I have posted before about Joyana's bad teeth and how we found a new pediatric dentist that I liked and was going to work on her teeth. Then, right before we left I mentioned that Joy had fallen and broken her front teeth.
She fell over the weekend and I took her to the ER, basically because I wasn't sure what to do. All they did was wiggle the teeth and tell me that they should last until Monday and go straight to the Dentist (which I sort of already knew, Duh.), however, I was too chicken to wiggle those teeth at home, honestly, if they had finished breaking off in my fingers, I would have just flipped out, much better to have a professional (with an arsenal of pain-killing drugs at hand) to do test wiggle.
Monday: Went in to the dentist, he was upset, said that his whole plan on treating and conserving the teeth was now over, that three of the four top front teeth had to come out, and that we should consider taking all four out. We discussed our options and I asked him what HE would do (he's a father of four). He told me that the parent in him would cry, and the dentist in him would have them all out. He referred me out to an oral surgeon. I spent the rest of Monday calling the insurance company and oral surgeons. Finally found one that the insurance covered, that would take a patient under age 2, and that could see us the next day.
Tuesday: Had MOPS, arranged for Grandpa to take Jessi to Ballet, left Joey with Dean, and took Joy to the Oral Surgeon. I had thought they were actually going to DO it that day... nope. They were just doing an evaluation. After a bit of run-around, they decided they would take the teeth out on October 18th. Hmmm. 22 month old walking around with extremely broken teeth in her mouth. One of them on the verge of breaking off, leaving her with a choking hazard and raw exposed (and thus PAINFUL) tooth pulp in her mouth. Us leaving for vacation in two days.
Did ya'll hear my SCREAMS of frustration? Apparently my dentist did. I love those people. seriously. I called them from the parking lot of the OS and told them what happened and sort of wailed out a "what do I DOOOOO?" and they told me to come in the next day.
Wednesday: I am on standby for the dentist office and if they don't have a cancelation in the morning, they will work on her over their lunch break. I make arrangment with my neighbor that if I'm not back in time (jeff came home from work to watch the kids but had to be back for a meeting at a certain time) Jeff can take J&J over there. I take Joy in to the Dentist (explantion: he had sent me out to the oral surgeon so they could knock Joy all the way out, in the office they can only do local) and we start. They did laughing gas first and she responded ok, the novacaine shots didn't bother her at all. It was when the shots kicked in and her mouth and face went numb that she freaked out a little. The office was great, I laid on the chair with her while the dentist and two assistants did the deed. I won't go into the details, but it was rough. The drive home was rough, I was shaking when I got home. Jeff had to run out the door and get back to work so I was on my own.
Keep in mind that I had a sinus infection thingy going on and had planned to get into my doctor before leaving for Florida (that didn't happen!) and due to all this unplanned running from dentist to dentist I was WAYYYY behind on my packing.
We ended up getting packed up on Wednesday night and did actually leave on time on Thursday morning. Joy took a long nap after extractions on Wednesday, woke up that afternoon acting fine, and was fine from then on. It was a MAJOR blessing and healing... she was fine.
So now on to the fun stuff.
You already know I'm a bit weird, so here you go, more insight into my oddities. I use a lot of herbs and homeopathic remedies for medicine so on the way out of town we went to the "good" herb store (the one where the lady really knows her stuff, vs. the "close" herb store where they just read the label and go from there) and picked up some healing remedies for Joy and some sinus stuff for me. We went to the bank, and then headed up the road.
Amtrak Auto Train= quite possibly the best money we have ever spent on transportation. Amtrak has a train route that runs only from Lorton, VA (DC area) down to Sanford, FL (Orlando area). They load your vehicle onto the train and then take you and your car (van truck motorcycle) down to Florida (or back up to VA). I had done a lot of research for our trip and we decided to try this out for the trip down so that we could arrive fresh and ready to party. It was great. A few people teased us about going 2 hours the wrong direction, but wow, I'd rather drive 90 miles north to save 800 miles south!! When you have this many kids, that is a no-brainer!
We got a sleeper car for us and the littles, the two big kids (Dean and his friend Anthony) had to make do in coach. We got to Lorton after a very easy drive (less than two hours) checked in at the station, went to get some lunch, came back and turned our van over, then explored the station until boarding time. We boarded, got settled in, rambled over the train (lounge car, dining car, etc) and we were off. We had supper in the dining car, came back, the steward had turned down our bunks, we went to bed (you know how easy it is to fall asleep in a car--the train is even better), got up the next morning and had breakfast, the steward put our bunks away, and we were in Sanford--half hour ahead of schedule. We got off the train, went to explore the playground and heard our number being called to get our car.
That was it. No boredom, no stopping to go to the bathroom, no "are we there yet", no tiredness, no carseat bum-numbs, WAY less stress than flying. Awesome, wonderful, if you live within a few hours of the station (or if you would have to drive down the east coast to get to Florida) i highly recommend that you look into it.
here is Joy playing on the playground at the station (this is the day after her teeth coming out).
Joey playing at the station.
Joey and Jessi playing "go-fish" in our sleeper.
Ok, next will be our fist day in Orlando and pictures of the townhouse.
Joey had a ball. I couldn't believe how much he ate. He ate the tofu chunks out of my miso soup, he ate steak, chicken, veggies, shrimp, and rice. Jeff explained that he should bring his mouth to the food instead of the food to his mouth... to minimize spillage with the chopsticks. Joey took this to heart.
Joy also enjoyed herself. She loves to eat. She's my smallest child so far, yet can out-eat them all. She also had tofu, soup, rice, chicken, and fish. We were mean though and didn't let her use her own chopsticks. That is Jeff's hand you feeding her.
Jessi moaned and groaned about being hungry (but would have no part of any of the appetizers) and when her food finally came, she ate more than I have every seen her eat in one sitting. Seriously. Chicken and rice, then some rice and chicken. To finish off, she had a bit more chicken, and a bit more rice.
Deano got a big old platter of bait. I mean sushi. More power to him. I did that once, in college, in Baltimore, with Tom McCasland and (I think) Jason Miller. Once was enough.
Joy is just so stinking cute in this swimsuit. She hasn't yet learned that horizontal stripes add unwanted inches to her figure.
The resort had two big playgrounds, although we only ever made it to one. It was very neat, castle themed as you can see. Here is the entrance complete with a drawbridge and moat.
Joy riding the dragon in the moat.
Jeff and the 
The kids riding a train.
Joey. He's so serious. I wish the child would just lighten up sometimes.
