Live Laugh Love...with The Souza's: Disney Date

I love Disneyland.

And yesterday I got to go on a very special date with just Owen and I.

A few weeks ago my friend Taryn mentioned that she was thinking about taking a day off work and bringing her daughter to Disneyland because she had some previously bought tickets that were going to expire. So I thought it would be really cool to be able to take a day off work to do something FUN rather than always having to take days off work for illnesses. We had a non-student day this week so Owen wasn’t missing any school and I wasn’t missing any instructional time either. Plan was perfect…UNTIL Monday Night…Owen’s temperature spiked to 104.7…again!

He had a fever on Monday after school and while the fever was increasing, so was his leg pain. And I was a little concerned with the fact that his his fever wasn’t responding to the tylenol in his system! But this isn’t the first time that Owen has had such a high fever this year…this is actually the 3rd or 4th time that this has happened. Unexplainable high fevers. We have had some blood work done before and the doctors seem to just tell us that “he’s fighting some kind of infection”. Well ok then.

So we kept him home from school on Tuesday and Yosh brought him to the doctor. I thought they were going to say “ok cool…his fever has come down…he’s fighting an infection”. BUT this particular pediatrician was concerned about this high fever and leg pain. She started the tests for rheumatic fever.

Being at work and getting this text kinda freaked me out…especially after I googled what rheumatic fever was…then the pics starting following.

I ALWAYS bring the kids to the doctors…thats the mom’s job in this house. And OF COURSE the one time I send Yosh poor Owen has to get an EKG and Blood Work. But Daddy did GREAT and Owen was very brave!

Thank God the EKG came back normal. And blood wasn’t too much drama. As the day went on his fever went away and the kid was back to normal. ((The results came back with some elevations in different areas…like last time…so I guess we won’t worry about it for now.))

Anyway…so he woke up Wednesday with no fever and I thought we’d try Disneyland. It was so fun surprising him! He had NO clue where we were going. But once we pulled into the parking structure he yelled “DISNEYLAND!” The excitement in his voice was so cute. Brought me back to when I was a kid and my parents surprised us with Disneyland trips! But my evil parents would tell us we were going to the dentist and the tears and anxiety would start. I hated the dentist then and still get scared now at 32 years of age!! I remember my dad saying as we exited the freeway, “Hey Paul…what does the quarter back say after he’s won a superbowl?” Back when life was good and there was no worries. Sad to think that i haven’t heard my dad’s tone of voice that happy in a LONG time!

But we met with our dear friend Steve,who is so nice to sign us in…its crazy the prices that Disneyland is now charging and we are blessed to be able to get in this way. I have never been to Disneyland at Halloween time so that was fun and new for me. We didn’t bring a stroller…Owen was a “big boy”…haha for half of the day anyway.

BUT my surprises weren’t over…Owen didn’t know that Addi and Taryn were also in the park too!! So Taryn and I arranged to walk into each other…I LOVED their reactions…both unsure if it was really one another. But then our day started!!!

It was one of the best days in Disneyland that I have had in a LONG time. Our longest line was 30 minutes…everything was wide open! It was weird not having to hunt for a table at lunch. Being able to actually SEE the buildings/shops/attractions without hundreds of people around.

We got on LOTS of rides. It was a great day!

Autopia

Jungle Cruise

Splash Mountain

Then we broke away after lunch for some one-on-one time. Our tickets were park-hoppers but Addi’s wasn’t…so we went to California Adventure for some of Owen’s favorites.

Toy Story’s Midway Mania

DisneyJrs Live Show

We met back up and did MORE. It was so awesome going on real rides as well as kiddie rides all day! Disneyland is easy without a baby. BUT we DID end up having to rent a stroller…haha Its a long day and a HUGE park…I don’t blame the kid!

Nemo’s Submarine Ride