A Night at Disney and a Slide Show

I raised four girls – well, Bob and I raised four girls. (Actually, isn’t the correct word “reared” four girls? Oh, well!) So, when I spend time with four boys, my life instantly gets interesting. Fortunately, I did not spend time with all four boys at the same time. I think I would have lost at least some of my sanity!! Yet it is fun and as my girls would tell you, by the end of Tuesday night, I was getting rather “loopy”! I guess singing along with the music on Disney’s Main Street while waiting for the Christmas parade – and I might add, in the RAIN and rather loudly, could instantly make you loopy! Tim (our son-in-law) graciously offered his seat – right! In other words, the place he had picked on the curb! The poncho I had just purchased barely kept the rain from seeping through my jeans – well, the ‘seat’ part of my jeans. But the lower legs, I had to wring out the water a couple times!

Shall I backtrack, which is not unusual for me!! Tim and Sandi invited me to join them along with Roxanne and Kamen at Disney’s “A Very Merry Christmas Party” in Orlando. We stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter. (Can I interject that when Sandi sent a text message about our hotel, she mistakenly wrote “POST Orleans” so from then on, it was Post Orleans to Roxanne and me! That is, until Roxanne tried to pronounce Concierge as “Consergee” and she decided that she couldn’t tease Sandi any more!)

Disney hosts the Party several nights throughout November and December. While the actual party doesn’t start until 7pm, you can get into the park around 4:30 or so. Sandi was ready and waiting and shooing us all out the door and onto the bus which would take us to the Magic Kingdom. When we got there, we traded our tickets for orange wristbands. After 7pm, anyone without a wristband would be escorted off the property.

Roxanne and Kamen headed back to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain! This was to be Kamen’s first ride on a roller coaster! Roxanne explained that it was a train ride but it was probably the wildest train ride he had ever been on. Because it wasn’t particularly busy, they got off – and got right back on!!

I headed with Tim, Sandi and Tyler to the Jungle Cruise which took us to the “wild country”!! All kinds of animals – elephants, crocodiles and skeletons! As we were seated on the rustic boat, Tyler said rather loudly, “Nana, don’t be afraid. It will be okay!” I guess he didn’t think I quite got the message so he continued, “Nana, I’m right here. You will be safe!” Needless to say, that brought response from those sitting around us .. “Aaahhh!” This seven year old was committed to my safety. I am indeed blessed!!

I was quite entertained throughout the evening – from being part of a “Monsters Inc” event to entering the world of Buzz Lightyear and trying to aim and fire some sort of a laser gun, I was entertained! We found seats in “Mickey’s ’Twas the Night Before Christmas” although the little guys were not as delighted as us older folks. Then the real fun began!! We decided to grab something to eat – Okay, that wasn’t the real fun .. it was coming! After eating at “Cosmic” something-or-other, I opted out of going to the next attraction since Bob was going to call. And the next challenge was trying to find somewhere that wasn’t so noisy you had to yell to be heard! Granted, it was Christmas music and how can you not like that!! I finally found a spot, he called and just as I finished talking – it began to rain. It had been misting throughout the evening but as I decided to try to find the others, the rain began to pick up.

Try to find the back of the castle when it is spitting rain is difficult! And then it actually begin to blow a little and rain more! Fortunately, we all had cell phones (except for the boys, or course!) I found a kiosk of sorts which actually had a cover – and about 40 other folks (and me) used it for cover until the vendor decided that we had taken up enough room for long enough!! He ran us out about the time the fireworks began – yup, in the rain!

So, in the light of the fireworks, I decided to try to find my way to Main Street and maybe get into one of the little shops. I think I went in a circle to begin with! You would have thought as many times as we have been to the Magic Kingdom, I could get from the castle to the head of Main Street. But, of course, I’m not one to take an easy way – I can’t seem to make anything too easy! Finally!!! I got to one of the shops – AHHH! I’ve found the candy store and fudge!! Exactly what I wanted to get before we left for the night – surely, it is getting close to going back to the hotel room??? It’s like almost 10pm and aren’t we getting just a little tired – and all these people are heading for the entrance and surely it’s time to …. Take a rest!! OF COURSE NOT!!! WE HAVE TO WATCH THE PARADE!! AT 10:45 AT NIGHT!! IN THE RAIN!!! AND IT’S COLD!! AND WE ARE GETTING VERY WET!!

Okay, so I vented!! I’m back to where I began now – we were entertained as we waited by a variety of passerby’s (is that a word?) Tyler was wearing an “It’s my birthday” button so Mickey’s helpers gravitated to anyone who wore such a button – or one that said “1st Visit”. By the way, as we rode in the bus from Post Orleans hotel (yes, I spelled it wrong on purpose), Sandi and Roxanne set next to a family from Australia – yesterday was their first day in the U.S.! What a welcome – both girls did an awesome job representing all of us (collectively speaking). The mother wanted to know what we ate on holidays such as Christmas Day —the girls shared our personal traditions but explained that they were not necessarily the national preference for a certain holiday. (We have scalloped potatoes and ham on Christmas Day. It’s just what we have done for years!)

Anyway, back to the end of the day – we waited for the parade – and waited – and waited some more. Parts of my body (not mentioned here) were beginning to become numb! If only it could have wasted away some of the extra pounds there! Ha!! Finally, about 10:50 or so, we began to see the beginning of the parade. It is a new parade this year and – Cinderella’s castle has a new look for the holidays this year, too. So … it was a fun time! Until one of the floats broke down – all at once, we had to pull our feet back quickly as a little tractor of sorts came flying up beside the parade and guys were running as fast as they could. It seems the parade had come to a screeching halt for a few moments and dancers had to almost dance in place! In about 30 seconds, they had it back moving and were giving the A-Okay sign along the way!

(Check out the slide show … and laugh! It’s okay! I won’t be offended in the least!!)

And just as we were leaving, it began to snow lightly. In 70 degree weather? Right! Hey, anything can happen … after all, it’s the Magic Kingdom! We finished the day looking up into tiny, twinkling snowflakes drifting softly to the ground!

And we were glad to call it a day – well – we went to sleep at 2am! So, last night, I decided to 'call it a night' at 9:30pm!! I must be getting old!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Travel, fog, rain, clouds, sun ...

Put all of that into one day and you have our day! It started out fairly early -- rainy, foggy day in Atlanta!! Yuk!! Two different climates ... rainy and cold in Atlanta -- sunny and WARM in Florida when we arrived home this evening.

Okay, so I'm ahead of myself, sort of. Isn't that the way I usually am! (Teri talked for quite a while yesterday to Phil and Lynne Driscoll. After a while, she said, "I'm my mother's daughter. I'll just keep on talking ... " So .. I'm rambling again!)

Let's backtrack to last night -- Wii game ... my brother has the big screen TV and the game. So, needless to say, his boys are facing the TV, "controllers" in their hands and are ready to play baseball, tennis, golf, bowling. Whatever strikes their fancy at the moment. But, it is pretty funny when one can't manage to hit the golf ball -- that wasn't actually my nephew but a friend of theirs who wanted to try his hand at it. You think Teri was going to miss out on the fun? Hardly! She thought she would put Rudy to bed and then play. WRONG!!! Rudy was not going to miss out on the fun so he positioned himself on Shonna's lap facing his mom (to make sure he knew right where she was at all times) ... and stayed up until .. well, midnight or so!! I was surprised that Teri was ready to go to the airport at 7:35am. Actually, we were supposed to leave at 7:30am but if you know Teri at all, you will know that leaving on time must have sent a shock wave across the world! So, we were only 5 minutes late.

We trudged along (in our van, of course) to the airport amid messy conditions. We were not complaining - Atlanta needs rain desperately!! So, I was happy they had rain even though I wasn't thrilled about driving in it. We arrived safely -- Teri strapped Rudy on (those cloth baby carriers -- I call it a papoose, but I really don't think that is what it is called!), grabbed her diaper bag / purse and her suitcase and headed for the door. I listened to the news as I left her -- an hour wait in security! Imagine my surprise when she called me about 20 minutes later to inform me she was at her gate already!! Huh??? It seems that one of the airport personnel spotted her coming in with her little guy and stuff and promptly said, "Come with me!" He took her down the wheelchair aisle and had her through security in a matter of minutes. She was only going to T2 gate (which for anyone who hasn't traveled through the Atlanta airport doesn't mean a thing -- if you have, you know right where it is!) She was able to get breakfast and change a baby and board her plane (first class on the way home) ... and she was home before we were two hours down the road. We drove through rain until about 40 miles south of Macon.

Okay, so now that I have completely bored anyone reading this and quite frankly, almost myself, I'll begin to wind down. The traffic wasn't too bad today! Thank goodness! No cops with radar guns aimed at my oncoming vehicle. A couple fender benders along the way but nothing to write home about. I was truly thankful for the prayers for our safe travel!!

It was nice to drive into the sunshine -- we actually started out in very cold weather (40's) and ended up in 83+ degree weather! Go figure! I began to wish I had just a little bit of the cooler weather. But, you can't have it both ways and I definitely prefer this nice warm weather to cold, bone chilling weather!!

So, there you have the rest of the story -- what was the beginning of the story? I have no clue since my mind is still in a fog from driving with such crazies on the road today! (No, not in the car .. along the road!)

Tomorrow I head for Disney!! Wahoo!! To spend the evening tomorrow night with two daughters and two grandsons (and a son-in-law) at Disney's "Very Merry Christmas Party"!! We'll stay at one of the hotels there on the Disney grounds -- if you are a Florida resident, you get all kinds of perks that out-of-stater's can't take advantage of!

So ... I'll write more in a couple days!! Think I'll call it a night -- or a day -- or whatever! At least, we are home safe! Oh, did I tell you that Shonna and RJ went with me, too? Teri and Rudy flew in to Atlanta to meet us. (I think I told the end of the story before the beginning!)

One funny story -- Teri was nursing Rudy and had put a blanket lightly over him so that she was modest. But, RJ was quite intrigued ... "Aunt Teri, do you have bottles in those?" I'm not sure just how she answered that one!!

Two plus three x two equals noise!!!

Okay ... you take my two girls (well, they are grown -- 31 and 33 years old), add three boys (ages 16, 20 and 23) and my two grandsons, ages 6 months and two years and it produces .. noise!! And lots of fun!! Of course, I had my camera handy and caught a few poses along the way! At midnight last night, they were just beginning to wind down -- Rudy actually fell asleep around 8:30 and slept through all the excitement. The three boys and my brother, Tim, had a great time entertaining or teasing RJ who was not in any hurry to settle down for the evening. Hopefully, he will get some sleep tonight -- or maybe it will be good if he doesn't and he will sleep all the way home tomorrow!

Christopher and Rudy -- the oldest and youngest of the boys seemed to strike up quite a friendship!! All is quiet this evening as the three oldest boys and Shonna headed out to a movie. RJ is hangin' out with Aunt Teri and Rudy!

It's been a nice weekend -- and thanks to my sister-in-law, Susan, who whipped a dinner for nine last night and ten tonight!

Tomorrow, we'll head for home -- it's been rainy here in Atlanta today but they have needed rain so badly that it has truly been a blessing.

Guess I won't ramble any more --