Friday, December 9, 2011

Disney vacation part 2

Welcome back for part 2 of Disney vacation 2011. After a restful night sleep we awoke at 0600 on Tuesday morning ready for another day of fantasy. Kim once again prepared a nourishing breakfast, I cleaned up the kitchen while Kim got ready to go and we gathered up our stuff and headed out. We drove to Epcot and since it was early we were parked close enough that we didn't need a tram. We buckled on our fanny packs, yes both of us, and started toward the entrance to Epcot. We were standing on line with about twenty people ahead of us waiting for the park to open. Right in front of us were some geeks who were acting rather obnoxious but only among themselves. I could see that Kim was getting a bit annoyed but fortunately they opened the gates and we headed into the park. The geeks went left and we went right.
After a potty stop we looked for some attractions that we wanted to see. Epcot is a bit more low key than some of the other Disney parks but then we like low key. We went through some of the science type exhibits and some low key rides. For those who don't know; being tossed to and fro, hurtling along and stopping abruptly, turned upside down and the like is not my idea of fun. So we looked for rides and attractions that did not include any of the above. We participated in a turtle talk with Crush, boarded a clamobile on a quest to find Nemo and took a slow boat ride through greenhouses and fish farm. After that we got really daring and went on Soarin which was a free-flying hang gliding experience.
We strolled through the countries visiting displays that took you virtually through their countryside. It was fun and educational. We stopped and ate an overpriced lunch and continued on to experience more of the wonder that is Epcot. One of the nice things about going to Disney this time of year is that although there are still thousands of people around, there are not tens of thousands. Except for a forty minute wait for Soarin our wait time for other attractions was more like ten or fifteen minutes. Although we didn't have to do much waiting we did a lot of standing and walking. This started taking it's toll on my legs and back but i wanted to enjoy the experience so we would find places to sit periodically and then move on. We enjoyed Epcot but as Kim said we probably would not go again, but would use the time to visit a different park. After going on spaceship earth inside the parks huge icon at the entrance we decided it was time to leave.
We headed back toward the Villa and discussed what we wanted to do for dinner. We thought about going out to dinner but decided we would like to just go back and have dinner at the villa. Since there was nothing in the fridge for dinner, what would we do? We decided that we would stop and get dinner to go instead of eating at the restaurant. We ordered two dinners to go and headed back to our home away from home to enjoy a nice steak dinner. After dinner we cleaned up, showered, watched a little TV and prepared for a good night sleep.
Wednesday we had plans to go to the Mickey Christmas party which is a special night time party at Magic Kingdom for which you pay extra for the privilege of being one of the elite few, thousands, who got to enjoy the park after closing till midnight. This little party started at 1600 and you had to have a wristband in order to stay in the park after the official closing time. We wondered how they were going to enforce this but we found out that after regular closing there was wristband police patrolling the park making sure you had a wristband or get carted off.
This morning we awoke without an alarm since we had decided we were not going to go somewhere during the day in addition to the night time Christmas party. We woke up and had cereal and bananas for breakfast and then just enjoyed being in our little home. We watched some TV, did some reading and went to Walmart to get a few supplies and some lunch at Subway. We returned home to eat our lunch and just relax. Around 1500 we started getting our stuff together and prepared to go to Mickey's Christmas party. We arrived at the parking lot around 1600 and after a tram ride and a monorail we arrived at the entrance to Magic Kingdom. We received our wristband and proceeded to head for the party, let the party begin.
We had heard on the weather that there was a cold front heading this way Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Thankfully we took notice and prepared because it definitely got cold. It was a bit chilly all day Wednesday but now it was getting more than just chilly, it was getting downright cold. We started looking for attractions and rides that were inside so we could get warm. After enjoying a few of these and partaking of some hot chocolate that was being provided for the Mickey party group we went to stake out our spot for one of the main attractions of the night, the Christmas parade. I guess if you are going to see a Christmas parade you should be cold, and so we were blessed. Of course if you wanted a good spot from which to view the parade you needed to stake it out early which meant standing for a very long time. By the time the parade was over i was a hurting puppy.
After the parade, which was really great, we headed off to find a spot to watch the fireworks. Fortunately we found a spot where we could sit down and watch. We met another couple and their children who were from California and talked with them for awhile. While i guarded our spot Kim went off to find some coffee. She returned in a little while with two cups of the worst coffee we had ever tasted. Kim worked her way through the thickening crowd to return the vile liquid and she asked the servers if they ever drank the stuff. They replied that they didn't like the coffee and promptly refunded her money. After watching an awesome fireworks display we looked for someplace where we could get warm and perhaps get a decent cup of coffee. We found another hot chocolate station and sat for a few minutes warming up. It was starting to get late and we were getting tired and we were still cold. Kim wanted to shop for Disney stuff so we went to a couple stores, found what we wanted and headed back for the long trek to the car. After once again taking a monorail and tram ride we reached our car. We went home, unwound for a little while and collapsed into bed.
Thursday morning we awoke a little later, relaxed with some coffee, had some breakfast and gathered up our stuff to once again head out for another adventure. We had decided that we would go visit The Holy Land Experience which though not a Disney attraction was only about fifteen miles away. Kim had heard about this before we started our vacation and wanted to see what it would be like since it was recommended by a couple of people. Well, it was not exactly what we had expected. The various performances were well done and the actors seemed to be sincere. There was a lot of commercialism the overall look seemed to be a bit tacky in my opinion. You can read Kim's blog to see what she thought of the experience also. We ate another over priced lunch, watched some of the performances and saw some of the other attractions. We didn't stay too late as it was getting cold again as the sun hid behind the clouds and i left my jacket in the car.
We returned home and just chilled for awhile. Kim went on Facebook, i watched some TV and did some reading, which is exactly what i wanted this vacation to be. Kim found some leftovers in the fridge and heated it for dinner. We spent another quiet evening in the villa, showered and went to bed. We decided Friday would be a kick back day and we would not visit parks or anything but just enjoy a relaxing day at home. We had some breakfast,Kim spent a lot of time on the phone and i have been sitting here writing my blog. We will probably go out for lunch, do some preparing to get ready to go home, maybe take a walk and go out for dinner. I am thoroughly enjoying a very relaxing vacation.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Disney vacation

I am sitting here in our beautiful resort condo after a wonderful day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Let me back up though to the start of our vacation. It actually started back around June when we made arrangements to pick the week and where we would stay. We were able to get this great place that we are staying in through friends of ours in church. Instead of going all the way back to the beginning I'll just go back to the first day of the actual vacation. Saturday morning after a rather stressful week at work I woke up around 0530 and was unable to go back to sleep. I got up and went to the kitchen to start the coffee. We had plans to go to breakfast and then go pick up our rental car so i figured i would wake Kim around 0700. She actually woke up earlier than that and after some coffee and getting ready we went to breakfast. After a really nice breakfast at the Coffee Shop we went to the airport to pick up our rental car.
When i got home with the car Kim was still not ready to go but then i really didn't expect she would be. After a little more primping packing and prodding we were ready to go. It was now around 1000 and we were ready to get on the road. After a short time of prayer we pulled out and headed for Disney. The GPS was programmed for our destination and the estimated time of arrival was shown as 1600 hrs. That was destined to change before we arrived.
The actual trip wasn't bad at all but at our age you need to make a few more pit stops than the GPS allows. We were doing fine till we got near Orlando and i misunderstood the direction given by that sweet voice coming from the GPS. We wound up going the wrong way on I4 but instead of yelling at me the sweet voice recalculated our position and suggested a few extra turns to get us back on course. I love modern technology. By this time it was getting dark, there was a lot of traffic, i had no idea where we were going and i was getting hungry. Needless to say i was starting to get a bit cranky. After pulling into a Walmart because that sweet voice sad we had reached our destination, we finally found the Polynesian Isle Resort. After checking in at around 1730 ET we checked with guest services to see where we could go to get something to eat. We got some perky gal who definitely had to much caffeine and tried to sell us a time share with the promise of cheap Disney tickets. Remember i said i was tired hungry and cranky? I very nicely made that clear and walked out with our room key and a map to the local eateries.
After bringing our luggage to our room we went to dinner and then returned to our condo. Kim absolutely loved the place. We took some pictures before we made it our own and just sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet. By this time, around midnight, we were really tired and just fell into bed and went to sleep. We awoke the next morning and i was starting to feel like i was on vacation. After a few cups of coffee and waiting for my bride to get ready we headed out for some breakfast and shopping. Since this place has a full kitchen we decided to go to the Walmart we saw last night and pick up some items we would need during the week. After shopping we headed back to the condo,unpacked and went out to tour the grounds which are beautiful. After our walk we sat out on our patio, did some reading, relaxing and just enjoying vacation. Now i felt like i was on vacation. Kim prepared a nice dinner that evening and then we just continued to relax, and i was loving it. We still hadn't decided what we were going to do concerning days at Disney, etc. We walked up to the office to see what tickets were available and the person there gave us a phone number to call at Disney to get some ideas. The tickets are very expensive and we wanted to see what possible deals were available. As Florida residents we were eligible for a discount and when we found out how much it would be our jaws dropped and we bought the tickets over the phone. PTL, He delights in His children's happiness.
On Monday we awoke at 0600 after a wonderful night of restful sleep to begin our day of Disney fun. We had some fresh coffee prepared in our own kitchen and Kim prepared scrambled eggs and banana bread for breakfast. She didn't make the banana bread, after all she is on vacation too, she bought it before we left home. We finished getting ready and headed out toward Disney. Where we are staying is about four miles from the entrance to Disney so we were there well before they opened. We found out where we needed to go to get our three day pass we purchased the night before and started to wait on the first line of many. We decided to start out at Animal Kingdom since we had never seen it before. We took the Safari tour, saw a variety of animals in the wild and enjoyed many of the shows they offered. We had a wonderful time and though we were tired we were still able to stand on our feet and walk back to the tram which would take us to our car. We had a great time, the lines weren't very long, the attractions were wonderful and though tired as i said, we weren't hurting as much as we thought from all the walking.
After returning to the condo, we prepared some grapes and cheese and crackers and returned to the patio and talked about our day and what we wanted to do tomorrow. We decided we would go to Epcot since that has a lot of the things we enjoy. Kim reheated some food we had in the fridge for dinner and after a nice shower i decided to sit and blog my vacation thoughts to this point while Kim goes and takes her shower. So far this is right up there with cruising. Stay tuned for further updates.

















Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Today is the second day of my little mini vacation. Not really a vacation but a few days to do some work around the house, not be at regular work and also practice retirement. Yesterday I got up at 0500 as usual, had morning devotions and breakfast with my lovely wife and after she went off to work i proceeded to work around the house. I started by thoroughly removing everything from the walls on the screened porch and then washing the walls with a solution of TSP and rinsing everything with a hose. While that dried I set everything up to wash and rinse the front of the house. Another wet and messy job, but one that I knew would make Kim happy and it did. I am hoping to wash more of the house today.

After completing that task i went to the porch to see if it had dried from its earlier washing. I took off the end of September thinking there would be cooler temperatures for working outside. Wrong again! By this time it was mid morning and already around 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity and although the porch was dry I was soaking wet. Regardless, it was time to press on and get the job finished. Now painting is one of my favorite home projects, can you say facetious, so with a bounce in my step i gathered up the paint, brushes and all things paint related to begin the task at hand. After getting about half way through the screened portion of the porch i decided it was time to have some lunch since it was a little after noon and i was running out of energy.

After a short lunch break and a quick call to Kim, although she dissed me again, i returned to the work at hand. I was beginning to feel like the karate kid painting for Mr. Miyagi. The difference is that when your a young boy you build muscles, but i was starting to feel muscles and parts of my body i didn't realize i still had. Which is one of the reasons i am sitting here at the computer instead of outside starting another project. But at least i am getting a clean white porch. Anyway, i continued on with the painting though getting to the bottom areas and back up again was becoming more difficult. Finally i reached the last brush stroke, stood back and realized that after cleaning up and putting everything back in place i would be finished. I cleaned the paint brush, cleaned and reinstalled the lattice, vacuumed the floor and decided i would put everything else away tomorrow. By this time Kim arrived home from work and i decided, actually my body screamed, that is enough for today.

Well that was my first day of vacation and after a shower, dinner and conversation with my wife I sat in my recliner and watched some TV while Kim went out to her rehearsal. The plan was to work a little, set a little, work a little more and sort of act like i had plenty of time to complete my projects, kind of like being retired. As Kim said when she got home, "I didn't think you would be able to do that" when she saw i had completed the whole project. I am going to work harder at that today, though since i am not moving as quickly today i may not have much choice. I guess it is time to start the work a little part of my day and be sure to include some set a little part later. I think i can do it with a little practice. Time to start.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

It is Saturday afternoon and Kim and I just returned home after attending a parenting conference with Paul Tripp, a well known author and speaker, at our church. The conference was two hours last night and three hours this morning. Our church had been advertising this conference in the community for months and very honestly i was not planning to attend. Kim was signed up to go and she wanted me to go with her but because I don't like going anywhere I kept putting it off. Kim was wonderful and didn't nag me and just last week I decided I was going to attend but my motive honestly was to please her, which is not a bad thing but God used it in my life. When I told Kim I was going to attend she didn't ask me why or say "that's alright I know you don't really want to go", or something like that; she just got up went to her computer and with great joy signed me up. Does this woman know me or what!

Well Friday was another difficult tiring day and when I got home the last thing I wanted to do was go to a parenting conference. Let's face it, my children are over forty years old and all the parenting conferences in the world aren't going to undo the parenting mistakes I made during their informative years. My grandchildren, ranging in age from twenties to early teens are even past the informative years and beside that, no one really asks for my opinions because they don't really want to hear what Godly wisdom I have acquired over the years. My great grandchildren are young enough to start being taught Godly parenting but their parents, my grandchildren, have to believe in those Godly principles. Therefore I thought, why should I disrupt my quiet Friday evening and go to a parenting conference? Read on.

I decided to go because I said I would and that is the right thing to do and I believe it was God's prompting. I am so thankful that I followed His prompting. I could write about my parenting failures, but I have already confessed that to my children and God. My girls are great adults and we have a wonderful relationship and both have professed Jesus as their Savior but they are lacking the Godly fatherly input they should have gotten from me during their early years. What I learned this weekend was not necessarily new to me but it was a reminder of how important the job of parenting really is. We invited our daughter and two grandchildren who are parents of young ones to come to the conference but they did not attend. They missed out on a huge blessing.

One of my biggest disappointments is not seeing my children or grandchildren show any desire for the things of God. Instead they think the worlds ways are the right ways or at least OK ways. One of the things we were reminded of by Dr. Tripp, again nothing new but a great reminder, is that the world is upside down. We are moving farther and farther away from God's wonderful plan for us. The world says sex at almost anytime with anyone is fine. God says it is a gift reserved for marriage. The world says you need to do face lifts, tummy tucks and breast enhancements to be beautiful. God says it is your character that makes you beautiful. The world says you have to strive to get all the world has to offer and then you will be happy. God says happiness truly comes from knowing Him. I am not writing this to preach God's ways, although it is true, but to confess that these are some of the things I did not build into my childrens lives when they were young. They know that this is my stand now on these issues but they just think mom and dad are a couple of prudes. All I can do now is go forward and for anyone who wants to know I will tell them these principles.

Am I bummed out about this? No, I am just saddened when I see parents of young children following the same path I did and not using God's guidelines for raising their children. You have to start building into your children's lives from the moment they are born. One of the things Paul Tripp told us is that we are not try to make our children into clones of ourselves because we are also broken. We need to recognize that a lot of what our children do is just a reflection of what we do. We need to stop looking to retain our comfort and look to building Godly character into our children at a very early age. If we use the worlds standards as a guideline for building character into our children then our standards are based on a moving target. Just look at how things have changed in just the last 40 to 50 years. On the other hand, God's standards never change. Personally I am not real good with a moving target.

I know this is not one of my normal kind of newsy sometime funny blogs but I was so impressed with this conference and how God prompted me to go and put everything in place I just had to write it down. For the couple of people who might read this I pray you will take heart and think about some of these things in your own life. Please don't wait until it is to late and then only have regrets as I do. It is never to late to start following God's principles but the sooner we start the better the impact on our lives. I can say from personal experience that when I focus on God there is a peace in my life. The problems don't go away but God helps me through the problems. I admit I fail at this many times, trying to do it on my own and I usually wind up miserable and even depressed. God used this conference as a tool to help me build that relationship with Him. I am truly glad that I went.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Well, it is my birthday again and in just one day i became one year older. I wasn't sure what i wanted to do for my birthday since i don't see birthdays as more than just another day. For the most part i decided to just do nothing so here i am at nearly 5 PM deciding that i wanted to write on my blog. Actually i decided that a half hour ago but i wanted to write while sitting on the screened in porch and write on my laptop. Of course since it has been a while since i have done any writing i couldn't remember how to log in on a machine that didn't have the log in memorized as my PC does. Of course my PC was shut down and gave me some grief about waking up, sort of like i do on weekday mornings. Finally i got the information i needed from the PC and was able to log in on my laptop and here i am typeing as fast as my fingers will let me go, which isn't very fast. One of the things that helped me determine that i actually did want to write about my day was seeing that my lovely daughter Michele and a friend, Debbie from Delaware commented on my last post.
So what does a 64 year old man do on his birthday? Well, most of them probably do something exciting but as for me i am not the exciting type. Although it is Saturday night and i am home alone with a very lovely woman, but i digress. My day started off by waking at 0500 and me refusing to swing my feet over the edge of the bed. After awhile of turning from one side to the other i looked at the clock and realized i must have fallen back to sleep since it was now about 0630. After some more turning from side to side i realized there was no more sleep in store for me this day so this time i did swing my feet over the edge of the bed. I love Saturday mornings as i usually start the coffee pot and sit for awhile by myself sipping coffee and reading the paper; not very exciting but enjoyable to me none the less. After awhile Kim and the Fozz decided to get up. By this time it was only around 0715 and i called Brian to make arrangements to go to Fort Walton to pick up a car with a bad alternator that needed to be repaired. That is another story in itself so i will move on. After getting the car to Brian's house i went home to where my lovely wife had waffles ready for breakfast. We still weren't sure what we wanted to do today so i decided that i had a lot of work to do at my desk, and though not very exciting it was work that had been neglected for far to long. It was time to pay the piper. So i retreated to the mancave and Kim proceeded to clean the house and do some ironing. What excitement!
It was getting near lunch time and as you find out with older people, meals are the high time of our days. Kim made sandwiches and we went to the porch to enjoy some food and time together. After lunch i thought about all the things i could do and decided to play on the laptop while sitting on the porch. Before to long it will be to hot to sit out here during the day so i decided that since it was my birthday and normally i would be out working around the yard, i would just enjoy a beautiful day outside doing nothing. I grabbed my Nook and sat on the swing and did some reading. I love my Nook but that is fodder for another Riting.
As i sit here writing, my lovely wife is inside preparing dinner. I am looking forward to having dinner together and enjoying a movie and well, whatever. I had my oncology check up Thursday and although the numbers are climbing i am truly blessed and probably won't need treatment for at least a little while. Also i have been doing a countdown to retirement and today is kind of a momentous day since the countdown will now be in days instead of years. 365 days and counting; of course that is if that is in the Lord's plan. I don't want to be presumptious but i will continue the countdown never the less. Like i said in the begining, not very exciting but i have enjoyed my 64th birthday very much. Tomorrow i look forward to being with our church family and then with our home group and maybe even a short ride on the Roadie in the afternoon. I am looking forward to having our good friends visit in late June and my lovely daughter and grandchildren visit in July. I am very blessed and God is awesome!!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Well, what can I say except that it has been almost a year since I last posted on this blog and I don't even know why. How do I summarize the last year into a single post? I do know that I need to update my profile. I am still a 60++ year old but along with my age, my great grandchildren have increased. I now have three great grandchildren, two wonderful boys and one little princess. I don't even know where to begin to summarize the last year and won't even try since it actually took awhile to remember how to get on to this blog. Since there is actually only one person who reads this blog, my favorite niece, this is really only going to be a bit of rambling riting. I still need to do the finishing touches on the floor that was on the last blog along with many other things I need to finish but time seems to fly by much to quickly. This session was a very spur of the moment idea so I need to think a little more about what I need to write about. I took a few days off from work the past couple of weeks and I really enjoyed it. I have to admit that I am looking forward to the possibility of retiring. Being off from work and being able to spend time doing other things around the house and working on the Easter program at our church was wonderful.
I am still working and still getting old and it is getting near my bedtime so I will have to end this very short post and hopefully come up with something worth writing in the near future. I am going to take Fozzy out for his walk, do a little reading and go to bed. Till I can figure out something worth writing, hope and pray ya'll are doing well.