Merry Christmas!!

Another Christmas day, flown by! But it was a fun Christmas, surrounded by family and reminds me how blessed I really am.

I had to work yesterday on Christmas Eve, until close as a matter of fact. But I got home about 8:30 and Mom, Dad and Ken came over with food for a late dinner. Mom, Dad and Ken went to 7:00 mass and Mark and I went to 10:00 mass. Mom and Dad actually had planned to go to 4:00 mass but the lock on their side door broke and Dad had to go to Home Depot at about 3:00. So...slight change of plans.

This morning we went to my parents for our traditional Christmas morning. Breakfast (donuts, muffins, fruit and egg "mcmuffins"), opening presents and watching the Disney parade on TV. We always go overboard on the presents, but we always have lots of fun. (We almost had Dad believing Mark had won $10,000 on an instant lottery ticket). And the last few years we've set up the camera to take a group shot, and this is this year's.

After a quick stop at home to reload the presents and take Rascal for a quick walk, we went over to Tracey's, to celebrate with Tracey, Jared and the kids, Mom and Dad, Uncle Rich, Aunt Paula and Rachel, Bob and Chris, and Flo (Chris's mom) and Lou. Ate lots of food (Tracey was making stuffed cabbage until 8am this morning before going to bed and getting about 3 hours sleep) and opened presents. Mom and Dad weren't there for too long, Mom wasn't feeling too good today. But I was glad she was able to open her gifts and see the kids on Christmas.

Who let the dogs out?

I finally just finished putting together our Disney trip report (from a month ago already!). Just wanted to share some photos of us before last Sunday's Browns game. I was able to use Uncle Ken's ticket and go to the game with Mark. They played the Texans and won 27-17. It was cold but we stayed for the whole game. Here's us all decked out in our Browns gear before the game, even Rascal joined in on the action (thanks to Mark holding a treat for him).

Disney Trip Reort, Day 8

10.27.07

Why does vacation week always go so fast? It's the best feeling on that first day, when it's exciting to think of all the stuff you'll get to do that week. But before you know it, vacation's already over. It was a really fun week. Hot the first few days, but it was a lot more comfortable as the week went on. The rain wasn't too bad either. (The worst hit while were at Universal).

We ate breakfast at the Artist's Palette, and checked in for our flight outside by the guest check-in. It's so convenient to not have to fit all your luggage in the rental car and drag it to the airport. Our flight left about 2:30pm and were back in Cleveland around 4:30pm. Ken went home, but Mom, Dad, Mark and I hit Pizza Hut for dinner.

Another great Disney vacation, can't wait to start planning for the next one!

Disney Trip Report, Day 7

10.26.07

Our first stop of the day was the Magic Kingdom to walk around again and see a few more things. We rode Haunted Mansion again, and saw Philharmagic again and just took in the atmosphere of one our most favorite places on our last day. Lunch was at Casey's (love the hot dogs and toppings bar and fries with cheese!)

After lunch we went over to Epcot to indulge in the Food and Wine Festival around the World Showcase. Fastpasses for Soarin' were already all gone for the day, so we went over to Mission: Space. Mom, Ken and I went on while Dad went over to check out the festival center.

We started out World Showcase trek at Mexico (tried the quesadilla con chorizo and conga juice) and stopped inside Mexico to see the updated boat ride with the Three Caballeros. We hit a lot of the different food stands on our way around. Here's what we ate around the world:

• Meze - Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Eggplant Puree and Turkish Black Olives with Pita Bread (Turkey)


• Pork Pot Stickers (China)


• Debriziner Sausage and Sauerkraut in a Pretzel Roll, Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce, and Beck's Oktoberfest beer (Germany)


• Insalata Caprese Salad - Mozzarella Cheese with Cherry tomatoes and Basil Dressing


• Kielbasa and Potato Pierogies and Mark had the Paczki (Doughnut) (Poland) I also had a raspberry flavored wine from here, which was REALLY strong


• Grilled Lamb Chop with Caramelized Onions (Austrailia)


• Greek Salad with Pita Bread and Spanakopita - Savory Spinach and Cheese Pastry (Greece)


• Maple Glazed Salmon with Arugula and Roasted Corn (Canada)

I think my favorite was Germany with Greece and Poland not very far behind. Mark, Dad and I also stopped outside American Adventure again to listen to another concert: The Village People (Dad's choice). They only played 5 songs, but I did get Dad doing the "YMCA."

While in the World, we also saw the new updated Canada movie and then claimed our spot to watch Illuminations. Friday night was also extra magic hours at Epcot. We tried to ride Soarin' but the line was still 80 minutes at 10:00pm, so we skipped it and went over to the Living Seas. We all hit Mouse Gear on the way out, but Mark and I stayed in the store a little later. Mom, Dad and Ken went back to the room. We all started packing that night when we got back to the room. (Boooooooo!)

Coming up: time to go home

Disney Trip Report, Day 6

10.25.07

Happy 36th Birthday Mark!

Mom, Mark and I started the day off at Animal Kingdom while Ken and Dad started their day at Epcot. I stopped at Guest Relations to pick up Mark's birthday pin and the cast member behind the desk came out to check our birthday t-shirts. He also gave us fast passes for the safari, which we didn't have the time to use unfortunately. We rode Dinosaur and then went over to walk the animal trails we didn't get to see on Tuesday and to take pictures. Here's one of Mark's favorites:

He got some good gorilla pics too:The morning went quick and we just made it on time to meet Dad and Ken at Le Cellier in Epcot for Mark's birthday lunch. Mark had a 10oz steak, Mom and Ken had a chicken sandwich and Dad and I had the flat iron steak sandwich. They even brought out a decadent (as Dad would say) chocolate birthday dessert for Mark.

We walked lunch off around the World Showcase, I stopped and got a Strongbow in the U.K., we watched the World Showcase Players in Italy perform "Romeo and Juliet," and saw the 4 Tops perform outside the American Adventure.

We hopped on the monorail to go over to the Contemporary for Mark's surprise, a fireworks birthday cruise. (He said he had no idea). We had a really nice boat driver on our pontoon boat. It was decorated with a birthday banner and balloons and I had called the Contemporary in advance to order a white chocolate birthday cake. We left from the marina about 8:00 and he took us on a little tour around there, past the Wilderness Lodge (which looked so pretty lit up at night), past the old River Country (I miss that place, Mom and Dad took us there when we were little and I still remember it) towards the Wilderness campgrounds, and close to Discovery Island which is now a bird sanctuary and you could see all the white birds in the trees settled down for the night even in the dark. We went towards the Magic Kingdom then towards the Polynesian and Grand Floridian before parking right in front of the park. At 8:30, he turned on the speakers so we could listen along to the show and Hallowishes started. It was a great viewpoint to watch all the fireworks burst over Cinderella's castle, especially the ones at the end that went off around the perimeter. Now we'll want to do this every year!

Day 7 coming up: Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

Disney Trip Report, Day 5

10.24.07

Mom and I went to the Spa at Saratoga Springs for her belated birthday gift...pedicures! Neither of us had had one before and it was fun. It was nice to sit and soak our feet and get a little foot massage and I really liked the scrub they used too. Dad, Ken, and Mark took their time getting up and we met them back at the room when we were done.

We headed over to the Marketplace for a few hours for a little shopping and lunch at Earl of Sandwich. We decided to drive over to the Studios to see some more there and while we pulling up to the parking booth, Dad's parking pass from the hotel flew out the window while he was rolling it down! Dad had to back the car up and Mark jumped out to get it quick. It's free to park with the hotel parking pass, we were lucky Mark saw it and was able to get it. It was pretty funny after all that.

We rode Tower of Terror and Rock 'N Roller Coaster again and went on the Great Movie Ride before heading over the Animation tour. We got some fun pictures here with Remy and Emile from Ratatouille and Frozone and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible.

We ate dinner at the Commissary (since Pizza Planet was closed) and then we saw Fantasmic. Our last activity of the day was a stop again at the Marketplace to finish up some shopping. We parked over at Saratoga Springs and walked over. Mom, Dad and Ken left before Mark and I did and took the boat back. Mark and I picked up the car and drove that back.

Day 6 coming up: Mark's birthday!!, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and a fireworks birthday cruise!

DIsney Trip Report, Day 4

10.23.07

We drove over to Animal Kingdom. Dad thought we were parking in the "aardvark" section (it was actually the dinosaur section. (Dad made a good funny).

Ken and Mark went ahead to get fast passes for the safari. Mom, Dad and I caught up to them and we all headed over to Expedition Everest. Only Mark and I rode. We thought it would be quicker to get in the single rider line, but....wrong. The regular line moved quicker! Oh well. After that, we saw "Finding Nemo, the Musical," which was the first time for all of us, it just opened last year right after our last visit. When we headed back to the safari, the bird show "Flights of Wonder" was just starting, so we walked in on that. (Mom and Dad had never seen it before). There was a beautiful bespectacled owl at the end, with the biggest, round eyes.


Before we left in the afternoon, we ate lunch at the Flame Tree barbecue and rode Kilimanjaro safari.

We all went back to the room to rest up for hat evening's Halloween Party. I was able to get a little snooze in. Mark dressed as Jack Sparrow, and I was Elizabeth Swann from Pirates. Mom wore a Halloween scrub top with Mickey, Donald and Goofy on it and Dad was the "Official Candy Tester" with his Halloween stitch t-shirt. Love the Halloween party!! We get lots of candy, ride some rides and enjoy the "Boo to You" parade and the "Hallowishes" fireworks. That's my favorite parade! We all went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Mark and I went on the teacups and while we were on Winnie the Pooh as one of our last rides of the night, it started to pour! It was almost midnight by now, but it lightened up enough for us to go over to Peter Pan and ride that before the party was over.

Day 5 coming up: a pedicure, Downtown Disney marketplace, and the Studios again.

Disney Trip Report, Day 3

10.22.07

We started our day at the Studios. But before we even got there, we received some Disney magic from a stranger. While we were waiting at the bus stop, another guy there saw Ken wearing his Columbus Blue Jackets shirt and gave Ken some fast passes for the Studios (any ride) good until the end of the month. A manager he knows there gave him some and he wasn't able to use them. He was from Columbus too, so that's why he gave them to Ken. We thought that was really nice. Tower of Terror, Rock 'n Roller Coaster...here we come!

We were in the Studios and walking down the street towards the Sorcerer hat when we were stopped by a policeman, looking for a wanted fugitive. (See above). We thought it kind of looked like Dad, but the cop decided to let us go. ("Sir, when was the last time you were this thin?") Guess it wasn't Dad.

Mark, Dad, Ken and I hit Tower of Terror first thing, and then Mark and I hit Rock 'n Roller Coaster. We also saw the Beauty and the Beast show, which had never seen before. Lunch was at the Backlot Express. I had a grilled vegetable sandwich which was really good! We saw Muppets 4-D and also just made it into the Indiana Jones stunt show (practically standing room only!) Mark, Dad and I hit Tower of Terror one more time before we left to head over to the Contemporary. We actually got there early, so we found some lounge chairs in the shade by the pool and relaxed until dinner.

Dinner was at Chef Mickey's. It's character dining with buffet. Our priority seating was for 5:10 and it was a good time to go. They were just opening for dinner. And boy was it a good dinner! There was prime rib, salad bar, shrimp, penne pasta, parmesan mashed potatoes, glazed baby carrots, so much to choose from and it was all really good! But my favorite were the desserts, especially the oreos with chocolate mickey ears on top. Loved those!! I think it was a favorite meal of everybody's. And we got lots of pictures with the characters, they all came around twice. There was Donald, Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and we got a group picture with Minnie on the way out.

That night was Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom, so we caught the monorail over there. We saw a lot of the Tomorrowland attractions, first thing was Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. When the show was just starting, Dad was on the video screen as "the guy who would treat everyone to churros." We also did Buzz Lightyear, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and Mark and I went on Space Mountain (always one of my favorites). We also saw the newly enhanced Haunted Mansion, and I really liked the additions, especially the rooms with all the crossing staircases. There's even glowing footsteps walking up and down them. We did Mickey's Philharmagic and Splash Mountain too. And Mark and I both took lots of pictures with our cameras, seeing how our pictures would come out at night, of the castle, main street, out front by the train station. It's beautiful at night with all the lights.

Day 4 coming up: Animal Kingdom and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

Disney Trip Report, Day 2

10.21.07

Our day at Universal. We started off in the Studios side, and headed straight back to check out the wait for "The Mummy." It said only 10 minutes, so Mark and I went in while Mom, Dad and Ken waited outside. It actually took longer, probably around half an hour by the time we got out of there. It still wasn't that bad, but we only got to ride once. Still a good ride, great special effects. Next, we went on "Jaws" and then Mark, Dad and I went on "Men In Black." We walked around the park, checked out the "Kwik-E-Mart" store with the Simpsons stuff (they're building a new Simpsons ride), even got a picture with Homer and Marge. Had lunch at Mel's Drive-In. And last but not least, saw "Shrek 4-D."

Then we headed over to Islands of Adventure. Mark and I were able to ride "The Hulk" right away, less than a 10 minute wait, which was great. Ken, Mark, Dad and I went on Dr. Doom's Fear Fall, and then Ken, Mark and I went on "Spider Man." Just after we got off that, the rain came. It poured for a little bit and we got the ponchos out. When it lightened up enough (and even eventually stopped) we started making our circle around the park. We were in Toon Lagoon and getting the people on "Bluto's Barges" wet with the water sprays and Mark and I decided we'd go on the water ride too, but they shut the ride down just as we were going to go on because of lightning in the area. Bummer. :( So we started walking again, and next ride we came upon "Jurassic Park" was closed too. We thought then we'd catch the Sinbad show, but that was cancelled too. So next was "Poseidon's Fury" and that was actually open! The last few times we've visited it's been closed and Mark had never seen it, so Mark finally got to see it this trip. When it came to exit, it was pouring again!! The downpour didn't last too long, and when it lightened up enough, we walked through Dr. Suess towards the front again. Mark, Ken and I rode "Spider Man" one more time before we headed out of the park and into Citywalk.

Dinner was at Bubba Gump, where we were hoping there wouldn't be too long of a wait. We were really surprised when they told us it would only be a 5-10 minute wait. It didn't even take that! It was a really good dinner, and we had a really nice waitress who took good care of us. That was a fun dinner. Mom and Ken had fish & chips, Mar and Dad had bourbon mahi mahi and I had coconut fried shrimp. Yummm... Did some shopping afterwards at the store there (I got a sweatshirt and a glass, Mark got a t-shirt, and Ken got a t-shirt too) and then at Margaritaville (Ken and Dad both got t-shirts here).

Headed back to Saratoga Springs after all that, and Mark and I decided to take a walk over to Downtown Disney. I'd say it took us about 15-20 minutes to get over there. The longest part was just walking through the hotel grounds to get to the walkway by the lake. Once you got to the edge of the resort, it was a quick walk over a bridge and you were right by the entrance by the scrapbook store (my favorite!). We had time enough to the check out that store, the Team Disney store and the World of Disney store. We caught the last boat of the night (11:00pm) at the dock there to take us back to Saratoga Springs. It was a nice boat ride, and it was a quick walk back to our room where the boat dropped us off.

Day 3 coming up: Disney-MGM Studios, Chef Mickey's and extra magic hours at the Magic Kingdom.

Disney Trip Report, Day 1

10.20.07

We arrived in Orlando around 11am from our 9am flight and went right to Saratoga Springs to check-in. Our room wasn't ready, so we got a bite to eat there at Artist's Palette and then went to Winn-Dixie for some grocery shopping. We dropped the groceries off in our now-ready 2 bedroom villa (ground floor, right by the parking lot - nice), and rested a little. Mom and Dad made use of the patio and while they were sitting out there, a few ducks stopped by to see if they had any goodies for them. We then went to church and stopped at the outlet mall to check out the Character Premiere store. Didn't find anything there this trip, though. Stopped at BW-3 afterwards to pick up some take-out for dinner. The Indians playoff game vs. the Red Sox (game 6) was on and we started watching it, but it wasn't going well, so we turned it off and decided to get some sleep. (I was going on about 3 hours sleep after making Mark's t-shirts, packing and cleaning the house in case somebody might actually want to see it while we were away - house still up for sale).

Day 2 coming up: Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Bubba Gump.

Busy, busy weekend

After a busy weekend, it's time to go to work tomorrow. Yuck. But here's all the good stuff we did the last 4 days!

Thursday night we got to go to Game 1 of the division series: Indians vs Yankees. What a game and a way to start the series. Tribe won 12-3! It was pretty close at 4-3 with the Tribe in front, but in the 5th inning they broke it open by scoring 5 more runs. Whew! Dad was lucky to go to the 2nd game on Friday night where they won 2-1 in 11 innings! What a nail-biter, but so exciting.

Friday night Mark and I went to the Maroon 5 concert at the Q, which was awesome. The Indians game was going on at the same time and they showed it on the screens next to the stage. We got to see Travis Hafner's game winning single in the 11th and they waited to start the concert until right after the game was over. I really liked the concert, and wished it could have lasted longer.

Saturday Mark, Mom, Dad and I went to Toledo for Homecoming and to see the football game. UT played Liberty and won (barely) 35-34. We hit the bookstore beforehand for some UT gear and stopped at the alumni tent for some free food (hot dogs and chips) before heading over to the Glass Bowl to watch the game.

Sunday we went to Kim and Chris's after church to see their new house (beautiful!) and their daughter Catherine is almost 2 already! They even went to the zoo with us for a few hours, but they left a little early. It was so hot that day in the 80's. Never expected to spend a weekend in October in shorts and t-shirts. The last few times we've went to Toledo for Homecoming, we've had to wear our thermals and gloves and sweaters!

Happy You and Me Day!

Happy 4th Anniversary honey!

Magic Number: 3

It's Tribe time now!

Mark and I were able to go to two Indians games this past week. Last Friday, I met Chris down there and Mark went to the same game with Dad and Ken. And Tuesday, Mark surprised me by going all the way downtown to the team shop to get a hat for me that I liked. While he was down there, he picked up tickets for that evening's game. Well Friday night they won, with a walkoff home by Casey Blake in the 9th. And on Tuesday they won 7-4 against Detroit! They won again last night, so now the magic number is 3. That close to winning the division title! Ken was even able to get some tickets for the division playoffs, so Mark and I will be going to either game 1 or game 2 at Jacobs Field.

GO TRIBE!

My silly dream

I have to share the funny dream I had the other morning. I woke up about an hour and a half before I actually had to get up, so I stayed in bed hoping to be able to fall back alseep. And as usual, I started to fall back asleep just before it's time for the alarm clock to go off. This is usually when I have my strangest dreams.

So yesterday, Thursday morning, I dreamed that Mark and I had found two kittens (that looked like Tracey's cats). We were just going to leave them be, but they had collars and tags on them and we decided we should try to find their owners. We let them stay upstairs in the bedroom and they slept on the bed. We left and when we came back upstairs to the bedroom, there were now four cats, instead of two (Never did figure that one out). Now this is the funny part, all the kittens were wearing Harry Potter glasses, just looking at us.

That was my strange dream, that I actually remembered! Usually I can't remember my dreams after I wake up. But this one I did, for some reason. Makes me snicker just thinking about those cats wearing those glasses. :) I guess they would have looked like the picture above, just with rounder glasses. (The picture is from drawfluffy.com)

House for sale...

Finally! We put our house up for sale at the beginning of July. When I first saw that sign out there, I had mixed feelings. Happy to finally have that sign out there after wanting to move for the last year and working on the house to get it ready, but sad too because this is our house. My first house as a homeowner, and the one Mark and I have made our own since getting married and adding Rascal to our family. It's been 6 years already since I bought it in June of 2001.

Well, it's been a month and a half and only ONE person has come to look at it. Two other people have called on it, but only one appointment to see it. It's rather depressing. The market is really ugly right now. We've been out looking at houses, but really can't do anything until we get some interest in ours.

Mom bought us a St. Joseph statue which we buried in the front yard last weekend. Hopefully he'll hear our prayers and bring us some good news soon. The holidays will be here before we know it and we may have to wait until next year being that the holiday season is usually a slow time for home buying. We didn't want it to take this long, but we'll just have to hang in there and believe that things happen for a reason and it'll happen when it's time.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Another birthday come and gone. This year was the big 3-4. I'm almost halfway through my 30's already? How is that possible? Even though the actual day of my birthday was extremely busy, I had fun celebrating this past weekend. Friday night Mark took me out to dinner at the Willoughby Brewing Company (we always have a good meal there: pretzels for appetizers; pretzel chicken for dinner, Mark had a steak hoagie, and of course a pitcher of Railway Razz to wash all that down). Then we went to the movies to see "Knocked Up", which we both liked. Very funny.

Saturday night we went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in Legacy Village with Mom, Dad, Ken. Jason and Amy met us there too! It was a lot of fun, we had a great dinner, and walked around afterwards, checking out some of the shops. I was so glad Jason and Amy came, it had been a while since we've seen them. It's so hard with our busy schedules to find time that we can get together.

Today on my actual birthday, I had to work. :( And boy was it hectic. I didn't even get out until almost 7:00. Mark worked really early too (5am-3pm) and then came home and baked my cake and made dinner and got everything ready. Mom, Dad and Ken came over for cake and brought some presents too. So it was a really busy day, but overall I had a great birthday thanks to my husband, family, and friends.

What else did we do this weekend? Sunday (Father's Day) we went to church and out to breakfast with my parents and Ken. Then we went to Tracey's for a cookout and the boys went swimming. And Sunday evening, we went to Nautica to see our most favorite band in concert again: The Barenaked Ladies!! Always love them. We see every concert when they come to town, and we can't wait to see them again!

Happy Memorial Day!

Mom and Dad (fresh back from a short trip to Williamsburg and the National Zoo), Ken, Mark, Rascal and I had a cookout. Ken supplied most of the food: BBQ pork chops, yams or redskin potatoes, pop, chips... I made pasta salad and cut up fresh fruit. Ice cream and pie for dessert! Had beautiful weather all day, sunny and in the 70's. Back to work tomorrow, hope it's not too crazy for a day after a holiday.