Murph

Per previous years, we did the Murph workout today...sort of. Bode now has a job working for the base swimming pool, and he had to be at work today at 0845. Ashley's gym was doing Murph at 0900, so we would not be able to make it. Therefore, I decided to do the workout by myself at home. Sadly, the Mrs did not join me--she's complaining about a sore back. I guess we rode one roller-coaster too many while at Universal. What's really crappy is I did Murph faster than I have ever done it, as shown by the clock picture below.

Now, you might be saying just showing the clock isn't proof of your time--and you'd be right. However, you'll just have to take my word on this one :-) Plus, I'm incredibly sore today--I guess taking a week off and eating like a pig for six days prior to doing Murph is not the best way to prepare for this Hero Workout. Hopefully Ashley's back heals up quickly and she is able to get back to working out. Pleasant week to all.

Universal Part 3

On our final day, we woke up early because we wanted to do Hagrid's motorcycle ride before the crowds hit. We left the room at 0700, but we did stop for the obligatory photograph at the entrance.

We also made sure Brendan had a birthday button, because on Thursday, he was celebrating his 15th birthday! Quite the milestone :-) We were near the front of the line, but our plans were foiled because when we got to the ride, we were told it was delayed and there was no time-table for when operations would resume. Sheesh. To cheer us up, we went and rode the VelociCoaster again as well as the Hulk coaster. I took a movie of part of this ride--lots of up-side-down time.

Ashley and I snuck off by ourselves and had lunch, and she got a picture of me in front of the globe.

We then headed back to the room and found the boys resting. Why were they resting, you ask? Because their friends Matias and Eric were showing up at the park around two. The plan was to meet up with them, and they would then close the park down. Bode received a text shortly after 2, and then the extreme fun began. First, here's a picture of a group of teenagers; ah, to be young again.

They rode the coasters and the rides, and even did the tower drop.

I'm not sure if they were on this go or not, but I'll include anyways.

Around 7, Ashley and I started to run out of steam, so the boys went off on their own...kind of. Alice, Eric's Mom, followed them around and sent us some more pictures. The boys did the water rides, and in this picture, you can see Bode getting soaked.

Here is a nice one of the group in front of the castle.

They rode rides until the park closed, but they did manage to get in line for Hagrid's motorcycle adventure before it shut down. Bode and Brendan got back to the room a little after ten, and they were exhausted (I think Ashley and I were still awake, but not by much).

We drove home today and returned to some happy dogs. We had a wonderful time, but Ashley is thankful that Monday is a holiday; she needs the time to recover :-) Happy Memorial Day to all.

Universal Part 2

There aren't as many pictures from Days 2 and 3 of our grand adventure. On Wednesday, we headed over to Volcano Bay, the big water park associated with Universal Studios. I did get this picture before we boarded the bus.

We put our phones in the lockers, so we didn't get any in-park photos. I took this picture as we were leaving. Note the big volcano--there are water slides that go almost all the way to the top. We had never been on slides where they put you in a tube, and then the floor drops out beneath you. Quite exhilarating.

We spent a few hours at the water park, and it was exhausting. You have to climb 200+ steps to get to the big slides, which is great because this line was never crowded :-) We returned to the parks that evening, but I nor Ashley took any great photographs. On Thursday morning, we left the theme park and went to a separate aquatic park, as shown below.

We spent two hours running around, throwing each other into the water, and just goofing off. At the end, we were all exhausted (although Bode had enough energy to do another pool work out that evening). That night, Ashley and I went back to the park to explore some of the smaller areas. She took a great selfie.

We all zonked out Thursday night, which is good, because Friday was a crazy day!

Universal Part 1

We just returned from a week-long trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. We had a wonderful time, and I will recap the trip in two or three posts. First, I must mention we brought Bode's friend, Brendan, with us. We figured Bode would have more fun with someone closer to his age (and we were right!). Thus, the other boy in most of the pictures is Brendan. We arrived Monday afternoon and immediately headed over to the park. We did manage to convince the boys to stop for a quick photo.

We started in Universal Studios and did a lot of the 3-D / simulated motion rides. We did the Minions, Jimmy Fallon's Race Through New York, as well as a decent roller coaster, The Revenge of the Mummy. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel right on the property, so we had Express Passes for all rides, which was definitely worth it. After the Mummy, the boys went off on their own, so Ashley and I explored Diagon Alley. It is a pretty realistic rendition of part of the Harry Potter universe.

Here is one of me in front of Gringot's bank.

The park closed at 7 pm on Monday, so we couldn't do any more rides, so we headed back to the hotel. We all got a good night's sleep and headed out first thing Tuesday morning. Staying at the property gave us (and thousands of others) early access to the park. We did stop for a picture in front of the sign again.

The most popular ride is Hagrid's Motorcycle ride, so we headed there. Below is a picture of some of the scenery.

I enjoyed the ride, but I think there are better coasters in the park, but what do I know. Afterwards, we did get Bode to take a picture with Ashley in front of Hogwarts.

We then headed over to the Jurassic Park-themed rides. The VelociCoaster was probably my favorite ride. Here is a shot of Bode and Brendan waiting in line.

This had loops, corkscrews, banks, turns, everything--quite the thrill. Below is a picture of part of the track.

Brendan snapped a picture of the picture of Bode and him on the ride. They look awesome :-)

We then went and did a lot of different rides. We did some water rides, which were fun, but you got SOAKED. Even our underwear was wet. Bode snapped this photo of a drenched Ashley and me.

Ashley and I got to meet Homer and Bart.

At some point, we headed back to the room to recover and get dry. Being the dedicated athlete, Bode wanted to get some swim workouts in. Fortunately, there was a great aquatic center a couple miles from the hotel. I don't think Bode was going to set any pool records; from the board, it looks like Michael Phelps still holds a few marks.

After his swim, I think we went back over to the park and walked around. I think we were all exhausted come bedtime :-)

Garden Update

The spring garden is coming in nicely. I planted some things towards the middle of March, and we are now seeing the results. First, some tomatoes. I have some store-bought tomato plants as well as some that have grown from seed. I also have regular tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. All told, there are about 12 pieces of fruit growing right now; hopefully they ripen up before the birds get them.

Next are some green beans. These have come in very nicely, and I think we'll be dining on some later this week. The birds don't really eat the beans, so no real worries here.

The peas have grown like gang-busters. There are all sorts of pods, and most are just about ready to eat. However, I am worried about the heat. Peas don't do well in hot weather, and it's been in the high 80's for almost a week now.

Finally, below are some blackberries. There are covered by a net to keep those pesky birds away. Unfortunately, the net does nothing to stop the bugs :-(

Here's hoping everything survives until the harvest.

Odds and Ends

Nothing major has transpired, but a lot of little things have been going on, so I thought I would summarize things here. First and foremost, Rowdy is now ball-less. We had him neutered a few weeks ago, so he had to spend some time in the cone of shame, which we changed out for the air-pillow of shame.

The little fellow seems unaffected by the loss of his boys--still as Rowdy as ever :-) Bode's swim club also had their annual banquet, which was a very nice event. The coach recognizes the superlatives and the graduating seniors, and then they all posed for a picture. Bode is the third kiddo from the right.

All the kids on the team are great--no real egos or jerks in the bunch, which makes practices that much more fun for everyone. In financial news, we sold the Xterra. We bought the car in December of 2001, so we only had it for 22+ years. I took to Craig's list to sell it, and after filtering out some real weirdos, I found a nice guy from Crestview that was interested. He test drove it, paid cash, and we managed to get the car off our hands before it completely died :-)

Bode had his his first long-course meet of the season this past weekend. Coach didn't taper the team for this meet--he'll probably do that for the big meet up in Auburn towards the end of June. Thus, the times weren't the best, and even Bode said he just felt dead. However, he swam seven events--100 free, 200 butterfly (which Coach Brad made him do), 200 free, 50 free, 100 back (in which he was DQ'd for a bad turn), 100 fly, and 400 free. All times were personal bests, but that's just because he hasn't swum a long-course event in over a year. I did take some pictures--first is Bode doing the 200 fly, which is probably one of the hardest races there is. To make matters worse, he only had five minutes of rest between his 100 free and the start of the fly, so he said he thought he was going to drown.

Next is a shot of Bode doing the backstroke.

I did take a sequence of photos of Bode at the start of his 100 fly.

And with today being Mother's Day, we had to get a picture of Ashley and her boy.

I'm sure we will just rest for the remainder of the day. Standing around a hot-pool deck is exhausting. I can't imagine how tired Bode must be. Pleasant week to all.