Can You Read The Signs?

There are a number of activities at the resort here…some just for fun and some educational.  One that piqued my interest this season was a sign language class.  I’ve always had a fascination with languages having taken French for half of 1st grade (teacher got pregnant and was never replaced J), Spanish in high school plus some in college, and sign language on my own to some degree when I was younger. I had a card that showed the fingerspelling alphabet and watched a PBS show that taught sign language.  Of course, as with all things, if you don’t use it, you lose it so I never

really became proficient at any of them.  The woman teaching this class, Kathy, is from Canada and was born deaf.  It was held for an hour once a week, and except for 2 weeks when company was in town, I didn’t miss any.  There were generally about 8 - 10 of us each week, with occasional visitors, but the core of the group has known Kathy for a couple of years and “speak” with her all the time while they’re all here but are still learning, too.  Unfortunately I didn’t know about this class last year so missed out on a whole season!  Each week we reviewed the alphabet, learned new words, reviewed the previous week’s, had pop quizzes, and had to create our own sentences which we would have to sign in front of the class to see if they could understand

what we were saying (talk about nerve wracking!)  One thing we learned is that the hearing world is not very expressive when we speak whereas for the deaf, facial expression is a key component to what is being said. Shoot, we were too busy concentrating on what we were trying to say!

One week classmate Vickie shared something very special with us.  Every year her family has a reunion and there’s a talent show.  She says she can’t sing, dance, or play an instrument, but last year she had worked hard at learning to sign
a song to perform for the family, and in tribute to Kathy, she performed it for us.  She signed along to singer Israel’s version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow/ What a Wonderful World, and I tell you there was not a dry eye when she finished.  What an incredibly beautiful gift for all of us.  This class brought together a great group of people, and I can’t say enough wonderful things about Kathy.  Not only was it educational but she definitely made it fun and has the patience of a saint!  Can’t wait till next year…guess I better practice!

 

I’ve also had the opportunity to once again visit the Sisters of Sound Chorus (www.sistersofsound.org) this winter.  You may recall that they are part of Harmony, Inc. (www.harmonyinc.org), the other women’s barbershop organization, and the group that I got the chance to sing with Christmas 2013.  I’ve stayed in touch with a couple of the ladies, and it was so good to see them again as well as their director, Shannon, who was out of
town when I sang with them.  He always makes me feel so welcome!  On this particular evening they were going to be coached by two of the organization’s judges, Susan Wood (Music) and Trayce Elenteny (Singing), a couple of extremely talented women.  (For my Sweet Adelines friends, keep in mind that their judging categories, song selections, performances, and competition standards more closely mirror the men’s Barbershop
Harmony Society guidelines thus the different terminology.)  I knew ahead of time the coaches would be there and looked forward to watching and learning from them.  Once they started working on the contest songs, I stepped out, observed, and took photos.  Shannon directs the chorus on one of the contest songs, and asst. director, Tatiana, directs the other so while one was directing and
being coached by one of the ladies, the other would be listening and picking up tips from the other coach.  At the end of the evening, they had me, another guest Nada, and the coaches join Shannon in front of them while they sang a welcoming song to us called Prelude to Harmony.  What a great ending to a wonderful evening.

 

Every winter we’re in town, I make it a point to get together with one of my best friends.  Linda and I have known each other since 4th grade, but she has lived in Tampa for years.  She makes it a day
trip coming to see me, and this time we decided to head up to the historic downtown Clermont area to hit the shops.  When we arrived, we discovered a Farmer’s Market and evidently it’s held every Sunday…I had no idea!  We had a great time checking out all of the booths and saw a restaurant we wanted to check out for lunch.  Now the funny thing was that the minute we walked in the door, we both realized it was the same place where we had eaten the year before!  Cheeser’s Palace Café
(www.cheeserspalace.com) has a nice selection with exceptional customer service.  Afterwards we hit a big thrift store a few miles down the road, visited some more over Starbucks, and then it was time for her to take me home and head back to Tampa.  Before she left, Russ took our picture behind the neighbor’s lawn art. J  No matter what we do, Linda and I always enjoy our time together and hope we get another chance before I leave town.

Relative-ly Speaking

This winter not only did we have a visit from Chip and Jill, but also Russ’ sister and some of her family. Terri, her husband Bill, her youngest son Matthew (known as Boo since he was little), her daughter Kristi, and Kristi’s son Alexander (affectionately known as
     Xander or Xan...the X is pro-nounced like a Z) had escaped the snow and cold of the north for a few days.  Xander is 3 years old, and this was the first time we’d seen him since he was a baby.

 

  We met them at Animal Kingdom on their first full day and headed over to the Festival of the Lion King, always a spectacular event.  As you may recall, this 30 minute high energy, musical stage show features live singers, acrobats, dancers, puppeteers, and parade-style floats that fill the theater.  Xander watched in wide-eyed wonderment! (Too dark in the stands to get a pic of him.)

 

When we emerged from the theater, it was pouring down rain. Fortunately they had brought rain ponchos with them, but we had left ours at home though we did have a small umbrella.  It didn’t last long, and we walked over to DinoLand where they have a carnival-style area with games of skill all dinosaur related and mainly for the youngsters.  For $5 you get 3 tickets to be used on any of the 6 games, and Xander won 2 of the 3 he played winning 3 stuffed animals!

 

They were staying at the fairly new Grand Floridian Vacation Club Villas which as you can see has a beautiful and fun bronze fountain in the lobby inspired by Mary Poppins, and we had returned to the hotel to visit and relax for awhile before heading back out.  It had turned into a beautiful evening (though a tad chilly for me in my t-shirt), and as we walked along had a spectacular view across the lagoon of the moon over the Contemporary Hotel.

 

 

A couple of days later we caught up with everyone at the hotel, and even though it was overcast and a bit chilly, Xander was ready to head for the pool.  Kristi and Terri have said that if he could, he’d live in the pool fulltime!  He's definitely a water baby!  He had a blast playing by himself but then Uncle Boo joined him for awhile, too.

The next day they spent the day shopping at Downtown Disney, and we caught up with them for dinner at the Rainforest Café.  Always a fun place with good food, and Xander definitely enjoyed the dessert that came with his meal called Lava Mud, chocolate pudding with crushed Oreos and gummy worms…yummm!  Afterwards was
more shopping and soon Xander was sound asleep…it had been a long day for him.  We met them back at their hotel, and by the time they arrived, he was wide awake.  He was all wound up, but I had a blast playing with him, he had a sword and I had Buzz Lightyear's ray gun (now that's a photo we should have J).  He definitely had a lot of energy after his nap!  Unfortunately, they were heading home the next day so guess he and I will have to finish our fun another time.

Fun With Friends!

Before leaving Yellowstone last year we learned that our co-hosts, Chip and Jill, would be in Orlando at their timeshare for a couple of weeks this winter, and we made plans to get together at least a couple of times while they were in town.  And what great fun we had!

 

They had not planned on buying any park tickets, but we were happy to share some free Disney experiences with them during their stay.  One thing many people don’t realize is that you can visit the various resorts even if you’re not staying at them.  Each resort has its own theming, and we’ll share some of them with you here (some you may have already seen in previous posts).  Wilderness Lodge was inspired by northwest National Park lodges and has a 7-story lobby with
lodgepole pine throughout, Native American décor, an 82 foot tall stone fireplace, and a small bridge over a little hot spring which then flows down to the main pool over a mini-waterfall. They also mentioned that they definitely wanted to check out
     Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground for future reference and were amazed at how big it is (nearly 800 campsites, & 400 cabins on 750 acres)…sorry, no pics.

 

  Animal Kingdom Lodge is more of a South African wildlife reserve-styled resort with rooms overlooking a savannah and roaming wildlife.  We parked in the underground garage, rode the elevator to the main floor, and found our way to one of the many
   public overlooks.  The savannah is divided into 3 different areas each with their own look, but we only viewed one on this particular day spotting zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, Ankole cattle, East Africa crowned crane, ostriches, Maribou stork, and many more.

 

We drove to the above resorts, but some are accessible by monorail (that’s where we took their picture posted at the very top of this blog), one of which is the Polynesian Resort that of course has a South Seas theme.  The lobby's been totally redone since our last visit a couple of years ago, but sorry, I didn’t get any pictures.

 

From there we walked the quarter mile along the beach of the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, one of Disney’s deluxe resorts.  The elegance, beauty, and grandeur of this Victorian-era styled hotel delights and impresses everyone who
   visits.  Every afternoon on the main floor a pianist wearing tux & tails starts playing his grand piano and is accompanied by a young lady in period costume singing mostly Disney melodies…she is fabulous.  While they are on their break, the Grand Floridian Society Orchestra entertains from the 2nd floor balcony.  Folks love to come, sit, and listen for hours!  Out front is a vintage car that I wanted to be sure Chip saw, and as we walked back in, this gentleman was there to greet us.

 








  We took the monorail to the Contemporary Resort, one of the two original resorts on property when Disney World opened in 1971, and it has sort of a futuristic feel to it.  It’s probably our least favorite as far as theming goes though it’s kind of cool that the monorail goes right through it.  We
got a quick snack while there and went outside to one of the public spots from where you can watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks at night.  This spot is directly under where the monorail comes in/out and has a great view of Space Mountain and the Castle.

 

   Possibly one of their favorites that we visited was Art of Animation, a 2,000 room resort that is divided into 4 movie-themed sections:  Finding Nemo, Cars, Lion King, and Little Mermaid with the lobby serving as the central hub featuring
       the animation process.  It's not accessible by monorail so we drove over there early one evening.  All sections are very cool, but probably Cars is Russ’ and my favorite.  We all had a great time walking
     through each area even as the evening grew darker which meant not all of our pictures came out very good.  In fact the picture (below left) of the pool at Finding Nemo was actually taken last year.

 

      There are so many more resorts that we didn’t even get around to showing them, but one night we took them over to Disney’s Boardwalk  located near Epcot and well known for its shops, entertainment, and dining.  We enjoyed some yummy burgers at the ESPN Club, and afterwards strolled along the Boardwalk where we actually stood for about 20 min. watching through the window of the Boardwalk Bakery as one of their cast members decorated a super hero themed 10th anniversary cake…amazing creativity.

Later we drove to the Transportation & Ticket Center with plans of catching the Magic Kingdom ferry, riding it back and forth across the lagoon, and watching the fireworks as we went. We’ve done this many times, and it’s so enjoyable though we were concerned it might be a little too chilly that night.  When we arrived at the dock, the cast member on duty did his best to
encourage us to watch them from the corner of the dock because he said we’d be able to hear the piped in music that accompanies the fireworks.  We finally decided to take his suggestion, but afterwards wished we hadn’t.  We couldn’t hear the music (which you can’t on the ferries either), but Chip and Jill thought they were spectacular anyway.  However, next time we’re taking them on the ferry!

 

Before they arrived we had checked to see if they’d be interested in attending a Super Bowl party with us at Miller’s Ale House (Millers) since we’d have to get our tickets and choose our seats in advance.  You might remember that Russ and I attended for the first time last year, and we warned them that it would be crowded and noisy. 
Doors opened at 5pm, and for $25 per person, it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet with carving stations, snow crab legs, hoagies, wings, jambalaya, pastas, salads, dessert bar, and more!  They have lots of big screen TVs so no matter where you’re seated or standing, you can see the game…if you’re so inclined.  Some folks just come for the food!  It was something fun and different to do, and we were definitely full when we left.

 

Over the course of their stay, they visited some other places in the area on their own, had us over for dinner at the condo one night, and we reciprocated another night at our place.  We really enjoyed our time together, and since they’ll be hosting with us again this summer, we’ll be seein’ each other again real soon!