We saw...

Ty Pennington today!

ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has been in our city this week building a house for a family and today was the reveal where the family comes home. We knew approximately when it would take place, so as we are all fans of the show, after lunch we headed that way.

The house was for a family with six natural children, five of whom have some degree of autism. They're the only known family in America with that many autistic, biological children.

We got there about 1:45 pm today, parked a couple of blocks away and headed over. The actual street and the streets on either side were all cordoned off to traffic. It was very cool. They had barricades up on one side of the street with probably a thousand people there, but we found a spot almost right across the street from the house. Then, about 10 minutes after we got there, they said the limo would be coming soon and we could move the opposite side of the street if we wanted. We stood in front of the house next door.

We did find out for sure that there's gotta be a lot of editing going on before they air the show, because it sure doesn't happen as fast as it seems on the show. It's a lot of "hurry up and wait." We were there about an hour and a half before the limo showed up, but got a 10 yard away view of Ty, Eduardo, Paul, Paige and Tanya. Paige was wearing a cool camouflage t-shirt with gold angel wings on the back and her ever-present pink tool belt.

We stayed through the "Move that bus!" action and saw the family's reaction and their entry into the house and then reluctantly left. Reed hadn't had a nap yet and was none too impressed by it all. He just wanted to go home. We have no photos as I forgot the camera at home.

I know ABC makes more than they spend on the show, but they do an awful lot of "giving back" through it. It's one of our favorite shows and it was fun to be able to see it in person.

Well, we all made it back from Disneyworld in one piece! It was an exhausting, but fabulous week. I'm so glad we could all go this year.

We don't know exactly how the girls did in competition, but they didn't place in the top 5 and that's all they announce. We did find out that the knee drop they do in their routine was considered illegal by these judges and therefore earned them a 25 point deduction. This same knee drop was not considered illegal in the earlier competitions, so that seems a little unfair. I think there needs to be some consistency in the judging from local to regional to national level. Their routine was awesome and they pulled it off with no mistakes, so we were hopeful that they would place. The point deduction did them in, though. That was a bummer because the girls had worked so hard, but we WERE in Disneyworld, so it just couldn't be all bad!

We flew in on Monday evening and the girls competed Wednesday afternoon, so there was room for some play time before Wednesday and it was all play time after! However, we had a few obstacles along the way. Reed had been congested for a week or so before we left, so I worried about him being on an airplane, but he seemed to do fine. That first night we went to Disney MGM and he was cranky, but I just thought he was tired. The next morning we went to Epcot and he basically screamed his head off the whole morning because his ear hurt. Poor little guy was clearly in a lot of pain. We found the first aid station at Epcot and they said they couldn't do anything for him, but could call us a free shuttle to take us to a minor emergency clinic. They even supplied us with crayons and paper for the upcoming wait at the clinic. Tim took Lane and Maren back to explore Epcot and Reed and I went to the clinic. He did have an ear infection and we filled a prescription for an antibiotic and cough medicine. Same free shuttle took us back to the hotel. I tried to get him to lie down for a nap, but his ear still hurt. About three hours after we left the clinic, he sat up on the bed and the pillowcase had blood all over it. I didn't flip out, but did immediately call the doctor back, who said it sounded as if his eardrum had perforated. She called in antibiotic ear drops and had them delivered to our hotel. He was on meds the rest of the week, but really, he was SO much better after that. I guess all that pressure was relieved and he thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the week. Tim had some tummy trouble and Maren had a sore throat for three days, too. Lane and I were the only ones who weren't sickos!

Another interesting thing we learned about Reed is that he is a full-fledged thrill-seeker! The boy LOVES roller coasters...and not the kiddie kind, either. We took Maren on Space Mountain (roller coaster in the dark, if you're not familiar) when she was 4 and she was traumatized for days afterward. I was a little concerned about Reed going as a) he's the same age; b) he doesn't like the dark and sleeps with a night-light and c) he just BARELY met the height requirement. I didn't ride this time as it jerks you around too much. Everyone else went and when they got off, Reed came running toward me and said, "Mom, that was awesome! I want to go again!" Which they did later and Reed rode in the front car. He also rode two other roller coasters that week, one of which was also almost completely in the dark.

A link to our Disney photos is here. Note the photo of Reed with the red Power Ranger. Reed LOVES Power Rangers and really wanted to meet them, but when he had the opportunity, well, it wasn't quite the same as seeing them on TV. He said, "I like them on TV, but I don't like them in person." The photo tells the story.

We had time to see almost everything in all four parks. We were exhausted, though, and hope we can go another time at a more leisurely pace.