San Diego in the mountains. We are currently visiting with my Uncle Richard and Aunt Dianna at their campsite in San Onofre. What an awesome set up they have. Words don't even describe the scenery and luxury that they have as retirees. But, they have certainly paid their dues and deserve everything they have. We are waiting for the sun to burn off the clouds and then we are going to walk down to the beach and play in the sand and water.

Disneyland was fun but not much to report. Nathan did go on Space Mountain this year and really enjoyed it. He wouldn't go last year. We did go back to the hotel in the afternoon so we could all catch a rest. Then we went back to the parks, caught the electrical light parade and fireworks before calling it a night.

We are actually ready to get back home to see our girl. We only saw her two days out of the entire trip.

Brian

Legoland 2 Days in a Row

Everyone knows Legoland is my favorite park of all times...NOT. So, how did we end up there 2 days in a row? We heard from our pediatrician that a new park called Sea Life Aquarium, which is a part of Legoland, openend last Monday. So, we decided to go check it out. It cost us $20.00 a piece to updgrade our ticket from a 1 day Legoland only ticket to a 2 day park hopper. WHAT A BUST! We made it through the Aquarium in 40 minutes and were done. It was a little interesting to see some of the different types of fish, but not worth the $20.00. Nathan was prophetic at the beginning when he said, "We'll go through this and be able to go to Legoland and ride roller coasters when they open at 10 (40 minutes from when we started Sea Life)."

We did get a chance to ride some of the "roller coasters" before we decided to call it a day at the park. Lauren, Mia and Papa had just arrived in town and we went and had lunch with them. The picture below is the park behind the hotel that we spent the afternoon at.

Yesterday, we went to Legoland with everyone. Lauren was bored on the kiddie rides but loved the roller coasters, so we have two thrill ride kids. Mia and Papa had a great time and we were so thankful that they were able to join us. Every time we go on these park vacations, we wish they were with us, so it was very enjoyable to have them be with us. They really enjoyed it, but they were worn out by the time we left in the late afternoon.

Today is a rest day before we are off to Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm on Thursday and Friday. Lauren is going back to Arizona with Mia and Papa tomorrow.