Denali!

Was up at 5:45 this morning to catch our 7am shuttle to the train station. The train pulled out at 8:15 and we had to be there an hour prior. It’s a good thing the hotel was only about 5 miles from the station. Bob found Cari’s first set of cards (Alaska Railroad) in the gift shop. I’m sure there will be plenty more.

Meeting other travelers is always an exciting part of vacation for me.  Despite being complete strangers there is that common bond of sharing similar experiences, swapping stories of what you both have planned and done. It didn’t take long to start talking to fellow passengers and hear their experiences. Just having a camera in your hand is an easy opening for conversation. Thirty minutes into shooting off the viewing deck of our car and we were friends for the day.

It was drizzling when we boarded and the during the beginning of the trip. The sky was gray and covered with low hanging clouds. Still the scenery was beautiful. The further north we got, though, the more blue sky peeked through. Imagine our delight when we actually spotted Mount McKinley! I’m hoping this was only the beginning of lucky happenings throughout our trip. Only 30% of travelers to the park get to actually see Mount McKinley. The mountain stands over 20,000 feet into the sky and most of the time is covered in clouds. I heard someone say it hadn’t made an appearance in the last 10-11 days. Wow!!! And not only did we see it, there was a beautiful blue sky as the backdrop!

We checked into the Princess Wilderness Lodge (Denali) and had a couple of hours to explore before going to dinner at the King Salmon restaurant. We picked up a deck of Mt. McKinley cards and a beautiful pair of handmade glass earrings for Cari and a sweatshirt for me that has a photo of the Mountain with a “30% club” stamp on it. After a browsing some of the other tourist trap shops it was time for our “6:21” reservation – how’s that for being precise? We both decided on the Salmon Salad for dinner. It had spinach, tomatoes, egg, red onion and goat cheese topped with King Salmon and a vinaigrette dressing – it was delicious! Our server suggested a local Shiraz to compliment our choice and we loved it! We were so sad to learn you can’t buy it anywhere else – it really is a local thing. Blueberry ice cream made with local blueberries was the perfect ending to a perfect dinner!

Denali Princess Lodge – A beautiful lodge with lots of amenities, but the rooms (at least ours) left a little to be desired. It was ok, just sparse. No closet space, no dressers, no drawers, nowhere to put anything. So we lived out of our suitcases for a couple of days. Oh and no wifi in the room. We had to go to the lodge for internet. Which isn’t a big deal except I wanted to upload some of my pictures to Facebook. Not gonna happen tonight.

 It’s 9:30pm and while the sun is going down it’s still light outside. Bob’s been out for probably 20 minutes already. I’m thankful he isn’t snoring yet. I’ve looked through my 200+ photos taken today. They’re whittled down to about 170 after the first cut. I’m actually very happy with the results considering the circumstances – shooting from a moving train among more than a dozen others trying, just like you, to get that perfect shot.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as beautiful and Mount McKinley will grace us with its appearance for another day. Tomorrow is our Wilderness Tundra bus tour. It should be a good time of year to see lots of different animals too … crossing my fingers.

And we're off!!!

Our morning started early at 4:15am. We left the house at 5:00am for the airport. After checking our bags and going through security we grabbed a bagel sandwich for breakfast. Our first leg left for Miami at 7:30 and it went off without a hitch.  Once we got to Miami the next two legs were first class. Bob and I were really looking forward to that.  We left Miami right on time and had a 2-1/2 hr flight to Dallas. After topping off my phone and Nook batteries, the Bennigan’s Tavern looked mighty inviting for a cold, foamy, adult beverage. The flight from Dallas to Anchorage was a long 6-1/2 hr flight but it was much more bearable in big, soft, cushy seats. It’s been a long day but we’re checked in and ready for bed. I’m sitting here watching The Weather Channel to find out what’s going on back home with Irene. But that’s it for tonight. Turning out the light …

… tomorrow we take the train to Denali!

Vacation Prep

We were scheduled to leave Friday morning from Norfolk to Miami to Dallas to Anchorage. Ya gotta love those free miles. God forbid should you be able to schedule a more direct path. Anyway, I happened to have the weather channel on Sunday afternoon and happened to hear about this hurricane that could possibly be heading towards Miami - yup, Thursday to Friday time frame. Of course there were many factors driving the path of what would soon be named "Irene." On Monday it looked as if she would be right over top of Miami Friday morning, so Bob called American Airlines to see what the protocol is for changing flights in these kinds of cases. Basically he was told to wait and see. A day or so out is when they post travel advisories and at that point you can change your flight(s) without any additional charges.

So we waited - and we watched. Sure enough, Irene's path shifted and her speed increased. By Wednesday guess where she was predicted to go? Right over top of us over the weekend. Oh boy. Isn't life grand? It looked like we'd be fine getting out of town Friday morning, thank God. But now in addition to preparing for a two plus week vacation, we had to do some hurricane preparation. All the furniture and plants had to come off of the deck, the bird feeders and bird bath had to come down and in general everything that could be blown around needed to be put into the garage.

Leaving our home knowing bad weather was approaching was a very weird feeling. I've lived in Hampton Roads my entire life and we've been through some hurricanes. We have never left in anticipation of one. Thankfully, we've never had one bad enough we felt we needed to leave. I guess it's human nature to stay and protect what's yours, ya know? Not sure how we think we have enough power to do that but still, it's just what we do. And now this time, we had to leave. All our friends, family and neighbors were telling us they wish they were going with us. Knowing we'd have to rely on their kindness to check on things around here was comforting and frustrating at the same time.

(Note: In the end it all worked out just fine. The storm damage in our area was minimal for most people and our house and yard (except for normal storm debris) fared well. Maybe we should leave home for every storm, huh?)

Kenny!! 8/4/11

Kenny

Farm Bureau Live – 8/4/11

Another Kenny concert bites the dust. I think last night was our 16^th or 17^th Kenny concert in nine years. And just think, he didn’t tour last year! After about six hours of sleep I’m sitting here with bleary eyes trying to put some thoughts together from last night. Can you believe it – Bob went to Kenny AGAIN? Cari and Matt drove down Wednesday night, so it was the four of us. And actually since the yewts got there when the gates opened, we had pretty good lawn seats.

Bob and I were dragging our feet (plus we really didn’t need to see Uncle Kracker again) and got to our seats in time to hear Uncle Kracker’s last couple of songs. Billy Currington took the stage at 7:45 and did his thing. Billy’s always good. Bob doesn’t like him, but we do.  And for an early August evening, the weater was wonderful. It was humid (imagine that!) but the temperature was around 80 and there was an awesome breeze blowing! It could’ve been so much worse.

The lights went down promptly at 9:00pm and Kenny’s music started. He likes to get the crowd pumped up and on their feet before he makes his appearance.  Um, that’s never a problem. He opened with “Live A Little” and by the end of the first song part of his shirt was a darker blue where he was already starting to sweat. By half way through the show it was completely soaked. Of course he told us he’d missed us, and that it wasn’t summer without coming to Virginia Beach last year, etc. I know he tells every audience that kind of stuff but when he says it in your own home town you want to believe you really are that special. LOL

Kenny always has a high-energy show but this one seemed a little more mellow than most we’ve gone to. He did quite a few slower ballads than I remember in the past. Of course we love them and it doesn’t dampen our enthusiasm at all. Most fans remain standing throughout the entire concert, singing their hearts out even through an acoustic ballad. Kenny is Kenny and we love him no matter what he’s singing. We felt very special when he decided to do “Old Blue Chair,” telling us he just couldn’t come to Virginia Beach and not play that song. He looked happy to be back on stage and interacting with his fans again.

I asked Bob as we were walking back to the car if he was glad he came. He said, “Of course I am! I like Kenny!” The man actually stood through a lot of the concert and even applauded with the rest of us at the end of the songs! You don’t understand, that’s very unusual for Bob. It was awesome to see him enjoying Kenny. Cari and I have wanted to be able to share that experience with him for many years now. The next step will be to get him to a show from the second or third row.

Set List:

Live a Little

Reality

Summertime

Beer in Mexico

Woman With You

Big Star

I Go Back

NSNSNP

Anything But Mine

There Goes My Life

Old Blue Chair

Living in Fast Forward

Young

Somewhere With You

Don’t Happen Twice

Everybody Wanna Go To Heaven

Never Wanted Nothing More

Out Last Night

You and Tequila

When The Sun Goes Down

Tractor

Boys of Fall

…. Til next time ….

Keith Urban - 7/26/11

Keith Urban

Hampton Coliseum – 7/26/11

Life has been a bit busy this summer. Exactly one month from this date we leave for our 16-day Alaska trip! Combined with all the other stuff we’ve managed to cram in this summer it’s been quite chaotic.

Cari came home Sunday and since she needed an outfit for an interview on Wednesday and I still needed a couple of tops for the cruise AND I had a 20% off coupon for Kohls (that expired Sunday), we grabbed some lunch and went shopping. Let me just say it was a pretty productive shopping afternoon. We got home just in time to head back out to meet Mike and Paddy for Harry Potter at the new Beach Movie Bistro. It was after 9:30 when we got home.

Monday we met Herb and Jean at Baker’s Crust for lunch and ran some other errands afterwards. Farm Fresh had some wild caught Alaskan for a change so we picked up some for dinner. By the time we got home it was around 4:00. After dinner we watched another boring movie from Netflix. Cari and I played around on our Nooks and another day bit the dust.

Tuesday we dropped Peanut off at the groomer and stopped by Dress Barn to see what kind of clearance deals we could get. We got some. Let me just leave it at that. We managed to get out of there just in time to pick up Peanut and head home to meet Regina for lunch. I put some chicken salad together for dinner and it was time to leave for the concert. I guess my reasoning for putting all this in my Keith journaling is because Cari and I weren’t even excited about the show! We hadn’t had time to even think about it to get excited. I don’t think I have ever gone to a concert before with so little anticipation. It was a weird feeling.

The drive to Hampton was really not bad – even in rush hour traffic. The doors opened at 6:30 and we were there waiting in line by about 6:25. Jake Owen opened at 7:30. While I don’t love every one of his songs, I really liked him. I’ll enjoy listening to him even more now. He played for about 40-45 minutes.

Keith took the stage between 8:30-8:45. It was awesome. The whole show was awesome. It’s been so long since we’ve seen him – except in Nashville at Fan Fair. There is definitely a difference in Keith the person and Keith the performer from the last time we saw him in Richmond (2006). I guess between the life changes he’s experienced (marriage, children) and getting clean, he’s just happy. At least it seems that way.

The title of his current CD is “Get Closer.” It’s also the title of this tour. One of the first things he shared with us was his reason for choosing the Hampton Coliseum over the amphitheater. He wanted a smaller feeling venue, something more like a club. He asked us how we liked the new stage, “with all those stupid fences gone that separates us from you.”

This new Keith seems to be all about getting close to his fans. He gave us a taste of that in Nashville when he picked our section to come up in and perform. Talk about the highlight of the entire week! There was a small circle “stage” in the center of the floor that he played several songs on, which gave him the opportunity to see and “get closer” to even more fans. Towards the beginning of the show he was talking to us and reading signs people were holding up. He spotted one that said “Sweet 16.” It was her birthday. Keith said, “Sweet 16 and never been kissed … not by me!” He motioned for her to come up on stage and kissed her on the cheek. Now how stinking cool is that? Towards the end of the show he did exactly what he did in Nashville – picked a spot in the upper section to perform. Since we had experienced that we knew EXACTLY what those fans were feeling! God it was fun! When he finished “You Look Good in My Shirt,” he signed the guitar he was playing and handed it to a little girl nearby. She looked like she was maybe nine years old and talk about being in shock! Can you even imagine?

The entire night was like this. When you see a performer having so much fun interacting with his fans, you can’t help but have an incredible time yourself. I just love watching him. I love watching him get lost in his guitar and just be in the moment. I love watching his body language and mannerisms. He’s just fun. And when he demonstrates that he enjoys us as much as we enjoy him it doesn’t get any better than that.

“Kiss A Girl” was another special moment of the night. After the first verse or so, he stopped playing and picked three random people from the audience to join him on stage. It was like a sing off competition. The people had some brass ones I’ll tell you. However, DJ was pretty damn good – he “won.” The prize was actually singing with Keith. I videoed the entire thing – it was amazing!

He took a moment before it ended to acknowledge that lots of people are dealing with tough economic times these days. There are always a lot of concerts to choose from when deciding which ones you can afford to go to. He thanked us for choosing to spend our Tuesday night with him.

The man played for nearly 2-1/2 hours, performing 23 songs. Here’s the set list:

Put You in a Song

Fly With Me

Boondocks (Little Big Town)

Days Go By

Only You Can Love Me This Way

Long Hot Summer

Stupid Boy

Silly Love Songs

Making Memories of Us

I’m In

Blue Jeans

You’ll Think of Me

Better Half

Georgia Woods

Summer Comes Around

Sweet Thing

Kiss A Girl

Without You

Somebody Like You

Who Wouldn’t Want to be Me

You Look Good In My Shirt

Tonight I’m Gonna Cry (my fave)

Better Life

I didn’t even take my camera so the only shots I got were with my iPhone. I did take lots of videos though. Walking back to the car guess who we ran into? DJ! I told him I got the entire thing on video and he gave me his email to send it to him. He was still on cloud nine! We certainly walked away from this show feeling like we got more than our money from those tickets. That concert is definitely in my top five faves, if not my top two.

... and next week we get to see Kenny again!!! :)

"Big Pool!!"

After sleeping late, Heidi came over for lunch and we all headed over to Regina's for some pool time. Morgan is talking up a storm and parroting any and everything she hears. It's so cute!! I had picked up a float and some water balls (you know the baby loves her some balls). On the way over we were telling her that we were going to a big pool. She knows what a pool is because her MaMaw has an above ground and she loves it. You should've seen her face when she saw the big in-ground pool! So cute!!

She was a bit clingy in the beginning. I think she was just overwhelmed. It didn't take her long to get over it though. She absolutely LOVED when Regina turned on the fountains. It's hysterical how she loves to get under them and get her head all wet! Heidi put her floaties on and before long she was jumping off the stairs, the side of the pool and even the diving board. She was fearless!! We'd be playing in the water and she'd look at me and say, "Jump?" LOL When I said, "Sure, go ahead!" she'd go up the stairs and walk around to the side and jump to me. I can't even begin to tell you how many times she did that. Regina called her the little energizer bunny because she did not stop the entire afternoon. She wasn't the only one who was gonna sleep good that night.

Regina made these incredible chicken nachos for us to snack on (should've taken a pic of those too). It was the perfect afternoon! We have to do that again before the end of the summer. It was heaven!!

Heidi said Morgan fell asleep in the car on the way home, around 4:30. She had to wake her up to try and get some dinner in her and Morgan cried through it. Went back to sleep and didn't get up until almost 7am Saturday morning. I think we wore her out! :)

So sad ...

The anticipation for the final Harry Potter film had been building for months, years actually. I think many of us had conflicting emotions about this film. I was so excited about seeing it, but at the same time was so sad that it's over. We had to say goodbye to Harry, Hermoine, Ron and the rest of the gang.

Cari and Matt drove down on Thursday and we met at PMS Deli for lunch. From there we ran some errands and the rest of the afternoon and evening flew by! We left here around 10:00pm to pick up Regina and get to the theater a little early (or so we thought) so we could make sure we got a good seat. R-I-G-H-T ... There were 18 theaters (some large, some small) showing the movie at midnight. You could sit anywhere you could find a seat - with the exception of the 3D theater. We went through most of them an even 90 minuets early we couldn't find four seats in any upper section. It was crazy!! We ended up sitting in the back row of a lower section - closer than we'd have liked but it was the best we could find. The time passed fairly quickly (playing Angry Birds - LOL) and soon the lights went down and it was time ... for previews. After 20, or more, minutes of previews the movie finally started!

Those two hours went by fast. I loved the movie and thought they did a good job (mostly) of portraying the book correctly. They did change a few things but for the most part it was accurate. It was a late night. I think we got to bed around 3:00-3:30am. But it was awesome.

25 Years!!

I guess I'm just getting bloody old. Bob and I have been married for TWENTY FIVE YEARS!!! Wow! It still blows me away! I'm so lucky to have found a man who puts up with me day in and day out. I know I'm not the easiest person to live with some days - especially with this hormone deprived, menopausal body now. There are days even I don't want to be around me. They suck. Still he loves me anyway. He may not like me some days but he still loves me. There are so many instabilities in life it's comforting to have a partner who is stable. I've always said he's my rock, my grounding rod. We are so very different, Bob and I. Like night and day on lots of things. But where it counts, home, family, core values and such, we meld pretty well.

He surprised me with my very own new Nook Color reader!! I was so excited!! I still have my issues with not being able to share digital books I buy but I guess I'll learn to work around it. At least with the Nook I can borrow books from the library and read them for free. You still can't do that on the Kindle. (On a side note, Dad is loving his Kindle!) I was in the middle of reading Iris Johansen's "On The Run" and immediately went to the library to see if I could check it out and finish it on my Nook. I could!! That was pretty cool! It's going to be so nice traveling with it! I'll really get that experience on our trip to Alaska.

We went to Burton's Grill at Hilltop for dinner. It was one of the best dinners we've ever had! Bob and I split their Mediterranean Salad for an appetizer and it's always good (with a nice bottle of wine of course). For our main course they had fresh Alaskan Sockeye Salmon that was to die for! It was over some kind of fresh corn salsa (and you know I love corn!) and slices of fresh tomatoes from Pungo. We ordered Creme Brulee that finished it off nicely! We waddled back to our car. What a wonderful day!!

Been reading too ...

Started re-reading the Harry Potter books back in May. My plan was to read a book then watch the movie. That was all going according to plan until I picked up the Kindle Brooke and I were giving Dad for Father's Day. She put all the "Fever" books on there. Damn! I had read books 1-4 several years ago. I remember being so pissed at the end of the fourth book. I picked it up thinking it was the last one in that series. It so was not the last one. I'd read that whole book thinking I'd get some kind of closure at the end. NOT!! And I had waited for it to be released so I had no clue when the sequel was coming out. (If you aren't familiar with the "Fever" books go here to read more.)

Fast forward to June. Cari bought herself a Nook Color. She'd been waiting for the fifth and final book to hit the shelves so she could read the entire series at once. Well book five came out in January - I still hadn't picked it up though. It had been several years so I wanted to start back at book one and read them all again. All it takes is a couple of pages and you're hooked - so hooked. Cari read all five books in six days. Granted she wasn't in school or working and she had really missed reading for fun. There's simply not much time for that in between studying and homework during school. So, although I was into book four of Harry Potter I had all five "Fever" books at my finger tips. I couldn't resist. I caved.

I devoured the first two books. Then I hit the brick wall called Nashville. I didn't get much reading done the next two weeks. Acknowledging there was no way I could finish before handing the Kindle over on Father's Day, I went to the library and checked the rest of them out. I am so glad that series is done!! Good Gawd I needed a massage after finishing that last one! The entire thing was unbelievably intense! And it ended with, " ... the end" and on the next page, " ... for now." So you know that's not the end of the story, but at least Ms. Moning provided us with some closure.

I've got two and a half weeks to get ready for Harry Potter now!! Yikes!!

PS - Both Missy and Pat have now caught the fever! It's gonna be fun watching them read too!

Ahem (clearing my throat) ...

... no literally. I've been feeling poorly since Monday. Woke up with a sore throat and just dragging. The coughing started Wednesday night. My voice started going Friday afternoon. Today (Sunday) is the second day of absolutely no voice whatsoever. I talk to myself - a lot. And yes, I answer myself too. Is that an indication of intelligence or Alzheimer's? Not sure but I'll choose intelligence thank you. I've always talked to myself, even growing up. I remember trying to figure algebra problems and talking my way through it in class. Maybe it's a product of being an only child. Who knows? Anyway, now I'm whispering to myself. I forget I don't have a voice until I try to say something. If it wasn't so frustrating it would be funny. Anyway ...

Can't believe it's been two months since I've blogged. So many of life has whizzed by!! And wait, two months from today we'll be on a plane heading to Alaska! I can't believe it's that close! We've been planning this for months now. It's incredible to believe it's only weeks away now. I am so not ready! Well I'm ready, but not ready. You know what I mean! I've always wanted to go to Alaska - always. So we decided to take the trip of a lifetime for our 25th wedding anniversary! OMG the pictures I'm gonna take!

Mother's Day - Cari made me an awesome chocolate pecan pie! We had breakfast at Rock-a-fellers and snow crabs for dinner. It was a wonderful day!

Kenny!! Our summer started with a bang on June 4 going to see Kenny at Fed Ex Field. Jamie went with us and the yewts (Cari and Matt) met us at the hotel. We got to the parking lot as they opened the doors and had a wonderful time tailgating most of the afternoon. Carla and Eddie joined us - it was great reconnecting with them again. (More on this in a separate post.)

After coming home from Kenny on Sunday, I started getting serious about getting my act together for Nashville! Cari arrived Tuesday about lunchtime and the frivolity followed!! The whole trip (with the exception of Miranda Lambert being a bitch) was awesome! For me, the best thing about it was just being together. Six full days with Cari and Missy! We had a ball!!

We landed about 11:30pm Monday night - exhausted and elated. Cari had planned to stay through Father's day and Matt arrived Thursday afternoon so he'd be here for Morgan's 2nd birthday party (which was awesome!) on Saturday. The Troupe crew met at Jewish Mother for breakfast Sunday morning - that's always a fun time! Cari left Monday for Harrisonburg Monday afternoon. The bug that was working on my body had already latched on. It was a long week. So that's where I am right now. Time to back up and fill in some blanks ...

Happy 2nd Birthday to Morgan!!!

It's funny. On one hand I can't believe it's been two years since Morgan was born. On the other hand, it's hard to remember back to a time she wasn't a part of our lives. She's always been beautiful but I swear she's even more so every time I see her. It's humbling to realize there's a little bit of me in there somewhere. She was napping when we arrived so was a little groggy at first. Cari was so excited for Matt to finally meet her! Whether she remembered Cari or not (it had been about six months) it didn't take Morgan long to warm up to her. Babies and kids naturally take to Cari - she's like a magnet to them.

We ate, opened presents - LOTS of presents! - sang, had cake and played in the pool! Tiffany and Lauren were blowing up the beach balls I brought - Cars, Princesses and Nemo. Morgan saw the Cars one and said, "vrooom vrooom!" It was so cute! She's always loved balls - and the movie, "Cars." This summer she's a little fish in the pool too. Poor thing, she was shivering and turning blue in the pool but still didn't want to get out.

For more birthday photos, click here.

Kenny!!

We had been looking forward to this show for a long time (actually bought the tickets back in November). A stadium show had been on our "to do" list for years. And since he didn't tour at all last year we were in detox mode for sure! Jamie came over bright and early Saturday morning and we hit the road around 7am. After dropping Peanut off with Dad we were on our way! The drive up was pretty uneventful and it gave Jamie and I a good block of time to catch up. The yewts beat us to the hotel and one of our rooms was ready so we went ahead and checked in. All of us were excited (yes even Bob) and we were out of there pretty quickly.

Cars were lined up to get into the parking lot. The gates opened at 12:30 and we were there ten minutes early. Needless to say we got a great spot. As as soon as the car stopped we were unloading and setting up for tailgating! The little Weber handled our burgers and dogs with no problem. Cari made broccoli salad and I brought potato salad. It was a bit hot - in the upper 80's - but we were thankful it wasn't any hotter. As clouds went by and gave us some shade it gave us a little bit of a break. Carla and Eddie (Jamie's ex sister-in-law and her husband) joined the party a little later - it was great to see them again and reconnect!

I'll tell you, some people have the art of tailgating down pat. The jeep next to us had a margarita machine, tent, an incredible spread and they even brought some sand and a baby pool! It was awesome! They actually made Kenny's Facebook page! His manager was riding around in a golf cart taking photos of different fans' setups. It gave us some ideas for our next tailgating party. :)

Finally it was time to make our way to the stadium! Cari and I bought the same Kenny shirt - she has good taste - and we went through the gates. Our seats were awesome!! Carla and Eddie's were awesomer though. LOL They were right next to the sand bar. Wow!

Uncle Kracker opened right at 4:30. He was okay but nothing to write home about. Apparently others weren't too excited about seeing him either since the stadium was pretty close to empty. I like his cd better than his live show. That's a shame isn't it? Billy Currington took the stage about 20 minutes after Kracker left and he was really good. We were very surprised to learn the Zac Brown Band was the last band before Kenny. I was sure it would be Billy. I really like the Zac Brown Band but their "jamming" sessions can go on and on and on and on. It even got to be too much for Bob and he generally likes that kind of stuff. After a while it all begins to sound the same to me. Cari, Jamie and I got up in search of something to eat. We missed a lot of their set but Cari and I knew we'd see them again in a few days in Nashville so we weren't too upset about it.

In the meantime seats were filling up. By the time Kenny made his appearance there wasn't a seat to be  had. Kenny never just comes out on stage. He's always where you least expect him. This time he came up from the tech center in the center of the field swinging high through the crowd. It was awesome! The show continued to get better and more exciting from there. Kenny looked rested and thrilled to be in front of his fans again - needless to say, we were thrilled to have him in front of us again. He sang, danced, high-fived fans and made us all fall in love with him all over again. I later found the set list - the man sang 26 songs in that two hour period. Bob walked away saying, "He does a great show! He certainly is an entertainer." This was Matt's first ever Kenny show.  Let's just say it won't be his last.

Click HERE for more photos from the night.

Back in the hotel room, we snacked, showered and decompressed a little. Cari and Jamie made fun of me on my Ambien - I remember most of it. I probably would've made fun of me too if I could have. I usually take it and go to bed, not attempt to be sociable.

After breakfast in the morning we hugged the yewts and started our trek home. Then it was time to start seriously getting stuff together for NASHVILLE!!

Happy Easter! Blessings Galore ...

The weekend started on Friday by having lunch with Heidi for her birthday. How in the hell she's supposed to be 29 still has me completely stumped. Didn't I just turn 29 a couple of years ago? Anyway, we had a wonderful visit even though Morgan was sick with a double ear infection. She was still a sweetie and pretty dang pleasant considering how crappy she must've felt. Lauren and Tiffany had been trying to get her to tell Heidi "Happy Birthday" and she was so proud of herself saying "Bir-day!!" It was SO CUTE!! The only thing is that she's associating her Easter baskets with "Bir-day!!" I guess she'll have it figured out soon enough.

Saturday morning we left early to drop Peanut off with Dad before heading to Charlottesville to meet Cari and Matt for lunch. We ended up at a favorite Italian restaurant. Cari and I both got pasta with their famous "Pink Sauce," Matt ordered a Stromboli and Bob a personal pan pizza. Everything was wonderful and we certainly walked away satisfied. After browsing some of the shops it was time to hit the brewery - Starrhill Brewery, about 13 miles away in Crozet. It wasn't a "Cari" thing to do but we knew Matt would really enjoy it - and he did. I don't think they've seen the last of him. We enjoyed sampling six of their creations on tap - well we enjoyed most of them. One, Double Platinum, was perfectly horrid! It's extra hoppy and literally turns your mouth inside out! Nasty Asty!! None of us could even finish the sample. After filling two of Rick's Growlers with Cryptical and Love it was time to move on.

Before we left though, I wanted Cari to open some of the goodies I took her. A couple of months ago she ran across a fabulous deal on a complete set of all seven NCIS seasons on ebay. Unable to resist, I bought them. She's a hopeless NCIS junkie. She was thrilled when she saw I brought them to her. Our neighbor, who is NCIS, managed to finagle a personalized autograph of Michael Weatherly for her. I hadn't said a peep to her about any of this and was dying to see her surprise when she took it out of the bag (along with MY personalized autograph of Mark Harmon!!). Surprise is putting it mildly. She was amazed!! And softy that he is our neighbor said her joy over it made HIS day!

On the way to Harrisonburg Bob and I stopped at the hotel to check in and freshen up. Salad Creations, one of the local places was where we found ourselves for dinner. To my knowledge, we don't have anything like that here. They have quite a few salads on the menu, but you can also create your own. It was very reasonable and everything is fresh - it tasted wonderful!

The movie "Source Code" was next on our agenda. It was certainly different! Bob stayed awake through it - that's saying something! We went back to Cari's apartment to enjoy a cup of tea before going back to our hotel room. By the time I had my face washed and pjs on it was nearly 11:30. Bob was soon snoring and I didn't get much reading done.

This morning Cari wanted to fix us some of her wonderful banana pancakes for breakfast. She was right - they were delicious!! After visiting some more over an awesome breakfast it was time to leave for home.

Delivering the Growlers was the last thing on our agenda for today. We had no intention of assisting to "kill" them - but that's just what we did. So, all in all it was a perfect weekend - time spent with younguns, family, friends, good food and last but not least, good beer = good times. Like I said ... Blessings Galore ...

Happy Easter!

Spring!!

Well I guess spring is officially here. While most people are loving this weather, me not so much. The pollen is killing me. The yellow/green dust from all the pines covers everything. I'm a prisoner in my own home. By the time the pollen is mostly gone it'll be so hot I'll still be miserable. Between allergies and menopause I've really become more of a winter person. Fall has always been my favorite time of year anyway - now even more so.

Anyway, I'll do a week in review. I can only review the latest week because I can't remember enough to review the whole month and a half I've missed. Last week wasn't my best week. Oh it started off good - it just went in the toilet pretty quickly - and I mean that literally. I finally got a new iPhone on March 17. That piece of crap LG Voyager was really on its last leg. I was loving my new phone!! There's a few quirks that I'm not thrilled with but mostly I was in love with it. Monday I met Heidi and Morgan at Mom and Dad's so we could all go to lunch together. It was lovely! The weather was good (for most people, that means sweating while doing nothing for me), lunch (at Panera) was delicious and we had four generations together! That doesn't happen every day. When we got back to the house I just slipped my phone into my back pocket and grabbed my keys - left my purse in the car. Long story short, I went to the bathroom before leaving to come home and guess what? I forgot my phone was in my back pocket. When I went to pull my pants down that baby flipped right out and went swimming!! You have never seen anyone dive so fast into a toilet in your life! It was only in there a second - thank goodness it was clean water! (All of a sudden I really didn't even have to go anymore!) My heart sunk about as fast as my phone. Not pretty.

I dried it off and it appeared to be okay. I took a breath. I thought maybe I retrieved it fast enough. I didn't say a peep to anyone about what happened. Still hoping against hope it wasn't damaged I took it out to snap a picture of Morgan ... um, not good. The view was all cloudy. First major sign it didn't escape unharmed. I left not long after that and was constantly checking the phone to see if the camera was any better. I plugged it into the radio and it even played my tunes fine. I still had hope ... for a while. Until I picked it up and it was hot to the touch. Not a good sign. I didn't know if it would dry itself out or just continue to get worse. In the end, I decided to go by Best Buy and ask what they recommended. Thankfully, we purchased the Black Tie program and it was exchanged without a problem. I had to go back to my piece of crap phone for a few days but on Thursday morning I got the call saying my phone was in and I could come pick it up. That was a happy day.

Knitting
I am making my first wearable garment - well I guess that isn't actually true because I started a Kimono last spring. But a Kimono is a cardigan and it doesn't have to fit particularly well to be acceptable. I started a Miley-tee a couple of weeks ago. The yarn I'm using is Cascades Ultra Pima and it's a beautiful rich teal color. I love the sheen of this yarn. It's 100% cotton so it's not exactly forgiving to work with but I think it will be worth it. Anyway, Friday morning at S&B I was so excited to get to the point of putting the sleeves on a holder and just working in the round on the body. The sleeves and body of the top added up to nearly 400 stitches per round - it takes a while to complete a round. I had never been ecstatic with the way the "v" had come together when joined but figured there was some little finishing technique that would "improve" it. Well I broke one of the sacred rules when I started this top - I didn't read the pattern all the way through before casting on. As written, the "v" is fairly deep. Since I didn't want to have to wear something under the top, I decided to join it earlier than the pattern stated. Well, the instructions for joining were further down on the directions and I didn't "catch" it until about 3" past where I joined. I was sick. I knew ultimately I had to frog (rip out) all the way back to the join and do it again. Three inches may not sound like much but when you're looking at nearly 400 stitches per round ... well, let's just say it's a lot. Saturday morning I sucked it up and ripped it back. Challenging though it was I managed to get all the stitches back on a needle and have been playing catch up. I'm still not back to where was on Friday but I'll get there.

I also had to rip out some socks I was working on - quite a few times. Not a very productive week for knitting. But ... there's always the next week!! I finally got the Kimono I started last spring seamed on Monday. Karen came over to help me figure it out and between us we did. So yaaahh!! It isn't perfect but nothing I make is so that's ok. This was a learning experience and I didn't spend big bucks on the yarn for this project so if it ends up being a knock around the house sweater, that works for me. I still have to do 7" worth of garter stitch all around the front (lapel) so it's not done - but a whole lot closer than before!! It will be my auto-pilot project - except when it's too hot, which would be today. It's supposed to be almost 90 degrees today. I'm hibernating.

TTFN,
QB

Mar 1! How did that happen?

I can't believe it's been three weeks since I've blogged! I think it's because I just haven't felt up to par lately. My sinuses just aren't very happy these days. It's not bad enough to put me in bed but it is bad enough to keep me from being motivated to accomplish anything productive and the energy needed to accomplish anything productive. I haven't even done much knitting lately. I did finish a pair of baby clogs for Morgan (but I'm afraid they're a wee bit too little for her - sad, so sad) and a couple of dishcloths. After rummaging in my stash, I pulled out yarn for another pair of baby clogs and the little owl. I actually started the owl - got the body done. Haven't picked it up since. Haven't touched the clogs. Sigh ... I guess that's just not what I want to do right now because I found myself just staring at the TV not knitting at all. So last Thursday night I pulled out a ball of sock yarn to start a pair of socks and retrieved my Lady Eleanor (entrelac stole) that was put on the back burner the end of September (so I could complete some Christmas gifts). Now this stole is in James C. Brett Marble in gorgeous brown, gold, green and orange. I LOVE how it's working up. But it's unlikely I'll wear if before fall. If I don't finish it soon, though, it'll get too hot to work on it. So, hopefully, I'll get it done before it gets hot.

Went to get some baby love Valentine's Day. Nothing like some baby love to brighten and sweeten your day. We played together, laughed together and had a wonderful time. We hadn't been out to lunch in a while and ended up at IHOP. I won't even go into that story here. But suffice to say it was not a good experience and I came home and wrote a letter, a very detailed letter, a letter with pictures. I haven't heard anything from IHOP and I may not. But I could not let this experience go without letter the powers that be know how bad it really was.

OTN: I started my first pair of 2-at-a-time, toe-up socks Saturday. This is the only way to go for socks. The toes are done and I've got about 1-1/2" on the feet done. I'm really like thing so far. I've also done several tiers on my entrelac stole.

Today I'm going to pick up my first set of photos to start scrapbooking our Florida trip. I haven't scrapped in so long I won't even know where to start but I'm gonna give it a whirl.

Went to the annual quilt show with Mom on Sunday. It's the first time we've ever been. Wow! It was incredible! We'll do our best not to miss it again. I'm not even a quilter and I loved it. Quilts today are just crazy gorgeous! They really are works of art. I'm gearing up to start Cari's music t-shirt quilt though. I've been talking about this thing for years. It's gonna feel good to actually start it (with Fran's help of course!).

I think that's all the news for this time. Hopefully I'll have pics to share next time (socks, stole, layouts, quilting progress, etc.)

Happy March 1st!

How much do I knit?

I don't consider myself a fast knitter. I'm certainly not a speed knitter. I am, however, a consistent knitter. I guess that's how I seem to get more projects done than some. At least that's what they say. I'm always being told, "You just whip things out so fast!" Well, no I really don't. I just stick with the projects. Sometimes I knit during the day. Most of my knitting time gets worked in at night. Rarely do I sit and watch TV without my knitting. So after I quit at night, usually around 7:00-8:00pm, I knit until I go to bed. I thought I'd keep track of it this week to see how many hours a week I spend knitting. So here goes:

Monday - 9:30-11:30am (knitting group at church) 2 hrs.
              9:00 - 10:00 pm
Tuesday - nada, nothing, zilch
Wednesday - 3:00 - 4:00pm (started my Cream of Spinach Scarf)
                   8:00 - 10:30pm
Thursday - 8:00 - 10:00pm
Friday - 10:00 - 11:00am (S&B)
            7:30 - 10:30pm
Saturday - 2 hours here and there


Sunday - nothing

Running Total - 14.5 hrs

So there ya go - I average about 2 hours a day knitting. Some days more, some days less.


Now let's see, what did I accomplish in that amount of time? Hmmm, oh yeah I finished a black and multi-colored striped scarf (from stash):


I finished Saturday a Cream of Spinach scarf from some white Red Heart Soft in my stash. Love the pattern but will make it again from natural fibers so it will be easier to block. I'm not happy with the "grafting" though so that may be a problem if I decide to make it again. I need to steam this one and see how it lays and how much the join shows while around my neck.


I think the only other project I finished was a set of felted coasters for Cari.



That's it for this week! See ya in a few days!


QB

The Clog Saga and "Double Vision"

Well I didn't make my goal for a Friday update this week, but here's what's on and off my needles this past week. Unfortunately, the saga of the clogs continued well into the week. I did make myself go out in the cold back to the yarn store Saturday. I drove thirty minutes out there only to discover the yarn Cari picked out a few weeks ago was discontinued and they didn't have anymore. Not only did they not have anymore but I didn't have the ball band with me (and I didn't even know if I still had it at all) to get the color number from it. Since we didn't know the color number we couldn't even look it up so she could make a note to call the company on Monday morning to see if they had a stray ball in the warehouse. Extremely frustrated, I left. I started to head home and then decided that Knit Wits was only another ten minutes away, so on the off chance they still had a ball, I turned my car in their direction. Of course they didn't have anymore! But after telling Sharon (owner) that I wanted/needed four hanks of the sumptuous Magic Flute color of the Misti Alpaca Chunky Hand Paints (can I just say ... yarngasm?) that Regina got the week before, plus Regina needed another one, the next time she ordered ... well, Sharon found a whole nuther bag of the stuff and instead of spending $5 on a ball of wool I spent ... never mind, I don't even want to go there. But this color is so awesome Cari and I both needed a scarf with it. (More on these later.) Despondent I left Knit Wits after spending way too much money on awesome yarn still not able to finish the clogs. And I didn't know if I'd be able to get any more of that color - ever.

Bright spot - I found the yarn label (ball band) in my basket and called Sharon with the color number. She said she'd put it in her network and see what she could come up with. So Cari's clogs still sat. In the meantime, however ... I had this alpaca calling out to me. No it was yelling at me to play with it and fondle it and make it into something. I caved. It won. After trying several different patterns and needle sizes the Misti Alpaca Ribs and Ruffles pattern was what the yarn wanted to be worked in.  Truly, it told me so. Each hank is only 109 yards, and working with a 10.5 needle, well it works up pretty quickly. I finished my scarf and immediately picked up the same yarn to make Cari's. I didn't intend to use the same pattern for both scarves, but in the end I did just that. I loved the first one so much and it was too perfect to do anything else with the yarn. So here's the "Double Vision:"

I had seen some felted pot holders in one of my knitting books earlier in the week. I also saw some neat mitered coasters in another book. So I thought I'd try making the mitered coasters with wool and felting them to see what they'd look like and if they'd be functional. That's what I pulled out to work on at S&B Friday morning. Wow, I was thrilled at how fast they knit up and had one almost finished by the end of the morning. Liz went by Knit Wits and called me later saying Sharon had found me a ball of the wool (for Cari's clogs) and it was in!!! Asked if I wanted her to pick it up for me! Well, yeah!! I was about ready to throw in the towel and just finish those last four rounds with the cream I was using for the cuff. So I was able to finish the second clog Friday night and I felted them today! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out - hopefully, Cari will be too.

I also managed to whip out three more of the coasters and felted them along with the clogs this morning. Pretty happy with how they turned out too!! Think I'll make Cari some and throw them in her care package to mail later in the week.

Future projects? Same as last week: the owl (maybe I'll get that pattern this week and knock that out), my entrelac stole and my kimono - oh, still need to get some more wool for a couple more pair of clogs I promised over Christmas. Michael's has it on sale this week so maybe I'll swing by there, buy some and get started on another pair.

'til next week ...
QB

On and off my needles ...

In an endeavor to be more accountable in my knitting, my goal is to blog about what I have (or have not) accomplished each week on Fridays. Since I have "Stitch & Bitch" on Friday mornings I'll take a few minutes at the end of the day to log my projects. So, what's off my needles in the last week? Let's see, after a trip to Knit Wits Saturday morning I simply had to drop everything (not that I was doing that much but still ...) and play with the delicious Misti Alpaca Chunky Hand Paint hanks that insisted on coming home with me. I played with several different stitch patterns and needles sizes before deciding on a simple 2x2 rib with a twist and the following is the end result. I love it!! The alpaca is so incredible soft and squishy!!

Oh, but before I started playing with this new alpaca I made myself seam a cowl I finished the night before. Mom bought me two beautiful hanks of chunky alpaca during our weekend trip to the Outer Banks in September (for my birthday) - lime green and a light teal. Actually, I had honestly forgotten about them in all the frantic Christmas knitting. When I got home from S&B that Friday I immediately pulled both colors out and wanted to get them made into something. Initially I planned to use them together in one project but decided against that in the end. The green was calling the loudest to me so I chose a very simple cowl pattern I knew would knit up quickly. I can't wait to wear it!

And the light teal made a beautiful cowl in the classy herringbone stitch. I need to find a couple of perfect buttons to set it off, but it's otherwise done.

I also finished a dishcloth out of some pretty Plymouth Fantasy Cotton using a slip stitch pattern and size 6 needles. I need to start another one but just don't enjoy knitting with cotton because it has no give and is hard on my arm and shoulder. I'll get them done eventually. Here's the first one:

OK, so now for what's still on my needles:

Later during the week I pulled out another ball of yarn that's been in my stash for, well let's just say quite a while, shall we? It's pretty and soft and chunky but for whatever reason I haven't been able to find the right pattern for it. I've played with this particular yarn quite a few times trying to figure out what it wants to be. This week I decided it was time it joined society and quit living in seclusion in the yarn bin. After trying a number of different stitches and needle sizes it finally told me it wanted to be knit in a modified rib - 1x1 - but all the knit stitches are knit in the stitch below, creating an elongated stitch. I think I'm finally really liking the way it's turning out: (later edited: I frogged this project. just wasn't happy with it in the end. gave the yarn to Heidi to do something with.)

Cari's felted clogs: Apparently I've been dragging my heels on these. I did finish the first one early in the week. That consisted of seaming the bottom of the first sole, weaving all the ends in, making the second sole, attaching it to the first sole and seaming it. Clog one down. One more to go. After completing a few smaller projects and getting that sense of satisfaction, it was time to bite the bullet and pull out the yarn to start the second clog. I did that at S&B this morning. I needed to see if I had enough yarn to finish the second sole or if I had to go buy more yarn. Good thing I did. I had very little yarn left after just the first sole (you have to make two soles for each clog - that makes the bottoms twice as cushioned). Sighing, I left S&B and went directly to the Yarn Basket (where Cari found this yarn) to purchase another ball of the burgundy. Fran said she didn't have anything else going on and wanted to keep my company so she hopped in the car too. As we were browsing the fiber someone came up behind me and covered my eyes. Well, I knew it wasn't Regina because she was home sick so my other choices were limited and I figured it was Karen. She had an appointment this morning and didn't make it to S&B but stopped by to see if an order for the cotton she likes had come in. We all ended up going to Panera for a spontaneous lunch! I love when my Fridays come together like that!

Tonight after dinner I sat down to start the second sole, just so I'll have the hard part done when I get to it. (Have plenty of that pretty burgundy left too - hello stash!) I started the top of the clog and as I was working it I was getting this sinking feeling that I may run out of that yarn too. Ugh! Why oh why didn't I pick up that long ball that matched when I was there today? But alas, I didn't. And now I'm going to have to go back to get another one. (I'll have plenty of that left over too since I only have about 4 rows left.) First off, it's going to be damn cold tomorrow and I really hadn't planned on going anywhere. Secondly, I really wanted to finish this clog and felt the set this weekend. If I don't go all the way back out to the yarn store tomorrow, that won't happen. I'm ready to cross these off of my list and move on. I guess next week you'll find out what happens, huh?

The other two things still on my needles are my black kimono sweater that still needs to be seamed and my entrelac stole. I'll eventually get back to them - I promise!

Other projects looming on the horizon? Well yes, of course. I'm itching to do socks again and I'd love to make Morgan a little sweater, I have some fun yarn pulled out for a black scarf striped lengthwise - for me! I want to get some more of that gorgeous hand paint alpaca. There's another colorway screaming at me to come home and be made into another wonderful scarf (and Cari would really like that colorway too - so I need to get enough to make two scarves!) That's all I can think of at the moment. Oh, I need to pull stuff together to knit a little owl for my niece Ayla. I've picked out a pattern so need to get going on that too.

It's almost midnight now so that's all for this week. I'll add pics tomorrow. Next week I'll talk about what podcasts I've listened to lately as well.

TTFN,
QB

Home Sweet Home

As I sit on the plane flying home reflecting on this incredible, wonderful, beautiful, exhausting week we’ve had I can’t help but be filled with mixed emotions. We could’ve spent so much more time at each park we visited, but I don’t think our bodies could handle any more days. We’re all exhausted – a good, satisfied exhausted, but exhausted nonetheless. Mom and Cari began the trip with laryngitis and coughing. Mom’s voice came back in a few days but she still has a congested cough. Cari hasn’t felt her best but has managed. Bob started feeling bad Wednesday, even opting out of going to Universal on Thursday and stayed behind in bed instead. He plugged along at Hollywood yesterday but is still feeling like crap this morning. I am so thankful I haven’t felt any of this so far – I’m not quite sure how I’ve managed to escape whatever this mess is living with all these sick people all week, but at least if I come down with it now I’ll be home.

We have gone hard this week – every day. No need for a gym these last seven days. I know we’ve managed to walk at least three miles a day – and most of that walking with a backpack on my shoulders that I’m afraid to guess how much it weighs and a Nikon D200 with a zoom lens hanging around my neck – I need a massage. I’m taking the rest of the weekend off. I’ll pick back up Monday … maybe. I can’t wait to get home and get caught up on the rest of my journaling and start editing photos. I managed to journal the first two or three days but the rest of the week I only made bullet point notes. I have well over 1,000 photos to sift through – and that’s with already doing a major weeding out of only so-so images. It’s going to be a challenge to pick only the best of each attraction/event to edit and print. I bought a 200-photo Disney album. Do you think I can get it down to 200 photos? Then I’ll have to go through again and choose the ones I want to use for scrabooking. I’m also ready to get back to eating normal. That was the biggest downside this last week – our food choices were pretty limited.

My top three for the week:

            Harry Potter Land and having a Butterbeer (Islands of Adventure)

            Photographing the Castle at night (Magic Kingdom)

            The Hulk roller coaster (Islands of Adventure)

Bob's top three for the week:
           The Extreme Stunt Show (Hollywood)
           The Whale Show (SeaWorld)

           Buzz Lightyear ride (Magic Kingdom)

Cari's top three for the week:
          The Hulk roller coaster (Islands of Adventure)
          Harry Potter World and having a Butterbeer (Islands of Adventure)
          Rock'n Roller Coaster (Hollywood)

Mom's top three for the week:
         (still pending...)

Home …

Dropped Mom off and picked up Peanut, stopped by Panera to pick up some lunch and it was about 1:30 by the time we got home. After eating I got a small burst of energy and managed to unpack most of my stuff before crashing. We all crashed. Bob’s still sick and crawled directly into bed – and has stayed there.

Hollywood

Bob still wasn’t feeling good this morning but not as bad as yesterday so thought he could make it through the day with us. It’s funny, early in the week we were leaving the condo much earlier – we got a little later with each day. I guess that’s exhaustion talking. Cari and I were really excited about riding the “Rock’n Roller Coaster” again this time. I didn’t remember much about it except it was pretty much in the dark most of the way. That’s another ride where the lines fill up fast so we made a bee-line to get Fast Passes. Along the way we passed random acts in the street, Dorma Nesmond (she was a hoot) and Eva somebody with her director. Honestly, I think I could’ve made a day out of just walking the streets and watching those little random acts. They were very entertaining.

After getting our Fast Passes, we headed to the theater to wait for “Beauty and the Beast,” a 30-minute musical performance. As always, the talent was amazing, the costumes incredible and the whole show was wonderful. Surprisingly, I got some decent shots – the lighting was so bad I really wasn’t very hopeful. Once again it was time to eat so we found a little place and got some lunch.

We still had time before returning to ride the coaster so just walked around to see what jumped in front of us. The tribute to Walt Disney jumped. I remember going in there before but, again, there’s never enough time to see everything. It was fascinating to walk through and read the trivia about the man himself and how it all began and see the artifacts preserved from the beginning. Then we were ushered into a theater to watch a 30-minute documentary, narrated by Walt Disney, about his life.

Bob, Cari and I had been through building before (didn’t see the film though) and were still awe struck at the ingenuity and creativity of this man. To think about how he changed the world with his dream and his vision is mind-boggling. To see the beginnings of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy & Pluto – well, it just makes you smile. This was yet another spot we could’ve spent way more time in had we had it. There was so much to see and read, but the Rock’n Roller Coaster was calling our names …

I won't lie, I was a little - just a little - apprehensive about riding it. Not enough to not do it but I did have butterflies. Those butterflies multiplied as we got closer and saw the "limo" take off. OMG, it goes from 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds. That's how the ride starts. Whew! Alrighty then. And that's also when they take your photo. Needless to say, I lived through it - and enjoyed it! Bob had gotten Fast Passes for all four of us knowing he and Mom wouldn't ride, so Cari and I took theirs and immediately went again! Since we knew when the photo was going to be taken we were ready ... and the result was priceless. One more thing we could cross off our list. :)

While Mom and Bob were waiting for Cari and I to ride … twice … they each struck up conversations with others waiting. Mom talked to this older lady beside her who had such a fascinating story. I don’t know how old she was but I’d suspect in her 70’s. She was there with her daughter and kids and visits Disney quite often. In fact she said she had ridden the “Tower of Terror” just three years ago. Good for her was all I could say. I won’t even ride it – neither will Cari. She said once was enough. LOL She spoke perfect English, not a trace of an accent, so we were surprised as she was telling us she only learned English as her children did. Her parents were Canadian and only spoke French. Said her mother was beautiful and lived to be 87 years old (I think). Said she was married at 15 years old, started having babies soon after and had one child a year for 22 years! Can you believe that? That woman gave birth 22 times! Um, ouch! I can’t even imagine! She still has eight siblings alive and they are all close. Oh and there are 57 grandchildren. I can’t even wrap my head around that.

The timing was just about right to catch the street show, “Disney Channel Rocks!” so we started walking in the direction of the big hat to, hopefully, get a good spot. I didn’t know many of the songs since I don’t watch the Disney Channel very often these days, but still enjoyed the performance. The main stars were paraded into the area on a rolling stage preceded by backup dancers/singers. Towards the end they asked the kids in the audience to join them and they had a ball.

The “Extreme Stunt Show” sounded interesting and fit into our schedule so we started walking in that direction. Thank goodness we got there as early as we did because the stadium filled up while we sat waiting for the show to start. I don’t know what I expected but it certainly wasn’t what was delivered. There was so much to see as the cars darted in and out from different directions, spinning around, burning rubber and squealing tires! I think my jaw dropped at the beginning and stayed dropped throughout the show. It was like watching a well-choreographed dance team, except instead of dancers it was drivers with cars – fast cars. And these drivers knew exactly how to execute their maneuvers, within inches of where they needed to be. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Ramps, fire, explosions, jet-skis and more were involved. At the end of the show they showed the clips of a real movie using the scenes we just saw. It gave us a new appreciation of what goes into filming these kinds of scenes. There are tons of cameras, people and equipment. They way they customize the cars was fascinating. They had the engines mounted in the back and taken all the fluff out so they were light in the front, which makes the car able to spin and maneuver easier. One of the cars went backwards at a high speed during the chase. We watched in amazement as this driver spun around, went up ramps, in between buildings and back out again. I’m telling you, it was unbelievable. Towards the end they showed us what made all of that more feasible – the engine was in the back and the driver was facing the back. Too cool!!

“Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!” would be the last thing we could cram into our day and it was located close to the exit, which worked for us. A “cold front” came through on Thursday and the high temps were in the 60’s. As the sun started to set this afternoon and the winds kicked in it was downright cold … at least for Florida. We just had our new hoodies on and we were freezing! The show was okay. I’d give it three stars out of five. I guess after the stunt show we just saw it would be hard to measure up. There were three different scenes involving stunts from the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” They picked quite a few members from the audience to play extras and they things they had them do were pretty funny. By the time it was over we were tired, hungry and freezing and we still had to ride the tram to the car, then find something to eat on the way home.

You wouldn’t think finding a decent restaurant to eat dinner in would be such a feat. Obviously it is. An hour after we left the park we pulled into Subway. It was the easiest, healthiest thing we could find. We still had to go back and pack since we’re leaving at 7am in the morning.

Top 3:

Mom - Walt Disney, Stunt Show, Beauty & the Beast

Cari - Rock'n Roller Coaster, Stunt Show, Walt Disney

Me - Rock'n Roller Coaster, Stunt Show, Walt Disney

Bob - Stunt Show, Walt Disney, Indiana Jones

Loot List:

Nada - we're all broke