Friday, May 30, 2008

Sarah's Graduation!

Well not really a graduation. It's only the 6th grade. But it's her last year at her elementary school. Junior High here we come.
Ain't she cute...and Sarah's kinda cute too!

Sarah sure does dress up a photo, don't she? We're very proud of her. She keeps up with her school work and she likes doing extra-curricular activities. She's just a well rounded young lady. Late that night we went out to dinner to celebrate. Sarah chose Pizza Factory. Eric was really excited...especially with the waitress. I kept trying to set them up, but he wouldn't have it.
Guess what Sarah and Mandy's favorite item on the menu is? No, really. Guess. Sarah's is the bread sticks, but Mandy's is in the previous photo...Apple Beer. Hah. Got ya. But she does like the bread sticks too.The proud Mom and Dad. Can you see gray creeping in on my temples.

Happy 17th Birthday Amanda

May 14 is Amanda's birthday, but I just barely downloaded the photos tonight. I know that she looks kinda serious in this first photo, but she really is having good time as you will see is the following photos.One of her many presents.

This was her favorite present. Janet was able to find a dressing dummy for more than 50% off. Now she won't have to put her dress on and take it back off so many times. She's already using it. It's kinda creepy though. I'll walk past her room and see this person standing near the doorway, or so it seems.Always the happy-go-lucky gal.
Her restaurant of choice was Los Hermanos. They have an appetizer called Grande Nachos. They should put a warning in the menu that says "Family Size." It has everything. We all tried to help after we'd eaten our own meals, and we still only finished about half. But boy was it tasty.
After dinner we started playing with the silverware.
The winner was Sarah. We didn't realize how talented she is. Can you imagine this table full of people watching and cheering on this little girl? We were boistrous and noisy, but we had a lot of fun.


Voila!!! She does it in this one.


Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Our Disney World Vacation

Day 8

This all goes backward. You can see from the beginning of this post. Day 8. If you want to start on day one you need to go back to April's list and start at Day 1. Thanks.

Saturday morning we slept in and relaxed because we'd have a nice long flight home in the afternoon. I think we had to be out front and waiting for the bus by 1pm. Can't remember the exact time. That meant we had a few hours that morning to spend in the Magic Kingdom. So we loaded on the Monorail and headed over.

About halfway over to the park Sarah realized that she didn't have her park pass. Janet decided to ride around back to the hotel with her and Eric decided to also. Amanda and I went on without them just to shop on Main Street. We bummed along main and looked at pins and other trinkets. Found some earrings for Tiff and a shot glass with Tinker Bell on it for Jess.

Amanda and I were just about done shopping when Janet called and said they'd recovered Sarah's park pass from her luggage and they were coming to join us. Instead we decided to just meet them at the monorail and ride back to the hotel with them and shop for pins at the shop in the hotel lobby. We found a few that were good for framing in a shadow box for a remembrance kind of thing. We'll have to get that done and take some photos for the blog here.

Rode the bus to the airport and found out that the plane was delayed. Actually the plane was broken and they were waiting for a replacement to fly in from New Jersey to take its place. It was okay. We had dinner at the airport and were on the plane by 5:30-6:00 and home by about 9:30-10:00pm. Don't remember the exact time, but there was still light when we got there. It was dusty though. Guess we had a really bad windstorm that day and it was dusty enough that you couldn't see the mountains. Linda was heading home to Cedar that same eve and she was flabbergasted at how dusty it was.

Got home, unpacked and got to bed in plenty of time to get up early for church meetings the next morning.

Our Disney World Vacation

Day 7


Friday morning we got up early and headed to the Magic Kingdom (early entrance for resort guests). We entered the park and stayed to our left and went clockwise and tried to ride every ride. There were a few that we'd missed in previous visits and we wanted to experience everything because we were feeling to the departure time fast approaching. Just a day away.



Talk about the typical tourist. Amanda saw the ducks sleeping on the sidwalk as we left our room and had to get down on their level to take their picture. It was kinda humorous to see her waddling into position to get a closeup. I wish I'd taken a video of it.



We rode the Monorail from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom. You can see the Poly way in the background just to the left and behind the Grand Floridian with its red tile roof. Janet looked into rooms at the GF but it was twice the price but from what she saw on the website it was really, really, really nice and big. If you decide to go there yourself you might look into it. By the way....see the nice white sandy beach? You can walk along them, but you can't swim in the lake. There are signs all along the lake saying not to swim. Don't know why.


Remember the Jungle Cruise from when you were a kid. The last time we went to Disneyland the ride was closed, so we jumped aboard and enjoyed the ride.


Everyone was excited at the start of the day...except Eric who was still half asleep.


Next was the Pirates of the Carribean. I really was having fun.


Pirates is also Eric's favorite ride. He insisted that we ride it the first time we entered the park on Sunday and every other time we entered the park. I'm not complaining, it's my favorite too. It's been my favorite since I was a kid and went to Disneyland the first time as a kid.

So we got off the Pirates ride and were bumming around the tourist shop and Sarah and Amanda found this great big sombrero. What that had to do with the Carribean I don't know. But they had fun with it. Can you see all the pins that Sarah had collected by that time? We need to buy a shadow box and mount them for her so she can show them off and appreciate them more often than when she opens her underwear drawer.


There is some missing time between these pictures. After Pirates we got some lunch. After that we decided to go on Splash Mountain. Well, they had fixed the water squirter that gets you as you enter the mountain. We got soaked. I mean really soaked. I'm just glad I was wearing a nylon shirt and shorts.



We then decided that we wanted to ride the train around the park to dry off. After some searching we found an entrance and hopped aboard. At the Main Street stop you could see our resort way across the lake.


While we waited for the train to get moving Janet tried getting us all in one picture.


Think we were feeling a little giddy?


After the train ride we bumped into Amanda's best friend from back in Provo. Actually they'd been texting each other for days trying to get together. They were staying in a condo outside the park and did water parks and other things. They just happened to be in the Magic Kingdom this particular day. And we forgot to take a picture. No evidence. We talked with them for a couple of minutes and compared notes and said our goodbyes. They were headed to one of the water parks for the afternoon. They left for Provo the next morning bright and early.

After meeting Mandy's friend we headed over to the riverboat for a relaxing ride around Huck Finn's Island. I thought for sure that Sarah would want to check out the island, but no. So we rode the boat.


And took some pictures.


And texted the friend we'd just seen 30 minutes before.


Janet is too cool.


We didn't spend too much more time in the Magic Kingdom because we had a dinner reservation at EPCOT. But before we left I recieved a phone call from Linda. I tried to call her back but she had turned off her phone because she was going into a class or performance or something. So I left a message.



Our dinner reservation was at the Morrocan restaurant. It was called Marrakesh. It was really good food. I remember Janet some chicken with couscous. Eric had a lamb dish called mechoui. I had a shish kebab of beef with some hummus. I can't remember what Sarah or Amanda had. But we did have pastilla, or thin fry bread with cinnamon and sugar, for dessert.


Sarah got ahold of a camera while at the dinner table and took my picture. Eric was checking out the belly dancer who was teaching little girls how to dance.


After dinner we were waiting for the girls to get out of the restroom when my phone rang. It was Linda calling me back. I guess I'd forgotten to tell her that we were going to Florida that week. She was in Provo and was just letting me know she was in town because I'd complained that she never lets me know when she's in town. Well, she was letting me know. I told her I was in Morrocco. She hesitated and said she didn't believe me. So I told her where I was and we had a laugh.


There are no more pictures of this night. We spent the rest of the evening walking through the various countries' markets and displays. Germany, England, Canada, France, Morrocco, Japan, US, Norway, China. We wound up in front of China to take in the nightly fireworks display.


After the fireworks the park closed except for those with bracelets. We went over and rode the Mission to Mars ride and the ride that goes up into the ball that you associated with EPCOT. Don't know what that's called. By this time Janet and the girls were getting pooped out. They decided to hang back and wait while Eric and I got one last ride on the Soaring Over California. By the time we had finished that it was midnight and time to head back to the hotel.

Our Disney World Vacation

Day 6

Thursday morning Sarah and I got up and got going while Janet, Eric and Amanda slept in. Sarah was very excited to get over to the Animal Kingdom and ride the Expedition Everest roller coaster. I didn't want to risk my camera so I didn't take any pictures of that. Just before noon, or just after, I can't remember, Janet and the other kids joined up with us and we spent the afternoon together riding and having fun.



This was kinda cool. The characters are Goofy, Mickey and Pluto. The ride around in a boat on the lagoon and wave to the crowds. Then they dock and greet the visitors.


A stack of copper pots as part of the decorations while waiting for the Wild River ride. Notice the poncho sticking out from behind my back. The first day we rode this we had no protection. This time we were prepared.

I don't know. Maybe because we'd been to this park before, but we didn't take very many pictures this time around.

After spending the afternoon at the Animal Kingdom we headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. Janet got us seats at the luau they have each night at the Polynesian Resort where we stayed. It was very "PCC" (Polynesian Cultural Center) like at Laie, Hawaii. Dinner and a show and very well done. We had a blast.

Mandy was so hungry she tried to eat her lei. Really, see the plate in front of her....she ate the whole thing.

Our cuties.

Eric ate the most....and was very proud of it.

Tongan dancer.

Maori dancers.

Maori dancers with poi balls. It's tough to get the balls going on one hand, but they had two in each hand. I used to be able to do one hand, now I can't even get them going at all. I'll have to make some and practice at home.

Tahitian Dancers.

Then they brought out a guy that is supposed to be the World Champion Fire Dancer. He performed for almost 15 minutes and only set the stage on fire once. HA. He really did, but he just stepped on it and put it out. At one time he had two batons going at the same time.


Sarah was invited up to participate in a dance. She had a great time. I'm very proud of all my kids. They're game to try anything and participate. I don't think there was ever a time on this trip they didn't just get in there and go for it. I was a little chicken growing up and I regret not trying some things.

After dinner Sarah and I decided to go to the pool and relax.

But I couldn't. The water was cold. You can't tell but Sarah was shivering too. We decided to go back to the hotel room and get dressed and do something else.

The something else was video games at the game room at the hotel. It was packed full of video games and other such entertainment. Sarah, Janet and I spent a while there entertaining ourselves while Eric slept and Amanda texted her friends and walked on the beach.



Near midnight the fireworks started at the Magic Kingdom. It was graduation night at the Magic Kingdom. Seniors from around the area spend the night at the park starting at 10 or 11pm. and stay until 6 or 7am. I remember doing the same sort of thing at Disneyland during my senior year in SoCal. Anyway, Amanda and a spent a while on the end of the pier and took photos of the fireworks at the park.

Well....I took pictures and Amanda did....guess!


On the way back to the hotel I tried to take a photo of the building our room was in. Ours was on the ground floor, just inside the door on the left.

Amanda and I went to the main building and picked up Sarah and Janet and we headed to bed. You can tell I was ready for bed.