Update

Today was a busy day. It started out taking Aunti Vi to the dentist. She only has 7 teeth left - 6 in front and 1 molar (probably a wisdom tooth). She's been having trouble with the molar - sensitive to pressure and an occasional ache. The dentist said she had 2 options - a root canal or extraction. She chose the extraction, so I called the oral surgeon and she's having it done the 27th.

After we took her home, we came home for a few minutes before heading out to see if we could see the space shuttle launch. We went up to the rest area north of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and had a perfect view of the contrail!! We were too far away to see the actual shuttle, but we could follow the trail until it was out of sight.

Tonight, we headed out to the beach for sunset. It was too windy to bike today, so we decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was the first time we had walked on the beach since I had my knees replaced. It felt SOOOO good to be able to walk on the beach and not feel any pain. We walked for about 45 minutes while the sun was setting. The sunset was absolutely glorious.
Tomorrow, we have hair appointments and we'll take Aunti Vi shopping. Then tomorrow night, Dan has brass ensemble rehearsal. Wednesday, right now is quiet. Thursday is Bible study morning and evening. Friday, Sarah and Eric are coming over for an evening of scrapbooking and Saturday Rick and Csilla are coming over for the weekend.

Disney Studios 20th Anniversary

Friday, we left home about 8 AM and headed to Disney Studios for the 20th Anniversary celebration. We had registered with WDW Celebrations (www.wdwcelebrations.com) to be part of their group and its associated activities. We arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort about 10 and checked in. Our room was available, so after finding our room (we were in "Aruba") and unloading the car, we headed to the Studios arriving just in time to get the materials for the scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt was involved to say the least. The list included 69 items to locate and document and only 4 hours to do it. By 1:00, we had made it through less than half of the items and we had had enough! The intense sun and the heat made the saying “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun” cross our minds a number of times!

We were getting hungry, so we headed to the Studio Catering Company to get lunch. We both had pulled pork sandwiches (YUM!!). By the time we finished our sandwiches, we were both too full to eat our dessert so we packed them up to eat later. After eating, we decided to head back to the hotel to cool off and take a nap.

We woke up about 4:00 and headed back to the studios. Earlier, while we were working on the scavenger hunt, we had gotten fast passes for Toy Story Midway Mania (TSMM). At 11:30AM the return time was 5:00. We had reservations at The Prime Time Café for 5:30, so we weren’t sure we would be able to take advantage of our fast passes. However, when we checked in with the hostess, she said to go ahead and have fun and come back when we were done. We rode TSMM and got back to the restaurant at 5:33! DH had pot roast and I had the fried chicken. We both had brownie sundaes for dessert and again, could not finish them.

After dinner, we headed back to TSMM, where the WDW Celebrations group was meeting to ride together. We met them and rode TSMM again. After the ride, we headed for the exit planning to take the boat ride over to EPCOT. However, our car was parked at the Studios and the boat was not returning to the Studios. We got off at the Swan and Dolphin stop and waited for the next boat going back to the Studios. We got our car, and headed back to the resort.

Back at the resort, we explored the resort and took pictures. We were really wiped out, so we headed for bed, not sure of what we would do on Saturday. When we woke up on Saturday, the heat and activities from Friday had taken their toll – we were beat!! We ate breakfast at the resort food court and then headed for home.

Embroidered Placemat and Napkin

I finished one set (3 more to go) of a placemat and napkin. I am very happy with the way they turned out. It took almost a month to complete the set so I figure the whole set of 4 will take about 3 more months to finish!

This week flew by. As mentioned in the previous post, we were over at Disney until Wednesday, Thursday was Bible study morning and evening and Friday, friends came over for dinner. Today we went to the wedding of friends from church. Tomorrow is church in the morning and a concert in the evening. And so starts another week. . .

Our Mini Disney Vacation 4-20 to 4-22-09

We arrived at the Polynesian Resort about 4:00 on Monday. Since we had never stayed at the Polynesian before, we spent some time exploring the resort. We decided that any time we need a Hawaii “fix,” we’ll come over here! The hotel price is about the same and it’s about 11 hours closer and doesn’t entail airfare!

After exploring, we walked to the Ticket and Transportation Center and caught a ferryboat over to the Magic Kingdom (our room was in the Tahiti building so we were just steps from the Ticket and Transportation Center). We weren’t sure what to expect at the Magic Kingdom, since it was open until 11 PM, which is usually indicative of high occupancy. However, it wasn’t crowded at all. We headed to the Columbia Harbor House to get something to eat. After eating, we went to the Haunted Mansion where the sign said a 10-minute wait. However, it was more like 3 minutes. We got in a "Doom Buggy" and for the first time (at least for us) the ride stalled while we were in the staircase section of the mansion. It stayed stalled for about 10 minutes and then proceeded normally. When we got to the end, there was a tech type person at the control panel, so the ride computer must have “burped.”

After the Haunted Mansion, we headed over to Splash Mountain, where for the first time EVER, we walked right to the boarding area, right into a boat! Splash Mountain is so much fun and both of us wound up getting soaked! As we were getting off Splash, we heard the music from Spectromagic, so we stood and watched the parade (we STILL prefer the Main Street Electrical Parade). After the parade, we went over and rode Pirates of the Caribbean, again walking right onto a boat, in which we were the only passengers. After Pirates, we stopped and got Dole Pineapple Whip (YUM!) and then it was time for the “Wishes” Fireworks. We stood and watched it from near the Crystal Palace. As always, it was beautiful! After the fireworks, we headed for Tomorrowland. and rode Buzz Lightyear! For the FIRST time, I beat Dan!! When we got off, he wanted a rematch! Yes, he shellacked me the second time through and no, I didn’t let him win – we’re both too competitive for that! We then headed to the exit and took a launch back to the Polynesian where we promptly hit the sack and fell asleep immediately.

Day 2

When we got back to the Polynesian last night, we decided to have room service for breakfast. We made our selections and hung the menu on the door. We set the alarm for 8:30 since we ordered breakfast to be delivered between 9:30 and 10:00. We ordered the Tonga Toast which is a THICK slice of sourdough bread stuffed with sliced banana, dipped in egg, deep fried then rolled in cinnamon and sugar while warm. Dan ordered it with bacon and I had sausage. Breakfast was delivered at 9:25 and it definitely met our expectations (we’ve had the Tonga Toast before - even though we had never stayed at the Polynesian, we had eaten there). After breakfast, we hung out in the room until checkout at 11:00. We then drove over to the Contemporary fully anticipating being told it wasn’t check-in time yet and our room wasn’t ready. Our reservation was for a room in the tower facing Bay Lake. We gave the CM our name and she looked up the reservation and saw the room we had been assigned wasn’t ready. She then made a phone call and asked if there was another room available. She came back to us and said we had been upgraded to a room on the 11th floor, facing west overlooking the Magic Kingdom and Seven Seas Lagoon. What a view!! We’ve been taking pictures from the balcony all day! What a birthday treat! No, my birthday isn’t until tomorrow (Earth Day), but I’ll take the upgrade as an early birthday present!
Both of us were not ready to head to the parks yet, so we lay down and slept for an hour. After waking, we caught the monorail to EPCOT. Since we hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, the first thing we did was go to the Electric Umbrella and had a light snack. We then walked around taking pictures of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival taking pictures of the beautiful flowers and topiaries (we had been over for the opening day March 18th and could see the vast difference in the displays since then – much more in bloom and denser). Between the 2 of us, we took almost 300 pictures (gotta love digital photography – we took a total of 486 pics in the two days!). We stopped in France at the patisserie and had a bite to eat and then headed to the monorail to head back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, we didn’t do much of anything but kick off our shoes and put our feet up for a little while. After 2 days of walking the parks, exploring hotels and other miscellaneous walking, our feet (and legs) are letting us know they aren’t used to this “abuse.” We still hadn’t had dinner, so about 8:30 we headed down to the Contempo Café and ate. By the time we finished, it was time for the electrical water pageant, which we could watch sail across Seven Seas Lagoon from our balcony. By the time it finished “sailing” by, it was time for “Wishes.” WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had seen it last night from the Crystal Palace perspective, but to watch it from our balcony on the 11th floor of the Contemporary was phenomenally indescribable – something neither one of us will soon forget! After the fireworks, we called it a day.

Day 3

My "alarm" this morning was Dan singing “Happy Birthday” to me. After getting packed, we headed over to Perkin’s in Lake Buena Vista for breakfast. We then went to EPCOT and got my birthday gift card (we have annual passes so the gift card option is a wonderful alternative to the free admission on your birthday promotion). We were both sad that our mini vacation was over, but knew we had to get home.

Excited!!

My birthday is fast approaching (about a week and a half away). Where are we going to spend it? At Disney, of course!! But what is going to be really special is we're going over and staying at 2 of the resorts we've never stayed at - the Contemporary and the Polynesian - 1 night at each. We've stayed at all of the value resorts, all of the moderate resorts, camped at Fort Wilderness, and stayed in the cabins at Fort Wilderness. We've also stayed at Wilderness Lodge and the Grand Floridian. We've stayed at the Treehouse Villas at Lake Buena Vista before they were changed to lodging for college interns. The only resorts we haven't stayed at are the two mentioned above, the Yacht Club, Beach Club, the Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Boardwalk Inn (I know the Swan and Dolphin are also on Disney property, but they are not Disney resorts as they are managed by Westin and Sheraton). We also haven't stayed at any of the Disney Vacation Club Resorts (we probably never will since we don't need the space the DVC resorts offer - more like condos than hotel rooms).

I'm really looking forward to our 3 days over there. Friends went over to EPCOT this past Tuesday and took many pictures of the flower show displays. It was amazing to see the difference 3 weeks can make. The flowers were so much more in bloom than when we were over there on opening day. From their pictures, it became evident there were many displays that weren't present on opening day.

This week is shaping up to be relatively quiet with just taking my aunt out on Wednesday and Bible study Thursday. With a light schedule, we may even find time to take a bike ride or two!!

Relative Quiet

It doesn't seem possible that almost two weeks have passed since I last posted. Time is flying by and it's not that we've been doing anything special. We didn't get to church the Sunday after we got home as the drive home from Dad's caught up with us. Monday and Tuesday were spent catching up on laundry and other mundane things needing to be done after being gone for 9 days. We talked about going over to Disney to the flower show, but both of us were too tired from the trip north to even contemplate a trip to Disney. Also, it had been less than two weeks since we had been there, so we figured we'd wait a little longer before heading over. Wednesday we took Aunti Vi shopping and I studied for Bible study which started last Thursday. There are 5 ladies in the morning session and 13 in the evening session. It is a wonderful and challenging study. Saturday, Rick and Ashley drove over to get the things we had brought down from Dad's that belonged to my sister Eileen (Csilla and Taylor stayed home to get some housework done). We were looking at the pictures of Eileen at the age that Ashley is (almost 5) and Ashley is the absolute image of her grandmother. When we showed Ashley the pictures and asked her who it was she said, "Me." It was too cute! Rick and Ashley left about 1:00 Sunday afternoon.

Sunday night we went to "The Passion Play" at First Baptist. It was very realistic and it brought home what Easter is all about - Christ died so we could live. He conquered death so we would no longer be held captive by it.

This week has been relatively normal. Monday, Eric, Sarah and Sarah's friend Tammy (who was down here visiting from Michigan) came over for dinner. After dinner, we spent the evening scrapbooking. Tuesday we had hair appointments and since we take Aunti Vi with us to get her hair cut, we picked up her groceries. Wednesday we took her to the doctor for a follow-up appointment. Thursday was Bible study morning and evening. Today we ran some errands and are planning on going out for a bike ride.

Tomorrow, Eric and Dan are going over to Fantasy of Flight. They are holding a special event "Mustangs and Mustangs" - a car show featuring Ford Mustangs and a plane show featuring P-51 Mustangs. Sarah and I are going to stay home and try to catch up on some scrapbooking!

In the evenings, besides studying, I'm working on a placemat and napkin embroidery kit that I brought home from Tennessee. Mom had started it, but unfortunately because of her impaired vision, she had wrong colors and wrong stitches, so I wound up tearing out all of the work she had done (part of one placemat and and part of 1 napkin) and starting from scratch. There are 4 placemats and 4 napkins. When I finish a set, I will post a picture.

Home Again!

We spent the last week up at my dad's going through and packing up my mom's stuff. We managed to get everything accomplished that we had planned. We brought home some pictures and other things that I still need to sort through and put away. Among the things I found(and brought home)while going through mom's stuff includes:
- the dress my mother was christened in and my sister was dedicated in
- my "choo-choo" dress which was the dress I wore on the train when going to modeling jobs in New York
- a bonnet that was my mother's and both my sister and I wore
- several (4 or 5) pairs of baby shoes that were Eileen's and mine.

We had a good trip back home Friday with the trip taking just a little over 12 hours. However, the weather was miserable (pouring rain) almost from the time we left Tennessee until about 2 hours north of home. We were very happy to get home and be able to turn off the windshield wipers!

Yesterday was the Celebration of Life service for a dear friend of ours from church. From the time he was diagnosed to the time he went home, was just a little over a month. Prior to that he was the picture of health. We will miss him.

After getting home, the pool was "calling our names." The pool temp was 92 degrees and felt wonderful! It was very windy yesterday, so we spent some time vacuuming and cleaning the pool. However, it was very pleasant to be in the pool while cleaning instead of cleaning it standing on the patio!

We're planning a trip over to Disney either Monday or Tuesday to see more of the Flower and Garden Festival. The rest of the week is normal activities.