We’ve been away from The Cody Report for a year while we focused on Elliott’s health and on updating people over at ElliottBlog. Starting with Laurel’s Birthday and the anniversary of Elliott’s diagnosis on July 24th we will resume posting on the Cody Report!
We’re Back!
Thank you for all of your love and support. We will be using ElliottBlog.com to keep everyone updated on Elliott’s health.
The family took an impromptu trip to Disney World over Memorial Day weekend while we were in Jacksonville visiting my parents. In retrospect, taking a toddler and infant to Disney World on what may be their busiest day of the year may not have been the best timing. On top of that, it was also “Rock your Disney Side” day, one of the rare events where the Magic Kingdom is open 24-hours and people can wear costumes into the park, making it a even more popular weekend than usual.
Given all of that, we still had a great time! We stayed at Disney’s Art of Animation Studios, which worked great for us. We had a Finding Nemo themed family suite, which gave us plenty of room and Laurel absolutely loved! The entire place featured art and imagery from Finding Nemo, the Lion King, Cars, and the Little Mermaid. If I had to guess, I would say Ariel better watch out. I think Anna and Elsa may be coming for her wing at the resort during the next renovation. Speaking of Anna and Elsa, we didn’t get to meet them at the park. Even when we woke up early and went straight there, the line was 420 minutes long. It was the only attraction that ran out of fast-passes ahead of time. Turns out Laurel was happy enough seeing the characters in the parades. We did, however, wait in line to see Tinkerbell, but that didn’t turn out like we expected. If you didn’t already know, Laurel is a huge Tinkerbell fan. She has seen all the movies… at least 20 times each. She would not stop talking about how excited she was and what she was going to talk to Tinkerbell about the entire time we were in line. As soon as she went up to meet her she claimed up. After an hour in line, she made a duck face in every photo. EVERY PHOTO!
I think Kyllan’s favorite part of the trip was watching all of the parades. Laurel’s was definitely Finding Nemo the Musical, especially after staying in a Nemo room. Kyllan and I were both shocked by how much Elliott enjoyed Its a Small World. In fact, he still perks up whenever he hears the music. My favorite was Kilimanjaro Safari in the Animal Kingdom. I think our time at the Animal Kingdom really made the trip. The crowds, the heat, and the waits at the Magic Kingdom were just too much for the kids to bare and the Safari and Finding Nemo the Musical were the two best attractions in the entire park. We have tons of pictures from the trip. Here are a few below.
This summer has proven to be a hectic one in the Cody house. Kyllan has started a new job, my research lab at the university is keeping me busy, Laurel now has her own social calender and Elliott has been fighting a nasty bug. However, it has not been all work and no play. We have still managed to have quite a bit of fun! I have been uploading pictures to Flickr, but have not managed to sit down and post about our adventures.
At the end of may my father received a humanitarian award from OneJax, an interfaith organization that promotes diversity. Kyllan and I were able to make it down to Jacksonville for the awards ceremony. Find the pictures here.
This award recognizes individuals for their outstanding dedication and community service. William Cody, MD is one of four recipients of the 2014 Silver Award. Prior to joining St. Vincent’s Medical Center in 1991, Dr. Code practiced in the U.S. Naval Hospital. He spent countless hours teaching young physicians in the Family Practice Residency to care for and treat women. Dr. Cody personally delivered hundreds of babies and also supervised hospital residents. Much of the time and service he gave was uncompensated. Dr. Cody is currently the medical staff president-elect for St. Vincent’s, Riverside. He is an active member of the Deerwood Rotary Club and has enlisted the aid of his club in sponsoring nurses’ travel on the Haitian missions.
While in Florida Kyllan and I made an impromptu trip to Disney World with the Kids. It was an interesting trip, to say the least. I’ll make another post about the trip later this week.
The month may also means Graduations, especially in the Cody house where there is a graduation every year. Here is a link to pictures from my university’s graduation and from my cousin’s graduation.
Yes, Elliott’s birthday was almost a month ago. I know. We’re trying, but we are exhausted.
For Elliott’s actually birthday we took the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo. (We went to the Dallas Zoo for Laurel’s 2nd birthday.) We had a great time and took loads of pictures. Laurel loved seeing all of the animals and I pretty sure she thought the trip was for her. Elliott simply enjoyed being outside and seeing new things. Kyllan and I were happy to have two well behaved kids! When we returned from the zoo Elliott opened his presents and we had birthday cupcakes. It’s been rough on her. My mom’s birthday, my dad’s birthday, my birthday, Kyllan’s birthday and then Elliott’s birth just come one after the other and she cannot figure why hers isn’t here yet.
You can find all the photos from the day here.
Here are some photos from Elliott’s 1st birthday party. We had a few friends in the neighborhood over for the party. It was our first real attempt at entertaining in the house and it was really nice to share the occasion. The theme was robots, a take on his bedroom theme of robots and rockets. (I think for birthday #2 we will do a rocket theme.) No injuries this year! Pictures can be found here.
With all of the preparations for Elliott’s 1st birthday, I never got around to posting photos from Kyllan’s. Laurel and Elliott helped Kyllan celebrate with cupcakes from Sprinkles. Later I took Kyllan to dinner at one of favorite restaurants, which felt like our first real night out in almost 3 years. I don’t think we have had as much fun talking in a restaurant since I took her to Olive Garden for our first date in Horse Heads, Ny almost 12 years ago. I plan to upload the photos from Elliott’s party and birthday soon. There are so many that I don’t know where to start!
We celebrated my birthday this past April. Kyllan and the kids threw me a Star Wars themed party. While I am not quite sure that Kyllan even knows what a lightsaber is, the kids enjoyed playing with them. Elliott enjoyed his first piece of cake and Laurel she still hasn’t grasp the concept that sometimes people like to open their own gifts. More photos can be founds here.
Here are three of my favorite photos from the first half of the year.
Here are a few photos from 2013 that were never posted to the blog. There is an album on Flickr with ~20 photos. I only intended to put 2 or 3 in the post, but I couldn’t pick!
