(I wrote this post last Tuesday {May 20} but am just now getting around to publishing it.)

Par for the course...

Greetings from a hospital near Disneyland. Guess which one of our kids broke an arm. That’s right: Emily.

Our first day at Disneyland Paris actually got off to a good start: we left Heidelberg at around 8:30 and made exceptionally good time, reaching our hotel a little before 13:00. By the way, our hotel, the MyTravel Explorer, puts the pathetic Disney hotel we stayed at last year to shame. It’s a little further from the park, but I would estimate that this adds at most 10 minutes to the commute -- a small price to pay to avoid another few days in Walt’s French ghetto (the Sante Fé Hotel).

We checked in and managed to get a room immediately. The girls changed clothes and we headed downstairs to grab the shuttle to the park. As I was leaving the hotel, I heard Emily scream. It was obvious that something had gone really wrong. She had climbed on top of a wall that had about a three foot fall on one side. She somehow managed to lose her balance and, as our flawed reflexes would have us do, used her hands to break the fall. When she got up she was holding her right forearm, which was noticeably crooked with an big indentation right above the wrist. I hate it when that happens.
The hotel quickly called the paramedics, who whisked B and Emily to the hospital while Marina and I took Robert and Sophia to the park. These two had a great time although we were all worried about Emily. After a few quick cell calls, we all calmed down: she would have to stay in the hospital but would be able to keep her arm.
Unfortunately, Emily broke both bones in her forearm pretty badly. At about 20:00, I made it to the hospital for Emily’s “surgery”. Actually, they just put her under general anesthetic so they could set the bones – it took less than half an hour. She emerged with a nice plaster cast that goes half-way up her upper arm. I shutter to think what we’ll find inside it when she has it removed.

Anyway, I stayed with Emily so B could go back to the hotel and take the others to the park this morning (Tuesday, May 20th). The chair in Emily’s room reclines a bit so I managed to get some sleep. The hospital said they’ll do another X-ray this morning and then Emily (and I!) will be free to go. We managed to reschedule Sophia’s birthday party for today, so it looks like we’ll all make it for the big celebration.

Back to our hotel: it is big, clean, has three restaurants and an indoor pool that really looks like a blast. I guess Emily won’t be spending much time in the pool. Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting this train back on track...