The Grandgirls – Trick or Treating 2010

Halloween was on a Sunday this year and all 4 grandgirls got dressed up to go Trick or Treating or Trunk or Treating..Our youngest granddaughter, Anna, was dressed up for the Renaissance Period of time…Somehow, I don’t think the shoes would qualify but that’s okay cause our little princess looks awesome…Her mommy and daddy picked out a great costume for her to wear…Anna was able to go to the daddy’s hospital to Trick or Treat…then she got to “ride around” for Trick or Treating…What a doll!

After all was said and done and riding around getting all the candy that she could grab, she passed out…All that riding around just wore her out…LOL…

Kay, Bri & Lizzi went trunk or treating and trick or treating…According to their mommy, they got “loads” of candy…Kay got to be the devil, Bri was a diva and Lizzi was a princess….

They got to trunk or treat at Kay’s school and at their great aunt’s church on Halloween day…Then that night they got to go trick or treating around their aunt’s neighborhood..What a great time they had…

 

Unlike their cousin, Anna, these 3 girls didn’t pass out after going trick or treating…They had a 2 hour ride home and they were still awake when they got home…All they wanted was “CANDY”..Go figure!!!  LOL

We hope all our girls had a fabulous time and they all looked adorable and pretty…I can’t wait to see what they will be next year…

Vinylmations – The New Craze for Disney

The new craze for Disney guests are these plastic Mickey figurines that comes in many different designs…They are small, big, keychains, & trading pins…I am a little bit hooked on the trading pins but it depends on what the vinylmation pin looks like…They have plain white vinylmations that you can decorate yourself with stickers or use, I’m guessing, some sort of marker…A new store opened up on the West Side of Downtown Disney in April, 2010…Our walk to our truck from the boat dock took us past this store so we just had to walk in and see what it was all about…The first person we encounter is a Cast Member with a lanyard full of vinylmation pins…I went to trade for 2 of them (and Richard wanted to trade for 1 of the pins) and the Cast Member told us that we had to trade a vinylmation pin for a vinylmation pin…I did not have any of those pins with me cause the ones I have at home are the ones that I liked…I saw a 2010 Happy New Year’s pin that I liked and couldn’t get it…So sad…but we walked around the store and got some photos of what was there…

These are the little ones that you can hook on to your purse, zipper pull or put anywhere you want..These are only a few…

These are your normal sized vinylmations…This is The Muppet series vinylmations…These are about 2 1/2” high and cost about $10 each…

These are the Holiday series collection…

This is part of another type of series…There are several series to choose from…One of the series is the Urban Series and the Clear Series…There are Urban 1 Series, Urban 2 Series and so on…So much to choose from and many to like and want…Pictures help out a lot…LOL

These are the larger vinylmations…They are about 8 inches tall or so…They come in plain white or already decorated…The thing about the vinylmations is that they are in boxes and  you do not know what vinylmation you will be getting…You may like a certain vinylmation but that don’t mean that you will get the one that you like…It’s a big surprise…Not sure if I like that or not especially if I just want a certain one and the larger vinylmations are about $20 each…For that kind of money, I want what I want…

This was different…Not sure if you can actually put any condiments in these but I wouldn’t want to…

In the store there is this large glass case of vinylmations…This is just a “few” of them…Some of these vinylmations I have as a trading pin like the vinylmation, 3rd row from the bottom, 2nd one from the left between the white/purple vinylmation and the lime green vinylmation…

All of these are very interesting and could be an expensive hobby…but I will stick to pictures and trading pins…The one trading pin or vinylmation that Richard would like to have is the Monorail vinylmation..I hope to find it one day for him…

A Relaxing Walk Around Saratoga Springs Resort

Yesterday was a gorgeous day so we thought we would do a little bit of exploring and see what Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa  (SSR&S) was like…So we headed out to Downtown Disney to park the truck and take a small walk (hike) around the path from Downtown Disney to SSR&S…On the West Side of Downtown Disney is the House of Blues…Do you know that they want about $14 for a Cheesburger…We won’t be eating there…LOL

At first we thought we would take the boat from the West Side of Downtown Disney to the SSR&S boat dock and then get on the boat that would take us to SSR&S…However, after waiting about 10 minutes for the boat, we decided to walk the path…But while waiting, we saw an Anhinga just sitting in the sun…We thought he had a fish in his beak but when you look closer, what he actually has attached to his lower beak is a piece of netting…We figure that he went for a fish and caught a piece of the netting that is under the rocks/lake here at Downtown Disney…

After the walk (hike) to SSR&S, we found our way in via the gift shop/food shop…This wasn’t a very big shop..Only a few food vendors for the guests to grab a bite to eat and a very small shop…What I didn’t realize was the name of the Resort had to do with horse racing…I just never put 2 + 2 together until I saw this patch on a purse…

While walking around the shop, I came across this bottle of wine…Francis Coppola…Now is this the Francis Ford Coppola, the famous director of movies or another relation…I do know that this name is a relation to Nicholas Cage whose last name use to be Coppola…

Another bottle of wine that I found in the shop was a Fess Parker chardonnay…Anyone hear of Fess Parker…aka  Daniel Boone…

I told Richard about the Fess Parker wine and he just had to get his picture taken with the bottle of Chardonnay…

At the Carriage House Check-in is a beautiful carriage from way back when…Someday it would be nice to take a carriage ride…Just sit back and relax…Maybe on a “chilly” day, snuggled up to my sweetie, hearing the clip-clop of the horses hooves…but at SSR&S they do not have carriage rides…One has to go to Port Orleans – Riverside or Fort Wilderness Campground..

This is a beautiful Carousel horse..The inside of the Carriage House is beautiful…They have little chairs for little guests while they enjoy tv while the parents check-in…The pictures around the Carriage House are “old” and tells you about reminiscing times…

SSR&S is a beautiful place…The landscaped grounds is kept well groomed…There are several “lakes” where you can see some wildlife floating around trying to get some lunch…The pretty pink fluff in more pretty in person than what this picture looks…

SSR&S is a huge resort on Disney property…We hardly touched a portion of the resort by walking…There are buildings all over the place and treehouses which we didn’t even get on the path to those but one day we will…In this lake above, we saw turtles, fish & a cormorant who actually got some lunch while we were taking photos…The cormorant found some small minnowes to have for his lunch…The turtles, 4 in all, were swimming over towards the bridge where we were standing to see if we would drop some food down to them but we didn’t have anything…Not even some cracker crumbs…Maybe next time..

Richard and I were walking around the loop of this section of SSR&S and the landscaping was beautiful…The trellises here were awesome but it made me think how more beautiful they would be if pretty flowers were on them… 

Isn’t this gorgeous??? 

Anyone for a little “me” time?  Here is the place to come…

This is where the kids can go for some entertainment while the parents are resting at the pool…

Believe it or not, this is where the food court/gift shop is…This is where a guest can buy a refillable cup for about $14 for their whole stay at the resort and not pay another penny for a drink like soda, hot chocolate & coffee…If one is staying a whole week, it most definitely pays to have this cup..Going back out of this shop ended our day at this resort…On to our boat ride to Downtown Disney and heading towards our truck…What a great afternoon I had…Of course, it is always great to share these days with my sweetie…Love you, babe!

Being a Proud Grandparent

I remember when my kids were small and going to school…All the cool papers they would do, draw, create and want you to hang up at home…All the kids are grown and now have kids of their own…Right now the only child of mine who has a child in Elementary School is Brandi…Her daughter, Kay, is in 1st grade and for a while she was having some distracted interests in her classroom…With a new incentive program from home, Kay is doing wonderfully in school…Below is a very special award and her Poppy and I are very proud of her..

Another proud moment in our granddaughter’s life is when she looses a tooth….However, Kay lost 2 teeth within the same week…So what does she want for Christmas…Why, her 2 front teeth…When grandchildren start losing their baby teeth, you know they are growing up…I can’t believe that Kay is in 1st grade and doing so well…

Last night was a very special moment for Poppy and me…Kay read us a book over the phone…We felt so special…She did such a fantastic job…She read us the book about the monkeys jumping on the bed and one fell off and bumped his head…Poppy and I can’t wait until she can read us another book…Thank goodness for cell phones and ear pieces…

A Fabulous Day at Universal Studios, FL 10.7.10

This day was such an awesome day for us…A few weeks ago, plans were set up with my brother, Nick (Phil) and his life partner, Michael, to get together for 1 day…They were going to West Palm Beach (WPB) for a week and during that week, they wanted to come up to where we were going to be and spend the day with us…What they wanted to do was go in to Universal Studios cause Nick wanted to see the new Harry Potter section at Islands of Adventure…Sure, let’s meet..Sounds like fun…

The night before, tho, Richard checked the prices for Universal Studios (US) and the prices were way too high for us to afford but we decided that we would walk the City Walk while they went to do their thing at Islands of Adventure…Well, the morning of 10.7, an email is sent to me and we are going in, courtesy of my brother…We meet them at Downtown Disney so we can all ride together and head to get some sort of breakfast…McD’s it is…It’s fast and easy…Then off to US for the day or until we are all done or until Nick says that they would like to leave about 4pm…OK, sounds good to me…

 

A parking spot is close to the walkway to the escalators that lead to the big City Walk…Nick gets all 4 tickets and off we go…All are excited (I think)..lol…We enter the walls of Islands of Adventure and we are off to the Harry Potter section…We  had to go around Suess Landing, The Lost Continent to get to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter…The gate to the city was awesome…

Here we go…The first thing was the Dragons Challenge…The walk was longer than the ride and screaming was definitely there…OMG, I thought I was never going to stop screaming…Twists, Turns, Flips, Loop and Intertwine with each other..I could not wait for it to be over…It was an experience I think I will never forget but I DID IT!!!  Richard and I were done for the day…So out of it…Nick and Michael seemed not phased by the ride…They were ready to drudge on…So Richard and I rested while they went to their next destination, Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey (which was in the castle)…It was a 2 hour wait line…I would have loved to just have seen the inside of the castle…

Richard and I had walked around to the Jurassic Park section and waited for them to be done…A slow, picture taking walk…Once to the Jurassic Park section, we went in to the Discovery Building and grabbed a seat…Richard went to get us a coke while we waited for a phone call…Nick and Michael conquered the 3D ride in the castle and Nick said it scared the bleep out of him…Glad we didn’t do it…LOL…Michael said it was different and scary…Off to the Jurassic Park River Adventure…It’s kinda like a plume ride but with bigger boats…

That’s our boat, JP16…We had the back seat and we were ready for our Dinosaur Adventure and getting wet…Luckily we didn’t get too wet like some others prior to our boat were looking…I think we were lucky…lol

After Jurassic Park, we started to walk towards Toon Lagoon & Marvel Super Hero Island…Nothing in Toon Lagoon and definitely nothing in Super Hero Island for Richard and I…Nick and Michael got on the Doctor’s Doom Fearfall ride…Nick said it wasn’t nothing…

Where are they???  I know Nick and Michael are up there somewhere…Here we go…D R O P!  Scream!!!!  Not for me…

Now I did find two things in Toon Lagoon section at a little store…2 signs -  One for Michael and One for Richard…

and a look-a-like for Bruce Willis…lol…

or not…LOL

The time was nearing for us to end out of the Islands of Adventure…Time for a quick drink at – where else – none other than Margaritaville…

Yes, we all had an alcoholic drink of some kind…Richard had a pina colada, I had my Coors light, Michael had wine and Nick had a salty margarita…Yummy!!  Tasted so good…Thanks to the bartender for taking our photo…It turned out great…Now off to Disney’s Animal Kingdom to the BOMA restaurant for our dinner…

I do want to say Thank You Very Much to my brother, Nick, for treating us all day today..Yes, we would have waited for Michael & you to do your thing at Islands of Adventure…It was such a pleasure to spend the day with you both…I’m glad we had the opportunity to do so…Thanks for your generosity…