Thanksgiving 2018

Was I ready to host Thanksgiving dinner for 16 after taking care of Jaime and Glenn for over a week?  Of course - believe it or not it ALL came together and went off without a hitch!!  It's nice to have a lot of help when it's needed!!

Jill's pulled in late Wed. night and Jessi's arrived mid-morning on Thursday!  The Smiths headed over also and we were glad to have Robby's mom Bev join us too!

It's pretty rare when we get a picture of the 3 son-in-laws!

Glenn and Rayna looking GOOD!!

Robby was my official "take the turkey out of the oven so I can check it" person since Glenn wasn't available this year!!  (we did a 20 pounder)

The girls making pickle cream cheese ham and turkey roll-ups - we all LOVE them!!

The 3 girls all ready to eat!

But first we had to hire a new turkey slicer so Gary volunteered this year!  I don't think Glenn missed doing it at all!!

The 3 boys - now getting a good picture of those 3 is a miracle!!

This year we decided to use the "kids" plates because they have sections and the kids hardly eat anything and the adults eat a lot!!  Good choice!!

Our little pilgrim Gwynnie!! (please ignore the wine opener beside her)

And last but not least, the crew that put this great meal together!!  And yes, my apron is STILL on!!

We had a fantastic meal - cleanup was fast - and the rest of the afternoon was ours!!!  To be cont'd.....

My New Job - Being A Caregiver

Jaime had her thyroid removed on Nov. 6th - she spent one night in the hospital up in Denver (where the surgery took place) and Brad brought her to our house to recuperate on Wed.  Unfortunately she landed back in the Woodland Park ER on Thursday for a few hours and then back again on Friday morning where they ended up admitting her.

She soon found out from her surgeon up in Denver that the surgery was more complex that anticipated and that several lymph nodes were removed due to being cancerous.  Her calcium level was quite difficult to regulate and she ended up spending 5 nights in the hospital.

I spent every day with her till nightfall and then Brad would come in and visit her - she finally got her calcium levels where she didn't have to have the calcium IV's and I brought her home the following Wed.  It was a tough time for all of us!  But so nice to finally get her to our house to start the recuperation process!

Glenn's surgery was the day after Jaime got to our house - so I took him down and he came through the surgery just fine with the added repair of a bicep.  I brought him home Thursday afternoon and began my caregiver duties!!

Jaime looks pretty good here but she had some tough days ahead of her!

And here's patient #2 with his huge sling that he sure doesn't enjoy wearing!

So I spent the next few days attending to their every need - water, ice, hot tea, hot packs, drugs, blankets and cooking and making meals for them!  Let's just say I'm sure glad I didn't pick this as my profession!!!

Jaime and Glenn both slept in recliners for a few nights and then gradually worked their way to sleep in beds.  They are both recovering nicely now and since Jaime had to move back to the camper the night before Thanksgiving since I was hosting it and had 16 people for dinner and 7 spending 2 or 3 nights, she is staying at home now and just coming over for the day to use the recliner!

Glenn heads to the dr in a few days for his post op appointment and I'm sure he'll be starting physical therapy soon!  Jaime also heads to the dr this next week and will find out when her radiation treatment will begin.  

Epcot

Day #4 in the parks - and our last day which was Epcot!!  I decided I was NOT going to deal with a jacket for later so none of us wore jackets that day - and it was SO NICE to not have that tied around your waist all day!!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!  (SOME of us wore Halloween t-shirts!)

We went through our usual morning routine and the line to the bus was not long at all - in fact, we were the first ones on the bus that day!!

This was the first day we actually had to stand and wait for the park to open - they didn't open early and we were there early so it was a wait to get in!!

The first ride we raced to was "Soarin" - one of my favorite rides!!  Everyone loved it and we actually rode it twice!!  The lines were not bad at all and our next ride was the "Living With The Land" which I knew wouldn't excite the kids too much but it's a gentle boat ride through plants and vegetable gardens being grown in unique ways!!  And after that ride, Glenn was signed up to take a walking tour "behind the scenes" at this place!  So we left him there and went to "The Seas" to ride the Nemo ride and look at the aquariums.

We tried to re-create the same photo that Jaime's had taken years ago but the sun was in the wrong spot and it didn't turn out fantastic - at least we tried!!

Glenn enjoyed his tour and met back up with us for our first fast pass of Spaceship Earth and then on to Mission Space for our next fast pass!  Thoroughly enjoyed both of those rides!!

We ate lunch at the Electric Umbrella and walked around just enjoying the park - it wasn't super busy as the crowd level was a 2!  The kids found several places to do their pressed pennies also!

We headed into the World Showcase later and did the cute boat ride at Mexico and went on to Norway for our last fast pass of Frozen Ever After!  The lines there were extremely long - Glenn and I did not do this one 2 years ago as the lines were too long so it was nice to basically walk on this ride and enjoy it!!

Mid-afternoon found us at France where the bakery was - YUM!!!  We thoroughly enjoyed a rest and having these sweets!!

I had bought "passports" as soon as we got into the park - they're kind of a replica of regular passports and you take them to the Kidcot stations which are located in every country!!  There the gals give you a postcard with a fact about their country and a place to color on the back and they'll sign your passport with your name written in their language and stamp it!!  The kids loved doing this and it was fun to find each station in each country!

The guys were DONE after a while so they went to have a beer while Jill and I walked around the lake to each country!

Check out our cute Halloween t-shirts!!

Having fun in Canada - that's Parker's stuffed animal in the top hole!!

We went to the "Coca-Cola" place where you can taste test cola from around the world - most of them were pretty strange tasting and one was absolutely horrible!!!!  I did like the melon tasting one!

By late afternoon not only were the kids done, but Jill and I were exhausted - we walked a total of 23,000 steps that day if that tells you anything!!!!!  We ended up walking back to Mexico to eat which was very good!!!  Robby wanted to go do the Test Track with Parker - Glenn wanted to just sit - and Jill, Aleah and I wanted to shop!!!  So we all went different ways and met back around Norway where we got a spot right next to the iron railing around the water!!  It was a great place for the evening performance and we were all so tired that we just sat on the cement and relaxed!!

Here's a cute picture of Parker at the Norway shop!

We saw Illuminations that night when it got dark and it was amazing!!!  What a way to end Disney World!!!

Sleep was super short that night as we had a 3:15am bus ride to the airport - Disney makes sure you get there in PLENTY of time!!!  We were all pretty tired and tried to sleep at the airport until it was time to get on our plane!!  But we had a non-stop flight back to Denver so that was great!!

What an AWESOME time at WDW with Jill, Robby, Aleah and Parker!!  Definitely one for the memory books!!!!!!

Animal Kingdom

Day #3 - we were tired this morning as there was an extra magic hour at Animal Kingdom which basically means that anyone staying at a Disney Resort could go into the park an hour early at 8:00am!  Which meant getting up almost an hour early so we could eat and be there at the opening!

Because we didn't have fast passes for the evening light show (shown in an open auditorium with spaces outside to see it very limited), we decided to make it an earlier day and not stay for the evening!

The crowd level was predicted to be a 3 out of a 10 and we were excited about that, although this park is not as large as the others.  And yes, we had a plan of attack - race to our first ride (the second most popular in the park) to get it rode before the big crowd arrived!!

Our first ride was the Navi River Journey in the NEWLY opened branch of Pandora (based on the movie Avatar!!)  The reviews on this ride and the other one were fantastic so we were excited!!  It was a river boat journey - nice and slow - through the land of Pandora!!  It was awesome - rather dark with beautiful flowers and strange looking plants!!  We got there and basically walked on the ride which we were thrilled about!!  LOVED that ride and could have easily rode it again if the lines weren't so long!!

Here we are in front of the Tree of Life!  There were people there taking photos so we FINALLY got a great group photo!!

Because Expedition Everest didn't have a long wait line, we decided to slip over to that part of the park and ride it - all but me of course!!  You wouldn't DARE catch me on this ride!!  They all loved it except Aleah!

Back over to Dino Land - Glenn and I grabbed some extremely strong coffee and let the kids ride a couple of rides several times as the big crowd hadn't been let in yet!!  The kids enjoyed looking in the shops and also finding pressed penny places to make pennies!

We walked down one jungle trail which found us by a meet and greet of Chip and Dale so I captured some cute photos of the family!

Dinosaur was our first fast pass and it didn't disappoint!!  We did "It's A Bug's Life" and the kids loved it - it's one of my favorite too and it's underneath the Tree of Life - how cool is that?

We had an early lunch at Yak and Yeti - something different than the usual fare and we enjoyed sesame honey chicken and rice.  And a great frozen strawberry lemonade drink!!

The Kilimanjaro Safari was out next fast pass and the kids enjoyed seeing the animals from the truck!  It's a great ride but if you've been to the zoo a lot, it's not much different.  We enjoyed the "Finding Nemo" production and all laughed when Robby fell asleep and started snoring!!

And FINALLY it was time for our last fast pass and the ride we'd been waiting on all day - Flight of Passage at the Pandora section.  I had read that you get on a device that kind of looks like a stationary bicycle - and that's exactly what we did.  You are strapped in well with 3D glasses on and when the ride began, it was like OH MY GOSH!!!!  It felt like you were riding on one of the huge birds in Avatar - dipping down into canyons and by the water and then back up in the air!! The soft bags around your legs made it feel like the "bird" was breathing!!   The ride was totally amazing and there aren't enough adjectives to describe it!!  We all LOVED it and I can sure see why the line stays at 90 to 120 minutes all day long - that's why you HAVE to get a fast pass!! 

It was the FIRST fast pass I went after when I was allowed to book them 60 days in advance - I was on the computer at the exact time I could get on and the earliest fast pass I got for the 6 of us was 2:45pm!!!  That's how fast the fast passes go for that ride!!  But I have to say, it was SO worth it!!

Here's a picture in the land of Pandora and you can kind of see what the features look like!

We enjoyed the production of The Festival of the Lion King and decided to call it a day after that!

But one more cute picture by the dinosaur!!

The journey back to the bus line is always long but we got on the bus right away and back to the hotel!  Glenn napped - Parker and Robby stayed in the room - Aleah swam while Jill watched her enjoying some quiet time!  We all met for dinner at the hotel dining area and ate outside which was nice!  Some relaxing time in the room before bedtime was just what we all needed before our last day at Epcot!!

Magic Kingdom

Day 2 in the parks and today was Magic Kingdom!!  It was cool in the morning but high humidity - we tied our jackets around our waist once again as we knew we'd be watching another evening show!

We had breakfast all figured out so got our food and remembered to fill our water bottles with lots of ice and water from the pop dispensary - SO MUCH BETTER than the drinking fountains in the park!  The line was much longer for Magic Kingdom but it was the closest park to our hotel so didn't take long to get there!

The guys decided they were going to ride Space Mountain first (there is always a line there) and Jill and I and the kids were headed for the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train ride!  The best thing to do is to race towards your first ride (a very popular one!) and try to get it done before the lines get really bad!!  And then you don't have to use a Fast Pass on it!  Apparently everyone else had the exact ride in mind as us - by the time we got there, there was already a 75 min wait and it wasn't open due to mechanical problems!

So we did the next best thing - skipped that long line and the kids got to ride 4 rides within the next 1/2 hour!!  PERFECT!!  We headed over to the Little Mermaid Voyage (hardly any people in sight over that way) but walked into Ariel's Grotto instead by mistake and were thoroughly confused until we realized we had went into a meet and greet with Ariel!!!  So the kids got to sit with her and we took pictures and it was just great!!

The kids loved the tea cups ride - I just have to look away as I almost get motion sick just watching them go round and round!!

Our first fast pass was "Peter Pan" - the line for this cute ride is always over an hour - no exception today - we basically walked on through the fast pass line and the kids loved it!!  It's a fun ride as you fly through the sky but I would NEVER stand in line over an hour to ride it!!

Splash Mountain was our next fast pass - I chose not to ride this one as the fast, long dip into the water doesn't do wonders for my stomach!!  But it was fun standing on the bridge and watching the others ride it!  I tried to video it but it's so fast that I missed it by the time I hit the button!

OF COURSE you have to ride "It's A Small World" even though the song stays in your head ALL DAY LONG!!  Aleah loved it as I knew she would!!  By this time Aleah is wearing her princess ears and Parker is donning his sorcerers hat!!

One of my all time favorite rides is "Pirates of the Caribbean"  We had a fast pass for that one too and I enjoyed it once again!!  Once you have used your last fast pass for the day, you can get another one so we got one for Buzz Lightyear for later in the day!

I think by noon we had ridden over 8 rides!!!  WOW - that's amazing!!

Here's a cute picture of Jill with Aleah's ears on!

We enjoyed lunch at Pecos Bill and soon it was time to grab a spot for the parade - I can't believe how early people do this!!  One side of the street was facing the sun so we opted for the other side, even though the sun was beating down on our necks!!  Since the Dole Pineapple place was just behind a little ways, we all got our ice cream and juice and enjoyed it till the parade started!!  Gosh, that ice cream is good!!

The parade was awesome!!  We all enjoyed it and it's amazing how much detail they put into those floats!!  Everyone was hot and a little tired after the parade so we walked back over to Tomorrowland and rode the People Mover - just a train like ride that takes you above Tomorrowland and a look around that particular area.  It was nice and relaxing!  And I remembered that when we had went there with Jaime's, that Rayna didn't get in the car they told her to and after a short ways, the cars split off and she went one way and the rest of us went the other way!!  But she was cool about it and did fine till we met up with her at the end.

We did our Buzz Lightyear ride and all loved that!!  And it's always nice to sit down in an air conditioned theater which was what we did when we saw Mickey's Philharmagic!!  Such a cute show where you wear the 3D glasses.

Robby decided he wanted to take Jill on Space Mountain (even though she wasn't too keen on that) so they walked back over there and Papa and I took the kids back to Buzz Lightyear to ride it again.  Aren't we cute??

Here's one of the adorable decorations around the park - they had so many Halloween/Fall things to look at!

After dinner, we were tired - imagine that???  I had a list of the best places to see the fireworks and we found a spot on the bridge rather early and there was cement seating there - awesome!!  Glenn and I stayed there and relaxed while Jill and Aleah went back to a store to buy Aleah's charm bracelet and charms - Robby and Parker went to ride something which I can't even remember now but we were all there for the wonderful fireworks!!  Disney does such a great job with this!!

The castle had a few switches of different looks - I remember it as turning blue and pink and other colors but because of Halloween, the looks were totally different!!

We had hoped to race back over and ride the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train (the only ride we hadn't done that we wanted to) but after checking the wait time (yes, we had apps that tell you the wait time on EVERY ride) it was still almost an hour so we opted to head out!!  We stopped at a candy store on Main Street where everyone picked out something and then headed to the bus stop.  There was quite a wait this time but eventually we made it back to our hotel for a good nights' sleep!

Hollywood Studios

We were all excited about the first day at WDW - Hollywood Studios!  With our phones in hand and our index cards close by (I had a list of the order of rides we hoped to ride and places to eat on the back of the card - they sure came in handy!!) we headed out our hotel doors for breakfast!

It's always a shock to walk into the dining area as they have the a/c on full blast and the music playing over the speakers is LOUD!!  But we had decided the night before what everyone wanted to eat so it didn't take long to get it purchased and dig in!

The line to get on the bus wasn't too bad and we made it on the first bus, excited that we would be there when it opened!!  But that wasn't to be as when we got there, I think every other resort had beat us and they were already allowing people in through the gate!!

Before we headed to our first ride, we had to check the kids in for Jedi Training!!  And of course we missed the sign where it was to be but we finally got there and put their names on the list for after lunch!  And then we raced to the new Toy Story Land!

That sun was bright!!  But the temps that day were the lowest of our 4 days and only reached 79 so we were happy with that and glad to see the sun after they'd had days of rain!!

Our ride on the Slinky Dog Dash was the longest wait all day but we knew the lines would only get longer!!  It was a cute ride - a slinky dog roller coaster and the kids loved it!!  As we walked by this, I just had to have a picture because I remember the girls playing with these types of items!!  So fun!!

We had our 3 fast passes for the day in the morning and we all loved Toy Story Mania which is shooting at items from a little car -  and the Star Tours was awesome!

I was disappointed to find out that "The Great Movie Ride" had been shut down.  Amazing how some of these rides come and go!!

We ate an early lunch which worked out great - Jill had discovered that almost all of the food places we had picked to eat did mobile app ordering!!  So while we were standing in a line, we could have everybody decide what they wanted.  Then you ordered and paid for it.  Once you actually got to the eating place, you clicked on your phone that you were there - and about 3 to 5 min later you picked up your food at a special window!  It was AWESOME and we didn't have to stand in those long ordering lines!!

Aleah really enjoyed the Frozen Sing Along which was our last Fast Pass (meaning you basically walk onto the ride ahead of everybody else in the standby line) and of course it's ALWAYS nice to sit down in those nice cool theaters!!

Then we took the kids to their Jedi training and watched them - it was really cool and the kids loved it!!  After they were taught their moves, a performance was held on this same stage and the show was great!!  Aleah and Parker are in the second row.

All of Jill's family wanted to do the Tower of Terror!!!  Been there, done that - no more for us!!  So we got ice cream and enjoyed sitting on a bench relaxing!

We enjoyed a couple of shows in the afternoon and got one more fast pass for the shooting game again - the "green men" came along a couple different times and they're always fun to watch!

Ice cream for the Savage's after we watched Beauty and the Beast!  Love those ears on Parker's ice cream!!

Several times throughout the day we located the pressed penny machines and the kids loved making them!  I had a list of where to watch for them in case we couldn't find any but they were pretty easy to find with at least 3 choices on each machine!

Jill and Robby also rode the Rock 'n Roller Coaster while Glenn and I took the kids to another ride - we all met back in Toy Story Land for dinner and then walked back out to the main part to watch the Star Wars Spectacular show!  It was amazing!!!!!

Getting back to the hotel on the buses is always long as everyone is leaving the park!!  And of course we're all tired (18,500 steps that day I believe!!)  The kids rec'd their gifts that night - more glow bands and a book for each of them to put their pressed pennies in!!  An awesome day!!

Walt Disney World - Here We Come!

After hours and hours of planning our trip with Jill and Robby's family, the time had come!!  It had only been a couple of years since just Glenn and I had went (for adult time without kids) but I couldn't believe how many changes had been made in that short time!

Because Jill had Frontier vouchers, we had to fly with them and let me tell you, their flight times were NOT great!!  Since we didn't want to fly out at 12:15am and arrive at 5:30am (because honestly, you would just be TOO tired to do a park that day AND you can't check into your Disney Hotel till 2:00pm!!) our only other option was to do a short layover in Grand Rapids, MI and then continue on to Orlando!

It was an EARLY morning for all of us but we arrived to long lines at Frontier and luckily we all made it through!!  I grabbed breakfast sandwiches for all of us and we ate quickly before we boarded our plane!  It was a LONG flight with that stop in Grand Rapids (no time to get off the plane though) and we were sure glad when we landed in Orlando!!

 We grabbed chicken to go and were excited as we boarded the Disney Magical Express for our ride to our Disney Hotel!!    Soon we drove through the official gates to Walt Disney World!

We chose to stay at Pop Century - our rooms were located in the 70's section and we were thrilled that we were very close to the dining and buses!!

After checking in we raced to our rooms and were excited to see we had the 2 queen beds per room that we had requested!!  The rooms had all been recently refurbished so were beautiful!!  And we had connecting rooms which made it so nice!!

Here is one of the large numbers that were all around the area!

Mickey was right in front of our building - he was HUGE!!!

The kids changed into their swimsuits to swim in the large pool while Glenn napped and Robby watched the kids so Jill and I could check out the dining area and the bus area!

Dinner was good - Jill and I had decided ahead of time that we would split meals as neither one of us can eat a large portion and it worked out great the rest of the time!  Food is NOT cheap!  But at least it was really good throughout all of the parks!

Jill and I walked around a little bit after dark and saw this huge Rubik's cube - all the decor were toy items from the 70's which was really fun!!!  They also had a 50's, 60's, 80's and I believe a 90's section also!

I had decided in advance that I would give the kids a small gift each night, along with 24 sets for each of quarters and pennies so they could do the pressed pennies in each park.  This first night they received glow sticks for the evening show and Jill gave them each a cute lanyard with a change purse to put their pressed pennies in!

We were all pretty exhausted from the long trip and we knew it would be an early morning for us with the 2 hour time change so we all hit the sack pretty early!!