Bits N Pieces

Sorry to leave all 2 of you hanging there (although Mrs. Big Dubya was on vacation – welcome back! Hope you had a great time!)…life has been pretty hectic since I last posted – D’s mom is still in the hospital, and he’s been busy trying to manage things here and with her.

I got the relatively easy part – I just had to make all the calls to reschedule vacation. I hope work doesn’t mind all those calls to the 407 area code, but life is so much easier when I can put the phone on speaker while I’m on hold and do something else. I still have a few more calls to make (one to C’s teacher too, since the new vacation dates are while school is still in session).

And in the process of making those calls, I discovered a couple things. Disney has great (for the most part) customer service people on the ends of their phone numbers. Everyone was polite, and UNDERSTANDABLE. USAir, on the other hand, well, at least the confirmation I printed off their website after “speaking” to one of their reps confirms we’re still going to Orlando.

I saw a robin this morning, but I still don’t think it’s spring. I’m sorry, but 34 degrees is cold. Heck, I still blast the heater in the car when the temp outside is showing 49 or 50. C wants to start wearing her new spring clothes in the worst way, but she’s stuck wearing the winter clothes she’s grown out of already because a. there’s no winter clothes in the stores anymore, and b. she’d get frostbite if she went out in her sundress.

I know I’ve moaned about being old (having turned a significant number in January) but I haven’t really felt old until just recently. A friend of C’s had a birthday party at a roller skating rink in the city a half hour south of us, so we all went. C has roller skates, but doesn’t really use them, so I said I would help her learn to skate. I thought, how hard could this be, I used to do this all the time in seventh/eighth grade. Hah! I ended up proving all of Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. How sad is it when the little referee seems concerned about you? Luckily, the bruises are starting to fade (and only the one on my elbow was visible). And C wants to go again!

And finally, I have proof most guys are clueless. I know I’ve said before I work with mostly fiftysomething men. I had my hair appointment this past Saturday – and did something a little different with the color (ok, so C said I looked like Kim Possible. “Your hair is orange, mommy”. Thanks kid) – not crazy, but different. NOT ONE PERSON at work noticed (or maybe they did notice and didn’t say anything. Now I’m getting self conscious!). ARGH...

Move along, no spoilers here

I pre-ordered the latest Harry Potter from Amazon way back in the late winter/early spring…Midnight is too far past my bedtime these days, and given how hectic our weekends are I didn’t want to take the chance we wouldn’t be near a bookstore either.

Is there anything more delicious than an opened, long anticipated, nice fat book? I’m sure there are some things, but I love reading. I have since I was a little kid. I can remember all the nights during the summer when I’d have my nose in a book, tucked into bed with just the light on the table next to me and the cat for company, and coming up for air to realize that it was almost 2 in the morning? Or the long, lazy afternoons floating in the pool with a book (I never dropped one in, but did get lots of water spots on them in those days).

Unfortunately those days are long past – now jobs, and family and everyday obligations take up much of the time that was spent reading in the past. Last week on vacation, however, I was reading a couple books that I stayed up to keep reading long after D and C were in bed (don’t ask about the sleeping arrangements in the “cottage” we rented. It was almost comical). It also made getting up early a bit hairy, but I managed (although I did fall back asleep on the couch one morning after C got up extra early and came in to wake me up).

And on this past Saturday, when we got home, the mailman dropped off all our mail for the past week, and the Harry Potter! I didn’t immediately dive in, wanting to savor the anticipation for a little bit. But I couldn’t hold out that long, and started reading after dinner. I wasn’t able to spend all night reading, and put it down a little before the half way mark Saturday night. Sunday was spent at my dad’s, in the pool (so Harry has some of the waterspots too!) and I finally finished Sunday night before bed.

It wasn’t the same as when I was younger, but for now, it’s enough.

PS. For those enquiring minds – the books on vacation that kept me up were: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (excellent! The ending was not predictable at all), and White Hot by Sandra Brown.

And we're back!

We're back from a week of sun, sand, surf and too little sleep (someone was so excited she woke up early every. single. morning.!) Some pictures below:

Building sandcastles on the beach:



Chasing seagulls (because she wants one for a pet):




Getting buried in the sand:





And very tired at the end of a long day:




Off to catch up with everyone soon!

Uh oh!

I just checked the rental listing for the cottage we'll be staying in for a week in the next few weeks....

Air conditioning - check
Cable TV - check
Dishwasher - check
Washer/dryer - uh oh....

No washer and dryer! And I have a fashionista that changes clothes multiple times a day....let's hope it'll be warm enough that we spend most of our time in our swim suits!

Spring Break Day 6 - April 20

This was it – our last day in Disney. Not even a whole day even though our flight didn’t leave Orlando until 4:55 pm. Thursday morning we awoke to find the Magic Express paperwork for our return attached to our door – we had to be at the front of the resort for the bus to pick us up at 1:30 on Friday.

We decided to spend some time at Downtown Disney to get breakfast at the Earl of Sandwich, then D took C to look at the ‘pineapple’ which had fascinated her all week (it’s the Gloria Estefan restaurant. She was convinced it was Spongebob’s house). I ducked into the World of Disney for some last minute shopping (we had Disney reward dollars left that would expire in December. I know I could have used them at the Disney store in the mall, but it wouldn’t be the same.).

After meeting back up, we head back to finish packing and change into swimsuits for a final swim before lunch and getting Magical Express back to the airport.

We land in Westchester right on time and head home….dreaming of our next Disney vacation…

Spring Break Day 5 - April 19

This was it – what everyone was waiting for – a day at the Magic Kingdom. We arrived a little before 9 am; there were extra magic hours that morning, and it was open until midnight (don’t worry, we weren’t going to spend the entire day there). D likes to hear the opening song (which we somehow missed anyway) and we enjoyed many rides before the lines got too long. On our quick trip on Monday night we had enjoyed Mickey’s Philharmagic and Pirates of the Caribbean, so those rides were checked off the list already.

C was excited for Splash Mountain – it was all she had talked about all week. “Wanna go on Splash Mountain” was all we heard, no matter which park we were in. We got Fastpasses for Splash Mountain and went on some other rides (Pirates, Small World, Peter Pan) until it was time for Splash Mountain.

Right before we headed back to ride Splash Mountain, we checked the line for the teacups. Manageable, but probably not enough time to wait in line for that, ride, then get back to Splash Mountain before the FastPasses expired. Executive decision time. C and I waited in the shade, watching the cars on the Indy raceway while D went to get us FastPasses for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Then we headed to Splash Mountain.

Poor D ended up sitting in the very front of the log – and he’s not a big fan of heights. Last year C and I shared that seat, but this year she didn’t want to sit in the very front. And she chose to ride with me. Splash Mountain is one of our favorite rides – for me I think because it’s longer than I feel most of the other rides are. C likes the big drop down the ‘mountain’. D likes it because of the Song of the South storyline.



After Splash we rode the teacups, then it was time for our Buzz Lightyear ride. That was a pretty cool ride too – like being in a videogame! After a disappointing lunch at Columbia Harbor House (near the Haunted Mansion), D went for a haircut at the barber shop (I think he should have told him it was his first haircut, but he didn’t want to play along). C and I got some postcards and wrote them out while we were waiting. When D was done with his haircut he took C back into the barbershop for some “pixie dust” for her hair. She was thrilled.



After a quick dip in the pool we got ready for dinner – Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge. We really liked the way the Wilderness Lodge “felt” – it was comfortable and relaxing. (We were actually supposed to stay there this trip but switched to Saratoga when we bought into DVC). We wandered around a little until the restaurant was ready to seat us. What a cool place! And dinner was yummy – I had the salmon and D had the buffalo steak. Definitely would go back.

The only way from the Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom is via boat, so we waited for the one to MK (it stopped at the campground first before heading to the Magic Kingdom). Once we arrived at the Magic Kingdom we took the train to Mickey’s Toontown, where C had a blast playing in the little playground there and seeing Mickey and Minnie’s houses. She also got her face painted.



We caught the train back to Main Street and watched the tail end of the Spectromagic parade (we saw the entire parade back in August, and C didn’t complain too much about missing it). D decided he wanted a shirt he saw back at the Splash mountain gift shop, so C and I waited on Main Street for the fireworks to start. We watched the fireworks and waited for D to get back to us, then called it a night. C passed out on the bus ride home and we tucked her right into bed when we got there.

Spring Break Day 4 - April 18

Since we didn’t have the greatest time at Typhoon Lagoon the previous day, we decide to try again. The water park has extra magic hours in the morning, so we make sure we arrive there shortly after it opens to the resort guests.

We had a short wait for a raft on the family raft ride, and even got to ride it again since there was no one in line when we got to the bottom. From there we went to the tube rides, then over to the slides. C is having a blast, even on the slide (I would go down first and wait for her at the bottom, and D would follow.).

Then we went into the wave pool for awhile – C had a blast bodysurfing on the big waves…after a quick trip in the lazy river, it was already time for lunch. As we were walking to Typhoon Tilly’s (where we had lunch) C spied the tattoo person. Yes, my daughter loves tattoos. Not the permanent kind, but give her any kind of temporary tattoo and she is happy. After lunch we had to get her a tattoo. She chose Minnie Mouse. D chose Goofy on a surf board. I didn’t get one. Maybe next year.


After the lunch and tattoo’ing we caught the bus back to the resort to relax awhile before heading to Animal Kingdom. We had reservations for dinner at Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and we got to Animal Kingdom with enough time to watch Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle parade before catching the bus to the Lodge for dinner.


Dinner was interesting – I had steak with macaroni and cheese, C had macaroni and cheese and D had the pork tenderloin. While it was a very good dinner, I don’t think it’s a place we’d say we had to go back to. C had fun making s’mores for dessert, then we wandered around the Animal Kingdom Lodge before catching the bus back to Animal Kingdom for extra magic hours there.


We probably should have planned things a little better since C could only go on certain rides due to her height/interest, as only some of the rides were operating during extra magic hours. Obviously, even though she said she wanted to ride Expedition Everest, the height requirement was an obstacle she couldn’t get around. That, and the fact that she’d have been riding it by herself, since D doesn’t like roller coasters and I’m not too sure I’m ok with them anymore either.

But, we were able to ride our favorite ride – Kali River Rapids. We rode this twice in a row and got completely soaked. We had to buy a new shirt for C so she wouldn’t shiver to death. D and I thought about buying ourselves new shirts but when we realized we wouldn’t be there much longer decided against it. She and D rode the Triceratops Spin, and then we called it a night.

Spring Break - Day 3 April 17

We make sure to wake up earlier today – we’re having breakfast with the princesses in Epcot!! Plus it’s extra magic hours in the morning at Epcot, so we want to be sure we get in ahead of the crowd.

We arrive in plenty of time and make our way to Norway (where the restaurant for the Princess breakfast is). After we check in with the nice person at the front, we stand in line with C to have her picture taken with Belle. Belle in her yellow dress. And C in her yellow dress….it was very cute, how could we not buy the professional picture that the smiling man brought around to our table during breakfast?


During breakfast, C got to meet Cinderella (again!), Snow White, Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) and Mulan. I kept urging her to go up to Mulan and do the horse stance (hi-yah!) from karate, but C was scared Mulan would really do karate on her (since Mulan apparently has a black belt).


Breakfast itself was pretty good – semi-buffett (in which you got up and chose from a variety of fruits, some native Norwegian cheeses, smoked salmon, etc. but they also brought big platters of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes to the table as well).

After finishing breakfast we wandered around the World Showcase. D and C were on a mission to finish getting all the countries’ stamps on C’s mask, while I wanted to buy a present for my brother in one of the shops in Germany. We called it a day right after lunch (fish and chips in England) and decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon.

That was a mistake. Never go to the water parks in the afternoon. The lines for the rides weren’t horrible (by theme park standards anyway) but still long. And there weren’t a lot of chairs (definitely not two together)….Now, we love the water parks, so this was a bit disappointing for us. Especially C – she’s part fish, I think. We head back to the resort for a quick dinner at DTD and to re-group.

Dinner was a Wolfgang Puck Express – WOW that was an incredible meal. D and C went to the Once Upon a Toy store to get a Little Pony for C’s best friend, and I wandered around the World of Disney store. C was getting very cranky by this point, so we headed back to the room to call it a night.

Spring Break Day 2 - April 16

C woke us up relatively early – 7 am-ish (she really is a semi-morning person, unfortunately!)….we stayed in bed a bit deciding what we should do (originally the plan was to go to Typhoon Lagoon, but the weather was a bit too chilly for that) and determined we’d go to Epcot.

We arrived at Epcot shortly after the gates opened. D ran to get us Fastpasses to Soarin’, while I arranged a stroller. (I know –C’s 5, she should walk, but trust me…it wouldn’t have been pretty if we made her walk all day). D came back to say that Soarin’ was down, but the Castmembers were giving out Fastpasses and we had some for around 1. Which was good – gave us time to wander around and look at all the pretty flowers and landscaping.


We went on the new Nemo and Friends ride in the Seas pavilion. That was pretty cool – C and I shared a clamshell, while D was behind us. The ride took us through parts of the aquarium, and some of the Nemo characters were actually shown in the aquarium.

And of course, my camera batteries died on me shortly thereafter. Since I didn’t bring any extra with me that day, I had to purchase them. Disney owes me a kiss at least, for what they charged me for stupid AA batteries! I don’t care that they were lithium. (I do have the rechargeable ones – next time I must remember to always pack them with me when we go someplace!!)

D and C go to an exhibit on vegetables and flowers while I hunted for the batteries. C got to decorate a box that the nice ladies put some flower seeds in for her to take home and plant. After finding them, we went to see if we could find “Tinkerbell’s Fairy Garden” on the path from Future World to the World Showcase. We did – it was a cute little area with a topiary Tinkerbell, a path to a playground for kids aged 2-5, little fairy houses scattered around, and a few tubes to climb through. C loved it! The only way we could get her to leave was to promise to go look for Minnie’s Butterfly Garden.



We spent some time wandering around the countries once the World Showcase opened. C got a mask and started collecting the stamps and other things that each country attaches to the mask in Mexico (after we rode their ride – which was ok, nothing to write home about). We ate lunch at the Mexican cantina, outside overlooking the lake, then went back to use our Fastpasses for Soarin’.

Fastpasses are so great. I don’t know why people stand in line (of course, maybe we tend to “do” the parks a little differently than other people). We got right to the beginning of the line for Soarin’ (a 60 minute wait at that point) and got ready to go on. Unfortunately, by the time we got to where the seating was lined up, we couldn’t all sit together. C and I got to sit in the first row (that goes up the highest) while D was two rows back. What a great ride! It really was like you were “flying” above California!

After that we caught a bus back to the resort for some pool time before dinner at Cinderella’s castle in the Magic Kingdom. Dinner itself wasn’t the greatest but worth it to be able to see C get to meet Cinderella.


She was pretty tired even though dinner was early, so we went back to the resort after dinner and tucked her in to bed.

Spring Break Day 1 - April 15

Sunday started out dark and rainy. The phone rang with our wake up call at 5:45 am. We groaned, got ourselves up and ready, and headed out the door by 6:30 (we stayed at the Westin in Stamford that night, in order to be closer to the airport. The Heavenly beds? Not so much. Unless you like sleeping on a really soft bed. We don’t.)

We arrive at the White Plains airport and quickly find a parking space. Never having been in that particular airport, I was surprised at how small it is. Somehow I thought it was bigger. Only 2 gates! We made our way through security and waited for our flight to be called (it was still showing as “on time” on the monitors). Once our flight was called, we made our way to the gate and through the walkway, out onto the runway to get onto the plane (I felt like I was in one of those old movies where you see the actors walking up the stairs onto the plane). We get on, get ourselves settled, and get ready to take off.

Once we were mid-air and comfortably above the cloud layer (35,000 feet!) it was a nice ride. We watched the tvs Jet Blue so thoughtfully provides, and C watched old cartoons on some channel called Boomerang where she learned about Smurfs. Darn you Jet Blue! After landing safely and on time in Orlando we made our way to the Magic Express desk. Having used this service several times before, we knew to send either D or myself in line to have our paperwork verified while the other occupied C. C and I sat down in the chairs thoughtfully provided to wait for D to finish. It didn’t take him too long and we were off to wait in line for the bus to take us to



We changed into flip flops and headed to Downtown Disney (a short walk) for a quick lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. D wanted to look for shorts so I took C into the Once Upon A Toy store, where she discovered the stuff a box with My Little Pony way in the back (you get a box, and there’s a huge amount of outfits and accessories that are sized to fit the My Little Pony you also have to stuff in the box (I guess you don’t actually have to include the pony if you’re like us and have twenty of them at home already, but then they aren’t Disney My Little Pony).

Dinner was at the Turf Club and Grille right at the resort. YUM. D had a mint julep (in keeping with the horse-y theme) and I had something called a Side-bet (which was dark rum with oj and something else and delicious and if C wasn’t there I would have moved outside and enjoyed several more of them on the patio). After dinner we changed into our swimsuits and went swimming (we had packed our swimsuits in our carryon since the luggage tends to take a little longer getting to you when you use the Magic Express. All our luggage had arrived by the time we were heading to dinner. The groceries were another story).

After swimming, we went back and got C to sleep. The nice thing about the one bedroom was that while she went to sleep in the bedroom, D and I could still watch tv in the living room. When we were ready for bed, he opened up the sleeper sofa and carried her there.
She woke us up the next morning, ready to go to Epcot.

And, we're back....

We're back!! We made it out ok on Sunday morning (thank you Jet Blue!) and considering the weather up and down the entire East Coast (with tornado watches thrown in for effect in FL) it wasn't a bad flight. I've had worse with better weather. The big sigh of relief came mid-air while watching the Weather Channel on the tv (again, thank you Jet Blue for the distraction of satellite tv in flight!) seeing that there were 4 hour delays already from the various NY airports.

We landed uneventfully and had the quickest trip from the airport to the World - while checking us in for the "Magic Express" service, D learned that the reason it wasn't busy was that many flights up and down the coast had been delayed/cancelled.

I'll post a more thorough report later in the week (weather was incredible - sunny and high 70's/low 80's most of the week) but want to ask one question: WHY, if I did laundry twice during our trip, is there still mountains of laundry to do now?? WHY?

Rainbows and Unicorns

All is rainbows and unicorns now. It would be puppies too, except the puppies imagery is being reserved until Sunday turns out ok.

I know Jet Blue has gotten a bad rep lately, but after waiting on hold for 15 minutes, I was able to change our flight on Sunday to an earlier time. And an entirely different airport! For no charge! So instead of leaving at 11:40am from JFK, we're leaving at 8:55am from White Plains.

And Teresa from Jet Blue tells me the storm isn't really supposed to get bad until Sunday evening (I'll reserve judgement on that)...

ARGH!!!

We leave Sunday. Right now in the middle of the country is a storm taking shape...guess where it's tracking to be on Sunday?!

Add to that the fact I've not yet started packing, tomorrow is fully booked with normal Saturday craziness, and ARGH!!!

Leavin' on a jet plane

We’re heading back to Florida for Spring Break next week. C’s, not mine. We’ll be spending some time in the house of mouse (our first visit “home” after our purchase of the Disney time share). We made the mistake of telling C we’re going. It has to be hard to be 5 – a week must feel like a year to her.

She’s been busy packing for her trip – she has a very small Princess wheelie suitcase, an Ariel backpack, and a small rolling suitcase that was part of a set we have. So far she’s packed:

• Ducks and a whale, for her bath tub time
• 2 swimsuits
• A wand and a crown “for when she meets the Princesses”
• Band-aids (“because I have a cut on my finger, mom”)
• 2 DVDs – Spongebob and Barbie
• 4 pairs of underwear
• A doll dressed like Minnie Mouse
• An Ariel doll

Each day she adds something else that she "just can't leave home without". Although, I have to give her credit. I don't think I would have packed my own suitcase at her age. I'd have left it up to my mom to do.

Next time somebody remind us not to tell her until the day before we leave?

When did this happen?

D and I are watching the Travel Channel with their "Beach Blast Weekend" this weekend....and one hour is devoted to Florida's Best Beaches. Number 8 was Panama City Beach, which is apparently a huge spring break destination (population goes from 5,000 or so to 500,000).

The big place to stay is a Holiday Inn right on the beach. D says "how many kids have gotten hurt falling off those balconies?"

Next is a club where all the spring breakers go to party when they're not at the beach. Shown is this huge pool filled with spring breakers drinking. I remark "You might as well swim in the toilet"....

When did we get this old?

Pictures

Can I hibernate until it gets warm again here too??

KEY WEST





GRAND CAYMAN



COZUMEL






CASTAWAY CAY (Disney's private island in the Bahamas)

Don't be a guy, be a man!

Say Anything was on tonight. Sigh.

If I could string more than two sentences together I'd have a thoughtful, coherent post up, but....vacation the day after tomorrow, plus John Cusack....

Summer thoughts

I know, I know. It's only mid-December, I shouldn't be thinking about summer vacation yet. But the weather's been so mild (seriously, in the 50's? in mid-December? In New England? Unheard of! But awesome!)

Except I have been thinking about summer vacation. I am a slacker. I am all about vacation. And this year, with D not working, we could theoretically take two weeks off this summer...although I'm not sure we should. Maybe we should take one week at the beach and do some day trips. So I have been looking at various websites to see how much a small cottage would cost to rent for next summer.

We've usually vacationed with my brothers and their families, except we've already decided that won't happen this coming summer (for various reasons). Now I've gone through this process before, for a five bedroom "cottage". Somehow, it's actually more expensive to rent a smaller house (2 bedroom) than a larger house (5 bedroom). It's amazing. I think I'm in sticker shock.

But it's fun to plan!