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.