Friday, September 18, 2015

Heat and Feet 2015: My Disney Trip

My Disney trip has officially been dubbed Heat and Feet 2015. Pretty obvious why! The heat was rough. And the feet? Well, blisters abounded! Not to mention how they hurt due to all the walking.
Other than the heat and the feet, it was an ABSOLUTELY fantastic trip!
There were a few highlights to the trip. We met some incredible people. From young teens to newlyweds to well established couples. Not to mentions some great Cast Members. Shout out to Travis and Edwin and Jose!!
The best part of the trip was riding in the front row of Rock N Roller Coaster, discovering that the guns really make shooting noises at the fort on Tom Sawyer's Island, and being terrified, for some reason, on the Dinosaur ride.

Rock N Roller Coaster: I had read somewhere that you could ask to ride in the front row. We did. I had NO IDEA that there was a separate queue for that. The most awesome ride experience EVER! If you have never ridden in the front DO IT.

Tom Sawyer's Island: When my sister and I were younger we played cowboys A LOT. We always tried to build forts with my cousins. And  imagined our backyard/cul-de-sac as a fort. Well, Walt got it right on TSI. It was perfect. The rifles up in the little turrets/parapets really made the shooting sound. When we pulled the trigger we both gasped and danced around the little room. It was like we were transported back to being kids. It was amazing. There is even a mine shaft at one end of the island that we were able to walk through with no one else around. Again, transported back to being kids.

Dinosaur ride: There were maybe 5 of us total on the ride when, I think, it can seat about 16. My sister and I were in the very back row. Very exposed feeling. I'm guessing that is why we were terrified. We screamed and laughed and screamed some more. SO MUCH FUN!

My sister made some Mickey hands to wave during the parade. Being the people that we are, the wavers became props. Of course we had to have them in just about every picture we took. You know, pointing things out, on the hand rails etc. Again, SO MUCH FUN. I'm sure some people will be talking about those two dorky women with the Mickey hands for a long time!!!

So with out further ado I'll start with pictures of our hotel-Pop Century and our walk over to Art of Animation























Pop Century was a great hotel. Standard as far as hotels go. The Disney kitsch was great. I do prefer All Star Movies kitsch better though. Buzz and Woody are the best!
Next time I might try a stay at Art of Animation. 

Friday, September 4, 2015

Disney Countdown

And so it begins. The Disney countdown. Ok, I just lied to you. I've been counting down since day 60.
Only 4 days to go. Only 2 if you are counting when I leave for my sisters. 
I have been busy. And tired. I don't know if I'm a normal tired because I've been on the go or extra tired because of being sick. Though I really don't feel sick. I'm still feeling congested in the chest but still no other symptoms. I have been faithfully taking my anti-biotics.

Now here is my itinerary for the upcoming 10 days.

9/5 Sat. : Finish washing clothes/packing. Clean up the house. Get lunch stuff ready for the ice chest. Go to  evening Confession/Mass. Yea, gotta get the soul in good order before a road trip :)

9/6 Sun. : Get up and GO. I don't have a set time to wake up but I'm sure I'll be up between 4 and 5 am. As soon as I have the van packed I'm hitting the road. Of course, I will say all my good-byes and get my hugs and kisses. I will be snacking in the car because my Mom will have a great lunch waiting for me when I get there. Roast beef, gravy, mashed potatoes, broccoli with cheese. My all time favorite meal my Mom makes!!!! It should take  7- 8 hrs to get to the Baton Rouge area. Head to the store with my sister and get any last minute things we might need.

9/7 Mon. : Happy Labor Day! Get up bright and early and GO. We will be driving to Ocala, Fla. Shouldn't be too bad. Ocala is about 1 1/2 hrs from Orlando and it should take about 10 hrs. Easy, Peasy with 2 drivers!

9/8 Tues. : Check In at Pop Century. WOO HOO. We'll wander around a bit and take some pictures then head on over to Epcot! Supper at the Coral Reef restaurant!

9/9 Wed. : Hollywood Studios day! Lunch at Sci-Fi Diner! Ride Rock N Roller Coaster multiple times in-between riding Tower of Terror multiple times!!!

9/10 Thurs. : Magic Kingdom day. We will hit rope drop at Early Magic Hours. Park opens at 8am so we need to be there at least by 7:30. Not a problem!!! We plan on staying ALL day. Boy, I sure hope I can keep up!! Lunch at Be Our Guest.

9/11 Fri. : Moment of silence. Animal kingdom day. Just gonna take it easy and see what we can see.  No particular place to eat this day. Just gonna wing it.
 
(We have park hopper tickets so when we are finished with one park we can "hop" to another.)

9/12 Sat. : Hit the road back to Louisiana. Driving straight through. Again easy, peasy with 2 drivers.

9/13 Sun. : Mass and take it easy at my sisters! Restock my ice chest for the drive home.

9/14 Mon. : Get up bright and early and hit the road. Make it safely back home to the loving arms of my family :)
 
9/15 Tues. : Throwing this extra day in there.....DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. 
 
I am going to be SO tired. But SO happy.
 


 Just one of my bags full of stuff to take.


 Just a few of the shirts I will be wearing. I have a Mickey/Minnie shirt to wear every day of my trip. Yes, I'm a bit of a goober.


 My little bag of "mouse"keeping tips, and "would you rather" game cards, tape etc.


 Water bottles I did up with duct tape. 


 A little goodie basket for my sister. A crochet "Minnie" ear warmer and little mister bottle, a Mickey key chain and gift card and the Gold Mine bubble gum. We used to get these all the time. And I thought it would do nicely with the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train ride.


 And my best friend. Pooh. I think I might take him with me. He needs to be on Disney property at least once in his life. You can tell that he has been a much loved best friend!! I got him when I was just a wee little lass of 1.

Now these sad things.
 Hmm, they don't look too bad here.

but...

Then we get to here. They didn't quite turn out how I wanted. Isn't that always the case? At least with me :) 
I really wanted to do some nice Mickey rice crispy treats. I think I need to make them a bit thicker and they will work better. The little ears tended to sag a bit. And the chocolate wasn't thin enough. I know, excuses, excuses. 

I really am SO excited about my trip. I'm really looking forward to spending the time with my sister. You know, I don't think we have ever spent time alone together. Ever. Not on a trip anyway. Kids, husbands, parents were always around. It should be interesting!!!!


Tuesday, September 1, 2015

My Adventure



Yessiree~I had an adventure. I got to take a lovely trip to the ER. To make a long-ish story short...I was having a bit of trouble breathing. Just a bit of shortness of breath. It felt like I had a chest cold without any other symptoms of a chest cold. I piddled around and didn't do anything, then I went to a walk-in clinic--who just gave me some prednisone, then on Saturday I just wasn't feeling like I was catching my breath. By Saturday night I had decided that I really wasn't comfortable trying to sleep with troubled breathing. Especially since my husband was still 4 hrs away at work. The girls handled it very well. They came with me and stayed the whole night.
Boy, hospitals certainly take breathing issues seriously!! Wham, bam, thank you mam and I was up in ICU.
So lots of blood was drawn and lots of blood pressures were taken. Every hour that darn cuff went off. Just as I would be falling asleep--buzz, whir, constriction!

Do you see the two, yes two IV ports? Had to have the second one for the stuff they pumped into me for the cat scan. The other one was too small. They didn't want to blow my vein. My veins. My horrible, little veins. They never could find them. I don't know how many people it took to find them. They even brought out this funky, virtual reality looking visor to try to find them. Not a pleasant experience. I believe that I will loose weight just so my veins can be found next time :)

I was in the ICU from Saturday night until about 1:30 Monday afternoon. It wasn't a horrible experience but it wasn't pleasant either. The nurses were all great though. The food, not so great.
Turns out that it is basically bronchitis. Well, that's what I'm calling it because that's what they are treating me for. 

Now the thing that I was really worried about wasn't my heart or other health concerns, it was----would I be out of the hospital and better in time for me to leave for Disney next Sunday!!!!!!!!
Come hell or high water, I WILL be leaving for Disney! Not gonna stop me!

So I have lots to do these next few days before I head to my sisters. Lots of shopping and packing. My husband isn't too keen on me still going but the Friday after he got out of the hospital for clots in his lungs he went out of town for a football game. I think I got this :)