Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Disney Tuesday

Andy and I were up early Tuesday and headed to Hollywood Studios. We rode the recently re-imagined Rock 'n Roller coaster. It's OK but I miss Aerosmith. We must be getting old, though, as we both thought it was jerkier than we remembered.
We went to the Pixar area because we thought L was working there, but she switched to Port Orleans resort. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride (yes, he outscored me again) and the Swirling Saucers.
This was new (we think) so we watched the Villains show.
It highlighted a few of Disney's villains before the audience decided ...
Malificent was the best villain.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Disney Monday

Quite a beautiful sunrise to start out the week.
We got in the car Monday morning to go to Epcot and the radio was playing our wedding dance song. Awww.
We rode Guardins of the Galaxy (of course), then walked through the World Showcase, stopping at Mexico for the boat ride and Norway for Frozen. I grossly underestimated how many young, energetic kids would be in line for the Frozen ride. (What are these kids eating for breakfast?!?) If I could have found an easy way to escape the line, I would have.
It's Food and Wine Festival time. We split a stromboli from an Italian kiosk. It was tasty.
Then we sat and cooled off with two British beers in our favorite Epcot beer garden.
We stopped at the members' lounge to get a Diet Coke and stock up on Doritos. Andy went over and talked to the Vacation Club person and, of course, had to ask her if she knows L. She does lol.
We went to Disney Springs for dinner at Frontera Cocina. The little kid in the bottom of the photo was looking at us the whole time. We must be fascinating.
It was decorated for Halloween and Day of the Dead with lots of marigolds, Monarch butterflies and ofrenda.

Monday, October 5, 2026

Disney Day 2

Andy and I started off Sunday at Magic Kingdom. We rode Tron and the Snow White roller coaster before L texted us to see when we were going to come visit her at Fort Wilderness.
We were planning to go back to the resort to sit by the pool but we took the boat to Fort Wilderness instead.
There's our girl working with Chip and Dale.
We had a bus all to ourselves from Fort Wilderness to Magic Kingdom. From there, we walked back to the resort.
OK, now it's pool time. Andy poured some poolside margaritas in our Disney cups. We brought the bottle of margarita from home and it cost less than the margarita Andy had yesterday at Beak and Barrel. Definitely worth making room in the luggage for that.
After the pool, we went to Epcot where we had reservations at GEO-82. In this picture, it's the second floor where you can see the round lights.
We were welcomed in with scented, cool towels. The cast member pulled out the description of what's on the towels.
They should offer cool, scented towels everywhere lol.
Everything was decorated to resemble Spaceship Earth. The bar, described as upscale and adults-only, is connected to Spaceship Earth ride.
Inside view. It's very nice.
We ordered (an expensive) charcuterie board ...
and a glass of wine for me and a tequila cocktail of some sort for Andy. It was a fun, possibly one-time experience. We rode Soaring and Nemo before taking the monorail back to the resort.
I didn't buy any chocolate or sweets when we picked up groceries Saturday and that was a mistake. We bought this huge chocolate chip cookie at the Contemporary. It should last me through the rest of the trip.
And L talked us into buying her Christmas gift early. She found a Kitchen Aid at her apartment but it didn't have a bowl and the one I claimed for free didn't fit it. She found one on sale at Target with a beautiful copper bowl that she looooves we told her to get it and we'd transfer money to her. She picked it up Sunday and already had her first baked item in the oven when we texted that night.

Sunday, October 4, 2026

To Disney!

Andy and I weere up early Saturday for Allison to drive us to O'Hare. We had breakfast in the United Club and then were on our way to Disney to see L.
We went to Magic Kingdom and rode Pirates of the Caribbean. We were in line for Thunder Mountain when they had to shut it down for lightning in the area. It rained a bit and then it poured for quite a while.
Andy managed to get a reservation for the (fairly new) Beak and Barrel bar for 4:45 p.m. It's kind of hard to get a reservation, or so we thought, until the guy next to us said he snagged a reservation two hours ago. Hmmm. He said he asked us so he could brag lol.
We were seated in the main bar area so that was nice. The decor is pretty neat.
My beer was around $12. Andy's margarita was $20. Disney prices. One drink each was enough to see what it was about.
Then it was time to got to our room. I'm not sure if we've had a one-bedroom in Bay Lake Tower before but if we did it's since been redecorated because I don't remember any of it. The furniture is not comfortable.
We have two full bathrooms and a real kitchen. With pull-outs in the living area, it can sleep five. Too bad we didn't know about Vacation Club rooms when the kids were little. There's so much more space than the regular resort rooms that can accommodate five - and the kitchen and extra bathroom would have been welcomed.
Andy asked for a room near the elevator and on a high floor so we're on the 15th floor (there might be a 16th floor of rooms but we're not sure - it might just be a lounge up there). This is our view.
We picked up L and W from their apartment and took them to the Celebration Brewery, where we went on Father's Day when we were visiting. This time it was all decorated for Oktoberfest ...
so I had to have them pose by the beer mug of balloons as we left.

Saturday, October 3, 2026

Quite the honor

Andy sent this to me the other day. He was named Attorney of the Month for September and got his picture in the company newsletter. Apparently, it's the second time he's received "the honor" this year. Too bad it didn't come with a financial award - just the glory of being in the newsletter.

Friday, October 2, 2026

Weird beans

Made a stop at Walmart the other day and saw these fall-flavored (?) baked beans - apple pie and dill pickle. Gross.

Thursday, October 1, 2026

Halloween puzzle

It's officially fall so it's time to bring out the Halloween puzzle. Piper and I thought this eould be a hard one - it wasn't easy - but once I got going it came together pretty quickly.
Finished and complete!
So many cute details on this one.

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Tati visits

L's friend, Tati, jas been bisiting her. Here they are with friend J and roommate T at Universal. (Not sure about that shirt L is wearing).
W couldn't join them at Universal because he had to work the next day but over weekend he went with the girls to Disney.
He bought L a pair of Coach sunglasses ...
and a nifty pair for himself.
He looks pretty happy with this Pirates of the Caribbean light-up sword. (Someone must have had a payday).
Here they are on one of my favorite rides. Hopefully, I'll be on it soon!
Pretty sure Tati went along for L's Halloween-decoration shopping and helped decirate the apartment.

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Mahjong hat trick

Andy was lucky last night at mahjong. We played four games - one was a wall game (no winner) and Andy won the other three.
Apparently winning three games in a night is a hat trick so he got three ducks and one of those is wearing a hat.
We were playing with Allison's newest set which apparently was lucky ... at least for Andy.