Tragic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom

Mateo, Sarah, Tia Millie, and I went to the parks on Saturday. Tia Millie just got a full-time job offer working over at Tragic Kingdom. She didn't want to show up on her first day on the job without ever visiting the place. So she took us there on Saturday. I showed her all the ins and outs of Tragic Kingdom. And yes, it was TRAGIC. I thought that with age, Sarah would outgrow her meltdowns every time she enters a Disney park. Wrong-o Bong-o. It was a terrible experience for her and for us. In fact, Tia Millie said she will never ever take her to the parks again. That's o.k. I am not going to try taking her there again until she's at least 8 years old. It's just not worth it. For kiddos with sensory integration disorder, the place is too much. Talk about sensory overload.

After going to Magic Kingdom, we headed over to my favorite park in the planet . . . Animal Kingdom. It was wonderful . . . once we convinced Sarah that if she stopped crying she would be able to see the real animals. I had never seen the Lion King show and finally got to see it on Saturday. It was incredible! I loved it! And believe it or not, Sarah did too. We have always gone on the safari ride the very first thing when we walk into the park. On Saturday, we waited until 20 minutes before the park was going to close. It was THE BEST! There was absolutely NO LINE and we were able to see some of the nocturnal animals as they were coming out.

El fin se acerca

Cristian has been going to graduate school for about 6 1/2 years . . . but who's counting? He has taken one class at a time . . . with sometimes a semester or two off in between. He is in the graduate program at UCF studying Spanish Literature. Last week he had his comprehensive written exam. Today he had the oral exam where all the professors in the program drilled him on his knowledge of anything and everything Spanish Literature . . . early 1300s to present day 2009. He passed both exams with flying colors. What does this mean????? He will be officially finished with school in less than one month. Graduation is on May 8th. Congratulations Cristian!

La visita

This is an entry for posterity purposes. A couple of weeks ago, Cristian went to Baltimore, MD to visit his biological father. He has had only a handful of brief interactions with him since he was three years old when his parents got divorced. Juan Carlos' health is not that great and Cristian has had a feeling he needed to get up to Baltimore to visit his biological father and to get closure. He spent the weekend with his biological father, two half brothers, and their families. All in all it was a very good weekend for all. I am so happy he was able to spend time with Juan Carlos and to learn more about his life. Although my children will most likely never meet him, we now at least have some pictures to show them of their long lost tios, abuelo, and primas.