Thursday, January 9, 2020
Thursday: pretty normal
It was a pretty normal day. Joshua was rather talkative when I picked him up and so I got a lot out of him. It was a bit of a change from when I left him...he gave his homework to his teacher who commented that they needed to work on his s's. (He turns his 90 deg.) While she said it as just a passing comment, he took it a bit harder than expected. He held himself together, and was fine a minute later, but there was a moment I when I didn't know how it was going to play out.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Wednesday: plans
I had plans for today. They involved cleaning the storage room. To clean the storage room I had to take down all the Christmas decorations. To take down the Christmas decorations I had to...no, it wasn't quite that bad. But while looking at my to-do list I did realize that there were several other things that I also needed to do.
Now, to be fair, I did accomplish several things today. I cleaned the kitchen. I did take down the Christmas decorations and put them in the storage room neatly. The laundry progressed. I did a few other small tasks. But the cold really made me not care about much today. I took a nap in the morning and laid down again for a short while in the afternoon. I finally remembered to take some DayQuil and that did seem to help quite a bit.
Oh well, maybe next Wednesday will be better. One can hope.
Now, to be fair, I did accomplish several things today. I cleaned the kitchen. I did take down the Christmas decorations and put them in the storage room neatly. The laundry progressed. I did a few other small tasks. But the cold really made me not care about much today. I took a nap in the morning and laid down again for a short while in the afternoon. I finally remembered to take some DayQuil and that did seem to help quite a bit.
Oh well, maybe next Wednesday will be better. One can hope.
Last Thursday: coming home
As the other days, we started with a delicious breakfast. We came back to the hotel and walked around just a little bit.
Then it was time to go home. :( Everything was on time though. I was a bit anxious to get home, but it was also nice to read my book and relax (as much as one can relax while traveling).
Then it was time to go home. :( Everything was on time though. I was a bit anxious to get home, but it was also nice to read my book and relax (as much as one can relax while traveling).
Last Wednesday: Epcot
The first thing we did today was have a massage. Life is rough at Disney. Then we went to breakfast and I had a delicious lobster Benedict.
We made our way to Epcot. We were a bit early for our first fast pass, so we went to the store. I told Ben that I loved him so much that I wasn't going to buy him anything. It was really nice of me. I didn't get him any delicious treats that would be tempting to eat. I didn't get him a shirt that he might not wear. And I definitely didn't get him a stuffed animal that he wouldn't sleep with. I got myself a sweatshirt that says 2020 on it, since we were there to ring in that year.
The first ride was spaceship Earth.
Then we went on Figment's ride for Joshua, even though he wasn't there. We hit Soarin', which was cool as always. I got another pretzel...the Mickey pretzel was better than the one the night before.
Next we went on the 'Behind the Seeds' tour that is the companion to 'Living off the Land' ride. It was pretty neat.
There were about eighteen of us and we went on the other side of all the plants from the boat ride. The guide also does some research and was able to answer all of our questions very well. Oh, so there are two restaurants in Animal Kingdom that have a small menu portion of only things that come from the greenhouse. They also send some produce to the quick service spot in the same building (cucumbers and the like). Vegetables that people don't want to eat are sent over to Animal Kingdom for the animals. They harvest every morning. We went mid afternoon...it looked like some things would have quite a few items ready for harvest (gourds and tomatoes), but some would not (cucumbers).
The plants move because it looks cool, not because they really need to.
The tomatoes are on a vine and as they grow they just keep keep winding it around the bottom.
The gourds were decorated for Christmas.
There were some amazing smelling roses.
I was able to feed the Tilapia. They are always hungry.
The black pepper Mickey tree is the oldest in greenhouse...I think it was 18 years old.
Then we saw it from the other side. The tour was much more interesting, but it was nice seeing it from the other side right after we had learned so much.
We rode the skyliner to get to dinner! Dinner was delicious, but actually getting to the right place in the resort was more confusing than expected. It didn't help that feet were sore.
We got back to Epcot just in time to get some macaroons for the boys and find a place for the fireworks. It was a really, really cool show, but I only got blurry pictures.
We made our way to Epcot. We were a bit early for our first fast pass, so we went to the store. I told Ben that I loved him so much that I wasn't going to buy him anything. It was really nice of me. I didn't get him any delicious treats that would be tempting to eat. I didn't get him a shirt that he might not wear. And I definitely didn't get him a stuffed animal that he wouldn't sleep with. I got myself a sweatshirt that says 2020 on it, since we were there to ring in that year.
The first ride was spaceship Earth.
Then we went on Figment's ride for Joshua, even though he wasn't there. We hit Soarin', which was cool as always. I got another pretzel...the Mickey pretzel was better than the one the night before.
Next we went on the 'Behind the Seeds' tour that is the companion to 'Living off the Land' ride. It was pretty neat.
There were about eighteen of us and we went on the other side of all the plants from the boat ride. The guide also does some research and was able to answer all of our questions very well. Oh, so there are two restaurants in Animal Kingdom that have a small menu portion of only things that come from the greenhouse. They also send some produce to the quick service spot in the same building (cucumbers and the like). Vegetables that people don't want to eat are sent over to Animal Kingdom for the animals. They harvest every morning. We went mid afternoon...it looked like some things would have quite a few items ready for harvest (gourds and tomatoes), but some would not (cucumbers).
The plants move because it looks cool, not because they really need to.
The tomatoes are on a vine and as they grow they just keep keep winding it around the bottom.
The gourds were decorated for Christmas.
There were some amazing smelling roses.
I was able to feed the Tilapia. They are always hungry.
The black pepper Mickey tree is the oldest in greenhouse...I think it was 18 years old.
Then we saw it from the other side. The tour was much more interesting, but it was nice seeing it from the other side right after we had learned so much.
We rode the skyliner to get to dinner! Dinner was delicious, but actually getting to the right place in the resort was more confusing than expected. It didn't help that feet were sore.
We got back to Epcot just in time to get some macaroons for the boys and find a place for the fireworks. It was a really, really cool show, but I only got blurry pictures.
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Tuesday: first day of classes
Well, I survived the first day of classes (unsurprisingly). I had a dream several days ago that someone had set up their office in the classroom and wouldn't leave and it was a disaster. There were a few technical difficulties, as normal. A drive didn't work on a few computers (not a big deal). Excel did its super awesome crash and restart on me twice. This is the same problem I was having last semester and it seems to be a tricky bug to solve. I think they've changed out the entire computer now, so we'll see what the next step is. I'm glad I don't have to solve it.
I still have a cold. I also gave it to Ben. As colds go it isn't the worst I've had, but we've both been feeling tired and out-of-sorts.
I still have a cold. I also gave it to Ben. As colds go it isn't the worst I've had, but we've both been feeling tired and out-of-sorts.
Monday, January 6, 2020
Monday: well, that didn't work
The last thing we had break was the garbage disposal. But it is a small leak. It doesn't grind stuff up either, but it was still draining (and I think I found the item that was plugging it up a bit today.)
So we decided to wait just a little bit to fix it so that nothing else would break. Obviously this will work, right?
Wrong.
Today my car battery died. Once at gymnastics (I got a jump), once at home (Ben picked up Isaac). And yes, I now have a new battery and the car starts again. But it felt like one more thing. I do wonder how far apart things need to be for them to not feel like one more thing, but that's a question for a different day.
So we decided to wait just a little bit to fix it so that nothing else would break. Obviously this will work, right?
Wrong.
Today my car battery died. Once at gymnastics (I got a jump), once at home (Ben picked up Isaac). And yes, I now have a new battery and the car starts again. But it felt like one more thing. I do wonder how far apart things need to be for them to not feel like one more thing, but that's a question for a different day.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Tuesday: Magic Kingdom
Well, if you asked me to put together a list of 'things I'll never do', being at the Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve would have probably made the list. There were times it was packed and shoulder to shoulder, but most of the time you could move around pretty easily.
Anyway, we started with a buffet breakfast. I love breakfast foods...when someone else makes them. It was delicious. The Christmas decorations were all still up, and it was fun to see how the trees were decorated differently in all the places we stopped at. (The trees came down on Jan 2. There were still a few Christmas decorations up, so it wasn't as though everything was gone at once, but it was pretty close.)
We got to the park just a little bit before the parade and found a decent spot near the entrance. People steadily came in the whole time we were there.
Due to the business, we decided to do some of the other things today. I don't think we waited in a line for more than 30-45 minutes. One of the things was the card game. It was pretty cool, although I'm convinced that it doesn't matter which card you hold up to attack the villain as long as you hold one up. It took us the whole day, but we slowly played through all four areas. (I think Hades had more villains he was going to recruit and we would go back to the same areas, but that was enough for us.)
It was perfect pants and sweater weather. I was trying to take a selfie with the castle, but it was also sunny. :D I think I took more selfies on this trip than I have in the last five years.
With the card game, we first saved Pongo's pups.
Then we managed a better selfie with the castle.
We did several of the "small" shows. Around 1pm, while in line for the Tiki birds, we got a notification that the park was at capacity. (This means that they weren't selling tickets at the door anymore. If you were an annual pass holder or staying at the resorts you could still get in. I'm curious as to how many people this actually affected.)
As mentioned, most of the time walking wasn't too bad. A few times they rerouted some streets for parades or when it was close to the firework time, and then the other places got very crowded. Everyone managed though.
We had a few fast passes throughout the day too. The first was the Jingle Cruise, which is the Christmas version of the Jungle Cruise. It was full of puns and I found it hilarious.
We went on the people mover.
We got our hats and sat down to eat a pretzel. It was a huge pretzel, but I really like soft pretzels. I don't know where to get them in Holland, so whenever I see them somewhere else I take advantage.
We said a quick hi to Mickey...
...and found a spot for the fireworks. I could see most of the castle (it is lit up really well).
Some fireworks before the New Year...
...firework numbers for a countdown (eight is shown)...
...and Happy New Year! There were so many fireworks going off. It was almost like daytime. Well, a cloudy daytime, but bright nevertheless.
We were close to the park entrance and so able to scoot out pretty quickly. We only sort of planned that...Mickey was near the entrance and so we just found a good place near there. We were able to walk to our hotel which was so nice!! I think even being near the beginning of the crowd the monorail would have been terrible.
Anyway, we started with a buffet breakfast. I love breakfast foods...when someone else makes them. It was delicious. The Christmas decorations were all still up, and it was fun to see how the trees were decorated differently in all the places we stopped at. (The trees came down on Jan 2. There were still a few Christmas decorations up, so it wasn't as though everything was gone at once, but it was pretty close.)
We got to the park just a little bit before the parade and found a decent spot near the entrance. People steadily came in the whole time we were there.
Due to the business, we decided to do some of the other things today. I don't think we waited in a line for more than 30-45 minutes. One of the things was the card game. It was pretty cool, although I'm convinced that it doesn't matter which card you hold up to attack the villain as long as you hold one up. It took us the whole day, but we slowly played through all four areas. (I think Hades had more villains he was going to recruit and we would go back to the same areas, but that was enough for us.)
It was perfect pants and sweater weather. I was trying to take a selfie with the castle, but it was also sunny. :D I think I took more selfies on this trip than I have in the last five years.
With the card game, we first saved Pongo's pups.
Then we managed a better selfie with the castle.
We did several of the "small" shows. Around 1pm, while in line for the Tiki birds, we got a notification that the park was at capacity. (This means that they weren't selling tickets at the door anymore. If you were an annual pass holder or staying at the resorts you could still get in. I'm curious as to how many people this actually affected.)
As mentioned, most of the time walking wasn't too bad. A few times they rerouted some streets for parades or when it was close to the firework time, and then the other places got very crowded. Everyone managed though.
We had a few fast passes throughout the day too. The first was the Jingle Cruise, which is the Christmas version of the Jungle Cruise. It was full of puns and I found it hilarious.
We went on the people mover.
We got our hats and sat down to eat a pretzel. It was a huge pretzel, but I really like soft pretzels. I don't know where to get them in Holland, so whenever I see them somewhere else I take advantage.
We said a quick hi to Mickey...
...and found a spot for the fireworks. I could see most of the castle (it is lit up really well).
Some fireworks before the New Year...
...firework numbers for a countdown (eight is shown)...
...and Happy New Year! There were so many fireworks going off. It was almost like daytime. Well, a cloudy daytime, but bright nevertheless.
We were close to the park entrance and so able to scoot out pretty quickly. We only sort of planned that...Mickey was near the entrance and so we just found a good place near there. We were able to walk to our hotel which was so nice!! I think even being near the beginning of the crowd the monorail would have been terrible.
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