A Few Hours with Friends, double dose
Yesterday was awesome. We got to spend a few hours with the Joyce and Tim clan over at WDW.
We started our afternoon in Orlando with a nice lunch, then ventured to Downtown Disney, shopping mecca for Disney freaks like us. Gameboy had a leftover Lego gift card that he'd gotten ages ago, so we made the boys happy by picking stuff out. In a bummer move, though, the've got a huge Indiana Jones display but not one set for sale. Sorry guys, I'd pull that sucker into the stockroom. I guess they're gluttons for torture, hearing "where are the Indy sets?" hundreds of times a day.
Of course, Gameboy finally picks some things, but on the way out the door, he sees the Lego Star Wars Complete for the Nintendo DS and decides he wants that instead. Never mind that:
He's got it for the Wii
He's got it for the Gamecube
He's got it for the computer
He's got Lego Star Wars 1 and Lego Star Wars 2 for the Game Boy Advance
there is a version that he DOES NOT have-therefore, he will obsess until he has it. (and it does LESS than the Wii and Gamecube versions, apparently!)
Okay, this meltdown means that we'll get a phone call, and we did. We head over to Old Key West and get to see their DVC accommodations. I love OKW, the rooms are the biggest of the DVCs (and I've seen rooms in all the DVC resorts except Beach Club Villas). A one bedroom comfortably houses a family of five without everyone being on top of each other. Heck, there were nine of us in that living room and it was plenty of space!
After a while, we decided on dinner (their treat, thanks guys!) and off to Carrabba's we went. Yummy, Carrabba's. Not a dud on the menu, IMO. Service was great, couple of hiccups otherwise (Tim's food was slightly burnt and a wobbly table). Tim cracked me up with his tales of being invited to a family dinner where the food was family style and he didn't get to pick any of the entrees. Hmmm, emperor's new food? 75 bucks and a small amount of spaghetti later, he was hitting the Taco Bell drive through on the way home. (Joyce has a sibling like one of mine, unfortunately. Poor Tim!)
We went back to their room and vegged and yakked and the kids enjoyed playing and watching TV. Seems all our kids ask about the other family all the time, so it's nice when we can get them together. Oh, and if you want the kids to stay five feet from the TV, have a parent lay down in front of it with their feet on the tv cabinet and the kids behind mom's head! (don't tell them I'm 5'3" ish, though!)
At 10pm, we had a school night to contend with and they had a park to conquer the next morning, so we bid our farewells. I'm liking their DVC membership-it guarantees that we'll have them in the same state every year, sometimes twice if they play their points right.
they're talking another visit in July or August. I'm thinking that once they book, we'll get our ducks in a row and plan for a few days over there, too. The kids sure will love it!
Tonight, I finally got my act in gear for girls night out with Jill. We've done these sporadically, but after my moodiness a couple of months ago, we decided that it's important to actually see each other! Dinner was at Cheesecake Factory (mmmm, Cheesecake!).
I did my usual deal of forcing myself to choose one of the three million things I haven't previously tried. The winner was a chicken dish that was chosen for the sides of asparagus and mashed potatoes. They make great smashed, btw. The rest of the dish was primo. I've got two more meals out of that thing, easily.
Conversation ran the gamut: family, games, Disney, travel, work (yuck), health (mine), relationships and such. Time flew and it was good to see her again. No trip to the mall would be complete without a trip to the Disney Store, so we walked off about a bite of our cheesecakes by stopping in.
I escaped empty handed, as I seem to do a lot nowadays. If we'd gone over to Books A Million it would have been a different story. They saw her coming and made sure they had Aristocats merchandise she didn't already possess. I thought my in laws had a lot of Disney stuff. That was before I met Jill.
All in all, two great evenings. Now, who's going to visit tomorrow? :)
***A public service announcement to my friends*** I left Joyce with the impression that I was upset with her because I am not my usual hyper, happy self. I haven't been for a long time now, and I'm afraid it is a long term thing. Damn RSD/CRPS. I'm me, just a subdued me.
Newer friends won't really know the difference, but those who've been in my life for a loooong time will. It's not noticeable on the phone, just when you see my face and you're used to looking at this face.
I suppose the efforts to skip painkillers may not be a smart move. I guess my thoughts that I was good at hiding the pain was incorrect. Ugh...
We started our afternoon in Orlando with a nice lunch, then ventured to Downtown Disney, shopping mecca for Disney freaks like us. Gameboy had a leftover Lego gift card that he'd gotten ages ago, so we made the boys happy by picking stuff out. In a bummer move, though, the've got a huge Indiana Jones display but not one set for sale. Sorry guys, I'd pull that sucker into the stockroom. I guess they're gluttons for torture, hearing "where are the Indy sets?" hundreds of times a day.
Of course, Gameboy finally picks some things, but on the way out the door, he sees the Lego Star Wars Complete for the Nintendo DS and decides he wants that instead. Never mind that:
He's got it for the Wii
He's got it for the Gamecube
He's got it for the computer
He's got Lego Star Wars 1 and Lego Star Wars 2 for the Game Boy Advance
there is a version that he DOES NOT have-therefore, he will obsess until he has it. (and it does LESS than the Wii and Gamecube versions, apparently!)
Okay, this meltdown means that we'll get a phone call, and we did. We head over to Old Key West and get to see their DVC accommodations. I love OKW, the rooms are the biggest of the DVCs (and I've seen rooms in all the DVC resorts except Beach Club Villas). A one bedroom comfortably houses a family of five without everyone being on top of each other. Heck, there were nine of us in that living room and it was plenty of space!
After a while, we decided on dinner (their treat, thanks guys!) and off to Carrabba's we went. Yummy, Carrabba's. Not a dud on the menu, IMO. Service was great, couple of hiccups otherwise (Tim's food was slightly burnt and a wobbly table). Tim cracked me up with his tales of being invited to a family dinner where the food was family style and he didn't get to pick any of the entrees. Hmmm, emperor's new food? 75 bucks and a small amount of spaghetti later, he was hitting the Taco Bell drive through on the way home. (Joyce has a sibling like one of mine, unfortunately. Poor Tim!)
We went back to their room and vegged and yakked and the kids enjoyed playing and watching TV. Seems all our kids ask about the other family all the time, so it's nice when we can get them together. Oh, and if you want the kids to stay five feet from the TV, have a parent lay down in front of it with their feet on the tv cabinet and the kids behind mom's head! (don't tell them I'm 5'3" ish, though!)
At 10pm, we had a school night to contend with and they had a park to conquer the next morning, so we bid our farewells. I'm liking their DVC membership-it guarantees that we'll have them in the same state every year, sometimes twice if they play their points right.
they're talking another visit in July or August. I'm thinking that once they book, we'll get our ducks in a row and plan for a few days over there, too. The kids sure will love it!
Tonight, I finally got my act in gear for girls night out with Jill. We've done these sporadically, but after my moodiness a couple of months ago, we decided that it's important to actually see each other! Dinner was at Cheesecake Factory (mmmm, Cheesecake!).
I did my usual deal of forcing myself to choose one of the three million things I haven't previously tried. The winner was a chicken dish that was chosen for the sides of asparagus and mashed potatoes. They make great smashed, btw. The rest of the dish was primo. I've got two more meals out of that thing, easily.
Conversation ran the gamut: family, games, Disney, travel, work (yuck), health (mine), relationships and such. Time flew and it was good to see her again. No trip to the mall would be complete without a trip to the Disney Store, so we walked off about a bite of our cheesecakes by stopping in.
I escaped empty handed, as I seem to do a lot nowadays. If we'd gone over to Books A Million it would have been a different story. They saw her coming and made sure they had Aristocats merchandise she didn't already possess. I thought my in laws had a lot of Disney stuff. That was before I met Jill.
All in all, two great evenings. Now, who's going to visit tomorrow? :)
***A public service announcement to my friends*** I left Joyce with the impression that I was upset with her because I am not my usual hyper, happy self. I haven't been for a long time now, and I'm afraid it is a long term thing. Damn RSD/CRPS. I'm me, just a subdued me.
Newer friends won't really know the difference, but those who've been in my life for a loooong time will. It's not noticeable on the phone, just when you see my face and you're used to looking at this face.
I suppose the efforts to skip painkillers may not be a smart move. I guess my thoughts that I was good at hiding the pain was incorrect. Ugh...
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