Katy's Birthday is Today!

Today I get to experience the joy of being with my amazing, beautiful wife on her birthday. I thank God every day for her, literally, but you know how birthdays are and I like to put a little extra focus on her on this day each year.  Usually that involves surprising her at work and stealing her away for the day, but we're on the Dave Ramsey plan this year, so we're not spending extra money on entertainment and eating out, so all I can give her this year are words, which I hope are good enough.  :)

Now, I don't have any recent pictures to post, but if I did, you'd see that she just gets more and more beautiful each year. I don't know if it's SUPPOSED to be that way, but it sure does for her, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind a picture because she's ridiculously photogenic AND she's lost almost 70 pounds so far this year, so she's feeling, rightfully so, PRETTY good about herself.  I'm incredibly proud of her for that, but the time to take joy in that journey is for another time, and then we'll do before/after pics so y'all can see how hard she has worked.  :)

For now, I just want to share a little of my joy with you so you understand a little bit about just how special Katy is to me.  And I'll share another bit of detail later this year on our 10-year anniversary, but for now, walk with me a bit through some details of how God has blessed me with her.

This morning, Katy told me she was thinking that, had we each taken the path we'd both planned originally, we would have both ended up in Oklahoma City, and she wonders if perhaps under that plan, God would still have brought us together. We both agree that we think He would have.  That's not how it happened, though, and we went different routes that He still made sure brought us together, and for that I am massively thankful each and every day. I'll share more of that story in November.

I've been thinking over the past two weeks about what I would write today to honor my wife, to share with everyone else how much she means to me and how happy I am that I get to celebrate her birthdays with her.  I kept coming back to the idea that I wanted to share some tidbits that bring me joy, because all of these make me happy when I think of her.

Now, as a guy, my memories tend to be focused on different things, and I tend to gloss over finer details as I get to the emotion of the memory or the main focal point. Usually, Katy just reminds me of things I forgot, or left out, or that happened slightly differently. Turns out my memory is OK, but I just get to the story by a more circuitous route sometimes, which I think is obvious now that we are six paragraphs in and I've said almost nothing so far.  So we should get to it, shouldn't we?

Real or imagined, one of the things that sticks with me is from the spring or summer of 2006, and Katy and I hadn't been dating very long, or heck, maybe we weren't dating at all yet (this is one of those details she will help me with later), but the image stays with me. We were at her parents' house, and I remembering being in the living room and Katy was asked into the kitchen by her mom. As she walked that way, I thought I saw a bounce in her step (so maybe we WERE dating by that time, right?) that exuded happiness.  And I thought to myself, "Being with me makes her happy. Is that possible?"  See, I'd been through A LOT, and quite honestly, my confidence level was pretty low when it came to self-worth specific to relationships at this point. That image of her walking happily into the kitchen never left, and it's one of those memories I keep close to my heart.

In November I'll try to tell the story of how we eventually began dating after I'd put it off for a while, despite the fact I knew we were a great match.  That's a funny story.  :)  But let's move to this instead.  I remember the week that Zac was born. Katy had developed preeclampsia and was in the hospital. Zac wasn't due until the first week of April, yet here we were in the last week of January, 2008, and it didn't look like that timing was going to work out.  I was out of work at this time but had managed to get a job doing some networking and computer setup work for a financial services startup group. As part of that, I was needing to purchase some hardware for placing equipment in a closet in their new location and was at a hardware store less than five minutes from The Nebraska Medical Center, where she was at the time.  I'm talking to a store clerk, looking for something in particular, when she calls me to let me know they are taking the baby the next day.  My response?  "OK, thanks for letting me know."  Seriously, that's what I said.

Well Zac was of course born the next day, 2/1/2008, by C-section, and whisked off to the NICU within minutes.  As I was in the recovery room Katy was in briefly after his birth, I just remember the raw wave of emotion that overcame her at that time as she told me how much she loved me. Yeah, I know, it was the hormones, right? But I'm tellin' ya, it felt GREAT, and I've never seen her more emotional than I did in that moment, and I cherish it.  I know that's her heart anyway, but to see it, and feel it, was something special I also keep close to my heart.

Let's fast-forward a little bit in that year, and the next, and the next, as I continued to be without work often as companies I worked for either shuttered my location or restructured my position right out of the business altogether. Not once in that time did Katy scold me for being out of work. Not once did she treat me or talk to me in a way that indicated she thought I was not doing my job as a husband and father. I'm not saying she didn't think it, or intimate it once in a while (because every man needs a little prodding sometimes), but I'm saying she never made me feel like I was worthless. She held me up and supported me and encouraged me. She kept working hard, making sure we had income and had insurance and once even left a good job so we could move to where I had finally been offered a job.  She provided a shoulder to lean on, and cry on, and a hug when I needed it as my confidence took a serious hit over a three-year period. Every man needs a wife that supports him, that respects him, that lifts him up. I'm lucky enough to have that in Katy, and it's yet another reason I'm so thankful to God for placing her in my life. I know I didn't do anything to earn this wonderful woman, but I'm thankful for His grace in providing someone so incredible to share my life with.

Let's do one more.  The external feature that drew me most to Katy, from the start, was her eyes. She has remarkable eyes, and in them I see kindness, and love, and softness, and intelligence, and the sparkle of contented joyfulness.  She has so many characteristics that made me fall in love with her, but the gateway to all of that is what I see in her eyes. They say eyes are a window to the soul, and I can tell you with certainty that for Katy, that is 100% true. Anyone who knows her know what a sweet spirit she has, how loving she is, how peaceful she is and how kind she is. They see all of this through those amazing eyes.  When I think of my beautiful wife, I think first of her eyes, because it is those eyes that drew me in first and provided insight into who she is.

So today I celebrate the birthday of my amazing wife, Katy. I'm so thankful for her, so thankful to God for allowing me to share in her life, and so thankful she has provided me with a wonderful son to spoil (yes, way too much) and love on.  As my old friend Brian would say, "Today is a good day."

Disney World, Day Five (The Resting Day)

I know God rested on the 7th day, but doggone, He's a LOT stronger than we are. For us, we needed a rest today to recover from blisters, chafing, overheating, you name it.  As such the shot above is the only pic of any actual person or scenery I'm sharing tonight because, well, that's all I thought to do. 

We decided last night, after analyzing our current injuries, that we'd cancel our Fast Pass options at the Magic Kingdom for this afternoon and just take it easy, then head to Epcot for dinner at Biergarten, which is in the China section of Epcot.  OK, you're right.  It's in the German section, but we had to pass through China to get there, if that makes a difference.  :)

But before we get to dinner, we can chat about the exciting schedule we kept today. After sleeping in (seems we've done that most days), we headed to breakfast with Gary and Nell and then Zac wanted to go swimming.  So for three hours Zac and I played around in the pool. Clearly we ended up with a little sunburn, but not too bad. He was having so much fun floating on his back and learning to float on his stomach, plus jumping off the side that I didn't want to end it early.  :)

After that we headed straight to lunch, then back to the room to shower and be vegetables for the rest of the afternoon until we needed to leave for Epcot.  Once there, though Katy thought she had protected her foot well enough for her blister to not bother her, she quickly found out she was wrong. After a long walk, we located First Aid and they gave her some better bandages to help cushion the blister. I should mention that on the way to the park it had begun to rain as a thunderstorm was moving in. They seem to roll through here a lot but rarely drop much rain, it seems, or at least that has been our history this week.

So we were rained on getting on the bus to Epcot. We were rained on getting into Epcot and finding First Aid, and we continued to get rained on with the clouds looking like it wouldn't stop. I decided I needed an umbrella. Katy had the one she keeps in her purse, but it's small, so Zac and I were getting pretty wet. We went into a big store, bought two umbrellas, walked outside and it promptly stopped raining.  To the rest of the Epcot visitors tonight, you're welcome.  We then headed to the Germany section of the park to get to our restaurant.  They were running behind (they have a weird seating concept which, while fun because they fill tables with as many families as it takes, means sometimes you wait a bit to get in) but once we got in, we were paired with a very nice family from Maryland. The video below is a portion of the intro song the band, which began playing at 8, performed at the start of their show.




I wish the quality was a little bit better. It isn't too bad if you play it in YouTube and tell it to show it in 720p instead.  Things like this make a dining experience a lot more fun, if you ask me. You will notice I pan over to show Katy and Zac at some point and they are CLEARLY thrilled beyond measure.

Dinner was a buffet, with traditional German foods, obviously. I tried a few sausages, sauerbraten, spaetzle, a potato dumpling and other things. Food was not bad but dessert was really good. The strudel and the berry compote with a vanilla cream sauce, in particular, were outstanding.  I had a glass of wine with dinner tonight and when I asked for it, I just pointed to the one on the bottom of this pic and told the waitress I wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce it:

After our very German waitress (all of the employees were from Germany; cool!) pronounced it, I told her that was EXACTLY what I thought but just wanted to be sure.  Yep.  It was very good, by the way. I just needed to share the name.

Here is another video from the show and this one had something to do with cows wearing bells in the fields and being some type of homage to this, I believe.  I missed part of the introduction of the song, but I thought it was kind of neat and they had fun with it:

We ended the night getting to see the fireworks show over the lagoon and then Zac wanted to ride the Mission: Space Race game again. As I write this, Zac and Katy have been waiting almost two hours for Zac to have a caricature done. Seems entire families decided to have one done of each member before she and Zac got there and the artist is way behind.  It's just after midnight, by the way, so you see what I mean about the late nights.

As our trip comes to and end and we head home to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, I think it's first important to thank Katy's parents for bringing us all on this trip. It's been a fun week, a tough week thanks to a relentless heat and lots of walking, and I know I speak for all of us when we say just how thankful we are to Gary and Nell for being so generous and loving to help create such a fun experience.  :)  I marvel at their patience with all the kids, sometimes.

I also have some tips for any of you considering this trip, and these apply to us the next time we come here as well.  First, don't rush. This isn't a cattle drive, despite how you may feel in some of the parks and the rush you see others in. As long as you take the time to plan your Fast Pass activities smartly, giving yourself time to get to each one or keeping them in the same general area, you'll be able to better enjoy your time in each park.

Second, understand you are here to have fun, not rush from dawn to midnight just to experience every last bit of every park you go to and take every last picture. The best memories are those you make through experiencing things, and you can't experience anything running around like a headless chicken or spending so much time photographing every scene you see that you don't take the time to sit back and enjoy it. Disney does a great job creating beautiful scenes and environments. Take them in. Take some pictures, sure, but not at the expense of being able to fully appreciate your time here.

Third, if you come in the Summer it will be hot and you will get cranky and you may get injured in some way (feet, hips, knees, you name it).  You came with people you love. Don't let cranky become your daily mood and ruin a good time. Watch your attitude and everyone wins. :) 

Disney World, Day Four (Bollywood is Cool but Africa Stinks)

Today was Animal Kingdom day and the fake Banyan tree above is the centerpiece of the park. We began our day fairly early, since our first Fast Pass option began around 10:30. It involved the ant, Flik, from "A Bug's Life" introducing us to various bugs we should not kill. The cool part of that was it was in 3D and included water spraying on you, a wasp stinging you in the back and later bugs crawling under your seat, which you felt, among other things. Very cool; very well-done.

Next we headed to Dinoland, which is obviously what you think of when you think "Animal Kingdom". Personally, I think of Mutual of Omaha, but I digress.

We went on a few rides in this area you see off to the right, including a spinning, twirling roller coaster that was a bit scary for Zac.  Then a dino-themed ride "back in time". Zac thought this was scary.  After this we had lunch in the area and it was a much better experience than our lunch at Epcot the other day. Better setup, better layout, lots of seating.

We then headed to Africa, or at least the section of the park that aims to be some area of Africa. I found it smelly and extremely packed, which is probably what some of the main cities are like, honestly. So, good job, Disney!  

We went on a safari ride in a very large vehicle. Aside from barely understanding our monotone driver thanks to her speaking so quickly, we did pick up a few words so we'd know which animals to look for. To the left are Black Rhinos, with Zac of course.

On the way out, we had some time and were trying to locate a Fast Pass station to add another activity. On the way there were drums set up so kids could play. Many different types and sounds which, if it hadn't been so hot and sunny right there (don't let the shade in the picture fool you), would've been a good spot to let the kids play a bit.

From here we found the FastPass place and added a roller coaster on Mt. Everest to our plans. This is where Bollywood comes in. In front of an Indian restaurant (for you politically correct types, that was "Indian") called Yak & Yeti was a DJ playing Bollywood dance music. Think club music with an Indian twist; very cool. In front of him were two Indian dancers in full garb (how they didn't melt is beyond me) dancing and doing moves that looked like a lot of fun.  A number of people joined in, including very small kids, and everyone enjoyed it quite a bit.  That was good entertainment for at least 20 minutes or so, before and after we went on a water ride.

Since we had some time before Everest, we went through the Kali Rapids, a water ride in a very large inner-tube. We could've done this one all day. At one point we hit a wave of water hard enough to where it rose up above the tube, a good 10 feet, and absolutely drenched Gary (Katy's dad). Incredibly fun and funny.  Of course, his phone didn't work for a few hours after that, but it came back.

After that we hit the roller coaster. Zac was with me and the initial part seemed fairly tame, right up until we got to the point where it stopped where it looked like the track was broken. When we began to drift backward, most of us had some thought similar to, "Are we really going back the same way we came? That was short."

Oh were we wrong. It shot us backward inside the mountain (which was cold, so that was great) at a high rate of speed with twists and turns and at one point it almost felt like we were close to going upside down. I know we didn't, but it was a sharp angle. No way to tell, because most of the time it was pitch black so you were just guessing at what was happening.  Zac did pretty well.  It was quite an adrenaline rush (plenty of speed) but he wasn't crazy about when the Abominable Snowman showed up inside the mountain in shadow form and attacked the track.  Overall, fun ride.

We had dinner plans elsewhere and needed to head back to Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail. By this point Katy was really struggling with the heat so she and I stayed in the train station near the entrance while everyone else headed off to find characters to take pics with.

A storm had rolled in and around and I snapped this one of the square inside the entrance, storm clouds above. A store visible in this shot is the Chapeau, which happened to be fairly empty, so we took the unexpected opportunity to get Zac's mouse ears embroidered with his name. It took maybe three or four minutes, which was a minor miracle, honestly.  Once everyone else was done, they met us back here and we headed to the monorail to the Contemporary Resort, which is where we had reservations, at this place:

Look how excited we were! I promise you we got better, but honestly, after walking probably three or four miles, at least, in heat and humidity from mid-morning until evening, we were a little worn out.  :)

These seats, though, were the best things we'd sat on all day. Super soft and comfortable and I wouldn't have minded waiting longer for our table if we'd had to, but I guess with dinner at 9 p.m., you really don't need to wait any longer. That is one late meal, I have to say.

We saw several characters roll through, but Mickey is the star attraction here and is also the one the kids were most excited to see, though I think they had the most fun with Pluto, to be honest.

Mandy was, I kid you not, almost drooling waiting for Mickey to get to our table once she saw him. I saw her wipe her mouth in anticipation so I know it to be true.  :)  

Whenever the characters drop by, they act very excited and encourage the kids to come hug them and let the parents take advantage of the obvious picture opportunities. We saw several characters twice on the night, but Mickey just the one time.

I had a hard time getting Zac in a shot because Jamie kept stepping in front of him (seems to be a habit) but Zac was smart enough to duck his head out toward me so I could see and as you can see, Mickey is looking right at us as well.  Best I can get? OK, I will take it!

The food at Chef Mickey's is pretty good. It's a buffet, which is great for the kids, and there is great variety throughout the salad bar and entree areas, including a carving station. Food was at least on par with The Crystal Palace, where we ate Monday night and the kids had an incredible time and thought it was great fun. I'm happy Zac and Ryan have had so much time to be together as well, because they seem to really enjoy each other, though I honestly have no idea what they are talking about most of the time.

I leave you with this picture of Katy and Zac exiting Chef Mickey's as we headed back to the monorail to Magic Kingdom so we could walk to the bus to head back the hotel. Long, long day everyone, so tomorrow, it looks like we'll go out much later and just hit Epcot again. We'll do supper at a German place and see if we can catch a ride or two for Zac to enjoy. Mostly I think we'll just relax and maybe hang out near the pool.  Now here's that pic:

Disney World, Day Three (The Day That Heat Won)

Day three for us has already completed with the exception of some pool time we expect to do in a few hours after it cools down a bit.

The heat really did win today because we had every intention of spending a few more hours at Hollywood Studios today before having a lighter supper but didn't make it.  Katy has been having issues overheating (think perhaps it has something to do with a med she takes) and getting through lunch and the three main activities we had planned for today were all she could handle.

The pic above was taken after lunch at The Brown Derby, which honestly, would've been great except for the couple in the booth next to us who let their daughters (probably one and two years old) shout, scream, climb all over everything and generally disrupt our entire half of the restaurant. The parents seemed to ignore all of this thanks to the multiple sangrias we saw them order.  The food was good.  Katy had lamb that was paired with fingerling potatoes and arugula with a ramp butter. She said this was her first time having arugula and thought it was OK, but not as peppery as she'd heard. Could be in the preparation.

Zac had genuine fish sticks. When I say that, I mean they fileted a fish and breaded two very large pieces to look like big fish sticks. That came with broccoli and thin carrots and he loved it all. I had a blackened Grouper on top of a lobster and fava bean succotash. It was extremely good.  After lunch we sat on the bench above by a pond in the middle of the park, finding some shade in an attempt to stay cool while waiting for Chad, Mickie and the kids to arrive for our first ride of the day.

That first ride was called "Star Tours", and it's a Star Wars-themed 3D ride that takes you through a space battle, hyperspace, all sorts of very cool effects.  I didn't have a chance to grab another good pic, but did this one of C3PO to at least stick with the theme.

Zac LOVED this ride as well as he did the ones yesterday that involved this type of movement. We enjoyed it quite a bit as well. What a neat way to go through scenes from a movie you've seen many times and love!

After that ride we headed over to a Little Mermaid production that was semi-interactive (think water falling in front of the stage to look like rain, lighting and effects to shoot a mist into the air and a little bit of live singing.  It was just OK but I think the kids enjoyed it.

Next up was a Toy Story-themed arcade ride located in the Pixar area.  This pic above is a view into the street and the ride we went on was in that glass-fronted building to the right.

Just to the left of that blue barrel is a little store where we bought Zac a Rex (T-Rex) from Toy Story so he could have another souvenir.  He's quite pleased with this purchase.

This pic to the left is inside waiting to get on the ride. I figured if I'm going to capture something from what was visible that would speak to where we were, this was as good as anything.

Of course, Zac had no intention of taking a "normal" picture, but that's OK.  :)  Zac loved the arcade ride with all the shooting. He and Katy were in one car shooting everything in sight while I was in another car with Ryan (they required children under 7 to be with an adult or we'd have let the two of them stay together.

Katy is proud to say she had the highest accuracy of our entire group at 54%.  I believe Chad had the highest score, somewhere above 90k points.  The rest of us? Well, I guess we were just happy to play the game.  :)  Tonight finishes with some relaxing and swimming once things cool off just a bit and the sun isn't so strong so we reduce any burning possibilities and Katy can enjoy it more if she wants to.  Tomorrow, Animal Kingdom.  :)

Disney World, Day Two (a.k.a. My Faith in Humanity is Restored)

So day two took us to Epcot, which will from this point forward be considered the standard upon which every other Disney theme park will be rated against.  Smartly designed for easy trekking to exhibits and rides with plenty of covered space and large atriums with food areas, this is how all the different parks should be designed. Even better is that it didn't have nearly as many people as Magic Kingdom at any time we were there.  I tried to capture a pic of Magic Kingdom tonight around 11 p.m. when we returned (for some reason; gluttons, I guess?) and the mass of humanity that still existed.  Unfortunately none of those shots was clear enough to share here. I do now have a pic to share from last night's dinner, however, with Zac and Piglet. He also got to see Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Even though this isn't from today, I didn't have it when I wrote last night's post, so I am sharing here.

Dinner last night at The Crystal Palace was wonderful. Nice buffet with incredible service in a beautiful environment that is open, light and airy. We all enjoyed it quite a bit, I think, and it was a nice way to cap the day prior to the nightly fireworks show, which began literally minutes after we finished with dinner (at, yes, 10 p.m.).

The fireworks show was enjoyable and we had a light rain falling throughout, which didn't bother Katy, Zac and I even a little bit given how hot we'd been all day yesterday.


Today at Epcot, we went on what for me has been the best ride yet, Soarin'. On Soarin', you ride from the view of a hang glider above various areas of California, primarily northern but Los Angeles has a view as well. You ride over the Pacific, through vineyards and across varied scenery replete with pine scent when you hit mountains with fir trees.  The sensation of actually soaring above everything is incredibly well-done and Zac WENT OUT OF HIS MIND!!!  He LOVED this ride, literally shouting throughout "AWESOME!!!!" and laughing uncontrollably. His adrenaline rush and enthusiasm continued the entire way out of the ride for several minutes. What a thrill it was to watch him show such pure joy and emotion on such a fun ride!

Later on we had a chance to take pics with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.  I don't have any of those because they will become part of our memories package, but will share when we get copies.  After that we went to this ride, which has a more tame version and a wilder one. We chose the tame version, which had a very short wait.  You have four people to a capsule (or rocket) and each has responsibilities throughout the mission, which is to get to Mars. Zac LOVED this one as well and just giggled gleefully and so purely that, again, Katy and I were so thankful he was having such a good time. :)

We had dinner plans after Epcot over at the Hollywood Studios park in a diner-themed restaurant. This pic here is just outside the park and yes, that's a hedge.  

Pretty cool, huh? I love my son; he's so photogenic!  I do NOT share this same gift but that's OK with me. I'm just glad he does. :)  Dinner in the park was at a diner-themed restaurant. The decor was kitschy but intriguing, with Disney-labeled televisions showing a loop of scenes from TV shows of the 50s and 60s. Each table had a TV and designs ranged a little from old diners to kitchen setups, I suspect. The menu was a bit limited and the food was just OK, but again service was outstanding and the kids had a great time.  


After dinner Katy's parents took the kids back to the hotel so they could go for a swim while Chad, Mickie, Katy and I stayed behind to hang out without children for a little while.  We had hoped to walk through the Hollywood Studios park and had a couple of options picked out to try, but it was already 9:30 by the time we were at that point and apparently that park closed at 10 tonight.  

So, we decided to head to Magic Kingdom (yes, gluttons, I know) to see what we could do there. That park is open very late, until 1 a.m. most nights and until 3 a.m. one night a week (crazy!).

This pic to the right shows two crazy people waiting in line for a bus to take us to the Magic Kingdom. We waited about 20 minutes after the bus ahead of us was so packed it couldn't take any more. This seems to have been our luck so far, to continually end up waiting at least 20 minutes for every bus we need, all the while watching multiples of every other park bus pass by.

The good thing was, we did eventually land on a bus that carried us off to the "land that causes you to lose faith in humanity" so we could find something intriguing to do.  We entered to some show being displayed on Cinderella's Castle. It was pretty impressive, really.

After that we decided to give Space Mountain a try. While I'd certainly heard of it, and was fairly sure it was created in the 70s, I didn't know much more than that. After a walk through lines that can best be described as "cattle in a stockyard", we got into our cars and headed off into the wild, very dark, yonder. The ride is almost entirely in the dark, with many jerky motions left and right combined at one point with instant runs up and down, big drops and fast, hard turns.  Is it a good coaster?  It's OK. Because you're in the dark you don't know what's going on, but SOME light, when it happened, was enough to make you wonder what was next. Devoid of light, you just accepted it as it occurred.  I don't think I'd let a small child on the ride, though, even if they meet height. It jerks you around so much side to side it'd make me nervous to let anyone but an adult on the ride.

A good day overall but WAY, WAY too late. We started later, which was smart. We stayed out later, which is just too much for us old folks. Tomorrow we are intent, at least in our family, of returning to the hotel fairly early in the evening after a much earlier supper, somehow, some way.  :)

Disney World, Day One (or How I Learned What NOT to Do)

And the day isn't even over yet...but I think it's relevant for me to write this post now since we've had our initial foray into the Magic Kingdom...literally.

 After a VERY late night for Chad & Mickie and the kids and their arrival, we set out a little later than expected this morning for the Magic Kingdom park.  Apparently, we had Fast Pass reservations within a certain timeframe (I honestly don't have a clue about any of our plans) for "It's a Small World".

The wait for the bus was hot and muggy. The bus ride was cool. The walk to our first stop inside the park was...hot and muggy. Did you know it's like a jillion degrees with a jillion-percent humidity in Orlando in late June????

It's true. Anyway, we head into the ride and instant cool, blessed air conditioning. I would've been happy just standing there but we actually had plans for the ride. I took this first pic of Katy and Zac on the ride.  I've posted a video link within this post as well of about a minute of the ride experience.  It was a lot of fun.

After this it was about 10:50 but Chad & Mickie, and perhaps the kids, hadn't had much if anything to eat so they were starving. Checking our map, we decided Main Street was the place with the most options.  We would've made it, too, except once we passed through the castle, a parade was going on.  It was pretty impressive. The dancers, the emcee, dancers on stilts, people in character. I really don't know how Mickey, Minnie and the other characters don't just drop over from heat exhaustion every day. Maybe they were cool suits or something underneath. I know I'm wearing one of those special cool towels right now as I write this, and I'm in an air-conditioned hotel room.

We eventually made it to lunch after a few minutes burning under the sun while we waited for a Disney photographer to get a group pic. I tried my best to do the pic without sunglasses but the angle of the sun to where we were standing made it impossible to do so without tearing up. So the third shot, I had them back on. We'll see what we get out of it. I'll either look like an idiot or look pretty happy, depending on the shot.  Lunch was good, I thought, if not really slow for a place that only serves hot dogs and fries. I was extremely pleased at my polish dog with caramelized onions and grainy mustard. When you put it all together with this really good bun, it was a little sweet and had great flavor. Quite a surprise AND we got to eat inside, which was lucky given limited seating.  We needed the break from the heat.

After this, Katy, Zac and I had a Fast Pass appointment at the Mad Hatter Teacup, so we needed to head off.  This is learning number two (the other was, go to Disney in the Winter), which is that if you are in a group, plan your Fast Pass plans to coincide so you don't end up on different ends of the park. As such, we ended up split from the rest of the family the remainder of our time in the park today, and that wasn't the plan.

After the teacups, we headed west, to Frontier Land, hoping to get into the Haunted Mansion, which Zac really wants to do. Unfortunately the wait was too long for standing in that hot sun, so we landed instead on a riverboat that took you on a tour of Frontier Land. I liked it. It was quieter, relatively crowd-free, and we occasionally had a slight breeze, something NEW for the day!  This pic on the right is sometime after we'd departed on the boat. I was near the back.

Our next Fast Pass was on Dumbo. To get there meant going to the opposite end of the park. After going the wrong way, we found our way to Tomorrowland, where we knew the rest of the family had been, though it turned out we'd missed them.

By this point Katy was having borderline heat exhaustion so we made it a priority to find some cold water. Using the trusty map, I found a kiosk and got she and Zac some much-needed water. After some of that, we headed into a gift shop for some a/c, then over to Dumbo. The great part of that was we went into an air conditioned tent initially and that helped us cool down.  Once it was our turn for the ride, we actually walked all the way around to find out all the elephants were taken.  This happened to another gentleman and his kids as well so they took us out and made sure we got on the next round.  When we did, I was with Zac and he couldn't wait to control the ride up and down, which you do from a switch in the front.  He had us going up and down quickly and we had a real blast!  So much fun!

We walked out of Dumbo straight into a big tent with souvenirs and snacks and drinks. We immediately got into line for some Icee-like drinks. Now those helped! Cooled us down and, to be honest, gave us all a brain sneeze.  If you've watched Uncle Si on Duck Dynasty, you understand that last sentence.  :)  By this time Katy had accessed the app on her phone that would let us try to schedule more Fast Pass activity.  It, of course, didn't work once she tried to get us into the Haunted Mansion, so we headed for Mickey's Philharmagic, a five-senses 3D movie experience. I have to tell ya, 3D doesn't work so well for me. It does when I wear contacts, but not with glasses. After some adjusting I did get to enjoy some of it the way it was intended, though we ended up in the front row and that made it hard. Zac, however, thought it was just the greatest thing and laughed and laughed.  So for us, sitting in air conditioned comfort while Zac had a great time made it even better than it was.  I thought it was really unique and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

We then headed out of the park to catch a bus back to our resort so we could cool off before we head back out later tonight for dinner reservations. Zac fell asleep on the bus but he was such a trooper today and barely complained. In fact, I'd say he complained less than I do. I don't always do well with busy crowds except at athletic events. The pic above was one I captured as we came out of the castle our last time headed for the Philharmagic show. Look at that crowd!  Now you tell me, does that look like fun? The crowd part is not. If there is a way to buy a Fast Pass where you can lay out your entire time in the park that day, one right after the other, no limits...that's the way to go.  I'm not sure that option exists, but it should if it doesn't and it'd be worth every penny.  Otherwise, you spend a lot of time in lines whether for a ride or a store or a restaurant. Don't expect anything fast, but DO plan what you do. I know I said I've stayed out of that, but we have had plans and we stuck to them today, both sides of the family.  We just didn't get to finish activities together but I'd call today a success in many ways.  




We learned a lot about what to do and what not to do and how to plan better. Tuesday Zac and I will go to the park with hats (we had to buy him one in the park today) and Katy and I will have our cold towels on to help us beat the heat or share with Zac if needed.  I'll also dress a little differently, go with my running shoes and shorts a be a little more ready for the heat.  The first full day isn't done yet, but even though it was hot and sometimes a little tense and thirsty and required a lot of patience, we've had fun so far!  Tomorrow, Epcot!

Dante Pizzeria...Wow!

www.dantepizzeria.com

Tonight Katy and I decided to experience Dante Pizzeria, which is a spot in west Omaha that serves homemade Italian using local ingredients.

I was inspired to take us there by the restaurant writer for the Omaha paper, who raved over hand-made pastas and everything else they offer.

They source everything locally, including cheese which that same writer had a chance to help make recently plus specialty meats from another local restaurant that I guess does its own charcuterie.  

I decided ahead of time I wanted the Pappardelle
Bolognese, because the sauce looked amazing and I don't know that I've ever had pappardelle.

One word...wow.  The pasta had a chew to it I found very appealing with a slight taste of wheat (whether the pasta has wheat or not, I don't know, but that's what I tasted.

The bolognese sauce was incredible. You can see from the description above the pic that it has a few meats along with herbs and wine, and the depth of flavor was really something.





Katy tried the Tagliatelle, which somehow I did not get a picture of to share with you here, but you can see from the description above that it looks pretty good as well. She thought it was very good.  I think she was a little surprised the tagliatelle noodles were only slightly larger than fettuccine in size...perhaps both of us were.  But it was very good.

We also really wanted to try their pizza, because wood-fired ovens can do some amazing things and because a co-worker of mine had told me this was the best pizza he's ever had.

To keep it simple, we went with the Margherita Pizza so we could really taste the crust and homemade sauce.

Like the other entrees, it was very, very good.  The crust was light and airy, thin enough to fold if that's what you like, and the cheese, that cheese from Branched Oak Farms north of Lincoln, was fresh, smooth and mild.  

I would have to say the pizza was cooked to perfection. The meal could have ended there, of course (and yes, we did take pizza home), but then they brought a dessert menu, which isn't listed online nor is it in what they bring you initially.  The choices were unique and hand-made...we had to try them.

So that there to the left is their S'Mores dessert.  Sorry I don't have the full description of it, but this is what they have created.

It begins with a homemade graham cracker on the bottom. The cracker is four inches or so across and more than a quarter inch thick, but not quite half an inch.  It's airy, not dense.  

Next they add a layer of chocolate. I don't know where the chocolate comes from, but it was rich and silky without being overly sweet.

They top it with a homemade marshmallow.  I'd never had one of those before.  It was really something.  They cook the whole thing in a cast iron skillet in the wood oven. I can tell you that the charring on the marshmallow reminded me very much of bonfires as a kid. Wonderful.

Katy decided to get the Butterscotch Pudding.  This pudding is very rich.  It's homemade, of course, and they call it a butterscotch Italian pudding. 

It's topped with a layer of caramel, also homemade, that is smooth and silky just like the chocolate was, and incredibly rich.

Then they top that with homemade whipped cream topped with sea salt.  Wow.  I had a bite of this and as much as I love chocolate, this was better than my dessert. 

The mix of flavors was just so unique that it was one of those food moments where you are in awe of the person who came up with the idea to put those flavors together in the first place.

Will we go back?  Most definitely.  Will it be soon?  Well, unlikely given the cost, though I don't think overall it was out of line.  Absolutely a place we'd go for a special dinner or even just to have a unique night out.  Highly recommend this place.

Zac's Pre-K "Graduation"

OK, yes, I did indeed put the word graduation in quotes. I mean, it's Pre-K, people. It's not like he's on to adult-hood or a career or anything.  Cut me a little slack, if you don't mind.  :)

Beaming With Pride!

Now, having gotten that qualifier out of the way, I KNOW Zac had a great time at his graduation and we, along with Nana and Puddin', sure enjoyed watching him as he literally beamed with pride during the processional and throughout the process. 

Miss Rochelle, Zac and Mr. Jake

I've got links to several videos I took and a few pics here.  I have to apologize for the distance I was forced to be for much of this.  

Mom, Zac, Dad :)

You can't zoom in with video on an iPhone, or at least not with the stock app that comes with it, and the lighting (I was in a darker area) created issues for photos I intended to get, as you can see from the glare in both pics and videos. To the right is the "Tooty Ta" song. Hilarious!

They did a number of cute things during the ceremony, which hopefully you can see and hear in the videos.  One neat thing was taking what the child had said they wanted to be when they grow up and having the teachers give their opinion on what they thought that child would be. 

With His Award

Another neat thing was giving each of the kids a candy bar-themed award for something unique to their personality. It showed me how much they paid attention and really cared and wanted to encourage the kids. 

His Whatchamacallit Award

I would say that, overall, Zac is well-prepared heading into Kindergarten this coming Fall and La Petite did some good things to aid in that preparation.  At times, they did challenge him,and he is always looking for that opportunity to learn.  Not sure he got that one from me, have to say.  :)