I wanted to start by thanking everyone for the prayers and words of encouragement concerning the passing of my Grandma. Today is visitation and her funeral is tomorrow. Your continued prayers are welcomed and received gratefully.

I'm posting today from the farthest south I have ever been. We are currently in the Keys. Right now we are preparing to take Zach to his week long dolphin encounter for children with special needs. He seems excited about the idea of seeing dolphins but right now is more excited about the hammocks, birds, and throwing rocks/sand into the water.

They have really big bugs down here, lol. I'm beginning to figure out which bugs we encounter depending on what the bite they leave behind looks like. It's still novel enough to be amusing but we'll see how I feel about it in a couple of days.

We found a nice bar/restaurant only two houses down from us and Zach's Dolphin Research Center is on the other side of the restaurant. It's nice to be able to walk to places. Josh and Ben are going to take one of the paddle boats out today to explore the water. I'm still a bit nervous as I have read previous reviews of this location where shark sightings are mentioned but I'm going to let myself think that that person was much further out than Josh and Ben will go.

I will try to figure out how to do pictures soon and post some. I have to be honest I have been trying to just enjoy the kids but will try to do some documentation of the trip.

Well, I'd better get our stuff together for today. Again, thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts I know both I and my family appreciate them.

This is going to be a quick blog as it has been a busy and long day.

This morning at 5:30am my wonderful, kind, loving Grandma Plyman went home to be with her husband and her Lord. Even though the end was rough it went quickly and she is at peace. Please keep my mom and her sisters as well as the rest of the family in your prayers over the coming days and weeks as we all adjust to this loss.

We attempted to reschedule our trip to the Keys next week but there were no other times available for us to go while we are down here so I am not going to be able to attend the funeral but will be with them in spirit and will mourn from a distance.

I remember growing up my grandparents would come out from Buffalo every other summer and see us in California. It was with my grandparents that I first saw Disneyland and I remember many trips to Grandma's house with it's treasures and pictures of my mom and her sisters in their graduation photos on the wall. I remember grandma as being the kind and quiet one. I never saw her get mad and never saw her speak a mean word. She was a remarkable woman and I am blessed to have known her.

I'm glad she's with grandpa now as she has missed him greatly these last 6 years. What a joyful reunion that must have been.

Good night.

I'm just going to post a quick update here. We got some good news today, they have located some of our mail. It should be here within a few days! Thanks for your thoughts about this we are relieved that this has began to work out.

I would like to ask you to pray for another, more serious, request. We got word today that my mom's mom is not doing well at all. She went into hospice on Tuesday and word is that she is doing worse every hour. My mom is on her way there now (driving) and the other sisters are also gathering. We are hoping for the best but would so appreciate your prayers during this time.

I'm going to go now and try to get some sleep.

So tired, but I wanted to give another update although I'm pretty sure you all must be tired of reading about us going to the parks all the time.

We did change things up this morning and went to Hollywood Studios. We split up as the boys have different tastes in this park and the temp was soaring. We have had record highs the last couple of days and it's even gone above 100 degrees. We did have a good time, though. Josh spent much of the morning learning how to draw Disney characters. He and Brandon had a great time working on drawing Pluto. Zach and I went to Toy Story Midway Mania and rode it then Zach saw Buzz and Woody through a window and wanted to see them. The kids have a guest assistance card which allows them to be a bit more comfortable in lines but the card doesn't work with character meets. This has been an issue with Zach as he is not all that thrilled with the characters anyways and then to wait for them usually brings on a meltdown. I'm usually pretty good with handling people staring or making comments but to choose to put Zachary in that situation is difficult.

Well, he really wanted to see Buzz and Woody so we braved the line and just put up with the yelling and some frustration. It was all worth it for when we finally got to the characters. They usually want to take pictures and pose and sign autographs but I asked them to just play with him. Zach doesn't pose well anyways and they basically just played with him and had a great time. It was so great. I see so many parents trying to pose their kids for that perfect shot when all the kids really want to do is just play. I'm really glad Zach had that moment.

We did have a pretty big storm come through this afternoon but it was nice to have a brief break in the temperature. We were even able to go back to the Magic Kingdom with Jen and Drew tonight to do a couple rides. Josh is doing a great job getting used to the heat and he LOVES to shop. (he gets that from me!)

We have still not gotten any mail but are hopeful. Thanks for your prayers.

BTW, I love the comments people are leaving but I have no idea how to comment back as I type out a comment and then it wont post it. So thank you for the comments and we do appreciate them even though we are not responding to them.

(Josh is going to try to get some pictures on the blog soon)

It's been a super busy couple of days. Yesterday we attended another local church with a special needs ministry. This one was smaller and a bit more intimate. They had a fantastic program for the kids that used PECS and visual aids. We also found out that the pastor and his wife were the parents of a 17yo with Autism. We are hoping to talk with them more about this specific ministry.

In the afternoon we were laying low until Zach went a bit stir crazy and he and I ended up at Epcot for some rides. He loves Test Track, Soarin, and Nemo there. When we were done he kept asking for Splash Mountain so we contacted Mark, Jen, and Drew and we all met at Magic Kingdom. It is funny how some of the cast members are starting to recognize Zachary. We had a great time which was made even more funny when we were in Tomorrowland. There was a dance party going on with a bunch of disco/club music and we got Zach out of his chair to ride the people mover. Once out of the chair he went into his own little dance number. I wish so much I had a video camera. It was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time.

Today we hung around for the morning and then Josh and Ben went to the clubhouse to do some swimming with dad and Zach went back to Magic Kingdom. Apparently everyone had fun and Zach even came home with a new slinky dog from Toy Story 3. He's been wanting it for over a week. He was pretty excited about it.

We also got confirmation about our Dolphin experience next week. We are in and good to go for Zach to do a week long dolphin encounter. I'm really excited about being there!!

We have still not gotten our mail. I think we are closer as we have now spoken with a local postmaster general and they are working to get a fix on where exactly the mail is. We have decided to have it sent to Mark and Jen since it's been a bit if a fiasco here in Emerald Island.

Hope everyone is well.

Just wanted to give any of you reading a quick update on how we are doing.

Zach continues to love Disney rides. We go daily for him to ride several of his favorites. We have been attempting to change things up as we found ourselves doing a specific loop: Train, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain RR, Haunted Mansion, Small World, maybe Peter Pan or Snow white, and then Pooh's ride. When we finished Pooh we were finding Zach to be done and he would be frustrated when we didn't leave right away or if we got blessed with a double ride. I realized that this pattern was becoming set in stone for him which we found problematic if the ride was shut down or if we had to make adjustments. We are changing things up and adding different rides and even skipping some of his favorites. So far so good, I think we caught it early.

Josh is struggling a bit with the heat. He does not like fast or spinning rides and had not enjoyed the parks as much as Zach. We have found ways to make him more comfortable. We spend a lot of time "shopping" which is basically looking through stores at all the things he likes. Josh is able to earn money doing various things and then likes to shop for what's in his price range. He's struggling a bit with saving more than 5-6 dollars at a time but there are only so many things to buy for that price so I think this summer is going to be a good lesson in saving. Since he is so sensitive to the heat here we find ourselves going to the parks early in the morning (by 9am) and then leaving by noon to be home by 1pm. This puts us in the parks when they are least crowded and the heat is more bearable. So far this has worked well for us.

Brandon and I spent some time in Epcot without the kids last night. It was nice to take our time in the shops and we were able to meet up with Mark, Jen, and Drew Bonczyk for dinner in Germany. We had a great time eating German food, listing to a polka band, and visiting with great friends.

Today is kinda our at home day. We are doing laundry, swimming, hanging out and doing some housekeeping. We do have a prayer request. We arranged to have our mail forwarded to this address while we were gone but so far our mail has not found us. We are unsure exactly where it is and it seems everyone has a different suggestion. Please pray that our mail finds us here in Florida, not a big thing but we miss our mail, lol.

Hope you are all well!

I know it's been several days since I blogged but the times I have had available to write things down the blog site has been down so I've had to wait.

I'll catch you guys up on the last several days.

On Sunday we went to First Baptist Church in Orlando. They are a huge church and they have a good special needs program. When we got there we found out the regular teacher was out so the director was filling in. She had been running the program for about 15 years and was very good with the boys. It was a large room with many sensory and autism friendly aspects. We loved how they were allowed to move about the room as they needed and while encouraged to participate with the program in place they were not required to sit with the group. The boys both seemed happy with the program and Josh said he enjoyed it very much.

Sunday afternoon found us at Blizzard Beach which is one of Disney's water parks. The boys took to this place like fish to water. There was a large wave pool that we could barely keep Zach out of. His daring amazes and scares me as he's out in these three foot waves with his little life jacket on just bobbing away. I've often said I'm not smart enough to be Josh's mother, I'm now realizing I'm not brave enough to be Zach's. :- )

On Monday Zach and I got up early and went to Magic Kingdom. This is quickly becoming part of Zach's routine. We got there at opening and Zach rode the train to Splash Mountain, then went on to Big Thunder Mountain RR, then on to Haunted Mansion, Small World, Peter Pan, Snow White, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and then on to Tomorrowland where he rode Tomorrowland Transit and Space Mountain then finished up with Buzz Lightyear. We left the park around 12:00 and got home around 1pm. We don't live that far away from Disney but we take the Monorail to the Poly and then get a snack at the Poly so it takes us a bit longer. This is a very adventurous touring plan that we are only able to do thanks to a special pass they give to children with special needs called a Guest Assistance Pass. It allows us to do things much more quickly and then get out of the park before Zach gets too overwhelmed. Both of the boys have this card but we use it more for Zach since we go on the bigger rides with him.

We came home and Brandon and I decided to take some adult time and go explore some of Disney's resorts. We were able to see the Grand Floridian which is very posh and beautiful. They had a Grand Piano in the lobby that was playing and the whole place just seemed like you'd advanced several tax brackets. We then went on to the boat over to Magic Kingdom to catch a boat to the Wilderness Lodge. It's an amazing resort done up with beautiful dark wood and arts and crafts style details. We spent some time cooling off in two of their many Morris chairs in the lobby. We then took a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This lodge is so amazing. They actually built it around their Safari area so the animals will come during feeding times and gather in an area right outside your room so you can watch giraffe, antelope, ostrich, and many others hanging out. It's truly an amazing place.

After our resort hopping we went back to Magic Kingdom and went to Tomorrrowland. Brandon had no recollection of ever being in this land and so we went on several rides including Space Mountain. We then went over to Big Thunder Mountain RR, and the haunted Mansion. It was nice to see the theming they do since we usually have to skip it when we are with the kids. The parade was starting but my husband was very impressed with my ability to find secret passageways to get us through the crowds. It was actually only the riverside path but don't tell him that.

We ended up on Main street to see the Fireworks and the 11pm parade. These are both new, having just started this last weekend, however the parade is the Main Street Electrical Parade that is very old and that they sent over from Disneyland. This is very special for me because having grown up in California I have memories of seeing this parade. As we were sitting there waiting for it to start I heard the familiar music and then saw the floats come into view. It was so pretty seeing all the floats. Brandon asked if I remember any of them specifically or had they changed. I know I remember the snails and turtles that float around the street but what I mentioned was a huge Pete's Dragon. This was in the 70's and early 80's right after Pete's Dragon had been in the theaters, but it was the main float I remembered. I figured Disney updated their floats from time to time and that they would have found another, more recent, movie to do. Nope, suddenly down main street came my Pete's Dragon float, just like I remember it. I had tears in my eyes (I'm such a sap) and felt like a kid again.

Yesterday we went at a family to Epcot. Josh and I window shopped and then did a couple rides and Zach and Dad did Soarin, Test Track, and Nemo. By that time Josh was tired and we needed to get home. Zach and I ended up going back to Magic Kingdom last night where we did his circuit again (they are starting to recognize us on these rides and Zach is getting quite the fan club.

Josh is very dedicated to his autograph book and has 15 signatures so far. Daisy, being the most recent one yesterday at Epcot. Josh's favorite park is Downtown Disney because of the shops and DisneyQuest.

So that's a quick update on us. I am leaving out trips to grocery and house cleaning but I do want to make sure you realize it's not all about the parks, lol. (just mostly)

I will try to be more consistent with my updates. Hope you are all well.