Sunday, February 24, 2008
Florida: Escape from the cold
Florida: Escape from the cold 2-23-08
Bob and I decided we just couldn’t take the cold anymore. In a desperate attempt to escape, we decided to go to Florida for a week to celebrate our 15th Anniversary (just a little bit early). Corey and Hal were kind enough to come watch the kids so we could go without them. The following is a detailed account of our adventures:
Day 1: We left in 6 degrees. A massive snowstorm hit the night before which dropped several feet of snow! As our plane tried to taxi out, we slid on the ice. Hmm, never done that before! We landed in beautiful, green, Orlando! We walked out to 83 degrees and there is nothing like the smell of fresh falling rain. When we were at Alamo getting our convertible for the week, the guy helping us said we could walk over to the convertible section and choose any one we wanted. Any convertible?? Wow! This was starting out to be a great trip. Imagine our surprise when we saw that our choice was between two identical cream colored convertible VW Beetles. Hmm...that’s quite a choice, what should we do? After deciding on one, we proceeded to the task of fitting the luggage into the car. The trunk barely had enough room for one of our big suitcases (as evidenced by the picture). The two seats in the back were not fit for any human of normal size- a pygmy midget maybe? Or someone without legs? Anyway, it was an interesting experience. We drove about 1 ½ hours through Orlando to Kissimmee. We checked into our hotel, picked up our attraction tickets, and headed out for dinner.
Day 2: We were one of the first ones to arrive at Gatorland. We spent 3 hours touring the swamp walk, seeing shows (I swear one of them was written by the same people who wrote Evil Planners), eating Dippin Dots, and enjoying the gorgeous weather. We saw a cool Gator Wrestling show and as we walked around I was able to get very close to some alligators for some cool pictures. We saw some beautiful birds nesting in the trees above the alligators: egrets, ibis, etc. As we headed to the next attraction, we tried to put the top down on our convertible, but couldn’t figure it out.
Next we headed to “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” Museum. We got some fun pictures there including a picture of the Mona Lisa made out of different shades of toast. I was also able to take my picture with a piece of the Berlin wall. Then we went to a place called “Wonder Works” (Central Florida’s only upside down attraction. An amusement park for the mind, featuring over 100 interactive exhibits for the entire family to experience). The whole building appears to be upside down; it was cool! We were able to experience a 5.3 earthquake, 75 mile an hour hurricane simulation, be inside a bubble, create a 3-D impression of our body, play a giant Simon game (we broke the days record by the way), etc. Afterwards, we stayed for the “Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner Show”. The show was very entertaining and we had a great time.
Day 3: We took a scenic drive (about 1 ½ hours) out to Clearwater Beach. We just about died when we saw our hotel room. It was horribly dirty and not even close to what they advertised. The tennis court was facing everyone’s balcony, the pool was filthy, the rooms were gross, and I won’t even tell you what we found in our tub! We cancelled our stay for the next night and decided to spend the rest of the day out of our room. Again, we tried to get the top down. I wish we could have made a video so you could see the both of us pushing, shoving and practically jumping on the car to get it down. No luck. We only moved it about a foot, so we decided to close it back up only to find it wouldn’t close!!! It took a lot of work, but we got it closed and I called the rental company. They had us drive it in and they found that the idiots before us had actually removed the button that opens it! They immediately switched us to an AWESOME PT Cruiser and I think we drove with the top down for the remainder of the vacation!! We drove all around the waterways and soaked in the sun! We drove to Pier 60 and did some shopping along the boardwalk and stores located around there. We walked down the Pier too, but couldn’t see much since the sun had set.
Day 4: Kristina’s Favorite Day!!! What a PERFECT day this was. We cruised all along the beach on Gulf Blvd soaking in the warmth and sun. I even started a small tan! We drove to Treasure Island and then walked along the white sand beach collecting shells to bring home to the kids. We didn’t go swimming, but I put my feet in and it was AWESOME!!!! Oh to be warm again and only wear a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Wow!! We saw pelicans diving for birds; a pretty cool sight! Then we went to the wharf at Madeira Beach and ate lunch at this great pizzeria. We walked along the boardwalk and did some shopping. We saw dolphins, a pirate excursion ship, various water craft rentals and some very interesting birds. We didn’t see the Manatees though.
We drove all the way back to Orlando. Driving on the freeway going 70 mph with the top of the car down is very exhilarating!! We arrived at this awesome hotel in the Disney Land area called Buena Vista Suites (thanks to Corey for the last minute booking of that- since we didn’t want to stay in the previous hotel!) It had a huge Jacuzzi in the room too! We went out to Planet Smoothie for dinner and then we watched our shows “Survivor” and “Lost”.
Day 5: We drove over to Disney’s “Pleasure Island” and went to see “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” We really enjoyed it! Then Bob was sweet enough to spend an hour driving around Orlando to find a Cheesecake Factory for me. We had a wonderful lunch where Bob got a hamburger as big as his face! We also got a slice of the Snickers Cheesecake. Yummy!! Then we drove up to Orlando Sanford to stay in a hotel close to the airport. We stayed up and watched “Terminator 2".
Day 6: We woke up early to catch our flight. It ended up being a long flight. It was very turbulent which didn’t help my stomach at all! A few minutes before we were supposed to land, they rerouted us to Peoria because there was zero visibility due to fog in Cedar Rapids. We had to sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes while they waited for the fog to clear. It was another 30 minutes flight back to Cedar Rapids. We were welcomed by a freezing temperature in the teens! The kids seemed to do well and grandma and grandpa survived! We enjoyed the evening showing our pictures, sharing details about the trip, and even got to see their science presentations they gave this week to Alayna and Tyler’s classes at school. I guess the kids only had 2 ½ days of school this week due to the snow. Guess what else? A massive storm is moving in tomorrow as well. What a welcome home. Anyway, Bob and I had an absolutely amazing and wonderful trip. We must do this again soon!!
PS. I am trying today to make a fun slide show of our pictures. I hope to have it posted to the website by this evening. All the pictures I refer to should be in that slide show. If you see it, let us know what you think about it.
Bob and I decided we just couldn’t take the cold anymore. In a desperate attempt to escape, we decided to go to Florida for a week to celebrate our 15th Anniversary (just a little bit early). Corey and Hal were kind enough to come watch the kids so we could go without them. The following is a detailed account of our adventures:
Day 1: We left in 6 degrees. A massive snowstorm hit the night before which dropped several feet of snow! As our plane tried to taxi out, we slid on the ice. Hmm, never done that before! We landed in beautiful, green, Orlando! We walked out to 83 degrees and there is nothing like the smell of fresh falling rain. When we were at Alamo getting our convertible for the week, the guy helping us said we could walk over to the convertible section and choose any one we wanted. Any convertible?? Wow! This was starting out to be a great trip. Imagine our surprise when we saw that our choice was between two identical cream colored convertible VW Beetles. Hmm...that’s quite a choice, what should we do? After deciding on one, we proceeded to the task of fitting the luggage into the car. The trunk barely had enough room for one of our big suitcases (as evidenced by the picture). The two seats in the back were not fit for any human of normal size- a pygmy midget maybe? Or someone without legs? Anyway, it was an interesting experience. We drove about 1 ½ hours through Orlando to Kissimmee. We checked into our hotel, picked up our attraction tickets, and headed out for dinner.
Day 2: We were one of the first ones to arrive at Gatorland. We spent 3 hours touring the swamp walk, seeing shows (I swear one of them was written by the same people who wrote Evil Planners), eating Dippin Dots, and enjoying the gorgeous weather. We saw a cool Gator Wrestling show and as we walked around I was able to get very close to some alligators for some cool pictures. We saw some beautiful birds nesting in the trees above the alligators: egrets, ibis, etc. As we headed to the next attraction, we tried to put the top down on our convertible, but couldn’t figure it out.
Next we headed to “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” Museum. We got some fun pictures there including a picture of the Mona Lisa made out of different shades of toast. I was also able to take my picture with a piece of the Berlin wall. Then we went to a place called “Wonder Works” (Central Florida’s only upside down attraction. An amusement park for the mind, featuring over 100 interactive exhibits for the entire family to experience). The whole building appears to be upside down; it was cool! We were able to experience a 5.3 earthquake, 75 mile an hour hurricane simulation, be inside a bubble, create a 3-D impression of our body, play a giant Simon game (we broke the days record by the way), etc. Afterwards, we stayed for the “Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner Show”. The show was very entertaining and we had a great time.
Day 3: We took a scenic drive (about 1 ½ hours) out to Clearwater Beach. We just about died when we saw our hotel room. It was horribly dirty and not even close to what they advertised. The tennis court was facing everyone’s balcony, the pool was filthy, the rooms were gross, and I won’t even tell you what we found in our tub! We cancelled our stay for the next night and decided to spend the rest of the day out of our room. Again, we tried to get the top down. I wish we could have made a video so you could see the both of us pushing, shoving and practically jumping on the car to get it down. No luck. We only moved it about a foot, so we decided to close it back up only to find it wouldn’t close!!! It took a lot of work, but we got it closed and I called the rental company. They had us drive it in and they found that the idiots before us had actually removed the button that opens it! They immediately switched us to an AWESOME PT Cruiser and I think we drove with the top down for the remainder of the vacation!! We drove all around the waterways and soaked in the sun! We drove to Pier 60 and did some shopping along the boardwalk and stores located around there. We walked down the Pier too, but couldn’t see much since the sun had set.
Day 4: Kristina’s Favorite Day!!! What a PERFECT day this was. We cruised all along the beach on Gulf Blvd soaking in the warmth and sun. I even started a small tan! We drove to Treasure Island and then walked along the white sand beach collecting shells to bring home to the kids. We didn’t go swimming, but I put my feet in and it was AWESOME!!!! Oh to be warm again and only wear a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Wow!! We saw pelicans diving for birds; a pretty cool sight! Then we went to the wharf at Madeira Beach and ate lunch at this great pizzeria. We walked along the boardwalk and did some shopping. We saw dolphins, a pirate excursion ship, various water craft rentals and some very interesting birds. We didn’t see the Manatees though.
We drove all the way back to Orlando. Driving on the freeway going 70 mph with the top of the car down is very exhilarating!! We arrived at this awesome hotel in the Disney Land area called Buena Vista Suites (thanks to Corey for the last minute booking of that- since we didn’t want to stay in the previous hotel!) It had a huge Jacuzzi in the room too! We went out to Planet Smoothie for dinner and then we watched our shows “Survivor” and “Lost”.
Day 5: We drove over to Disney’s “Pleasure Island” and went to see “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” We really enjoyed it! Then Bob was sweet enough to spend an hour driving around Orlando to find a Cheesecake Factory for me. We had a wonderful lunch where Bob got a hamburger as big as his face! We also got a slice of the Snickers Cheesecake. Yummy!! Then we drove up to Orlando Sanford to stay in a hotel close to the airport. We stayed up and watched “Terminator 2".
Day 6: We woke up early to catch our flight. It ended up being a long flight. It was very turbulent which didn’t help my stomach at all! A few minutes before we were supposed to land, they rerouted us to Peoria because there was zero visibility due to fog in Cedar Rapids. We had to sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes while they waited for the fog to clear. It was another 30 minutes flight back to Cedar Rapids. We were welcomed by a freezing temperature in the teens! The kids seemed to do well and grandma and grandpa survived! We enjoyed the evening showing our pictures, sharing details about the trip, and even got to see their science presentations they gave this week to Alayna and Tyler’s classes at school. I guess the kids only had 2 ½ days of school this week due to the snow. Guess what else? A massive storm is moving in tomorrow as well. What a welcome home. Anyway, Bob and I had an absolutely amazing and wonderful trip. We must do this again soon!!
PS. I am trying today to make a fun slide show of our pictures. I hope to have it posted to the website by this evening. All the pictures I refer to should be in that slide show. If you see it, let us know what you think about it.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
-35 degrees? Are you kiddin' me??
February 10, 2008
I am hoping you will write back and let me know the sun still exists and this isn’t turning into The Day After Tomorrow. When we went to church this morning, the wind chill was at (-35)!!! How insane is that, really?
We were thrilled “Lost” started back up! How many of you watch it and what do you think? I still LOVE that show! So intriguing!
Well, Alayna lost her very first tooth today!!! We will post a picture so you can all see the “details”. She is very excited the tooth fairy is coming. Let’s hope that old tooth fairy doesn’t forget to come.
I subbed Tyler’s class in the morning on Friday. When I walked them down to choir, the teacher asked me if I would be at the choir concert that afternoon. I said, “What choir concert?” Apparently, Tyler forgot to give me the note. The original concert had been canceled twice due to snow, so it could only be held during school. So, I rearranged my schedule so I could be there. In case you can’t find him in the picture, he is the one in a maroon striped shirt with black sweat pants that have a yellow stripe and has hair that looks like it hasn’t been combed in over a week!! The concert was cute and I videotaped it.
Marisa was accepted into the Kennedy Honors Orchestra! Only a couple from each school are accepted. I think we have found one of her passion in life! Kayla got about 4-5 inches of her hair cut off today. Check it out in the picture we post.
My laptop with the very expensive bill should be back this week. It better be since I will REALLY need it the next week!
Bob just updated our slide shows. If you click where the title of the post is, it should send you straight to the slide shows. Don’t forget you can subscribe to our website. Have a great, warm, and happy week!
I am hoping you will write back and let me know the sun still exists and this isn’t turning into The Day After Tomorrow. When we went to church this morning, the wind chill was at (-35)!!! How insane is that, really?
We were thrilled “Lost” started back up! How many of you watch it and what do you think? I still LOVE that show! So intriguing!
Well, Alayna lost her very first tooth today!!! We will post a picture so you can all see the “details”. She is very excited the tooth fairy is coming. Let’s hope that old tooth fairy doesn’t forget to come.
I subbed Tyler’s class in the morning on Friday. When I walked them down to choir, the teacher asked me if I would be at the choir concert that afternoon. I said, “What choir concert?” Apparently, Tyler forgot to give me the note. The original concert had been canceled twice due to snow, so it could only be held during school. So, I rearranged my schedule so I could be there. In case you can’t find him in the picture, he is the one in a maroon striped shirt with black sweat pants that have a yellow stripe and has hair that looks like it hasn’t been combed in over a week!! The concert was cute and I videotaped it.
Marisa was accepted into the Kennedy Honors Orchestra! Only a couple from each school are accepted. I think we have found one of her passion in life! Kayla got about 4-5 inches of her hair cut off today. Check it out in the picture we post.
My laptop with the very expensive bill should be back this week. It better be since I will REALLY need it the next week!
Bob just updated our slide shows. If you click where the title of the post is, it should send you straight to the slide shows. Don’t forget you can subscribe to our website. Have a great, warm, and happy week!
2007 Year In Pictures was just uploaded
We have just uploaded our latest in a series of Year In Pictures slide shows. Feel free to check it out and of course any of our previous ones. The link is also always available on the right side of our blog.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
February 6, 2008
February 6, 2008
Ok, seriously, I think this is one of the absolute worst winters we have ever experienced. I am beginning to doubt the existence of the sun! We had a giant snow storm slam yesterday and its still going!! We have a foot of snow already and its supposed to keep snowing until tonight. This is insane. 40 mile an hour winds have made it a disgusting blizzard! We are, of course, thrilled school was cancelled 2 days this week so far. However, that means school has now been pushed into June...not so good. Bob even came home early from work because they enacted the snow policy, which is rarely ever done. Guess we will spend some quality time here curled up by the fire. Or maybe I can attack the storage room??
Marisa had her Metro Orchestra concert on Saturday at the Paramount Theater. It was a wonderful concert!! We got to sit up in the balcony section and it was so cool. At one point, the high school students came out and started warming up for their performance. Alayna stopped coloring, looked up, and said, “Mom, that group is HORRIBLE”. I just died laughing. I guess when they all warm up (and tune) individually it doesn’t quite sound like a beautiful song.
Hooray for me!! I finished up my adolescent Psychology class and completed my online application (which took several hours). I got special permission to take the grammar class from UNI. My books arrive on Friday and I will push full time to complete the class ASAP. Then I don’t ever want to take another class again!
I would love to report about the New Beginnings, the Activity Days recognition night, scouts, and Tyler’s choir concert, but they have all been cancelled the past two weeks. Hopefully, I will have more to report when they are rescheduled (several of them have already been rescheduled several times!!)
Adventures in subbing a 4th grade class: So, I got to sub Tyler’s class last Friday. It was an interesting experience, if I can call it that. I see now why I am busting my tail to teach middle school! Anyway, at one point, some boys were arguing over how many kids can be at centers. When I asked what was going on, one of the boys started to cry. Really?? Is that worth crying over when there is another basket of tiles on the other side of the room?? The cherry on top was when I found a group of kids being extra quiet (for those of you who don’t know, that is never a good sign) I came over to their desks and found them making a “Kleenex apartment”. They had made their erasers into tiny little people, had cut out beds and lounge chairs for them, and had them all set around the pool (i.e. the hole in the kleenex box) I gave them points for creativity and promptly confiscated it!!
The most devastating thing that has happened to me was that my laptop died!!!! It is awful. I feel so lost without it since my ENTIRE life is on it!! They can’t even look at it until the end of this week. It figures it would break down now...our warranty just expired. Anyway, if you hear less from me, its because I have to fight the kids for time on the computer (no easy task)
Hope everyone is having a happy and WARM week. Think of us as you bask in the sun!
Ok, seriously, I think this is one of the absolute worst winters we have ever experienced. I am beginning to doubt the existence of the sun! We had a giant snow storm slam yesterday and its still going!! We have a foot of snow already and its supposed to keep snowing until tonight. This is insane. 40 mile an hour winds have made it a disgusting blizzard! We are, of course, thrilled school was cancelled 2 days this week so far. However, that means school has now been pushed into June...not so good. Bob even came home early from work because they enacted the snow policy, which is rarely ever done. Guess we will spend some quality time here curled up by the fire. Or maybe I can attack the storage room??
Marisa had her Metro Orchestra concert on Saturday at the Paramount Theater. It was a wonderful concert!! We got to sit up in the balcony section and it was so cool. At one point, the high school students came out and started warming up for their performance. Alayna stopped coloring, looked up, and said, “Mom, that group is HORRIBLE”. I just died laughing. I guess when they all warm up (and tune) individually it doesn’t quite sound like a beautiful song.
Hooray for me!! I finished up my adolescent Psychology class and completed my online application (which took several hours). I got special permission to take the grammar class from UNI. My books arrive on Friday and I will push full time to complete the class ASAP. Then I don’t ever want to take another class again!
I would love to report about the New Beginnings, the Activity Days recognition night, scouts, and Tyler’s choir concert, but they have all been cancelled the past two weeks. Hopefully, I will have more to report when they are rescheduled (several of them have already been rescheduled several times!!)
Adventures in subbing a 4th grade class: So, I got to sub Tyler’s class last Friday. It was an interesting experience, if I can call it that. I see now why I am busting my tail to teach middle school! Anyway, at one point, some boys were arguing over how many kids can be at centers. When I asked what was going on, one of the boys started to cry. Really?? Is that worth crying over when there is another basket of tiles on the other side of the room?? The cherry on top was when I found a group of kids being extra quiet (for those of you who don’t know, that is never a good sign) I came over to their desks and found them making a “Kleenex apartment”. They had made their erasers into tiny little people, had cut out beds and lounge chairs for them, and had them all set around the pool (i.e. the hole in the kleenex box) I gave them points for creativity and promptly confiscated it!!
The most devastating thing that has happened to me was that my laptop died!!!! It is awful. I feel so lost without it since my ENTIRE life is on it!! They can’t even look at it until the end of this week. It figures it would break down now...our warranty just expired. Anyway, if you hear less from me, its because I have to fight the kids for time on the computer (no easy task)
Hope everyone is having a happy and WARM week. Think of us as you bask in the sun!
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