It's Raining, It's Pouring

One thing people in Phoenix really get excited about is rain. It hardly ever happens so when it does it's a special time. Since it's monsoon season there's more of a chance.

This is how the sky looked at about 3:00pm yesterday.




Kita and I went to check it out.







It started to sprinkle so she was out. I mean in.







Then it started to pour so I joined her inside. We watched Oprah and listened to the glorious rain. I may have also video taped the rain with my phone and sent it to John at work. I told you, rain is very very exciting around here.

Our Angry Swimming Pool

We have a guy that comes every Tuesday to keep our pool looking pretty. We had a communication problem with him during our week in Florida so instead of rescheduling services, we missed services for a week.

As you can see our swimming pool was very upset.




Kita noticed that it's getting happier.




She is very relieved.

Good-Bye Disney World, See You in Ten Years...Not

We honeymooned in Disney World and it was fantastic. We celebrated almost ten years later in Disney World and it too was fantastic.

I think we're done. We loved it both times and have been filled with fantastic memories. We just don't need to do it again.

These are our last pictures taken on Disney property...forever.

Winding Down the Trip

I'm combining days five and six.

For day five we went to Epcot during the day and saw a lot of really neat things. We saw this guy swimming around in an aquarium. He's very cool but not as cool as the one John and I swam with last summer in Maui. Aw, Maui.




There was one tank that held two dolphins. That was kind of weird. I don't think they liked it. One of them was trying to break through a little gated window into another tank that had another dolphin in it. I think they wanted to have dolphin relations. The other dolphin looked like it was humping the wall.

On day six we went back to Hollywood Studios to ride Toy Story, Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith roller coaster again. I didn't grab any strangers that time. Afterward we went back to the Magic Kingdom one last time for the sole purpose of riding Space Mountain. We just couldn't imagine leaving Orlando without getting this classic in.

Results: Space Mountain is weak. It's a must do on your Disney vacation, but it's very weak. I think I only screamed for comedic effect. John thinks my screaming on rides is very funny.

The chocolate covered strawberries on Mainstreet USA are not weak.




That night we ate dinner at a restaurant at the Grand Floridian. It was definitely grand. Our menus said, "Happy Anniversary." How sweet. Our anniversary isn't actually until September but this trip was our anniversary celebration trip.











That was probably one of the best dinners of at least my life. The food was incredible and so was the view. We had an even better view of the Magic Kingdom's fireworks than we did the first night we watched them. The restaurant even had the music playing from the show.

I think we're getting old. Some of our favorite times from our trip was when we were at dinner.

Half Way Through the Vacation Re-Cap

Day four was filled with homework and water racers. There was nothing racey about these bad boys. People walking next to the water were faster than we were. You think I'm joking.

The most exciting part was when a water taxi went by and tsunamied us. We were completely soaked. That included our underwear. It was a fun walk back to our room.




That night we ate dinner at a British pub on the water in Epcot. We had a front row seat to Epcot's fireworks. It was awesome. Disney puts on great shows.

Don't we look so relaxed?






Wouldn't you know that the fireworks display and the music played during it made me teary? I'm a sap for sure.

Day Three-Hollywood Studios and More Magic Kingdom

For our third day we began it here, at this ride, screaming loudly.




Well, at least I was screaming loudly. I also accidentally harassed another person next to me. Instead of dumping popcorn on the lady next to me I started flailing and grabbed her a little. John thought that was very funny.

Hollywood Studios was pretty fun. We especially loved the Toy Story ride. We had an early dinner at the Sci-Fi dine in theatre.




Our waiter called us hitch hikers because they sat us in a car with a family. I guess he was one of those funny waiters. They had short Sci-Fi movies going on while we were eating.

That night we went back to the Magic Kingdom for our extended Magic hours (for people staying on Disney property). We caught their fireworks show which was awesome. We also got to see the electric parade. That took me back to my childhood.




After we rode the rides we wanted, John took some more pictures of Cinderella's Castle. Get ready Jen, if Eliza liked the other castle picture then she'll love this one.




So we had another great day. We may have even napped a little between dinner and our extended magic.

Day Two-The Magic Kingdom and Some Circus Freaks

We got to start our day looking at this...



It definitely got our excitement back in gear. We only rode our very favorites. The Haunted Mansion is of course on that list. It brings out my scared/crazy face.



John was very interested in this guy. Little did he know that this crazy bird was about to charge at him. Yeah, not really. It did get pretty close to a family eating turkey legs though.




We were able to get most of our favorites in. We left when it got crazy and went back to relax at our hotel. Splash Mountain and Space Mountain would have to wait. Here's John taking a break from enjoying the view.




That night we went to Cirque du Soleil in Downtown Disney. The whole show was amazing. I sat next to John and some guy who didn't speak English. I spilled half of my popcorn on him. He laughed. He kept saying some phrase during the show that I can only assume meant, "What the ef?"

What the ef is right. Cirque du Soleil is thrilling.

Day One...The Realization that Humidity Blows

Our first day was at the Animal Kingdom. We hadn't realized how much we were not going to love the Florida humidity until we decided to spend a whole day in it without much relief.




It wasn't all humidity misery that day. We got to go to the Tree of Life to see the Tough to Be a Bug show. It was really cute.




We even got to be honorary bugs...




Everest was also pretty awesome.




We ended our day in humidity torture by watching Nemo the musical. It's about a 45 minute musical they put on at the Animal Kingdom. It was a really neat thing to see.

Our day was so sticky and uncomfortable that by the end of it we really needed a nice and refreshing adult beverage. Our hotel had just the spot.




Notice the lady behind us? We noticed her too that's why we asked the bar tender to take this picture.

If you or anyone you care about has a shirt with a big whole in the back please tell them to rethink the decision to wear it in public.

Our First Night in Orlando

We were so very happy to finally make it to Orlando on that first night. If you didn't know it already, the flight from Phoenix to Orlando is not short. It's especially not short when there's a screaming baby for no joke, forty minutes (I seriously kept time).

It was so bad that the flight attendant went to talk to the mom. I know it couldn't have been helped but man oh man I thought my ears were going to explode.

Once in Orlando, we made our way to Downtown Disney and had dinner with Wolfgang...




I wanted documentation of John's penne pasta...




and my pumpkin ravioli...




We were both very happy with our dinner. After dinner we were very excited that it was raining. It's not every day that we get to use our umbrella to protect us from something other than the sun's harmful UV rays.




We were so excited to have started our vacation and hadn't yet realized how much we would really begin to hate humidity.

Quick Update

Hi You Guys.

Well, I just finished my homework. Yes, you read that right. Homework...on vacation. What can I say? Masters programs don't stop when students go to Disney World. I wish they did.

We've been having a fantastic time. It's been a different vacation for us this time around. Our 23 and 24 year old selves had a lot more energy than our 33 and 34 year old selves. Ten years ago we would go, go, go. Ten years later we go, then nap, then go some more, then go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

I have some great pictures and stories for you. I won't have the internet again until we get home on Tuesday (Our hotel charges for internet usage).

See you soon.

It's that time again...

Vacation time! We're leaving tomorrow for 8 days, 7 nights of fun, fun, fun, in Disney World.





I can't wait. We have the whole trip planned.

We're of course going to go to all of the parks (minus the water parks), delicious restaurants like Wolfgang Puck's in downtown Disney and Cirque du Soleil.

I think I've already told you but just in case I haven't I'll tell you why we're going to Disney World. We got married in 2000 and went to Disney World for our honeymoon.

A few years ago we decided that for our ten year anniversary instead of John getting to have a night with a lady of his choice (if you watch Curb Your Enthusiasm then you get that joke) that we would go back to our honeymoon destination.

Our anniversary isn't until September but that's a really inconvenient time to go on vacation. So it's off to the happiest place on earth now. Be prepared for lots of pictures with our kool-aid smiles on us when we return.

Saturday Calorie Day

I was talking to one of my cousins last week about Calorie Day (The one day a week I eat like I used to). She was curious to know what a typical one looks like for me. I'm about to show you guys exactly what it looked like for me yesterday.

Breakfast:
4 mini chocolate donuts
1 cup of coffee with splenda and creamer

Snack:
Small handful of dark chocolate m&m's

Lunch:
Medium Sourdough Jack meal from Jack in the Box with Coke to drink

Dinner:
Heart Attack on a plate...




After Dinner:
Dark Chocolate Reese's cups (2)
Handful of the m&m's

There you have it. What do you think? Was I a little piggie or what? Back to normal today. My stomach will sure appreciate that.

Purse Hooker

I meant to write, "Purse Hook" but accidentally wrote hooker. I thought it was funny so I left it as my title.

My friend Joni gave me this purse hook for my birthday. I love it. Now the first thing I do when I'm at a public table is feel the thickness of it to see if it is going to work. I get really sad when I realize I'm going to have to hang my purse on my chair.

I wanted to commemorate the first usage of my lovely hook...




This is what happens when you go to mingle, leaving the hook unattended...




I think every woman needs a purse hooker.