Happy Birthday to Me!

Last Wed., March 25, was my birthday, and being in the Orlando area how else we would we spend it other than at Disney World! This year’s theme at WDW is “Celebrate Today!”, and you may have seen the promotion being advertised on TV this year whereby if you go to one of the parks on your birthday, you get in free! What the commercial doesn’t tell you is that if you have an annual pass like we do and won’t need the free entry, you have your choice between two other options: a Fast Pass to a few of the more popular rides at that park (good only for one trip each), or a Fun Card (gift card) equal to the price of one day’s admission good for merchandise at any of the parks. Well, that’s pretty much of a no brainer…give me the card! Admission price right now is $75 so that’s the amount put on the Fun Card, and it can be used anytime until it’s spent. Again, this must be picked up on your birthday but doesn’t have to be spent that day.

Russ asked me which park I wanted to visit Wed. (always a tough choice because all 4 have so much to offer), but after doing some research, I decided on Epcot. There’s an online “crowd calendar” that gives you an idea of how bad the crowds are anticipated to be and which parks are best or worst to visit on that particular day. It’s all a guesstimate on the webmaster’s part but is usually somewhat reliable. It indicated that on a scale of 1-10 the crowds should be at a 6 that day with Epcot being the best to visit and Magic Kingdom the worst. So I partially chose Epcot for those reasons plus as I mentioned in our last blog the Flower Festival had started and I’d get to ride Soarin’. We decided to avoid some of the crowds that amass at park opening and arrived at the Will Call window at 10am (an hour after opening) to pick up my Fun Card and my Happy Birthday button to wear (this is always fun because as you walk around the park wearing your button all the cast members (employees) and even other guests wish you Happy Birthday!)

After picking up our goodies, we entered the park and headed straight for Soarin’ to get a Fast Pass. From past experience we figured there would already be a long line and the Fast Pass would be for a couple hours later but as it turned out ours were for roughly 4-1/2 hours later…2:54pm! This meant we could come back at that time (or before 3:54pm) and bypassing the line of people waiting without a FP (called a Standby line), go up towards the front. Keep in mind, anyone can get a FP simply by scanning their entry ticket into the machine. Problem is that if you’ve already gotten a FP for another ride, you have to wait till the next window of opportunity to get another one from any ride and in the case of Soarin’ FP’s run out very quickly. Usually by noon there are no FP’s available for this ride, and those who were lucky enough to get one before noon, might not be able to use it till 6pm! You still might have a slight wait before actually getting on the ride with the FP, but it’s generally a matter of a few minutes not an hour or more.

It seems the crowd calendar must have been a little off for this particular day because the park was packed. We weren’t sure we were going to stay at the park that long, but we’d have our FP to ride Soarin’ if we did. We rode Living with the Land, a boat ride through some amazing greenhouses, and then walked over to The Seas Pavilion to ride Finding Nemo, a nice little ride geared more towards kids but cute and the line was not long. Afterwards we walked around the pavilion checking out the huge aquarium, the feeding of the manatees, and experienced the “Turtle Talk with Crush” attraction. We’ve attended this “show” before but it’s a little different each time and always entertaining, dude. “Turtle Talk” is an interactive show inspired by the movie “Finding Nemo” that runs continuously every 15 minutes, and it is so righteous! Little kids are encouraged to sit on the floor in front of the “window to the ocean” while the rest of us sit on benches. (No flash photography is allowed and it's too dark to take regular pictures.) Soon Crush appears on the other side of the window in an animated ocean environment to talk with us humans in the human tank and even answers questions from the audience. He can actually “see” us and will indicate to the cast member in the room whose question he wants to answer from the upraised hands. For instance, he might say “how about the little dudette with the striped shell and brown noggin in the 2nd row”. He holds actual conversations with the kids and their “parental units”, and duuuude, it’s sooo entertaining. You’ve heard the phrase “out of the mouths of babes”, well, some of the things these kids say and ask are hysterical! In fact, dude, we went back later in the day for another performance. (In case you haven’t guessed or haven’t seen Finding Nemo, dude is Crush’s favorite word. In fact, at the end of every show he encourages kids to say it to their parents all day cause they’ll really love it! :-)

From here we walked over to the World Showcase and grabbed a seat for the performance of Off Kilter (http://offkilter.net/) at the Canada pavilion. They are a high energy Celtic rock band playing a unique blend of traditional and modern music and are so entertaining. In fact, they’re one of my favorite things to see at Epcot. Since we arrived 45 min. before show time (seating is very limited at this outdoor theater), I walked over to the United Kingdom and got us some fish & chips to eat while we waited. Finally at 1:30 the band came onstage but didn’t seem as good as usual. There are several guys who play with the band and from what I’ve heard, they rotate who plays when. However every time we’ve ever seen them, it was always the same front man who also plays the bagpipes on their songs and is extremely entertaining. Well, it must have been his off day (hopefully he’s still with them!), and they weren’t quite as entertaining though still enjoyable.

As we walked around the park, we enjoyed the beautiful topiaries (the most they’ve ever had in the Festival’s 16 years and I know we didn’t see them all), some of which you see here throughout this blog entry. The Festival lasts 75 days and not only showcases all the beautiful flowers and plants but also includes special guest artists and gardeners giving demonstrations and tips, special events for the kids, special vendor booths, and of course the concert series. Many of the topiaries are of Disney characters but others are to be found as well. (In fact there’s one I’ve read about at the China pavilion of a “fire” breathing dragon but haven’t seen yet.)

Outside Minnie’s Magnificent Butterfly Garden is this huge butterfly topiary, and of course, one of Minnie as well. The garden is a small enclosed area with plants and hundreds of free-flying butterflies…another one of my favorites since I love butterflies. Besides the topiaries, flowers and plants abound including some beautiful floating floral islands.












Finally it was time to head back to The Land Pavilion to ride Soarin’! When we arrived, there were no more FP’s being distributed and the standby line said 35 min., but after we began bypassing all those people standing in line, we knew that timeframe was not correct! We’ve seen enough of those lines to know that it was at least an hour’s wait. In fact when we exited the ride we noticed the wait time had been changed to 70 min., probably still a conservative guess. As we got off the ride, a lady in the seat next to me said “I hope you won’t be offended but I think you look like Sarah Palin and she’s very pretty.” I thanked her, told her I was definitely not offended, and have been told that before when I’ve had my hair up. How nice to have a complete stranger compliment me like that…I think she’s very pretty, too.

Before leaving the park we rode Spaceship Earth, and one of the new things they’ve added to the ride is the ability to “project your future”. As the ride begins, a photo is taken of you, and then towards the end of the ride a program comes up on the little screen in front of you on which you select various likes and dislikes from multiple choices, i.e. type of leisure you like, mode of travel, etc. It then puts together a little animated video of your ideal vacation way in the future and incorporates the real life facial images of you as the participants….very clever. When you exit the ride, there’s an Earth globe and on either side are huge picture screens on which are projected one of the scenes from your video. They also have computer screens where can even send a video postcard of the picture to your e-mail. I snapped this picture that was on the big screen showing us scuba diving! On our way home we stopped at TGI Friday’s for my birthday dinner.

This weekend’s concert series featured Paul Revere & the Raiders, and though we had seen him at the Festival 3 years ago, he’s always entertaining. We arrived about 45 min. before the 6:30 show on Sun. (the last night of their run) and were able to get seats in the 2nd row. Paul is 71 and seems to have endless energy. Of course he had the old folks jokes, too, and one of my favorites was that at 71 he’s not really old in Florida…in fact Florida is where old people bring their parents! He crammed as many of his hits (ka-ching!) into his 30 min. set. Every time he’d announce a song, he’d say “I think that was a solid gold hit, let me check”, then hit a button on his keyboard, and a cash register ka-ching! would sound, and he’d say “yeah, it was!” If you’ve never seen him, he is a riot! His guitarist and bass player have been with him 36 years and are accompanied by a drummer and keyboard player. Rounding out the group is a “baby Raider” (meaning younger guy) who handles the lead vocals. Since we had decided to hang around for the fireworks, we decided to also attend the 7:45 show and this time sat on the other side of the stage in the front row! Both shows are pretty much the same but with some slight variations and still entertaining. During this last show, Paul came out front pretending to play a small red, white, & blue blowup guitar then threw it to a kid in the first row. Towards the end of one of the songs, Paul said “hey, these stage lights look so pretty, let’s go see what they look like from the audience”, and sure enough all but the drummer and keyboardist came out to admire the lights while still playing and singing! Some guy from one of the rows near where they were standing jumped up and joined in, throwing his arm around the “baby Raider”! LOL (That picture’s a little blurred but you get the idea.) The lights are pretty cool as evidenced by this photo taken as we exited the pavilion.

The Illuminations fireworks were great as usual (though we miss the special ending added during the Christmas holidays), and thus ended a wonderful birthday week.

Food, Food, & More Food!

It seems the beginning of this week was nothing but non-stop eating. After that huge meal at Dixie Crossroads last Sun., Mon. brought a customer appreciation event at the local TGI Friday’s. Paul and Anne have been going there for a couple years when they’re in town and have become quite friendly with the manager, Tom, or as Paul calls him “the bald guy”. We joined them there for dinner one night shortly after we arrived, and Tom was very funny and cordial. He definitely knows the meaning of customer service! Anne is the queen of finding bargains and discounts and had signed up for their frequent diner program called “Give Me More Stripes”. Once you sign up, you receive all sorts of coupons by e-mail to entice your return, and sure enough I received a Buy 1 entrée, Get 1 free coupon, which came in real handy the next time we went with them, plus the coupon is returned to you for use again! It was during that visit that Tom told us he was putting together a little appreciation event for some of his loyal customers and asked for our e-mail addresses so he could let us know when it would be and encouraged everyone to bring guests. He scheduled it from 2-4 on Mon., March 16, and the 4 of us plus Scott got there promptly at 2…there was already a line out the door! You offer old people free food, you better expect a crowd! And those old folks can get a little testy and pushy, but the staff was great and the food kept coming. It was set up buffet style with plenty of soup, salad, sandwiches, chicken wings, pot stickers, and non-alcoholic drinks….all you could eat and drink! The staff kept it fun as they hustled to replenish drinks and sometimes even come by with a tray of food. Keep in mind the restaurant was still open for regular business, too! One of the cooks actually took the above shot of Russ, me, Paul, Anne, Tom, and our waiter, Ali (Scott was elsewhere and missed being in the shot…not that he minded.)

The next day was one o’ me favorite days o’ the year…St. Patty’s Day!! The resort was holding a dinner/dance but at $15/couple, we figured we could have a whole lot more corned beef than what they were probably going to dish out. Besides it’s a tradition for me to cook corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes so we invited Paul, Anne, and Scott over for dinner and initially our thought was that after dinner, we’d go up to the clubhouse and listen to the band. Scott made some Irish soda bread and Anne made a chocolate cake (and made me add carrots to my corned beef meal :-). Russ also invited another neighbor, Bob, to join us. He works part time, lives in upstate NY, and travels by himself so we thought he might enjoy a wee bit o’ Irish cheer. After dinner we chatted, watched the news and Jeopardy on the outside TV, and just never made it up to the clubhouse, but a good time was had by all.

Scott prepared to leave Wed. morning heading for NC, but right after we said our goodbyes and he pulled out, the check engine light came on. So he came back around the loop, and for the next 45 min. or so, Russ, Paul, and another neighbor, Jim, tried to help him figure out the problem. Finally they found the phone number for a local Cummins engine repair shop in Orlando, and he drove over there. The shop has a nice area in the back with electric and water hookups so he was able to spend the night till they could get it fixed the next day.

Wed. night we joined Paul and Anne at the Boston Lobster Feast (www.bostonlobsterfeast.com/RestaurantIndex.cfm), a local all-you-can-eat seafood buffet complete with whole lobsters. The car in the picture is their advertisement and on occasion you see someone driving it around town…definitely makes you do a double-take! Anne has wanted to go there for a couple years, and we arrived shortly after 4pm to get the early bird rate. Though Paul isn’t a big seafood person, but as it turns out, they have an a la carte menu so he ordered himself a nice strip steak with a couple of sides. The three of us, on the other hand, pigged out on the buffet! Russ really enjoyed the sushi plus ate 4 lobsters. Anne and I each had 2, but then Anne started on the Dungeness crab legs and I wasn’t sure she was ever going to stop! I think she loves crab legs more than me! We had an awesome waitress and just really enjoyed spending more time together before they hit the road, which they did yesterday. So now all our friends are gone, and it’s just Russ and me...oh well…tee hee!

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival started this week and part of this annual event is the Flower Power Concert Series featuring entertainers from the 60s. In the past the concerts have been nightly, but this year they’re only on the weekends. Three 35 min. performances are held by the entertainer each night at the outdoor American Gardens Theatre, and this weekend featured Davy Jones of the Monkees! The first show was at 5:15, and when we arrived at the theater at 4:45, the place was packed. We found a couple seats and waited for the show to begin. Precisely at 5:15, his band started playing, and one of the guys announced him as “the greatest tambourine player in the world” among other comical titles, and out bounded Davy singing Daydream Believer. At 64 years he’s still got lots of energy and puts on a nice little show sprinkled with lots of “old age” jokes. For instance, he was saying how some of the younger folks in the audience might not know him but he was once a heart throb…now he’s just a coronary. Ba da bum! He mentioned that Herman’s Hermits would be playing in a few weeks singing Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Walker…ba da bum! He came out into the audience on a couple of the songs, and though he didn’t make it close enough to where I was sitting, he was at the end of our row and with the zoom lens I got a good shot of him. My sister loved Davy Jones back in the day so when he started singing Daydream Believer again at the end of the show, I called Julie on the cell and said “I don’t know if you’ll be able to hear this” (though it was very loud, I wasn’t sure if the loudness would distort the singing going through the cell), and I held up the phone towards where he was singing. She had known I was going to see him and said that call just absolutely made her day.

We didn’t see many of the flowers and topiaries that are on display but plan to in the next few weeks since the Festival goes until May 31, and I’ll talk more about the Festival in future entries. However, I did get a couple photos like the one at the left which is a topiary of Aladdin on his magic carpet near the Morocco pavilion. At the Japanese pavilion is a bonsai collection, and the photo below left is of a bougainvillea. It’s the largest bonsai plant we’ve ever seen and is 50 years old though not the oldest bonsai on display. The one in the photo below right is 75 years old, and I was able to get not only the Japanese gateway in the picture, but if you look just inside the right posts and under the lowest branch, you can see Spaceship Earth (the golf ball) off in the distance.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

May the lilt of Irish laughter Lighten every load,

May the mist of Irish magic Shorten every road,

May you taste the sweetest pleasures That fortune ere bestowed,

And may all your friends remember All the favors you are owed.

We Have Lift-off…Finally!

[Remember that you can click on any picture to enlarge… then arrow back to the blog]

We had planned to attend the Discovery space shuttle launch on Feb. 12, but as you know, it was canceled and rescheduled for a Wed., Mar. 11, night launch. Scott had never seen a space shuttle launch so was going to make the 1-1/2 hour drive with us to Titusville, and we had never seen a night launch so were excited about that. Lift-off was scheduled for 9:20PM, and we had decided to stop for dinner on the way so left here at 3:30. Unfortunately about 1/3 of the way there, we learned that the launch had been scrubbed yet again due to a hydrogen gas leak, so we turned around and came home. We were more fortunate than some folks we know who left here at 2:30 and found out the mission had been scrubbed after they were already in the area in the middle of dinner.

Launch was re-scheduled for a 7:43PM lift-off on Sun., Mar. 15, which would be only shortly after sunset. We left at 2PM figuring the crowds would be even larger with a Sun. launch, and we had heard the restaurant, the “world famous” Dixie Crossroads (http://www.dixiecrossroads.com/), is always packed on Sundays. We had eaten there when we saw the shuttle launch in Oct. 2007 and were anticipating another delicious meal! You might remember from our blog entry back then that Dixie Crossroads is the “Home of Rock Shrimp”, small shrimp that have an extremely hard shell. The hard shells can make them difficult to clean, and if the vein is not taken out, it's said that chewing the rock shrimp is like eating a mouthful of beach sand. Rodney Thompson, the owner of Dixie Crossroads, invented a machine back in 1969 that made it easier to crack open the shrimp and remove the large sand vein (all done in the kitchen). They are considered a delicacy and commonly referred to as the "shrimp that tastes like lobster." The restaurant itself is a virtual art gallery - large wildlife murals, photography, stained and etched glass, and sculptures that portray this region's unique habitats. Outside we noticed that they’ve added a plaster shuttle replica with an alligator painted on it! There was quite a crowd when we arrived but were told the wait was only 20 min., and in fact we waited only 10 min. The menu is quite extensive, but Russ and I ended up ordering the same thing, the Cape Canaveral Special. This "sampler" consists of 1 dozen shrimp, 2 dozen Rock Shrimp, and 1/4 lb. scallops plus two sides…more than enough food! In spite of Scott’s limited ability to eat very much, he ordered the 20oz. Porterhouse steak dinner planning to take most of it home for sandwiches during the week. By the way, when we left, the wait time was 1 hr. 15 min.

After dinner we drove across the bridge to where we had last watch the shuttle launch, which is approximately 11 miles across the river from the launchpad. There was quite a large crowd already assembled 3 hours before lift-off…fishing (some standing right in the river!), tailgating, chatting…just having a good time. It was a gorgeous day…warm, sun shining, cool brisk breeze blowing off the water, hardly a cloud in the sky. A group next to us had turned their radio to the local AM station for the live feed from NASA. The sun had begun its descent into the western sky, and all eyes were geared towards the east awaiting the countdown. Suddenly we could see the bright orange clouds coming from the base of the shuttle as it lifted off, blazing into the night sky!! For some reason the “live” feed from that radio station was a little over a minute behind the actual launch! Russ scrambled to get the lens cap off the camera and turn it on, and even with our little camera from such a distance, got some great shots. What an incredible sight!! As the shuttle rose into the night sky, the trail changed colors as it was captured by the setting sun. Some 10-15 seconds after lift-off, the roar of the engines began to reach us, and with each passing second, the sound became louder. Another 15 seconds later, we could feel the ground below our feet begin to tremble even at 11 miles away. As we continued to follow the trajectory, we could see the separation of the booster rockets (the picture on the left is a little blurred but when you double-click on it, you can see the 3 separate pieces). It’s so hard to put into words what an awesome experience this is.

STS-119 (Discovery) is delivering a fourth and final set of U.S. solar arrays that will put the International Space Station into full-power status. As we stated in the blog entry following our last shuttle launch experience, space exploration is an expensive endeavor, but one which we feel is worthwhile. Since the beginning of written history, man has always explored the unknown. History is littered with their travels and discoveries. Columbus and Magellan explored the seas. Ponce de Leon, the Pilgrims, and others followed to the New World. Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, all headed West looking for new discoveries. Man has strived to be the first to the North Pole and to the top of Mount Everest. Jacques Cousteau ventured underwater to discover what we could not readily see. Space exploration seems like a natural extension of man's journey here on Earth. We know nothing about flying saucers or Klingons, but when you look up in the sky and see all the stars and all the opportunities for life to exist, it does present some exciting possibilities. After all, for those of us on Earth, to think that we are the only intelligent life form in the entire universe would seem to be extremely arrogant and not very intelligent. But what do we know?

Unfortunately the only down side was the ride home…that 1-1/2 hour drive to get there took us 4 hours to get home. We wasted no time loading the car back up and getting out of our spot onto the road, but then we proceeded to sit on the bridge for nearly a full hour. We’re guessing that this road was blocked off while all those that had amassed on the other side of the bridge were allowed to get out of the way. Seems there should have been someone alternating traffic. Once on the other side of the bridge, it was fairly smooth sailing until we once again came to a grinding halt on I-95. The lane merging onto SR-407 was inching along, and we could see the same ahead of us on the overpass which was SR-407. With all the toll booths we were going to encounter taking this route, we knew this was going to be an even longer process so Russ decided to take a chance and head further down I-95 and try to cut over somewhere else. It took us quite a bit out of the way but probably still saved us time and aggravation. All went well until we went the wrong way on the FL turnpike but finally found a spot to get off (albeit illegally since the exit did not accept cash only Sunpass) and made our way back around to the northbound lane. We finally arrived home safe and sound at midnight. Just all part of the adventure, right? :-)

The other thing that kept us busy this week was scoping out a new home for “next season” (for us that means Dec.-Apr.) We had heard about another resort (Elite Resorts at Citrus Valley) approximately 4 miles from here that had been totally refurbished and just re-opened this past Oct. We told Paul, Anne, and Scott about it, and over the course of a couple days, we went back several times to scope out locations (you get to pick your spot), which had the best shade at which time of day, etc. The cost at Elite is virtually the same as where we are this year except it will include electric, which is a huge cost savings. Right now at Lake Magic, electric is paid separately based on your meter reading each month. It seems they’re constantly raising the price per kwh, and without running our A/C and keeping our electric usage to a bare minimum, it’s still costing us nearly $75/month. If we ran the A/C, it would easily be over $100/month. We’ve heard the monthly site rates will be increasing, and since we’ve been discouraged with some of the changes and practices here at Lake Magic anyway, we signed up for 5 months starting the middle of Nov. Scott signed up for the same timeframe while Paul and Anne signed up for 4 months starting early Nov. We’ve got 3 spots all near each other so we’ll already have instant friends! The people we’ve met over there already have been extremely nice and hospitable, and even invited us to join in their activities right now!

Fri. I went with Scott to see the oncologist. Since Dr. Robinson had prepared us so well the week before with the worst case scenarios, what he said didn’t come as such a shock. Temporarily he has categorized the cancer clinically as a stage 3, recommending chemo and radiation to run concurrently for 4-6 weeks followed by surgery. One of the scans showed a spot on his spine, and they are not sure if it’s simply a cyst or possibly more cancer. Scott is having an MRI tonight to help make that determination. Because he will need a lot of care during his treatments, he is leaving Wed. to head to a campground in NC, closer to family. The campground has many patients who are going through cancer treatments at Duke or UNC, which are both only a few miles away. Scott’s brother is affiliated with Duke and is lining up doctors, and we got copies of all his records to take with him. Please continue to keep Scott in your thoughts and prayers, and you can follow his adventures on his blog at http://www.serenityadventure.com/ . We look forward to Scott catching back up with us out West this summer.

Life at Lake Magic

I can hardly believe two weeks have passed since our last post, but I guess that’s because not much has really been going on. Life here at Lake Magic RV Resort pretty much just hums along day to day. We’ve gone to dinner a couple times with Paul, Anne, and Scott, and I’ve attended a couple card making and line dancing classes but haven’t made it to any of the morning water aerobic classes yet. Just been too chilly and breezy to get out of the pool! Weather has actually been very nice with only a few days here and there dipping into the 30s at night, but we’ll take that over all the snow and ice up north. As you can see in the photo, we have a nice wide camp site with plenty of space between you and your neighbors. Most of the people around us have been here for a few months though we’re in what is considered the more transient area with several people staying only a week or two, sometimes only a couple days. Scott’s RV is located to our right and on our left are Jack and Jean from IL whose daughter and grandsons (Joey and Jack) came for a visit last month. One day they were heading to Magic Kingdom to see Pirates of the Caribbean, and the boys dressed in their pirate outfits…I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

A couple weeks after we arrived, a new resort manager was introduced, and she’s held a meeting for all “residents” every two weeks. She’s very young and has never worked for a campground before (or knows anything about RVs and the lifestyle), so there have been some challenges for her and the residents. We generally attend these meetings because they’re always entertaining with all the griping, her lack of knowledge, and her tendency to doublespeak! Also, about a month after the new mgr. started, the Activities Director’s position was eliminated by the corporate office, but several of the members have continued to be involved voluntarily organizing all the events and activities.

Last night we experienced another first on our travels. Since Cape Kennedy is only about 50 miles from here, we were able to see the Kepler spacecraft shortly after it launched into space! About 10:30pm we turned the NASA channel on the outside TV so we'd know exactly when the launch happened (scheduled for 10:49pm), and about 30 seconds later we could see what looked like a very bright orange star rising swiftly into the night sky. We watched it for a few more minutes before it vanished behind the clouds and out of sight...how cool! In case you don't know, the Kepler spacecraft will watch a patch of space for 3.5 years or more for signs of Earth-sized planets moving around stars similar to the sun. The patch that Kepler will watch contains about 100,000 stars like the sun.

On another note, our good friend and traveling companion, Scott, has been facing a challenge these past couple weeks when he found out there is a malignant mass in his lower esophagus. He's been having tests to determine the stage, and I've accompanied him on a couple visits acting as his surrogate family member and secretary to take notes for him, and his brother who lives in NC. We’re glad we’re here to help. Next Fri. he sees the oncologist so we'll have more information, but in the meantime we ask that you keep Scott in your thoughts and prayers. This has been quite a shock for everyone, and one lesson we've learned through all this is that just because a doctor's office says they’ll call only if there’s a problem, don’t settle for that. Call and follow up yourself...things can fall through the cracks.

Will You Be My Valentine?

This year we made Valentine’s Day last an entire weekend. Fri. Russ took me to the Magic Kingdom about 6pm so we could catch the 7pm Spectromagic Parade, followed shortly afterwards by the fireworks spectacular, Wishes. But first we got a bite to eat at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, a fun little fast food place in the Tomorrowland section of Magic Kingdom. There are three “bays” for ordering food, each offering something different…burgers from one, chicken from another, and salads/sandwiches from another. Seating is located a few steps down into the lower section of this space-aged restaurant, and while eating you are entertained by Sonny Eclipse, an out-of-this-world audio animatronics alien lounge lizard singing and telling some very corny jokes. He’s seated behind a keyboard, and singing backup are the invisible Space Angels. Makes for a very silly yet entertaining way to enjoy your meal. Little kids love to get up and dance! (I thought I had a photo of Sonny in my archives but discovered otherwise so will have to post one at a later date.)

We picked a new location to watch the parade…in the center circle in front of Cinderella’s Castle. I snapped this picture of Cinderella and Prince Charming in their coach as they passed right in front of her Castle…just thought that was appropriate. :-) It’s always fun to see the parades and fireworks from different locations as they give you different perspectives and sometimes you see things you hadn’t seen before. Afterwards we moved back towards the entrance and stood in the middle of Main Street to watch the fireworks, our favorite spot for watching them, plus you can make a quicker exit to beat some of the crowds since the fireworks are the last thing before the park closes and everyone has to leave.

Sat. was Valentine’s Day and we had signed up to attend the campground’s dinner/dance that evening. For $25/couple we got a shrimp cocktail, salad, roll, steak, baked potato, green beans, and dessert…all prepared and served by volunteers! The flyer had said BYOB so we had taken a couple bottles of Merlot with us though the volunteer staff had managed to have enough funds to cover the cost of soda and some boxed wine. Also included in the price was a photo taken of each couple under a decorated archway. (I asked them to take one with my camera, too, so I’d have it for the blog.) A two-piece husband and wife combo provided the entertainment and did not take a break for the two hours they played! Russ and I managed a couple of dances, and I joined the group of line dancers on several songs. Paul and Anne had saved us a couple of seats at their table, and though nothing fancy, we enjoyed quite a pleasant evening visiting with them and meeting some new folks.

The next day Anne came over and asked if we wanted to join them for dinner at T.G.I. Friday’s since they had a 2-for-1 coupon they said we could use. As it turns out, I had also found one on the restaurant’s website so didn’t have to use theirs. Scott joined us, and we had another enjoyable evening. That was quite a weekend…dinner out three nights in a row…quite a rarity!

[Remember that you can click on any picture to enlarge… then arrow back to the blog]

Rise & Shine for Free Pineapple!

Every once in awhile you just gotta do something silly and I guess last Sat. qualifies. Feb. 6 was the grand opening of a Sweetbay grocery store about 5 min. up the road. Paul and Anne were planning to be there before the 7am opening because the first 1,000 customers would get a free pineapple and they asked if we wanted to go. Yep, you guessed it, the 4 of us piled in their car at 6:30am! There was a good size crowd but nowhere near 1,000 so we felt assured we’d get our free pineapples. Shortly after we arrived, the ribbon cutting was done, and all the “suits” lined up to greet everyone coming in and to hand out those pineapples. As we entered, there was a huge strawberry display and another “suit” holding an enormous bowl of strawberries for sampling. Most people veered to the right, but Russ and I took off to the left. The only thing we had seen in the grand opening ad that we were interested in was the 12-packs of Coke products...4/$10. They were on an end cap close to the registers, and Russ thought that maybe they’d be giving something to the first person to check out so hurriedly put the soda into the cart so I could immediately head to check out. I was either the 1st or 2nd person (definitely would have been 1st but had a problem with the credit card reader), but it doesn’t appear that anything was given for being 1st since no announcement or hoopla commenced. On the way out the first 500 customers were given a reusable tote bag stocked with a large box of cereal, a box of vanilla wafers, a box of spaghetti, and a 64 oz. bottle of apple juice! Russ and I each got one so we took the soda and our bags out to the car and then went back inside to catch up with Paul and Anne. This time we veered to the right where they were giving away free coffee, cookies, carnations, and ham samples. The mood was very festive with a guy playing island music at the back of the store. On our way home we stopped at Denny’s for breakfast. Crazy way to start a day, eh?

The next day Scott and I went to the annual show of the Sound of Sunshine Show Chorus called “ab-SALUTE-ly Music 2009”. (Russ opted not to go with us.) This local Sweet Adelines chorus (http://www.soundofsunshine.com/), directed by Master Director Nancy Lewis, put on quite a show. This group of about 60 women entertained with classic uptunes and ballads from across the musical spectrum. Nancy was also the emcee, telling some corny jokes between songs, and a couple chorus quartets were showcased as well. Just before intermission one of their guest men’s quartets were introduced, The Humdingers. They are actually part of the group of men who regularly perform on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom known as the Dapper Dans. You may recall that I actually got to sing with the Dapper Dans last year, but these were different guys than that (though I have seen this group perform there). It turns out that this foursome performs shows all across the country as The Humdingers (http://www.humdingers.org/). Their 20 minute performance of singing, soft shoe, and comedy kept the audience thoroughly entertained.

When they were done, a couple stagehands placed a white sheet on the floor, brought out a long table, 4 chairs, and some other stuff we couldn't really see on the table, and I thought perhaps they were just setting up for the raffle after intermission. Well, one of the ladies came out on stage and announced that we were going to get a sneak preview of the guest quartet, Lunch Break (http://www.lunchbreakquartet.com/), who would be performing later in the show. Slowly, one by one, each guy made his way onstage dressed in pajamas, t-shirts, robe, flip-flops or slippers. They were moving very slowly as though they were hungover, with one of them even rolling out from under the curtain! The audience couldn’t help but laugh. They made their way to the table, a couple with head in hand, and each began moaning on a different tone (evidently tuning up for the pitch), and then very softly began singing. It was a parody of the song Summertime (When the Living is Easy), but they were singing Morningtime (and My Stomach is Queasy)…what a hoot!! When they finished (to thunderous applause), they broke into a song about Lucky Charms cereal, eating while they sang! These guys began singing together in the summer of 2007 just for fun during their lunch break (hence the name), and won their District contest of the men’s Barbershop Harmony Society that same year! Does that give you any idea of their talent?? These guys were well worth the price of admission all on their own!

After intermission we were treated to the Glazer Family Trio. These three kids aged 11, 13, and 15 have been playing piano since they were infants! Together they play classic music as a string trio, a piano quartet with mom Elaine (who is a member of the chorus), and all kinds of chamber music with their dad, Benoit, who is the musical director of Orlando’s Cirque Du Soleil “La Nouba”. The also play jazz as a quartet with their dad on trumpet. Each kid plays 3 different instruments, but for this show they played two classical pieces with two on violin, the youngest on cello, and mom on keyboard. Truly a delightful addition to the program to showcase such a wonderfully talented family.

Once again it was time for the return of Lunch Break, who performed another 20 minutes. Dressed in yellow and black bowling shirts, they had a great mix of comedic and serious songs, entertaining the entire time. One of the best was sung by the tenor, Shane Scott. Do you remember that beautiful song from Oliver called “Where Is Love?” Well, Shane’s version is called “Where is Lunch?” I was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down my face, but he does have a gorgeous tenor voice and sang it very tenderly and straight-faced with the other guys as his backup. If you read the bios on their website, you’ll see that he writes most of the parodies they perform. They ended their portion of the show with a seriously beautiful gospel song, Vic'try Road. If you ever get a chance to see these guys perform, don’t pass it up! The chorus returned for one more song, bringing all the performers onstage, and another successful show was complete. Afterwards Scott treated me to dinner at Colorado House of Beef, a nice ending to a delightful day.

As for the rest of the week, Russ had his stitches removed, and the doc informed us that the biopsy results showed he had gotten all the cancer. Yay!! I started a new pill regimen to reduce the inflammation in my intestine from the Crohn’s, and I started attending the weekly line dancing class. Even though I had learned about 7 line dances last year at Sunset King, wouldn’t you know they haven’t done any of them here! But the fun part is getting to learn some new ones. We’re gearing up to perform some at the resorts Valentine’s Dinner/Dance this weekend. So until then, stay warm and stay safe!

Did Someone Say Free?!?!

It’s been another week busy with medical related trips, either visiting a doctor, taking Scott for a medical procedure, or running to the pharmacy to pick up pills. Last Wed. Scott was scheduled for a colonoscopy and since they don’t allow you to drive for 24 hours after having anesthesia, he asked if we could give him a ride. We were happy to do so even though it took longer than anticipated because the facility got way behind schedule. On Thurs. it was time to take Russ in to have the skin cancer removed from his arm. The doc did it right there in his office, injecting local anesthetic around the area, and taking out a nice size chunk. He got 6 stitches and was to keep the pressure bandage on for 24 hours. The nurse used the whole roll of the bandage so it looked much worse than it was. For the next few days I treated it with peroxide, Bacitracin ointment, and regular bandaids. He’s now got it uncovered and will go Mon. to have the stitches removed. Today we went for a follow-up visit to my GI doc to discuss further options for dealing with my Crohn's. The fun never ends!

The resort here has a number of activities though not as many as the place we stayed last winter, Sunset King in DeFuniak Springs, FL, but enough to keep you busy if you want. So far we had only attended a pool party and a couple meetings, but Mon. I decided to attend the weekly cardmaking class. For a $5 fee, the instructor (who lives here at the park) provides all the supplies needed to make 3 cards and instructs you on how to make them. I love learning new craft ideas, and these were lots of fun to make. Who knows, you just might get one of these in the mail!

Yesterday we took advantage of the nationwide Denny’s FREE Grand Slam breakfast! You know how us retired folk are....if it's free, we're there! There’s a Denny’s right across the street from the resort, and we decided to go about 10:30 to hopefully avoid some of the crowds. We waited in line only 15 min., but when we left the wait was probably about an hour. Scott had gone at 6:30am and said he walked right in, while Paul and Anne went at 1pm and said they had about a 15 min. wait. Not too bad for a free breakfast no matter what time of day you eat it!

For those of you who may be jealous, thinking we’re basking in the warm Florida sun, don’t worry…it’s become downright chilly! For the last couple weeks it’s gotten into the mid-30s a couple nights, was 36 last night, will dip to 24 tonight and 26 tomorrow night! Brrrrr!! But as you can see, we still get gorgeous sunsets.