Your Donation will be Doubled | Elim Christian Services

Elim is an amazing place - I am so fortunate my children get to go there every day!

Your Donation will be Doubled | Elim Christian Services

Trouble in Toyland 2013 | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

ugh.
Trouble in Toyland 2013 | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

An Aspie's Journey on the Employment Rollercoaster By Ben: Trekking4Autism

Interesting post on an interesting blog...

An Aspie's Journey on the Employment Rollercoaster By Ben: Trekking4Autism: It is my pleasure to be inviting Peter Hosking to the next Orange Asperger's Social Group as a guest speaker. Peter is quite inspirati...

Ozzie and Temple

Last week Ozzie Guillen (formerly of the Chicago White Sox) came to visit the children of Elim Christian School.  His foundation made a generous donation to Elim's wonderful Speech Department.

Here is a link to a photo of Ozzie visiting Elim's ACE program:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=481014612015820&set=a.481014605349154.1073741826.237879399662677&type=1&theater

My son had a few photos taken with Ozzie - a thrill for my husband and me, a third-generation Sox fan!

Here's a link to Ozzie's foundation:

http://ozzieguillenfoundation.org/


I've always liked him, but I like him even more now that he has helped Elim, a wonderful place I am blessed my children get to go to every day.

And just because I think she's awesome, here's an article about Temple Grandin meeting with young people in California:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/11/prweb11346659.htm

Remembering JFK: 5 of His Most Powerful Quotes

Remembering JFK: 5 of His Most Powerful Quotes

Free Birds

Took the kids to see “Free Birds” at the AMC in Schererville, Indiana.  This was a special showing for special needs kids – the lights are never completely off, the sound isn’t blasting and any movie that regularly would be shown in 3D is in 2D.  I love these events – my kids can be as loud and weird and they want – no judgment, because all the kids are loud and weird – bless us all! J  The movie is about a turkey who time-travels back to the first Thanksgiving to try to prevent turkeys from becoming the main course.  Miles Standish is the evil villain who wants to kill all the turkeys.  The turkeys are portrayed in a Native American sort of way with the human invaders trying to take over their world.  Kind of an “Avatar” type tone as well.  Sean likes to get into the action – when there’s a chase scene, he runs up and down the aisles as if he’s right in the action.  Todd sat through most of the entire movie - rare for him.  He sat quietly eating popcorn and Skittles.  Toward the end of the movie, Todd became a bit bored and started lining up Skittles on the floor, sorted by color.  The Marcus Theater in Orland Park, Illinois also has special needs showings which we have attended in the past.  “Frozen” is the next special needs event.  Sean has the “Frozen” trailer memorized and keeps reminding me that “Frozen” opens November 27^th! 

Key Lime Cove, Gurnee, IL

Key Lime Cove in Gurnee, Illinois

The drive was relatively short compared to other road trips we have taken.  The layout of the hotel is strange.  We were in a Toucan Suite in the Key West wing – there is no easy or short way to get to the room; no choice but lots of walking, which is a pain with bags and children.  The other wing is called the Key Largo wing and is much closer to the parking lot and main areas.  I also noted the Mangrove  Suites in the Key West wing are more convenient to the common areas if you’re staying in that wing.

Our stay was over the Fourth of July holiday.  The balcony of our suite overlooked the expressway and the Gurnee Mills outlet mall.  The upside of the balcony was that on the evening of Fourth of July, I could see fireworks displays in four different directions.

The main area off the lobby is called Duval Street, named after the main strip in Key West.  It’s very cute – food, shopping and access to the water park.  It reminds me of the Bourbon Street section of the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois – at least how it looked in the 1990s.

The on-site restaurant is called the Crazy Toucan.  Good food and drinks.   The bar in the Crazy Toucan is open until midnight – all other food options at the resort close at 10.  For dinner, I had the fish tacos.  They could have been spicier for my taste.   That said, the spice options I was given were Cajun or jerk – I opted for Cajun, so I’m thinking the jerk seasoning would have been hotter.

My first impression of the water park is that it was very clean for what it is.  It is a great water park for little ones – nothing but shallow water, which is good if you have a fearless son like mine who would jump into the deep end of the ocean without a thought.  Another nice feature is the warm towels that are available when you’re ready to dry off.  There is a food court in the water park area that offers pizza, hot dogs, etc. and cocktails.

There is an on-site spa.  The weekend we were there, there was an offer of two spa treatments for $99.  I had a facial and a coconut glow treatment – which included of a full body scrub and massage.   There’s also a Mermaid Spa for kids where they can make their own scrub.  The toiletries in the rooms are samples from both the adult and kid spas.

The Gurnee Mills outlet mall is nearby, as well as Six Flags.  Packages are available that include Six Flags tickets.  We did not opt for these, as there’s nothing at Six Flags my 7 and 8 year old were interested in.  There is a shuttle bus from the hotel that goes to both Six Flags and Gurnee Mills.  We shopped at Gurnee Mills – I found some deals, but not as good as the deals I found at the Tanger Outlet Mall in the Wisconsin Dells. 

This was a nice weekend away, although not too far from home.   We will definitely go back!