John Modrowsky:  

Happy Holidays to our family and friends! Wow, 2008 went by so quickly. Actually, this whole decade is racing by. It doesn¿t seem that long ago that we were all concerned about Y2K! Here¿s a brief update on happenings at the Modrowsky house: The boys turned five in 2008. Our family had two fabulous vacations this year thanks to amazing people in our lives. We stayed for a week at the NJ shore in Ocean City during September. Both boys so enjoy it there ¿ and it is always such a relaxing and happy time. Also, thanks to Make a Wish, our family spent five wonderful days during November at Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World in Orlando, Florida. It was an incredible experience for Alex ¿ and all of us! During our time there, we stayed at Give Kids the World. Words cannot express what an incredible facility it is and how caring all the people were to us. Andrew¿s curiosity is simply insatiable ¿ it is so much fun watching him figure things out. He also loves his family and is very social at school. Andrew¿s favorite activities include the computer, television, and arts and crafts. Through the year, Andrew¿s main interests remain: ¿ Dinosaurs ¿ he likes to tell you everything he knows about a specific dinosaur. He had a special outing to NYC when daddy took him to see Walking with Dinosaurs show at Madison Square Garden. He also loved the train ride! For Halloween, he got his mom to make a custom costume ¿ an ornithochirus, a kind of pterosaur. This occupied a lot of his mom¿s free time during October! Andrew says he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up! ¿ Maps ¿ Andrew has a map almost all the time. He studies one while going to bed. He takes one to school for the bus ride. He knows every state and their individual capitals. He also knows where most of the countries are on a world map or globe. ¿ Languages ¿ Andrew loves languages/alphabets such as Chinese and Hebrew. He taught himself the Hebrew alphabet (with help from the Internet). Alex ¿ We are pleased with the cognitive advances Alex made during the year. We remain hopeful that he will one day talk. During our stay at the parks in Orlando, Alex so loved the bigger than life characters. He also enjoyed all the rides, especially the roller-coasters. We were also so happy with how well Alex traveled and stayed in strange surroundings. It was his first time in an airplane and we were concerned about that. On the way down to Florida, he quickly settled in and slept most of the way - just like an old traveling pro. Things could not have gone better. Alex¿s medical challenges continue to be tough on our whole family. He is still on the ketogenic diet but is far from seizure free. And every seizure that he experiences still tears at our hearts. In spite of that, our family has so much to be thankful for. Were it not for Alex¿s medical condition, we would not have met people who are selfless and genuinely caring at a time and in a society when these characteristics are just not fashionable. And Alex is everyone¿s favorite person to cuddle with! Kathy and John ¿This year, we found ourselves celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary! Wow. We managed to arrange a brief (all too!) stay (alone) in NYC for a couple of days. For a few moments, we got a chance to talk about something other than the kids and the household. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same as last year. We always enjoy getting together with friends and relatives. We wish ...Expand for more