Our Estes Park Christmas Celebration #1

Something new for our family this year - celebrating Christmas at the YMCA in Estes Park instead of our homes!  And it was AMAZING!!!

Jessi and Gary have been to the Y twice and had always talked about how much fun it was and how much there is to do!  Glenn and I had been there and rented a cabin on New Year's Eve with Cindy and Rene' many years ago but we didn't do any of the activities! 

So after a lot of discussion, we decided to rent two 3 bedroom cabins and celebrate Christmas!  And this past weekend that's exactly what we did!!  Glenn and I headed up mid-morning for our 3 1/2 hour drive - it's beautiful up that way and we arrived just after Gary and Jessi who had checked us in!  The Keppys and us were sharing a cabin and right beside us were the Smiths and the Savages!

 The cabins were great - full kitchen and a nice living room with a wood fireplace - and this is who greeted us when we walked in the door!  She's always excited to see her Nana and Papa!!

 Jill's arrived shortly after us so we helped them unpack and soon were all settled - then it was time to head to the roller skating rink!!  Now if these pics look a little fuzzy, that's because they ARE!!  I took several but as everyone was whizzing by, the camera just couldn't focus!!  I decided NOT to roller skate but Glenn decided to and he did great except for one scary fall!

 Gary, Evan and Kenzie are masters at skating - the rest, not so much!  But hey, they tried and gave it their best shot!!

 Jill even got Robby out to skate!!

 The Smiths arrived early evening - Jessi and I were in charge of dinner that night - soup, rolls and pumpkin bread!  We had a long table at our cabin and since we had brought a couple of folding chairs, there was room for the adults at the table with the kids sitting around the coffee table!

 We celebrated Kenzie's 8th birthday!  She was excited to get a locking diary from us along with her money to buy books and a coupon for a movie!

 And her choice of dessert - oreo fluff!  It was great!

 In the meantime, the kids opened their packages from their parents that held their matching pj's (all except Rayna).  The pajamas were cute as can be but the pants were huge!!  We all got a good laugh out of that!  Here's the boys!  (note our little Christmas tree in the corner!!)

 And here's the girls!

We had a fun time just visiting and hanging out together!    But we all hit the sack pretty early that night hoping to get a good nights' rest!

Hollywood Studios

Since we were so late getting to bed the night before, I told Glenn I was NOT going to set the alarm to get up - whenever we woke up would be fine and it was no problem if we weren't there when the park opened!

Naturally I woke up early - figures - and we were dressed and out the door for breakfast at our normal time...........and we were on to Hollywood Studios!!

 We had the "entering into the park" down to a pat!!  Zippers open on the backpack so it can be checked - press the Mickey on your bracelet to the Mickey at the gate and then use the same finger as yesterday to put in the fingerprint place - (and then I would always hear a "welcome Rebecca" from the gate attendant - oh yes, we're talking high tech stuff here - they know everything about you, ha ha ) - look for the information booth that has the map of the park and the daily schedule - snap a picture of the Christmas tree - and finally look for a coffee place on the main street as you walk by - it will come in handy later...............

 We headed right to "The Great Movie Ride" - my favorite in this park - you ride in a train like booth through several sets of famous  movies!!  And it makes you want to go home and watch movies!!

After watching the live presentation of "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" on stage which was wonderful, we headed out to Main Street to watch the Star Wars Launch - gosh, these guys looked awesome!!

 I actually had a fastpass for the "Star Tours" ride but had talked to some people the day before and the gal told me if you're claustrophobic or have motion sickness at all, don't ride it!  Ha - I have both so we opted to skip that ride!!

Instead, we headed back to Main Street and got some wonderful coffee that we sipped on while people watching - very relaxing!!

After the Muppet presentation (which is really not that great and I'm not into the Muppets anyway) we had lunch - I know exactly where we ate but for the life of me can't remember WHAT we ate - only that it was good - didn't have a bad meal all week!

And then we were headed to Pixar Place where the Toy Story characters and rides were - check out this cute picture of the green guy!!

 I had a fastpass for the "Toy Story" ride and it was awesome - in fact, after I used the next fastpass I went and got another one for this same ride so we could ride it again!!  2 people to a car with a pull type gun in front of you and you went from game to game, hitting things by pulling the string!!  It was a great ride and we laughed and laughed as we tried to hit the items!!

After than, it was the "Tower of Terror" - I didn't really remember this ride that well and after I got into the place, then I remembered that I didn't really enjoy it last time so why the heck was I riding it again!!  But I did - you are in an elevator type situation and then it drops and goes up and then drops again and continues on and on - I was GLAD when it was over and don't believe I will ever ride that one again either!!  Where's my adventurous spirit???  Apparently it has left the premises!!!

We enjoyed watching a live presentation of "Beauty and the Beast" and had a guy snap our picture here!  Dessert time was next with hot fudge sundaes - yum!!!

 The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular is always good - they've changed it quite a bit and it's very exciting!!
Then it was off to eat pizza but the place was closing so we couldn't get in - darn - we actually went back to the place where we had lunch and had some bbq chicken for dinner which was great!!

The evening show (which was at 6:45 since this park closes at 7) was called "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam" and it was showcased over the huge theatre outside - clips of Christmas movies with wonderful music playing - and snow coming down!!  Disney does it up well!!!  We certainly enjoyed it and were so glad we stayed for it!!

It was nice to get back to the room at a good time and get packed for Friday's flight - the bus was picking us up at the lobby at 5:50am!!  We were ready and waiting for the bus so had plenty of time once we got to the airport to eat breakfast and enjoy coffee!!

We flew Frontier and after getting seated (for once I sat by the window) and shutting my phone down, I happened to look out at the wing and lo and behold, it was Marty the Marmot on our plane!!!!  I immediately turned my phone back on and texted Jessi!

Evan and Kenzie's school were in a contest to help name the next animal for the Frontier plane - the older kids all wrote letters on why it should be a marmot and Evan's was selected out of all the 3rd graders!!  He even got to read it at an assembly!  For some reason the contest got cancelled.  BUT apparently Frontier liked the marmot idea as a couple weeks ago, the entire school was taken to Denver International Airport and shown a plane that had Marty the Marmot on it, their school's mascot!!!  The kids were all so excited and they all got t-shirts from Frontier.

Anyway, Jessi said to take a picture out the window which I did!!

 Evan and Kenzie thought that was so cool that their grandparents got to ride on that particular plane!!  We thought it was cool too!!

It's always great to arrive back in Colorado - however it was snowing lightly when we landed and was pretty rough coming in!!  It was REALLY cold outside with our light jackets on - and by the way, I had found a coupon from the Co. Springs airport for $1.00 a day long term parking until Dec. 31st!!  WOW - we were charged a whole $5.00 from Sunday to Friday!!

And then the roads got bad heading up the pass and this was the scene out the front window!!

 3 accidents on the way up so we were glad to get home!!

And the picture below?  It's my Walt Disney World file so if any of the kids go there, I can hand them my file and show them what WE did!!  An awesome trip - an awesome time!!

Magic Kingdom

We woke up pretty refreshed for our Magic Kingdom day!  Headed over to the dining hall for Glenn's wonderful instant coffee and I ordered an omelet to split which was very good!

While I was waiting for the omelet to cook, I glanced back and saw Glenn talking to a guy - now usually when we go on vacation, it seems Glenn ALWAYS finds someone he knows.............yes, really!!  So I wasn't surprised to see him talking to someone.  When I got back to the table I asked who it was. Glenn said he had no idea - the guy had come up to him and said, "I want to be JUST LIKE YOU when I get older."  And Glenn says, "WHAT???"  And the guy replied - "You have on your "Islands" hat, (Glenn had worn a ball cap that had a palm tree and Island written on it) and your Mexico jacket (Glenn had on his jacket from Cabo which has a large fish on the back on it and CABO written on it) and that's just what I want to do later in life!!"  Glenn got a real kick out of that!

I went out earlier than usual to stand in line for the buses and they were already running that day so we didn't have long to wait before we climbed on and headed to the Magic Kingdom!  (And no, it wasn't so early that it was dark out!!  I took this when we came back that evening!)

 All of the parks have a huge decorated Christmas tree with decorations representing the park it's in - this tree was beautiful at night!!  And of course all the parks are decorated for Christmas so it really makes it special to go this time of year!  Several places had Christmas music playing too!

 And here is the magnificent castle!!

 We started at the back of the park again and basically walked on 2 rides - the park was pretty crowded that day and it felt like we were dodging strollers all day long!!  Which we were!!

Our first fastpass was Splash Mountain - it's a roller coaster but  not a steep one and it does go through some water so I knew we would get a little wet but nothing serious!  After riding it, I decided that would be my last roller coaster ride!  Even though most of the ride was really enjoyable, the steep part we came down was NOT FUN for me - guess I am just getting old!!  So I didn't have to worry about riding any more roller coaster rides that day!!

I was extremely disappointed when we went to The Haunted Mansion (one of my favorite rides) and found it was closed for renovation....................But we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean which is my all time favorite ride in this park!  It's SO NICE to just walk on with that fastpass as the lines were almost an hour long!

We had Mexican for lunch (along with more frozen lemonade) and then enjoyed the Hall of Presidents - we have never seen that production before as I guess it just didn't interest me but it did this year and it was very well done!

And then I found it - the place I had been looking for but didn't quite remember - it was the Dole Pineapple stand and they make the most amazing pineapple/ice cream drinks ever!!!  If you ever go, you must have one!!

We started standing by the rope for the parade about 1/2 hour early so we could be right in front - I hadn't brought the umbrella or the ponchos that day (0% chance of rain) as we just carried one small backpack and those 2 items made it rather bulky - and of course it started raining!!  Luckily it wasn't heavy so we just held our spot for the parade!!

And the parade was well worth waiting for - all the princesses and characters are in it and it's wonderful!

 This dragon even breathed fire as it goes by!!

 After the parade we did "Peter Pan" which is a fun ride as you're in a small sailboat that suspends and it feels like you're flying through the sky!!  A fastpass for this ride is a must as it's always busy and the line was up to a 90 minute wait time when we went!

Since the evening fireworks over the castle is not till 10 at night, we opted to go back to the hotel to rest and eat before coming back that evening - a wise choice!  I stopped and got a frappachino to enjoy on the ride back.

I think our longest wait out of all 4 days was 25 minutes and we did wait it out so we could ride Buzz Lightyear - it's a fun ride where you go through different sections and shoot the gun in front of you at all different kinds of items!!  Of course Glenn beat me!!  We stopped for ice cream again before the fireworks that night  - they were amazing and the castle changes colors during the evening!  There was also a production shown on the front of the castle which was fun to watch!!

Once again, an awesome day - and only one day left!!

Animal Kingdom

Tuesday was Animal Kingdom Day!  This park is not as busy but since it's smaller, sometimes the amount of people there make it seem crowded!

I stopped to snap some pictures of the cute characters along the way to the dining area.

 After breakfast we headed to the Animal Kingdom park!

 Glenn was tired that day - actually he was more than tired, he was just "out of it".  The night before he had taken 2 nighttime NyQuil as his throat was sore and those darn drugs were in his system most of the day!  He loved it when we went into a couple of theaters to see productions because he could sleep - ha!  I really felt bad for him but there wasn't much I could do for him!

Our first ride was the Kilimanjaro Safari - now the ride itself isn't that amazing since you ride in a truck and see animals along the way....................but the guide is what makes this ride!  And we had the most amazing guide - he had an accent, either English or Australian and he sounded JUST like the gay guy in "My Best Friends' Wedding".  Remember him?  He would talk kind of fast and then very low - he was SO FUNNY!!!   We really enjoyed the ride!

 There are several trails to explore in this kingdom so we took them all on a slow pace and enjoyed them immensely!

 I had brought the cheap plastic ponchos to wear on the "Kali River Rapids" because you DO get wet and I don't like walking around all day being wet if the sun isn't out!  So we put on our ponchos and headed in!  What I wasn't expecting was my poncho hood to come down right when I went under the waterfall!!!  So instead of staying dry, the waterfall went right down my neck and I got soaked!  Luckily the sun was out that day and I did dry out!!

Dinosaur is also a fun ride - pretty bumpy and kind of scary but we both enjoyed it!  This guy was one of the cute ones!

 I think my favorite production in this kingdom is It's Tough To Be a Bug (which is in 3d) and so funny!!  We both remembered this one from the last time we were here and we laughed and laughed!

Here is the Tree of Life - the actual production is below this tree, underground - rather cool!

We had some delicious honey chicken and rice for lunch along with some awesome frozen lemonade! And our last production we saw was "Festival of the Lion King".  Once again Disney does an awesome job!!  WOW!!!!!

By late afternoon we were done seeing what we wanted to so headed back to our room so Glenn could nap - he sure felt better after that!  For dinner that evening we just ate at the resort - since we were both really hungry we decided NOT to split this meal and that was a mistake!!  Glenn couldn't eat all of his hamburger and fries and I hardly made a dent in my "make to order" pasta dish!!  Oh well................. We did get a great night's sleep as we knew the next day would be a long one at Magic Kingdom!

Disneyworld - Epcot Here We Come!

We both woke up Sunday morning basically dragging - would we be able to rally and get packed to go?  Both of our stomachs were pretty sore and neither of us had any energy but we both got some toast down so that was good!

I would work a little while and then have to sit down - of course I hadn't even unpacked from Thanksgiving so had to do that along with a couple loads of laundry - and then there was the packing and I didn't have a thing laid out!!

But it all worked - the unpacking got done along with the laundry - and the suitcase got packed along with the backpack - and breakfast and lunch stayed down - that was a good thing!!

By 2:30 we were headed to Co. Springs to catch our flight to Orlando!  We slept on the 3 1/2 hour journey and by 10:30 we were in Florida!  Because we had booked through Disney, the Magical Express Bus picked us up and took us to our hotel - The Art of Animation!

With our Disney bands already on and because I had checked in online, our room number was texted to us and we headed right there after the bus dropped us off!  What a cute complex - and how fun to stay in a Little Mermaid room!!  I loved it!

Although it was super late before we got to bed, we were still on Colorado time so it wasn't a big deal - until morning came of course!!  We were both a little weary but took some extra vitamin c and headed to the main building for breakfast before we headed into the park!

Breakfast was decent but of course pricey as we expected - we didn't eat much anyway..............Glenn was disappointed to find out the coffee in all of Disney World is instant!

Transportation to the parks was right outside the eating place and the lines were long - but the Magic Kingdom was REALLY long so we were glad we were headed to Epcot for the day!

Oh I do love Epcot!  So many things to do and see!!  Of course being the organized person that I am, I had researched each park and decided what we would be seeing and riding and put it on an index card to carry in my pocket for referral.  I know, I know - I'm supposed to be using my IPhone for this but my phone is getting so old and the battery doesn't hold a charge that well and since I was using it for my picture taking, I didn't want to overload it!!  I had also downloaded the "WDW Lines" app which basically tells you how long the line is for a ride or show - awesome app and I referred to it a lot!!

I also had researched the places to eat - we knew we weren't going to do sit down meals as they just take too long and you basically have to have reservations so I just found counter places that had good reviews and listed 3 or 4 on the back of my card so we knew right where we were going to eat each day!!

My favorite ride is "Soarin" and I could ride that time and time again.  Glenn really enjoys the Living With The Land and of course we both enjoy going into the big globe for Spaceship Earth and also Ellen's Energy.

By early afternoon we were ready to head around the lake and visit the countries!!  I knew when we got to Italy that we would be eating gelato - YUM YUM - I had a scoop of raspberry and one of cherry/vanilla and it was awesome!!  Just had to post this picture to show Glenn's tan legs!

France found us eating a strawberry/chocolate crepe which was amazing!!

Did I tell you how easy it is in all of the parks with our "magic bands" that we wear!  You not only get into your rooms and the park with it, but anytime you buy food or a souvenir, you just touch the Mickey on your band to their mickey on their gadget and it's automatically billed to your account!  You did NOT have to carry any cash if you didn't want to - gosh that made it easy!!

By early evening we had made the round of everything we wanted to do!!  We ate fish and chips in England and listened to a great rock and roll band playing the 60's for a while - what fun!!

I had seen a lady earlier carry out some awesome looking desserts in France so we headed back that way and I couldn't help but take a picture of this - it so reminds me of an ornament I got in France many many years ago and hangs on my tree every year!

Oh almost forgot to post this picture of Glenn and I outside of the Canada exhibit!!

And now back to France to find the dessert place - gosh, there were so many different choices it was hard to pick but I chose the raspberry mousse cake which is pictured below - it was VERY VERY good!!

Illuminations was that night on the water - fireworks that were out of this world and an amazing water production!  Disney knows how to do it all well!!

It was after 10:30 before we got back to our room so we were two tired people...............

Black Friday

Jessi and I are normally up pretty early and Black Friday was no exception!  The two of us were planning on doing a couple of stops before we met Jaime, Jill and Colleen at Kohl's so we headed out and then stopped for coffee.

Kohl's always has such great prices on Black Friday so I end up buying Glenn and I clothes on that day, along with whatever gifts I need to buy too.  3 new flannel shirts and a sweatshirt for Glenn and 4 sweaters and tall black boots for me!  The lines weren't bad at all so before long we were in the car headed for a Mexican lunch.

Because everyone was basically done by that time, we headed back to Jessi's house for a while.  This is what Glenn and Gary bought when they went out!!

 Glenn had always talked about having an inverter table - whenever his back really goes out and we're not headed to Denver for Jessi to adjust him, he'll find a tree and hang upside down!  There was a great Black Friday sale on these so Gary and Glenn each got one - the guys put Gary's together and Glenn tested it out!

Gwyn LOVES dolls, especially Kenzie's American Girl doll!  Here she is not only holding Kenzie's doll but Aleah's too!!

 Jessi and I headed back over to Jaime's for the rest of the afternoon and a couple of us took the kids to the park - it was gorgeous outside!!

Pizza was on the agenda for dinner and that made for an easy clean up!  But Aleah wasn't feeling well - was running a fever most of Friday and just didn't look like she felt good!  So the Savages' opted to head on home Friday evening.

We made it an early night that evening as we were all tired although Jessi, Glenn and I sat up and laughed and giggled for the longest time.......................

Saturday morning we headed home as we had Iowa people who were in the area stopping by for lunch and a visit.  I wasn't feeling very perky and by the time we got to W. Pk, I told Glenn he'd have to cancel the friends coming for lunch as I just didn't feel good.

And sure enough, while Glenn met the people in Divide for lunch, I was home in bed sick!!  Pretty soon the vomiting and diarrhea started!  I never take naps but slept for a while that afternoon - by 4:00 I went back to bed and stayed there till the next morning - except for getting up during the night being sick!

To top it off, Glenn got sick late afternoon - wow - not a good situation!!  We were scheduled to fly to Fl. on Sunday afternoon for 5 nights with 4 full days at DisneyWorld!!  It wasn't looking good!!!

Thanksgiving 2016 - A Year Of Blessings

Can it really be Thanksgiving time again?  It seems like just a few months ago I was blogging about last year's Thanksgiving.............

We were Denver bound early Thanksgiving day with an ice chest of food and ready for a fantastic day which IT WAS!!!  Once again Jaime hosted and we were glad to have Brad's mom, Colleen also with us!  The more the merrier!

We stopped to get coffee to take to Jessi's house first but our favorite place wasn't open so we had to settle for Starbucks - Gary was kind enough to walk up the hill and get it!!  Jessi was kind enough to give both of us adjustments before we headed over to Jaime's!!

Now what's cuter than Gwyn with the turkey hat on!!

 Soon we were all gathered at Jaime's - Jill had brought crafts for the kids to do and they all enjoyed it!!

 We planned on eating right at noon since Gary had to leave for work and once again we were all prepared and ready to eat at that time!!  It was an awesome meal as usual!!  For some reason everything seemed to taste better than normal - wonder if it's because the kids (except for Gwyn) are all able to eat alone and we aren't jumping up and down a hundred times during the meal.  Whatever it was, we all appreciated the lovely meal we consumed!!

 Now dishes are never the fun part of Thanksgiving but we all pitched in and helped (after relaxing at the table for quite a while with the bottle of wine!!!)

 Since Colleen was there we actually got a family picture and it even turned out great!!  WOW!!!

 One thing we love to munch on during the day is ham and turkey cream cheese roll ups - sometimes with a dill kosher pickle in the middle - yum!!!  We need to remember to make more with the pickles next year as they sure went fast!!

 I think I caught Kenzie stealing a pickle!

Of course after our big meal the guys hit the couch for the football game and the women start looking through the Christmas lists and the ads.  Since we're going to Estes Park this year for Christmas and renting cabins, the adults chose not to draw names, just to do the grab bag gift so there weren't as many lists to look through!  We all brought our computers again and the dining room table looked like a highly unorganized office!!

After pumpkin pie (yum yum) with lots of whip cream, the girls left to head to Target - I only had a couple of things to get there so opted to go later with Jaime.  Yes, Target was busy but if you know right where you're going and what you're going to get, it's not so bad!  We were all looking forward to eating leftovers that night so didn't shop too long.................

We stayed over at Jessi's that night and were in bed by a decent hour!  Since the electric blanket on our bed had quit working, Jessi had heated up rice bags and put them in our bed so it was nice and warm - what a treat!!