I'm back!!

Hi everyone! Its been pretty quiet around here for the last few days. For the first time in two years, I took a blog break!  I've been in Florida with my husband and sons for the last seven days.  It was amazing, we didn't tell the boys we were going till we woke them up at 4am last Wednesday and put them in the car.  Needless to say, they were thrilled! 

As you may know, both my sons have severe food allergies and we rarely eat out as a result. So, going on vacation for me, is well, maybe a little more stressful than for most.  

When we checked in at the airport, I mentioned that I was travelling with two food allergic boys.  The attendant had the snacks for the full flight switched right away and we were given priority boarding to get the boys settled in.  I cleaned all the surfaces with wipes according to the recommendation of our allergist.  This is to prevent the boys from picking up any residue from snacks previously served.  And as always, I travelled with several epi pens and lots of Benadryl - just in case!  My little guy was thrilled that the airline attendant had the full plane sing him Happy Birthday!  So fun!! Thanks Southwest!!

For the last week, we've been at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, which the boys have been calling the "Lincoln Log Hotel" all week.  It was outstanding, and I think we will be hard pressed to stay anywhere else for future trips to Disney.  We were a short boat ride from the Magic Kingdom and hopped on the "Mickey Busses" to go anywhere else.  The boys were troopers, it was incredibly hot all week, and we were on the go each and every day.  

I must say that, Disney is truly fantastic at handling food allergies.  At every single restaurant, the chef came to our table, discussed the boys allergies with me, and recommended some safe options for each of my sons.  Many times, the chef would return the boys dinners directly to our table. We were even able to have a custom cake baked for my little guy, he was totally thrilled!!!  This may sound like a simple thing, but my littlest one is allergic to corn, which means he can't have standard things like regular baking powder, confectionary sugar, or even vanilla extract (did you know all those things are made from corn? But that's a story for another day....) 

As a backup, we had shipped down some staple items for the boys to enjoy.  It was a good backup to have a few bags of "safe cereal" which was corn free for my little one each morning. It was also wonderful to have an assortment of safe snacks, including treats from Natural Candy Store to carry in our backpacks to tide the boys over in case we couldn't find safe alternatives in the park. 

Once there, I was thrilled to find that that the parks offer lots of safe and healthy alternatives, including lots of fresh fruit stands throughout the parks.  I was even able to find a frozen strawberry fruit bar that the boys could enjoy that was safe for all their allergies.  I was pleased that applesauce and carrot sticks are the first choices for children's sides - fries are only offered upon request.

We had such a wonderful time, it was great to spend so much time just playing and having fun, no commitments - just lots of fun!!

I'm home now, and working on unpacking, running the washer and dryer non stop and trying to get life back in order.  I've got a Gina K card to show you tomorrow and hope to squeak in some stamping over the next few days to have new things to show you next week!!