T-Giving: Day 2

On Day 2 of our Disney vacation, we went to Hollywood Studios.  The weather was a bit chilly, but we persevered.  Disney really decorates for the holidays, although I don't think the tree was a real one.

The first thing we did was sprint to the Jedi Training sign-up area.  It was packed.  We had hoped to sign up both Teddy and Bode.  Unfortunately, the below sign prevented us from signing up Teddy, as he was a little late getting to the park :-( I think the Empire had put up road-blocks to make Teddy's trip to the Studios a little longer than he thought it would be.

They really enforced the rule requiring all participants to be present during registration.  I guess this prevents someone from registering 20+ kids and taking up an entire class.  Anyway, we signed Bode up and then rode the Star Wars ride. Afterwards, we headed over to the car lot.  There weren't many people at this part of the park (they were all at Jedi Academy or at the Toy Story ride).  Bode was being silly, not letting me take his picture.

There was a stunt-car show at 11 am.  We decided to wait in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area, which Bode loved.

The car show was a-maz-ing.  Completely awesome.  It was mind-blowing how well they could drive without crashing into each other.  Perhaps I'm overly impressed by this type of stuff, seeing that I can't parallel park, but it really was something to see.  I have some pictures, but they don't really do it justice.

During one of the set-changeovers, they had a real-life version of Lightening McQueen show up.  That was pretty cool.

I did get a movie of the final car chase.  Very exciting, and we could feel the heat from the explosion.

After the car show, it was time for lunch.  We headed over to the Hollywood and Vine restaurant for a buffet and some character interaction.  We got to meet June from Little Einsteins,

Handy Manny (or as Jason called him, Bob the Builder),

Jake the Pirate,

and Special Agent Oso.

After lunch, it was time for Jedi Training.  I don't think Bode did as well this time around, but he said he enjoyed it.

After Jedi, we headed over to meet up with Teddy.  We ran into Stitch along the way.  While they were posing, Stitch let out a big burp and blamed it on Bode.

We finished the day watching the Indiana Jones spectacular.  I like that show, even though I have seen it a number of times.  Back at the hotel, Bode begged me to go swimming.  The weather wasn't all that great, but I did promise him we would go.  Fortunately, there was a hot-tub.  Bode discovered his swim-shirt will inflate, much like a balloon.  The kid looked like Mr. Incredible.

Much like yesterday, we were wiped out at the end of the day.

We had intended to watch the fireworks again, but I don't think any of us made it past 9 pm.  We are sad.  Tomorrow:  EPCOT.

T-Giving: Day 1

Our first day in Disney was a trip to the Magic Kingdom.  The park was opening one hour early (0800 instead of 0900).  We were up at the crack of dawn, on the first operational monorail, and at the park before the gates opened.  Note the absence of any crowd.

We had to do some administrative tasks at the guest relations window.  We quickly took care of these and were on our way (To those of you that were there:  I realize I have greatly simplified the events of that morning; I felt no reason to document them here.  Let's simply be happy we all got to the park and made it inside :-)  Ashley's Mom (JoAnne) and my Mom were with us at the Magic Kingdom (as were Bode and Teddy).  We grabbed a quick photo on main street.  Bode was acting like a goof.

We also grabbed a good picture of Ashley and me in front of the castle.  I've no idea why I have my chest all puffed out...

We then went and did the Dumbo ride and stopped in for a visit with Ariel.  Obviously Teddy needs to sit a little closer to the pretty girl, err, mermaid.

We then went on the Little Mermaid's ride and stopped to look at the monument to Gaston.  I think the boys got as much joy from that fountain as they did the rides.

We did a few more little rides like the carousel and then we had to do It's a Small World, just to hear that catchy tune.  I have a movie of us riding, but I don't want to torture the audience by making them hear that song the rest of the night.  We then did the Haunted Mansion, stopped for a popcorn break, and then the boys met Chip and Dale (I don't know which one is which--they all look the same to me).

Next up was a trip down splash mountain.  Note Ashley is nice and dry in the below picture.

Bode must have remembered this ride, because he decided to put his hood up.

All of us got a little wet...except Ashley who somehow got soaked.

Woody and Jessie were stationed just outside of Splash Mountain, so the boys got to meet the cast from Toy Story.

We then did Thunder Mountain, the railroad roller coaster.  Lots of fun.  Teddy and I sat up front...

and I was able to get the following shots of Ashley and Bode during the ride.

We toured around the park and watched a parade (seems like there was something going on around Main Street or the Castle every hour).  I think I heard the song on the following video over a thousand times (I'm not exaggerating either).

Lunch was a buffet with a table visit from four different cast members.  We got to meet Winnie the Pooh,

Piglet,

Tigger,

and Eeyore.

We did a few more rides after lunch.  Our plan was to come back that night and watch the parade of lights.  Bode needed a nap in between.

We went back to the park that night.  Night pictures never show up well, but here is the best one I got.  Note the Castle looked amazing.  We intend to do our house just like it.

We also got to meet Mickey Mouse, and this Mickey even talked to us!  How cool is that?!?

Afterwards, Ashley and I wondered if this Mickey was really talking, or if he simply had some recorded phrases.  We thought it might be the former...until we saw the talking Mickey a few days later.  Same routine :-(  The second time around, Mickey again asked Bode if he had ever flown like Peter Pan.  Bode said something like, "Yeah, last time I was here." This didn't phase Mickey (the recording) and they went through the same routine.  Bode seemed a little confused--I could see his little brain piecing things together, but the good news is, he still believes in the magic of Mickey :-)  We left the park before the fireworks, but watched them from boat dock outside our hotel.

The video does not do the show justice, as the Castle does not show up near as well as it actually was.  We had a magical first day.  Tomorrow:  Hollywood Studios.

T-Giving Vacation: Intro

For Thanksgiving, we spent six nights at the Grand Floridian Resort in Disney World.  The next few posts will document our travels and the fun we had.  We left Colorado Springs on a Saturday morning.  The high in Colorado Springs the Thursday before we left was in the teens, so we were anxious to get to Florida.  Forecast highs were in the 60's and 70's, so we packed our shorts and (slightly) warm-weather gear.  The flight out was not without its anxiety.  We flew from Colorado Springs to Denver.  In Denver, we were picking up our nephew, Teddy.  The scheduled departure from Colorado Springs was 1107.  The scheduled departure from Denver was 1245, so we had plenty of buffer...or so we thought.  When we arrived at the airport, we noticed the absence of a plane.  This created some worry.  We kept checking Ashley's phone and saw our plane had mechanical issues and was delayed.  The scheduled departure time was delayed until 1152.  We were really starting to sweat.  I checked with the United agent, who informed me the 1245 trip from Denver to Orlando was the last flight of the day.  Evidently on Saturday's, United runs an abridged flight schedule.  He was nice enough to book us on a US Air flight, from Denver through Charlotte, arriving in Orlando just before midnight.  This was not what we wanted to hear.  We texted with Dave, who was at the gate in Denver with Teddy, waiting to perform the handoff.  Our plane arrived at the gate at 1115.  The agents promised a quick turn.  I cannot count how many times I looked at my phone, watching the minutes tick by.  I think everyone on the plane had a connection (who flies from COS to Denver and then stops traveling?).  You would have thought people would have shown a bit more urgency boarding the plane (a little hustle, people).  Ashley and I were disheartened to learn we would be arriving at gate B-84; our flight would depart out of gate B-22.  We were looking at a bit of a jog.  The flight to Denver is short--maybe 20 minutes.  We landed, and as we were taxiing, we passed right by gate B-22.  I texted with Dave, who informed us, "They'll hold the plane, but you'll have to run." This assuaged our fears, but we were still worried.  Would they really hold the plane?  We parked at 1232.  Bode understood the need for speed, and was ready to run.  Unfortunately, he doesn't quite understand the concept of pacing himself.  The kid took off, but was winded in a matter of moments.  I proceeded ahead, going past gates in the 60's, 50's, 40's, 30's, and finally, to the 20's.  I saw Dave and Teddy, waving me on (I felt like I was finishing a marathon).  I sprinted ahead.  The gate agents were extremely friendly--no rush from them (I found out why later).  Dave ran back and helped Ashley and Bode down the final stretch.  We hugged Dave, grabbed Teddy, and we boarded, sweaty, and quite out-of-breath.  I got the boys situated for the flight, while Ashley sat a few rows back (where she was able to nap in the piece and quiet, but I won't go into that right now).  The boys were great on the plane, sharing their games and looking forward to Disney, and doing all the things little boys do.

I did a little web-surfing, using the new internet service available on some flights (word to the wise: streaming video websites won't work, so don't expect to watch TV or movies or anything like that).  We landed, took the Magical Express to Disney, and our vacation commenced (future posts coming).  We arrived at our hotel without incident.  We proceeded to get a good night's sleep, as Day 1 was the Magic Kingdom.

Epilogue:  Dave and Charlie arrived in Denver a few days later.  At dinner, Dave recounted his experience with the gate agents.  When he first informed them about how we were trying to catch the flight, they were not sympathetic:  "The planes must run on time!" (Sounds like something the Germans would have said).  However, when Dave mentioned Teddy would become an "unaccompanied minor," the agents' tunes changed.  A plane CAN be held for an unaccompanied minor.  That and a disabled person are the two things that will result in an intentional hold on a plane.  The agents bent the rules because holding the plane actually prevented Teddy from being an unaccompanied minor, but let's not split hairs here.  Let's call it an early Christmas present from United to the McGuirk Family :-)  More to come on the Disney Thanksgiving Vacation!

The Georgia Game

I can't believe the Auburn-Georgia game was almost one week ago.  Seems like only hours ago Ricardo Louis was catching that deflected pass and scoring the go-ahead TD for the mighty Auburn Tigers. Some call it luck...which it was.  But I think Auburn deserved to win the game.  They dominated the first three quarters.  They simply fell asleep in the fourth. Perhaps they were busy booking their Iron Bowl Tickets.  We were up in Denver during the game.  For the first half, we were at a bar with the Denver Area Auburn Fan Club (aka people just as weird as Ashley).  We were there with Dave (Ashley's brother) and met up with a long-time friend from Fort Walton, Nathan.  Here are some pictures.

It is hard to tell the amount of Auburn fanatics that were in the bar, but do note everyone in the background has on an orange shirt, and no, it's not Bronco-orange.  During the game, Dave was kind enough to have arranged a sitter for the boys.  We received a picture of them, crawling around in the dirt.

At halftime, we went and met up with a friend from my Papillion days, Kristine Wolfe (I knew her when she was Sharp).  She came with us to Dave's house to watch the end of the game.  I felt sorry for her--I thought we'd be watching the end of a blowout.  She was able to see first hand both the bad side of Ashley during a loss, and the elated side after an amazing win.  We should have filmed the reaction of that last play, but I think there are enough videos on the internet covering the emotion of the moment.  After the game, we went to dinner and had a lovely time. We posed for this picture in downtown Denver.

It is bitterly cold here.  Yesterday's high was 20, if that.  Tomorrow it might be 30.  I guess winter is here.  Of course, in Colorado, it can be freezing one day and beautiful the next, so I won't complain. Pleasant weekend to all.

Breckenridge

Because of the three-day weekend (well, a normal weekend for Ashley), we decided to head up to Breckenridge for a couple days of R&R.  The first day of skiing was Friday at Breck.  We didn't bring our skis, as early skiing is not really fun (in our opinion).  We need the blacks and double blacks to be open to really enjoy the mountain.  The weather was perfect--in the 40's and sunny.  Very picturesque.

I'd like to report we did a lot.  I'd be lying if I did.  We had nothing on our schedule, other than eat, sleep, and hang out together.  Saturday morning, we woke up early and went to Daylight Donuts for breakfast.  I had a couple donuts, Bode had one, and Ashley ate healthy (darn her).  Afterwards, we sat in the hot-tub because we needed a break.

We then got ready for the big Auburn game.  Ashley, of course, brought her gear.  We were also staying in a place that allowed us to have Harley, which was nice because we didn't have to worry about leaving her alone at home.  Do I even need to report the Mighty Auburn Tigers won 55-23 and are now 9-1?

After the game, we walked around the town, did a little exploring on the bike path, went to lunch, took a nap, watched more football, went to dinner, and then more football.  Like I said, we didn't do a whole lot, but sometimes you need those weekends where you do nothing.  We did buy Bode a cool shark hat, which he loves.  Here is a nice picture of Bode, Harley, and me.  Bode is the one in the goofy hat :-)

Bode wanted to get into the picture-taking, so Ashley let him use her camera (which is amazing, because even I can't use the camera unless I have adult supervision).

Finally, we have a nice picture of Mommy and her two favorite people.

There's a place along the bike trail that gets close to the water.  Bode loved tossing pebbles into the stream.  He also loves wearing that hat.

Harley and I stopped for a rest on a rock.  This weekend was the first time I ever saw Harley act aggressively towards someone.  I was walking her on the path, and some people approached.  Normally Harley wants to say hello to everyone.  They asked if she was friendly.  "Of course," I said.  As the man approached, Harley hunkered down, the fur on her back raised, and she started barking and growling.  I think it was the big hat and ski goggles that spooked her, because this happened a couple more times.  Perhaps she was simply protecting me.

We drove home this morning, and then went to Waffle House for lunch.  This afternoon, Bode and I did the great volcano experiment.  He received this cool volcano kit for his birthday and has been asking (pestering) me to do it with him.  Here is the erupting volcano.

We aren't up to much this afternoon.  Bode and I have tomorrow off, while Ashley has to go to work (poor thing).  Not sure what we will do, but sleep in is high on the list :-)  Happy Vet's Day to all!

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone, but I wanted to post another picture of Bode in his costume.  He was a bat, and the costume was the coolest thing.  We liked it because it kinda looked homemade, meaning people thought we might have put this together ourselves.  The Sunday before Halloween our gym had a little carnival.  They gave out candy and also had little things for the kids to do.  Bode wanted to get a tattoo.  I'm so proud :-)

There was a "best costume" competition.  Sadly, Bode was done after he had gotten all the free candy and wanted to go home.  Evidently it's all about the sweets in his eyes.  Below are some pictures from Halloween.  We had a lovely evening--not too cold, but cold enough to let us know winter is coming.

Since we live at the top of a large hill, we hardly had any trick-or-treaters.  I think our doorbell rang twice.  Thus, we have a ton of candy.  I'm sure we'll have to throw a lot of it out  :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Bode's B-Day Party

Yes, we know it is not quite Bode's birthday.  However, since his birthday is always right around Thanksgiving, we decided to have his party early in the month.  This way he could get maximum participation from his friends.  We had the party at Aerials Gymnastics.  It doesn't sound like a great place to have a birthday party, but it is.  The first part is held in the big gymnastics area.  The kids get to play and run around (running around is a great thing to tire them out), bounce on trampolines, slide down slides, crawl through tunnels, ride a zip line, and jump into a big sponge pit.  Below are a bunch of action photos.  First, Bode, Karsen, and Rylan running on the long trampoline.

Next we have Teddy and I can't tell who riding in the big swing, spinning around and going crazy.

Below shows the kids getting some instruction on the next stations.  Note the big tunnels in the background.  They had a great time crawling through this super structure.

Here is a picture of Jocelyn, a very sweet girl from Bode's kindergarten class.

Here's a nice shot of our neighbor, Silas, climbing the big rope.  He is fearless.

The playing climaxed with a free-for-all in the big pit.  The kids could jump in from the mats, get a running start and spring off a trampoline, or simply fall down into the sponge-crater.  I'm amazed no one landed on each other during this period.

After the play time, it was time for cupcakes and ice cream.

I think you can see everyone in this picture.  Bode is at the head of the table, and then there's Rylan, Brenna, Teddy, Kimora, Silas, Charlie, Eva, Nater, Karsen, and Eva's little sister (I'm a bad person and don't remember her name).  Bode got some great presents, and we were extremely pleased with how the party went.

Afterwards, we had to race home because Auburn was playing Arkansas.  Fortunately, we only missed about five minutes of the game.  Auburn won (again), and is now 8-1.  Amazing for a team that was 3-9 last season.  Uncle Dave, Teddy, and Charlie spent the night.  The boys had a great time.  Here's a nice picture of Bode and Teddy playing video games.

Nothing too exciting going on here.  Bode is anxious to get the Christmas decorations up since Ashley took down the Halloween ones.  We're trying to hold off until the middle of the month :-)  Pleasant week to all.