Caffwa Cwanico

Deviated Septum

2012-01-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

On Dec 13th, 2011 I had surgery for a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates. If you are in need of similar treatment I highly recommend it. Here's my experience.

About 2 years ago I went to an ENT because Tammie was complaining about my snoring (which was getting pretty bad). He told me there are many causes of snoring such as airway blockage and being over-weight. Check, and check. I had a deviated septum, enlarged turbinates, and an extra 40 lbs. I knew I had a hard time breathing through my nose, but I figured it was normal for everyone. I mean, the nostrils aren't that big, how much air can you really get through those things.

He told me that surgery could correct the septum and turbinates (and that I should drop some weight but he wasn't going to help with that), but before going to that extreme he gave me a prescription for Flonase to reduce the turbinates and see if that makes an improvement. It did and within a week I was breathing better than I ever had (or better than I could remember).

My snoring problems improved only a little, but Tammie continued to put up with it. In September 2011 I also began a morning swimming routine. I love swimming. Unlike running, which gives me asthma, swimming feels great. Even after a very difficult swim I feel really good. And together with a regular healthy diet of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and complex carbs, the pounds began to slowly melt off. By December I had lost 20 lbs and I was feeling good.

Unfortunately without the daily Flonase spray my nose would feel like it was closing up on me. Although Flonase is not habit forming and is safe to use for a very long time, it was tiresome to have to refill every month and use every morning, and come December it was time to visit the doc to renew the prescription. During the visit I told him I wanted to go ahead and schedule the surgery.

This would be my first surgery that would require a short hospital stay (not overnight) and general anesthetic. The anesthesiologist paid me a visit in the pre-op room and gave me a Valium in my IV. After that I really don't remember much until I was back in the post-op room. What I do remember is: 1) transferring from my bed to the operating table in the OR and being impressed by all the cool electronic equipment all over the room, 2) "waking up" during the surgery and hearing a "crunch, crunch, crunch-pop" inside my head and thinking it was pretty awesome that it didn't hurt and I didn't care, 3) transferring back onto my bed, 4) finally arriving into the post-op room. I thought I said some stuff outloud ("this is awesome" and "ouch") when I heard the crunching, but I'm really not sure. I think I also thanked the anesthesiologist for a job well-done, but I'm not really sure about that either.

The rest of this account gets a little gross, but being a father and having seen my fair share of grossness I really have no problems with sharing it. The reader is left to decide if they can handle it.

The packing that was put in my nose is what the doctor calls "minimal packing." It's not "6 feet of gauze stuffed up there" (as he put it). But it's not exactly what I would call "minimal" either. My nose felt completely plugged up, although it was free to drain. I had to keep a gauze in a sling under my nose to keep from making a bloody mess. The pain meds kept me from feeling any pain, but I was extremely uncomfortable. When your nose is that plugged up it makes breathing, eating (swallowing), talking, and sleeping very difficult. This lasted for 3 days. Every time I fell asleep I was instantly woken up by my own snoring or inability to breath. So with sleep deprivation came a short temper, and anytime I had to talk to someone and say more than 3 words to them I got pretty mean about it. I did take that week off of work, so only my family got the worst of it.

When the packing was removed I saw for the first time exactly what it was. The doctor removed a 2 inch long tube-shaped stiff gauze from each nostril. They where in much deeper than I thought was possible. But oh what a relief when those things came out! I could breath! I could sleep! I had an instant change in my mood too.

The improved breathing was short-lived though. After a few minutes it started to feel like I had a cold, but it was still better than the packing. My nose also continued to drip a pink ooze. I was sick of the gauze sling, so I just kept a tissue with me constantly. (Puffs with lotion, I love you.) Over the next week the dripping slowed and changed color to a greenish yellow. But the breathing didn't really improve much. Things felt worse than before the surgery. The ENT assured me this was normal and things will get better as I heal.

I was warned before the surgery that during recovery some very large "scabs" would form inside my nostrils and these may come out on their own and look like very large boogers. They weren't kidding, and this was really the most exciting part of the recovery. I had 2 come out a couple days apart that looked like huge pieces of plastic or rubber about the size of a dime. But they were just the tip of the "iceberg." The doctor removed even larger ones during another follow-up visit. And finally, the breathing began to show signs of improvement. I could breath better than I could even with Flonase.

But breathing wasn't the only difference I've noticed. When I went back to swimming I discovered that the chlorinated pool water no longer stings my nose. Ever since I was a child I remember pool water stinging. As a swimmer it was something I just learned to put up with. It also would usually let up after about 10 minutes of swimming. But now it doesn't sting at all. I'm assuming the stinging was caused by the turbinates and now that mine are smaller there's no longer any irritation. The next time I visit the ENT I'll try to remember to ask about this.

I'm still recovering and still seeing improvements every day. One irritation that I continue to deal with is cold air. It really makes my nose hurt. Also, I still have to be careful about bumping and pressure. The doctor says this sensitivity should go away after another month or two. But the improvements to my breathing and reduction in snoring, even only after one month, make this treatment well worth it. You really can get a lot of air through those tiny nostrils!

Rachel's Violin Recital 3-12-2011

2011-03-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of Rachel playing 3 tunes at her violin recital.

Worm Treats

2011-03-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

We found some baby worms in the backyard and wondered what the chickens would do with them.

Today was their first day getting worms. We shot this video during the second feeding. A couple of them know they should get them from the plate, but the rest just run around chasing the ones that have worms instead of getting one from the plate themselves. We thought it was pretty hilarious.

The white one - "Pox" - seems to be the most observant and curious. She always looks like she's studying you or puzzling things out in her head. She was the first one to take to the worms. Once she had the first one the rest chased her down to get it.

We don't plan on giving them worms often, since they are still pretty young and get all the nutrients they need from the feed. This was an experiment. We're also hoping that some exposure like this will help re-enforce their natural instincts for when they are introduced to their outdoor coop. They're already scratching around in the brooder looking for stuff under the pine shavings.

I'm amazed at how baby chickens are pretty much ready to go right out of the egg. We've had baby cockatiels several times, and they require a lot of care and tending by their parents. But chickens are walking, eyes open, and feeding themselves right away. They come "pre-programmed" with a great deal of know-how.

We've got chickens

2011-03-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

Meet Eve, Pox, Skittles, and Omelette.

2 more to come. The outdoor coop is under construction. We've got a webcam set up for live viewing of the chickens. If you want to see it you need to email me and I need to know you. I'll send you the information.

Sunriver 2011

2011-01-30T21:19:00.001-08:00

We had a really good time at Sunriver this year. This was the first time everyone got to ski/snowboard together. Adam wanted to try the snowboard. It was also Rachel's first time on skis. David, Tammie, and I also skied.

David was too fast for me and I never had a chance to catch him on video. This was his 3rd or 4th time skiing and we signed him up for his first lesson (up until this point I had been what one might call a teacher if one were being so generous). Each time he'd pass me up I wasn't expecting him so the camera was never ready.

Snow Caving 2011

2011-01-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

A couple years ago I blogged about our first snow caving experience. Well, we've been twice again since then. The most recent being just yesterday.

The first year's lessons were well learned and last year we made some improvements to the cave that we repeated this year to much success.

First, we made arrangements to arrive early in the day so that we'd have plenty of time to be digging during day light. It takes us about 5 hours to complete a cave.

Second, and this takes some experience, we dig the sleeping loft elevated above the height of the entrance to help hold in the heat. But not too high to allow for a ceiling high enough to be able to sit up.

Third, to prevent the tarp from slipping and sliding on the icy cave floor we put down a canvas floor cover. It gets very wet and has to be peeled off the floor when we leave, but it gives the tarp traction and keeps the floor stable.

The weather while we were digging was miserable. Cold, windy, snowy. But the snow was great for digging out. It was just wet enough to stick together so you can pull out big chunks. It was also wet enough to soak us through our outer layers. We got wet but stayed warm the whole time. When we finished we went inside the lodge to warm up and dry off by the fire.

Saturday morning looked beautiful, however. Clear sky and a terrific view.

Rocket Party

2009-08-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

I took the family out to have a little "rocket party" last Saturday. I had been working on a rocket with an onboard digital video camera and it was finally finished. (More information on this over at my Tinkering Lab blog.) So I also dug out some of my older rockets to re-launch. A couple of them needed a little fixing up, but no big deal. I bought each of the kids a simple rocket they could assemble and launch. And after getting my launch controller fixed up again (the switch had gone out) we were all set to go.

I found a huge field that is apparently used for growing wheat, but is vacant right now. It's close to home and free of trees and structures for our rockets to get stuck on. It rained a little bit while we were there, which almost spoiled the whole thing. But it eventually stopped and the winds didn't get too strong to kill the party.

The kids were funny to watch during the launches. Even though the rockets aren't that loud, the kids would plug their ears and flinch away. They even seemed to be a little scared of the launch controller, hitting the switch and almost running from it.

We did have one mishap with Rachel's rocket. Somehow the engine blew up on it. It was just mini A engine. Immediately after clearing the launchpad and about 20 feet in the air it just popped and fell to the ground. Rachel was so concerned for her rocket that she immediately ran to it and picked it up. Unfortunately it was still very hot and she burned the tips of her fingers. After letting it cool and upon further inspection we found that the engine had blown a hole in its side and the inside of the body tube actually caught fire. It was still smoldering when she grabbed it. I don't know if it was a faulty engine or just a really old engine (one of my old leftovers) that had exceeded its shelf life. I've launched many many rockets and never seen that happen before.

Aside from that major downer, we all had fun.

Anyway, here are a couple videos of my "Big Daddy" rocket with the onboard camera:

I'm so glad I caught the rocket on that second launch or it probably would have really munched it. The parachute can be repaired so we hope to have it flying again soon.

During our little rocket party we also got to see some jets from the airshow going on at the nearby Hillsboro airport. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds gave us some noisy flybys. We were close enough to get some cool views of the jets, but we weren't in any of the flight paths to be too concerned about our rockets interfering with the low flying aircraft. But we still made sure not to launch when the jets were flying around us.

That photo is of a very large plane that flew by. I'm not even sure what it is but it's HUGE! The picture doesn't even do it justice. It took us by surprise and I didn't have my camera out fast enough, but when we first saw it, we can only describe it as a "flying cruise ship." It looked too big to be flying. And to see it flying so low just made it stand out all the more.

Trek in the Park

2009-07-20T07:09:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we made a trip into Portland to see Sand in the City. It's a yearly fund raising event for Kids on the Block where they feature sponsored sand sculptures.

Click on the picture below to go to the web album for more photos.

But this was just a side trip. Our real goal for the afternoon was to go see Trek in the Park. An outdoor production of an episode of the original Star Trek series. This was the first year this group has put this on and they have plans to do it again next year. This episode was Amok Time.

Even with very minimal set pieces they did a terrific job. Also, fortunately, the actor playing Kirk did not channel Shatner but gave his own performance. The acting was great, the audience was great (everybody gave a big cheer at even their very simple transporter "effect"...standing in position while the sound of the transporter played off-stage). And while the pictures show a very full and engaged audience, what you can't see is that the audience was overflowing with standing room only and people even watching from behind "back stage."

They gave us a preview of next summer's performance. That episode will be Space Seed, with...everybody say it...KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHN!!

Serenity & Empire

2009-07-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I attended the annual Can't Stop the Serenity charity event in Portland. This event was started in 2006 right here in Portland and has caught on worldwide. I didn't hear about it or start attending until 2007, but I've been every year since. It's really fun and is for a great cause.

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera this year so I don't have any pictures of the fun costumes people wore. But this year a reaver actually showed up. He looked great and was creeping people out. Last year we had a couple Blue Hand Men. They also stayed in character the entire time, intimidating everyone around them.

The screening was at Cinema 21. It's an old theater that has been restored. Comfortable seats. Not so great sound system though. Either that or the audio on these film prints of Serenity is just deteriorating more rapidly than the image.

Then on Thursday a friend at work told me that KUFO was having a charity screening of Empire Strikes Back on Friday. I haven't seen Empire on the big screen since it's first theatrical release in 1980. It was so long ago that I don't even remember going, but I must have because I knew all about it before I saw it on TV and video years later. I missed it in theaters for it's special edition release in 1997 (I think I was so disappointed with the special edition changes in Star Wars that I didn't even want to bother with Empire). So this was going to be a special treat for me and I had to go.

Also, the 501st Legion was attending. Nothing could stop me from going!

And this time I took my camera!

The movie was starting at 11pm. Doors opening at 9pm. I was expecting a long line so I got there at 6:30. Nobody there. I was the first one. Unfortunately I didn't want to stand around and I wasn't really sure where the line was even going to form, so I checked out the local shops for an hour. When I returned at 7:30 there were about 20 people in line. So, not first, but a great place in line.

The screening was at the Bagdad theater. A very cool theater that I now want to go back to more frequently. Like the other McMenamin theaters in Portland they serve food during the movie. Tasty food too from the looks of it (I was saving my money and didn't make an order).

Everyone who was in costume at this event was a member of the 501st Legion.

They walked up and down the line interacting with the guests.

Posing for photos.

Hamming it up.

And making every fan-boy (and girl) jealous that we don't have a costume as cool as theirs.

Before the movie started Cort and Fat Boy (who is actually very fit...I don't know why he goes by that name) got up on stage followed by those of the 501st Legion in attendance to welcome everybody and say a few words. According to Fat Boy, they were actually able to secure a print of Empire from Lucas Film because of the 501st. KUFO has midnight screenings of movies about once a month and have been wanting to show Empire for while. But Lucas Film wasn't going to play ball. So they decided to do it for charity, but even that wasn't breaking the ice. But as soon as they got the 501st to attend Lucas Film gave them the print. It's cool that they have that kind of influence.

After everyone came down off the stage they played a few fan-made movies that were absolutely hilarious. I don't know all of what they played but some were:

RVD2: Ryan vs Dorkman 2
Troops
Darth Vader Bing An A-hole

And a couple others I don't know the names so I can't find them online.

The theater was packed. Some were rabid fans, others mild fans, and a few who were dragged there by their boyfriend/husband. But everyone had a great time. Lots of yelling things at the screen, cheering, and shouting out lines. Perfectly acceptable behavior at a screening like this. And it was awesome to see it again (or really the first memorable time) on the big screen.

Thanks KUFO and 501st! You rock!

Star Trek

2009-05-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

Star Trek is AWESOME!!!!

I grew up watching re-runs of the original Star Trek series. I was a fan of The Next Generation immediately when it came out. So when I thought the kids were old enough to understand and appreciate Star Trek I introduced them to it from the beginning. (I actually use the term "indoctrinate" though.) And much to my joy they too fell in love with it. (That's a tribble Rachel is holding that she has with her whenever we watch Star Trek...so she took it too the movie too.) We are currently in the 6th season of The Next Generation.

The movie is not just AWESOME (!!!!) though, it's SUPER AWESOME with a side of AWESOME topped with a big scoop of AWESOME. If you don't know anything about Trek you'll have a blast. If you're a long-time fan (or newcomer) you'll love it from the first 30 seconds and on through the end.

Season Openers

2009-04-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first game of the season for both David and Adam. David is playing soccer and Adam is in baseball.

And even though yesterday wasn't her first game of the season, Rachel has been enjoying dance. Here's a couple numbers she did at her last recital in December. (I forgot to post it up at that time.)

Snow Caving

2009-01-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Our first time snow caving. We went to Timberline Lodge on Mt Doom...er, I mean Mt Hood.

Lessons learned:

#1 David learned that jeans aren't very warm in snow, especially when wet.

#2 I learned that a plastic tarp on an icy cave floor likes to quickly find the lowest point in the cave.

We slept horribly, but we had fun. Timberline Lodge is beautiful and I'd like to go back there in the summer...maybe even next winter for some skiing.

Welcome!

2009-01-06T23:14:00.000-08:00

Why move? When I put together my last (first) blog I did it in kind of a hurry and never thought it would last very long or that I'd use it much at all (not that I have used it a whole lot). And at the time I made it I wasn't trying to be super creative with the name. Once I came up with a name I liked it just felt like it was too late or too much work to switch. But I figured I'd just go ahead and rip the bandaid off, so here it is. The new blog home. Same Blogger service, just a new URL.

Welcome to the Caffwa Cwanico!

Caffwa: How I said "Catherall" when I was a kid.
Cwanico: That would be how I probably would have said "Chronicle."

I've moved all my old blog posts here except a few. The geekier posts I've moved to an entirely new blog.

Introducing...the Tinkering Lab! I'll be keeping my more geek-centric posts there.

Oh, gee, it's up to my knee

2008-12-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

We got another 6-8 inches today, on top of the (now thicker) layer of ice, that's on top of the 6-8 inches of snow from 2 days ago. I actually had to go out and...*gasp*...shovel it. I haven't decided if it was punishment for being a homebody for 10 days or if it was exercise. Either way I wasn't liking it.

I didn't really have to shovel it. But it was almost too deep to walk through and it is probably going to get worse over the next week. So I figured I might as well start eating the elephant.

Snowed in!

2008-12-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

We've seen some crazy weather the past week. Last Sunday we got our first snowfall...and much more than we're used to getting here. Portland is not well prepared for getting this much snow, so usually even a little bit will cause school delays or even closures. This was supposed to be the last week of school before winter break, but the weather caused school closures for the entire week!

I also wasn't able to make it to work for several days. Fortunately I'm able to remote into work and still get things done. So I ended up working from home most of the week. (And as sweet as that may sound it's definitely a distraction when the kids are home too.)

Yesterday and today got even worse though. We got much more snow yesterday than we had all week. Then overnight and this morning we got a freezing rain. So there's about a quarter-inch of ice on top of about 6-8 inches of snow. Just a few minutes ago we were back to snowfall, and as I look out the window right now we're back to the freezing rain.

The kids were picking up great sheets of ice and trying to make an ice fort.

That bush was standing upright yesterday.

Stuck.

We don't get snowplows. I don't think the city even owns any snowplows.

An "ice flower."

Orlando Adventures - Day 14 Finale

2008-12-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well, that's it! We flew home today. No incidents at the airport or en route. Fun was had by all, but we are also glad to be back home. I'm sure this feeling of "glad to be back" will last until tomorrow when we all have to go back to school and work. I predict that around 11:00am tomorrow we'll all be wishing we were back at Walt Disney World or sitting by the pool in the sun. Oh well, it all had to end sometime.

I've finished editing a couple videos of Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Not the best videos as I didn't get a whole lot of video footage. Also, these were shot using my digital camera with a primary purpose of still photos. But, you get the general idea.

The video of Soarin' flashes because I'm using a video camera to record film. Video and film rates are not the same, so you get a strobe effect. Anyone who's ridden the ride knows that it doesn't really look like that.

Epcot:

Hollywood Studios:

Orlando Adventures - Day 13

2008-12-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Much better weather today. Just a little bit chilly, but sunny and clear. We spent the morning playing on the beach and in the pools then came back to the room for lunch.

No Cape Canaveral today though. We decided we had already spent enough money so we went to some cheaper (or free even) local attractions.

After lunch we headed out to Angell & Phelps Chocolate Factory and got the free tour and bought some yummy chocolates. The tour was much smaller than I expected. It's not a very big factory. Nothing is automated accept the chocolate dipping since they can't really hand dip as effectively as they could when they didn't need to wear rubber gloves (the gloves now make it difficult to feel the temperature of the chocolate). Everything else is very manual from the mixing of the chocolate, making the cream centers, and even packing the boxes...all done by hand.

Can I please eat my vegetables now?

Then we went south to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. The tallest lighthouse in Florida (second tallest in the US). It's a pretty cool place. It was my first visit to a lighthouse. They have museum exhibits in all the houses used by the keepers. Some showing how they lived and others showing about the lighthouse, the lenses, and the kerosene lantern. It's still operational, but is electric now of course. They allow visitors to go all the way up and out on to the balcony. You can't go up into the lamp house at the top, but they have a window you can look through to see the lens and lamp.

This is our last day. We fly home tomorrow. We've got lots of packing to do tonight to get things ready for our early morning trip to the airport. It's been a really fun and adventurous vacation.

Orlando Adventures - Day 12

2008-11-30T17:33:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Just a relaxing day at the pool and beach today. We did get some clouds and rain that brought a cold wind. That cut our outdoor fun short. There's an indoor pool too, so we moved in there when we wanted to keep swimming but couldn't put up with the weather anymore. I even saw some tornado warning on the news while I was picking up lunch. But there wasn't any tornado touch down that I saw.

Only a couple pictures for today. I was also taking a break from having the camera always attached to me.

There's a movie theater right next door so we also went to go see Bolt. It's a pretty fun movie, although it's a very similar story to Toy Story 2.

Also, having just spent 1-1/2 weeks at Disney parks I think I've been spoiled by the level of service you get there. Everyone I've run into that works in a service type position around here just seems to be doing the bare minimum. They almost seem to be just going through the motions as if they really can't stand the job but can't seem to get out of it either. Not really a complaint, just another observation from having been sheltered in the Disney bubble.

Tomorrow I'd like to go out to Cape Canaveral and see some NASA toys. Plans might change though.

Orlando Adventures - Day 11

2008-11-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Our last day at Walt Disney World. :-(

We slept in then had to pack things up to vacate the house we've been staying at. The rest of the gang has relocated the remainder of their vacation time to Turks & Caicos while we are going to Daytona Beach for the next few days. But we wanted to get one last visit to the parks in today before checking in at our next hotel.

So we began with Animal Kingdom. I took the kids to Everest and waited in the standby line while Tammie got Fast Passes for the safari. I really don’t mind waiting in Everest's standby. The queue is very fun to meander through. It’s set up as if you are going on an expedition to the top of Everest. The first portion is the expedition office. Set up like a 3rd world travel/tour office with an old computer and an even older tv/radio. Then you move through what I can only assume is a temple of some sorts with statues of yetis with offerings of fruit and money all around. Then through a supply/souvenir shop with camping and hiking equipment plus t-shirts and other items a tourist might like all ready to be purchased, but the store owner is currently out. The station after that is a yeti museum with all kinds of interesting yeti artifacts.

The kids and I love this ride. Tammie likes it too, but can’t ride it. She tried it once but it aggravated her heart. (She does just fine on Thunder Mountain though. But this one is much more intense.) Adam even had his hands up most of the ride. (Can you tell I'm trying to train the kids to be coaster junkies? But I'm also trying to show them that Disney can be enjoyed without high speed rides.)

On our way to take the safari tour we stopped by the Flights of Wonder show...a free-flight bird show that tries to show more natural behaviors. No birds on bicycles here. It was a fun show with some really cool birds. Unfortunately most of my pictures turned out blurry. Then I had the same troubles on the safari again. I’ve really got to figure out which setting is best on my camera for the fast action shots.

When we tried to leave the park we, of course, got caught by parade traffic. And in the Animal Kingdom with its narrower walkways and fewer walkway options it's an even bigger congestion problem. We had no choice but to wait it out. I'm really really hating parades now. They are seriously nothing but trouble. And more often than not they really aren't worth all the trouble.

We finally made it out of the park and made a dash over to Hollywood Studios to try to get to the Backlot Tour before it closed for the day. I was imagining the tour to be much bigger. It was a bit of a letdown. It had a quick "stunt" show at the beginning where they had audience members participate in a demonstration of some movie magic. Then we hopped on the trams and took a back and forth drive through boneyards (where old movie props are left to rot) and another demonstration of movie effects magic involving a fuel truck explosion and a flash flood. It scared Adam and made him cry, but it really made no sense at all other than showing some cool effects. Why exactly are things breaking, exploding, and flooding? Is Michael Bay here? Oh, yeah…he's actually mentioned quite a lot throughout the attraction.

Once that big disappointment was over we made our final walk out to the trams and to our car. I couldn't help but feel a little sad that it was over, but I was also glad that we were able to come and enjoy so many good times together. I learned a few more things about my kids and I hope they have made some good memories that will last a lifetime.

Here in Daytona things are much different. It's nothing like the serene Kissimmee neighborhood or the sanitary Disney atmosphere. There was some kind of car show tonight and classic cars were cruising the streets in front of our hotel. There was quite a bit of noise outside with the cars and the onlookers that made our arrival a little more confusing than we had anticipated. And so far, the party atmosphere and high rise hotels have the kids feeling a little intimidated. It should be interesting to see how things go the next few days. But I'm sure once the sun comes out and the daylight takes the place of the nightlife things will be better.

Orlando Adventures - Day 10

2008-11-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

I think the kids are officially Disneyed-out. I felt like I was dragging them into the parks today against their will. Adam seemed excited though. Rachel just seemed to be going with the flow. But David was protesting the most. Well, most of the day that is. But towards the end of the day Disney delivered on their "dreams come true" end of the deal and David was able to find a cast member wearing a limited edition Monorail pin that he had been dreaming of getting (literally...he had a dream about it) and that seemed to perk him up quite a bit and he was much more cheery the rest of the night.

And even though it was the day after Thanksgiving, the park attendance wasn't as bad as it was yesterday. It was still pretty thick, but things seemed to lighten up after dinner.

We also managed to avoid all parade traffic and get quite a bit done, including things we hadn't seen before. In fact, we did so much I'm currently having a hard time remembering the order we did things. And some things are repeats, I'll move quickly through those. So in order as best as I can remember...

After taking the ferry boat into the Magic Kingdom this time instead of the monorail we got Fast Passes for Space Mountain then rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority followed by Tomorrowland Speedway. We ate lunch at the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle place. It was okay. Not as good as the Yak & Yeti Cafe in Animal Kingdom though.

Then we caught story time with Belle. Adam got called up on stage to play the part of Gaston. He loved it. Sometimes if he gets shy he'll completely clam up and roll up into a ball. But he just let the ham in him come out and shine. It was hilarious!

Then we made it Fantasyland to get Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh and ride Peter Pan. While we were in line for Peter Pan, Tammie took Rachel to get her hair all glittered up at the barber shop. We were hoping she would have been done before we made it all the way through the line, but they caught us at the exit and we rode later again at the end of the day to give Rachel the chance to ride (we also lucked into getting someone else's Fast Passes and saved us 30-40 minutes in line).

After we met up with Rachel and Tammie again we rode Pooh (our first time riding the WDW version...it's okay...it's got some fun bouncy parts), then Space Mountain.

We wanted to give the kids a chance to go play on Tom Sawyer's Island, but the sun was quickly setting and we had to get to the other side of the park. We hopped on the train to make it faster, but even that wasn't fast enough. The rafts were already closed by the time we got there. We grabbed some Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain and went on Country Bears (yay...I miss them), got some Dole Whip Floats (mmmmmmm), and went on Tiki Room (Under New Management...and this new management thing is a real stinker...they need to restore it back to the original and get Yago out of there, ugh), Pirates (this time the Davey Jones effect was working...very cool), Haunted Mansion (it's more fun at night), then grabbed dinner at the Columbia Harbour House (again...great place).

After all that we did some souvenir shopping, watched Mickey's PhilharMagic (first time seeing it...that was a very impressive show...I wish we had the time to watch it again), went back to Peter Pan (this was the second ride I mentioned earlier), caught the fireworks, then rode Thunder Mountain in the dark (this time even Adam was raising his arms!)

And the day is over. I think I covered it all.

Tomorrow will be our last day at Walt Disney World. We're going to spend some time in Animal Kingdom doing a couple things over again, then over to Hollywood Studios to try to squeeze in a backlot tour. In the evening we head to Daytona Beach for the rest of our stay.

Orlando Adventures - Day 9

2008-11-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Thanksgiving Day! But we still spent some time in the park. Not all day though. We had a big Thanksgiving dinner at 4:00.

We expected huge crowds today so we tried to make plans to work around them. And there were indeed very big crowds. But we were still able to do most everything we wanted. To make things easier we just stayed in smaller groups instead of trying to do everything together. Plus some people wanted to stay home to make the dinner.

When we got into the park we used the train to get around at first. We wanted to go to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain first and the train stop is right next to them. Tammie grabbed Fast Passes for us on Thunder while I got the kids some ice cream and frozen bananas. Then we rode Splash. It was going to be a while before our Fast Passes for Thunder were mature so we got back on the train and headed for Space Mountain. The line there was 90 minutes and Fast Pass return was after 7:30 at night (but we couldn't pick up any Fast Passes anyway). We decided to skip Space, much to Adam's disappointment.

On the train.

David and Tammie didn't want an ice cream but they did want a treat from the bakery on Main Street. So they went to go get their treat while I took Adam and Rachel on the Carousel then Small World. We wanted to go on Peter Pan, but the line was too long. We grabbed Fast Passes just in case we'd be back later tonight. Tammie and David made it to Small World just as we got off so we jumped in line on Haunted Mansion and they caught up to us there.

After Mansion we had time for Rachel to go pick out a parasol she wanted and then we rode Thunder Mountain. After Thunder we grabbed a corn dog (we were trying to save our appetites for dinner but we were all so hungry by this time that we were getting quite irritable), then we needed to leave the park. Unfortunately a parade was underway and make the already thick crowds nearly unnavigable. And we made the mistake of trying to walk our way out on Main Street instead of just going the other way and taking the train around.

Oh well, we made it out, and made it home just in time.

But we still had about 1 hour to kill while waiting for dinner to finish up, so everyone jumped into the pool for some Marco Polo and Sharks & Minnows.

Dinner was grand, delicious, and very filling. With turky, stuffing, and pie sitting happily in our bellies we just weren't feeling like leaving the house. So we took the rest of the night to just relax.

No idea what we might be doing tomorrow. Maybe back to Magic Kingdom just 'cuz it's our favorite.

Orlando Adventures - Day 8

2008-11-26T18:42:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

We finally made it to Animal Kingdom. This was our first visit to this park for our trip. Actually, the first visit for any of us except the locals in the family. I'm really impressed with and love the atmosphere there. It's very lush and feels nicely overgrown. But in a crowded park it just seems to add to the confusion. Especially since the trees block any kind of view beyond the immediate area making it impossible to orient yourself with landmarks. Many of the trails look very similar and I got turned in the wrong direction more than once.

We wanted to make sure to go on the safari so one member of our group grabbed everyone's park passes and made a dash for the Fast Pass distribution while we went over to ride Dinosaur. That was a really fun ride. Unfortunately, all the kids were scared of it. They take your picture just as a huge t-rex attacks your vehicle. In the photo all of the kids have their heads down in fear (in fact they pretty much hid like that after the first dinosaur encounter)...except Adam. He had a look of fear on his face that can only be described as "I want to hide and cry but there's no way I'm turning my back on that thing." It was kind of sad and funny at the same time.

Then we grabbed passes for Everest, the one ride I wanted to be sure to ride on as many times as possible. We ate lunch, then went on the safari. I'm impressed at how well they were able to transform Florida into Africa (I wonder how much the animals enjoy the humidity during the summer though). It was a fun ride, but the vehicle is so bouncy and they don't slow down long enough at the animals to really take it in and/or take pictures. So half my photos are really blurry.

We watched It's Tough To Be a Bug. I gave Adam a warning before hand about some of the effects so that he could avoid them. Unfortunately I forgot about a few of them. The funny thing was, he was more upset about having one of the bugs spit "acid" on us than any of the other scary stuff in it. There seemed to be many first-timers in that showing too, which made it all really fun.

We also rode the river raft ride where Adam and I got soaked. Adam was freezing afterward so we had to take him into the bathroom and let him undress and wait in a stall while we dried his clothes at the hand drier. I just stayed wet the rest of the day. And things got much colder tonight than any of the other nights.

We tried to make it to see the Finding Nemo Musical, but didn't get there on time so I took a group of kids to wait in the stand by line for Everest (our Fast Passes were still not mature yet). It was a 1 hour wait, but we really didn't have much else we wanted to do and I wanted to ride more than once...which means one of those rides will require a stand by wait. It was awesome! That is a fun ride. I've seen video of it on the web so I knew what to expect, but those videos can't recreate the entire experience. And the queue is one of the best I've seen yet. Very immersive and highly detailed.

I'm constantly impressed with how fearless Rachel is with these coasters. During the second ride on Everest I actually saw her raise her hands during some parts of it. Of course, not the really fast or dark parts, but still...it's a start. (She absolutely hated Dinosaur by the way.)

While we rode Everest, the remainder of our party had held places in line for Nemo, so we were able to immediately jump over there. It was a fun show, but that downtime in the dark revealed just how tired I was. I kept nodding off. We can't have that, so back to Everest we go for another shot of adrenaline. This time we had Fast Pass. Then we were able to ride a 3rd time right after that with some extra Fast Passes someone was able to pickup.

By the end of the final ride the park was about to close and we still needed to eat dinner. We went to the Yak & Yetty Cafe. Delicious!

I think tomorrow we're going to be going back to the Magic Kingdom. It will be Thanksgiving, so it should be interesting to see how the crowds are.

Orlando Adventures - Day 7

2008-11-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Today went off pretty much as planned. We made it to Blizzard Beach around 11:00am (an hour after opening) and had a really fun time there. The weather was cool and there was some rain just as we were leaving the house. At first we were worried that it was going to ruin the day, but I figured that if I'm going to get wet then I want to do it on purpose. Better to be wet at a water park than wet at an amusement park. So we kept our plans and it worked out perfectly. The rain stopped just as we got there and the sun came out from behind the clouds quite often. But the water park attendance was really low which made it all the more fun. No lines at all on any slides. Plenty of room in the pools and beach chairs.

We had fun in the wave pool, then moved on to the water slides. The weather was just cool enough to chill the kids in between slides. By the end of the day their teeth were chattering so we left about a half-hour early (it closed at 5:00). The kids were really brave doing some slides that looked scary.

David had the goal of conquering the biggest drop (in the top picture above). It's a nearly verticle drop all the way down. You get going about 50 mph by the time you reach the bottom. I took Rachel along with us just to see if she wanted to do it. She showed no fear and just walked right up to it without hesitation. This is the same little girl that runs and screams in fear if she sees a bee, or hears a bee, or thinks she might have seen or heard a bee but it was actually a fly.

They made me go first though and I felt like I had to put on the brave face. Sitting at the top of this thing is very intimidating. About 2 feet in front of you the slide just disappears. I made it to the bottom, with some pain from the water slapping me pretty hard as it brought me to a stop. Then Rachel came next followed by David. Each of them came out with a look of pain on their faces. And each of them, like me, said "that was fun, but let's not do it again."

We didn't have a chance to do everything there, but we did get to do everything we wanted to do multiple times. They also asked if we can go back, which we definitely will when we have the next opportunity.

After we left Blizzard Beach we continued as planned and went back to Hollywood Studios. Everyone was hungry so we went to the Commissary for dinner. We ate there the last time we were in that park and liked the selection. We also saw some cool Lost displays.

I still wanted to see the Backlot Tour, but we were too late. The sun had just set and they don't run it after dark. So we went to One Man's Dream instead (a display and movie about Walt Disney), Star Tours, Muppet Vision 3-D, then Fantasmic. The park was closed when Fantasmic got out so we headed back home.

A fun filled day where we did pretty much everything we had set out to do and had a fun time doing it.

Tomorrow is the Animal Kingdom and back together with the whole gang again.

Orlando Adventures - Day 6

2008-11-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

After much deliberation this morning, we decided not to ditch the rest of the family and do our own thing. At least, not entirely. My original thoughts were to just go to Animal Kingdom regardless of what the rest wanted. Epcot yesterday was just too crazy and unproductive.

But when I found out they were going to Magic Kingdom and I felt a little bad about not letting the cousins have more time together...(and I really favor the Magic Kingdom so I was wanting to go back there too...and test my hypothesis that it would have been the better park to visit yesterday...) we decided to rejoin the throng and make it another massive gathering in the park. We were short 2 people this time as they wanted to go fishing instead. But a 10% decrease didn't seem to really make that big of a difference. Or did it?

The Magic Kingdom was absolutely insanely crowded today. And we tackled things differently this time that made all the difference in the world.

Rule #1: If you're hungry you stop and eat where you are regardless of what the rest of the group wants to do. Everyone else will go on and leave you but we'll regroup later if we want to.

Rule #2: We don't have to do everything together unless it's convenient. Smaller groups are more agile and can have more fun. Grouping the kids by size/interest and providing enough adults per group for kid management makes for more efficient use of time and energy.

We split up, regrouped, changed groups, etc. multiple times during the day. All without too much trouble. We had a few snags of confusion where the crowds were heavier or where communication was difficult due to noise, but we made it through.

We did begin the day with a special trip to Epcot (just Me, Adam, Rachel, Tammie, and a couple cousins) to ride Spaceship Earth as we had promised Adam. And this time my screen worked. Not that there was anything particularly exciting about the video that plays (just your face on some animated characters). It was the principle of the thing.

Then we hopped on over to the Magic Kingdom, where dreams come true. (It says so on the sign so it must be true. Does that count as a written contract? I may have to visit guest relations to find out.) Our special trip to Epcot cost us 2 hours, so when we finally got in to MK we needed to eat. The rest of the group that got there first had found a perfect corner by Space Mountain right by the railroad tracks that we had all to ourselves.

The view from our private picnic area.

While waiting for everyone else to get off Space Mountain we grabbed some Fast Passes and some of us went on Tomorrowland Transit Authority (I miss the People Mover) followed by Carousel of Progress, then Buzz Lightyear.

By this time some people in our group had mature Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain. Instead of trying to hike across the park we were going to take the train around. Unfortunately the 3:00 parade was starting and the train was put on parade delay. Everyone got on the train anyway while I tried to make it by foot so I could drop off some stuff at the locker. I had to fight my way through parade traffic (I've decided that parades are evil) and everyone beat me there anyway. I grabbed Fast Passes for Splash Mountain and the whole group found their way on to Thunder Mountain's Fast Pass line (some extra Fast Passes magically appeared making it possible for those of us without them to still ride...maybe that counts as a dream coming true).

Just after getting off Thunder Mountain.

Then we split up again to go ride Haunted Mansion. Wait times for the most popular rides today were over an hour. Mansion was about 40 minutes with no Fast Pass. We went anyway. Some rides you just have to wait in line for. Then the kids and I managed to break away from everyone else and go get a Dole Whip Float. Mmmmmmmm! Then Tammie found us and we rode Pirates.

Dinner was at the Columbia Harbour House, my new favorite restaurant in Magic Kingdom. We (just the 5 of us at this point) found seating up stairs that was so peaceful and had an awesome view out over the river. The food was excellent too. It's counter service so the prices weren't too high either. I'll be going back there as often as I can.

Our Fast Passes for Splash were ready after dinner so we made our way there and found that everybody else was also on their way. So with just a 1-2 minute wait we were able to all ride together. Well, in 2 logs of course. Adam and I got to sit in the very front and while we didn't get soaked, everything from the shoulders up got really wet.

Then I took our kids and 1 cousin over to Space Mountain to ride with our Fast Passes. To make the trip easier we used the train. Adam was a little upset with not being able to ride Thunder Mountain in the dark (I was telling him how fun it is and now that's his newest thing to keep asking for), but we'll do it another day. After Space we rode Autopia (not the right name for it in MK, but I'm calling it that anyway).

It's now getting to be 8:00-ish and the kids are starting to get tired. Some of the group was going to go home and I had planned to stay in the park with a few of the older kids who wanted to stay until 11:00 closing. Unfortunately, there weren't enough seats in the cars going home early to take everyone. So I drove home with them with the intent on returning. But by the time we fought our way through another parade crowd (now I'm hating parades with a passion), stopped at the candy store to get a treat, caught a monorail back to the parking lot, and a tram back to the car, it was nearly 10:00. Forget the return trip. This was a one-way trip home.

All was not lost though. The kids got to finish things off with a dip in the pool (it's pretty cool out at night, but the pool is bathtub-warm so it's still fun) and I found that work had lined up some things for me to do (not the best way to end the day, but better to have the time to do it at night than burning morning hours with it).

Tomorrow we are definitely doing our own thing. Not necessarily because we want to split from the group though. Everyone else is going to Hollywood Studios, and except for a couple things we haven't seen we really don't need to spend the entire day there again. Instead we are going to a water park with the plan on joining everyone in the later afternoon or early evening at Hollywood Studios.

Orlando Adventures - Day 5

2008-11-23T17:58:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

With the whole gang in town now we made an effort to go to the parks all together today. Here are the numbers, you do the math: 13 children (which includes 2 babies), 10 adults. Anybody who has been to a Disney park with more than 8 people are now shaking their heads in bewilderment and pity. We decided on Epcot for it's diversity and larger spaces. In hindsight, I think that was a mistake. Many individuals in the group enjoy Epcot for the fun Future World provides for the kids and the eye candy in World Showcase. But the way the group functioned as a whole, there was more interest in riding rides, which isn't exactly the way Epcot is set up. I think Magic Kingdom would have been a better choice. Also, keeping track of kids through Inoventions is a nightmare. And "a group of 23 in a souvenir shop" could replace the phrase "bull in a china shop."

But all was not entirely bad or crazy. We did have fun too! So let's get on with that part...

Again, the first ride of the day was Space Ship Earth. And again, the computer on our car didn't work on the way down. My only purpose in life right now is to ride that dang ride and have it function perfectly for me. By the way, one of the coolest things about that ride is the smells. When you enter the burning library you smell fire. Right after that you enter a scene with incense and you smell incense. I love the little touches like that. They should have more smells on that ride. And I think this is becoming Adam's favorite ride in Epcot. He wanted to ride it again before we left and never got the chance. I told him if he gets ready fast enough in the morning then we can make a trip very first thing tomorrow just to ride it again.

Then we went to the Energy pavilion where I almost fell asleep on that ride. It wasn't entirely boring...just relaxing. I've also learned the sign language for "bored" as Tammie kept signing it to me the entire ride.

We then went to Mexico in World Showcase for lunch then rode the boat ride there. I'm still impressed with that area and would love to spend more time there. In fact, that's pretty much my theme when it comes to World Showcase. And I've learned now that when I do this again we should spend a day in Future World and a day in World Showcase. Don't try to do both in one day. We just can't get it done in a sufficient manner.

After that we rode Maelstrom in Norway.

By this time our Fast Passes for Soarin' were mature and we headed across the park to ride it. We had some first time riders with us and that is always a treat. Some people in our group then wanted to go to see the Living Seas. We had already seen it enough and wanted to go see parts of World Showcase we missed last time. So this is where we split off from the pack.

This time instead of starting on the left in Mexico we went straight for the right with Canada and watched the circle vision movie O Canada. Good movie, nice area, I'd like to spend more time there.

Then we continued on through the United Kingdom, and really only stopped there to use the restrooms. Nice area, I'd like to spend more time there.

On to France, our main destination in what time we had to do this part of the park. We (I) really wanted to make it to the pastry shop. We all got a little treat and enjoyed the faux French streets.

Then we made it to Morocco to cancel our dinner reservations (long story). Nice area, I'd like to spend more time there.

The time of rejoining the family was getting close and we also needed to get back to China to buy a souvenir David had his eye on. So we headed straight there and only stopped a few times for photo ops. Nice areas, I'd like to spend more time in all of them.

In China we saw some acrobats but the crowd that was there was already too thick for me to be able to get a good view for pictures. If we have the opportunity again I'd save a spot just to watch that. Incredible skill. I'd like to spend more time there.

Then it was on to Mission Space and Test Track. This time I rode Mission Space on the Green team (that's the tamer version of the ride without the spinning). Much better. It was still very fun but didn't have the nausea afterward. Test Track was also really fun.

By this time it was dinner and nobody could decide if we were going to stay in the park and eat or go off-site. After much deliberation it was decided to go off-site so we left the park...much to Adam's dismay. We had to go home first though to drop off some tired babies. But this turned out to be our final stop. The combination of hunger and fatigue had warn others to the point of just staying home and getting dinner there. Which turned out to be a really good choice. We've been playing hard and staying up late. Tonight we'll have the opportunity of getting to bed at a more reasonable time to better charge our batteries.

We've also decided that tomorrow we're back on our own.

Orlando Adventures - Day 4

2008-11-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

"Wow! We got into the parks reasonably early this time."

Today I started out the day by taking the kids to Disney's Hollywood Studios and left Tammie and Grandma to do some grocery shopping before the rest of the brood arrives. We got into the park around 10:00am. The first thing I immediately noticed was how much smaller this park was than all the others. In fact, having walked back and forth from one end to the other (several times) it seems that it's even smaller than Disney's California Adventure. I've heard many people call it a half-day park, but we actually spent the entire day there and didn't see everything. We did get to see most of what we wanted. I think the only thing we missed out on was the backlot tour.

The first thing we did though was to make a beeline for Toy Story Midway Mania. We had been told that it's a popular ride and the Fast Passes distribute very quickly. At 10am the return time was already 4:45! Once we had our Fast Passes we aimlessly wandered around trying to figure out what we wanted to do first. That's when we ran into the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers! Woohoo! Well...at least for Adam. He was very excited. And to our surprise there was really no waiting for picture opportunities with any of them. Turns out we got pretty lucky with the time because they left before we got pictures with all 5 and every time we saw them after that there were huge lines.

We then stumbled on the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show just as it was about to start. We missed a couple minutes of the beginning and got some crummy seats, but we returned later in the day and got somewhat better seats. And having seen it once already I knew when to have my camera ready the second time.

After the show we meandered around taking in some of the scenery and discovered Star Tours. Just outside Star Tours they were starting the Jedi Training Academy, but we couldn't see it very well and decided to come back later. We never did make it back though. I'm sure we will before the whole trip is over. This was Adam's first time riding Star Tours and he loved it. We came back again at the very end of the day and made it our last ride.

Right next door to Star Tours was the Indiana Jones stunt show. That was also a lot of fun. Again, we arrived just before it started and had bad seats. I'd like to also go back and see that again.

The kids then insisted on riding the Tower of Terror. Even Adam wanted to. I don't think Rachel has ever been on it either. I told Adam all about it, and although he seemed a little intimidated, he put on a brave face and didn't back down from wanting to ride. Once inside though he began to be even more scared but pressed on. I had a penny with me that I was going to use to entertain him with having it float as we fell. The penny doesn't float though. You fall so fast that it shoots straight up to the ceiling and falls back down. I managed to catch it and do it again. That seemed to make things more fun and a little less frightful for him. When it was over he said he loved it. We even rode it again later in the day and he didn't need the penny this time. Rachel also loved it enough to join in the second trip. I almost had David not holding the handles.

A young starlet trying to catch a break.

We got Fast Passes for Rockin' Roller Coaster. Adam was just an inch over the minimum height requirement, but I wasn't going to let him ride this one without me riding first to see what it's like. I loved it! Rachel liked it too. It was her first roller coaster with an inversion. She had no idea it was coming, but she loved it too. Of course, David loved the speed and the inversions. We'll be back to ride that one a few more times.

We also visited the animation building and enjoyed the shows in there. We joined in the drawing class where Rachel, Adam, and I learned how to draw Pluto. Rachel did a really good job. I hope her picture survives the trip home so I can scan it in.

When our Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania matured I gave mine to Tammie (she wasn't in the park when we got them) so she could enjoy it with the kids. So I really don't know what it's like. But Tammie says it's worth a return trip just to ride that again.

Our second to last ride of the day was the Great Movie Ride. It was good, but I wouldn't say it was great. Rachel really liked it though. The Alien scene was a little too scary for Adam, but I thought it was cool.

My overall impression of the park is positive. We came to Walt Disney World the first time about 12 years ago but only visited Epcot and Magic Kingdom. So this was my first visit to Hollywood Studios. I am a bit annoyed at having to work around a show schedule when I visit a theme park. And with all the shows, that's pretty much how things work there. It makes it difficult to plan your day and kills spontaneity (unless you have luck on your side like we did the first half of the day). You also either wait around a long time for shows to start or you walk from one end of the park to the other quite frequently, trying to jam in as much as possible...like we did the second half of the day.

But there are things we want to come back to do a second time, and I'd still like to see the backlot tour.

I'm not really sure what we're doing tomorrow. We'd like to go to a water park while we're here, but it's been a little too cold for that the past couple of days. We'll probably do that in a few days. We also want to visit the Animal Kingdom.

Orlando Adventures - Day 3

2008-11-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Another slow start to the day. This time though it was mainly because we had to relocate from the resort to the house we're renting. The big one that all 4 families will be staying at for the reunion. Right now it's still just us and grandma. Everyone else shows up Saturday night.

We made it into Epcot at about noon-ish. I am hoping this trend of getting to the parks late won't last long. Mainly because I know I won't stop opening each post with a complaint about getting to the parks late. So I'm not even going to mention it anymore. From now on, if we get in early I'm going start the post with "Wow! We got into the parks reasonably early this time." Otherwise assume we got there 20 minutes before lunch. Then we had to postpone seeing or riding anything even longer while we ate lunch.

The first ride of the day was chosen by Adam again: Spaceship Earth. This time it was one he loved and has been begging to go on it again and again. We haven't returned to it yet, but we definitely will. By the way, we also found out that Spaceship Earth runs on Windows.

No wonder it had to reboot.

The ride stopped on the descent and the interactive video did a reboot on our car. We never did get it up and running again, so our finale was really disappointing. We could see what was supposed to happen on the other cars around us though.

Then we ate lunch at the Land pavilion and grabbed Fast Passes for Soarin'. And since Living with the Land was right there we rode on that. We then went and visited the Seas pavilion while we continued to wait for our Fast Passes to mature. There's a Finding Nemo attraction there and we all had a great time seeing all the fish, dolphins, and other aquatic life. One dolphin liked to buzz the windows while we were standing there. He'd make laps around the tank, seemingly coming out of nowhere as he swooped on by. I got video of it and will post it once I finish editing it all together. (Too tired to do it tonight.)

We then rode Soarin'. It's a favorite for all of us. Had great seats too. I'm usually unlucky on that ride and get the very lower corner seating position. But this time we were smack dab in the middle. And I had the extra pleasure of sitting next to Adam while he got super excited about the whole thing.

Following Soarin' we wanted to go ride Test Track and Mission Space, but we also wanted to be sure to save some daylight for the World Showcase. Since the Test Track line was too long and the Fast Pass return was too late in the day, we decided to just ride Mission Space. And by "we" I mean me and David. None of us had ever been on it before so we weren't quite sure what to expect. I wanted to see what it was like before taking Rachel on it. And we're taking no chances with Tammie and her heart condition.

Mission Space is a flight simulation that uses a spinning "centrifuge" type ride system to simulate the G-forces of a rocket launch and deep space mission. David was all excited to just feel some extreme G-forces. They have it set up where the "Green" team doesn't spin or feel the extreme forces. But the "Orange" team gets the whole experience. Naturally, we went with Orange. I get sea sick, car sick, and just general motion sickness pretty easily. I don't have any problems with roller coasters though. But a flight simulator isn't really truly a roller coaster. And every 30 seconds they're warning you about the ride conditions and motion sickness. I started getting a little queasy just standing in line with all those warnings. The ride was incredibly fun and very realistic feeling. But afterward I did feel a little dizzy and my stomach wasn't too happy. David was whooping it up about how awesome it was, and I was doing my best not to feel too sick. I'll go on it again, and I'll take Rachel next time, but on the Green team instead. (Why isn't the sicky version called the Green team?)

After that we made our way over to the World Showcase, starting on the left with Mexico. Riding that attraction and enjoying the indoor "outdoor" street shopping. It's pretty cool and I look forward to going back and maybe eating dinner there. We continued our way around the lagoon seeing as much as we could and as time allowed. The highlights include (in order of yummiest): dinner at Oktoberfest in Germany (fun show, great food), the circlevision theater and gift shop in China (the gift shop is an attraction itself...Rachel mastered the marionette), Norway and the Maelstrom ride (the gift shop there also looks quite fun but we had to dash through it to get to dinner on time to see the show). After more gift shop browsing in other countries we saw the fireworks show and headed out.

We never did get to see or do everything we wanted, but we'll be back.

Epcot is an interesting place. You really need to spend 2 days there in order to take it all in. But at the same time it doesn't seem like there's that much to do. Future World contains most of the rides, but it really doesn't have many. It's also not very picturesque (so I don't have many pictures there). On the other hand, World Showcase is very well themed and there's something wonderful to see around every corner. Unfortunately I didn't have much daylight while we were there so not many pictures there either. There aren't many rides at all, but still a fun experience getting to have a small taste (or at least a Disneyfied look) at cultures from around the world. We all look forward to our second visit to see the things we missed the first time and to experience some things a second time.

I believe tomorrow's plan is...Hollywood Studios!

Orlando Adventures - Day 2

2008-11-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

I woke up at 7:00 this morning with the sun shining right in my face. And although I'm not a morning person, lately I've been finding it difficult to go back to sleep once woken up. So I decided to just get out of bed. My alarm was going to go off in another half hour anyway so I could get up to remote into work and do a couple things that I'm going to need to do every morning while I'm away.

I finished my work at about 8:15 and tried to pull everybody else out of bed. Nobody wanted to move. It must have been a tougher day yesterday than I realized. Eventually the kids were coaxed from their beds (everyone accept David who is an early riser on his own). But all they wanted to do was watch TV.

"We've got the Magic Kingdom out there just waiting for us. We didn't come all the way to Florida to just watch TV," I begged.

And after much more pleading and prodding the kids were fed, bathed, and dressed and ready to head out the door...at 11:00.

We had intended on using the shuttle service the hotel provides for transportation to and from the parks. Unfortunately, they only drop off and pick up twice per day and we missed it already. So we drove instead. It was a very short and pleasant drive. The weather was perfect for a day in the parks. High of 69 degrees. Sunny. Beautiful weather. (I heard it was rainy and cold back in Portland...snicker.)

The Magic Kingdom was gorgeous with all the holiday decorations on display. And the castle...breathtaking. Especially with the lights all over it at night (see picture above). Adam insisted that the first ride we go on be Space Mountain. I tried to warn him that it was a fast ride in the dark (but I didn't try too hard because I didn't really want to scare him out of it, I just wanted him to have some necessary information). It scared him pretty good. He acted like he enjoyed it afterward, but when we went on it again later in the day he wasn't up for it.

We also rode the Indy Speedway (WDW version of Autopia). It was Rachel's first time driving alone and she seemed to have difficulty steering and reaching the gas peddle even though she met the height requirement.

We then rode Thunder Mountain (another one Adam wanted to ride but didn't enjoy too much), Splash Mountain (no complaints from anybody here, other than getting wet), Haunted Mansion (cool new effects I haven't seen before), visited the Swiss Family Tree House (sniff...I've missed it), Jungle Cruise (some cool additions not at Disneyland, but the skipper was dull), Pirates (not anything as cool as the original, but had to ride it anyway), Stitch's Great Escape (I'm not a really big fan of Stitch, but had to see it anyway...I prefer the Alien Encounter that was there before...although that would have been way to intense for the kids), then back to Space Mountain.

By this time it was 6:30 and the park was closing at 7:00 for some Christmas party that was a special ticket event. We could have bought tickets to stay until midnight, but they were $60 each and seeing the crowds that came in for it we're glad we didn't. Instead we grabbed some food. We did stay over the 7:00 cut off to finish eating and we were politely asked by a cast member to finish up and exit as quickly as possible. We did finish up, but took our time exiting due to the crowds and being distracted by some of the changes that took place after dark.

We got lost on the way back to the hotel (took a wrong turn out of the Magic Kingdom) but eventually found our way back and went for a night swim to finish the day off.

Even though the day started out late and was cut short at the end it was a good first day. We didn't try too hard to see everything at the park, knowing that we have plenty of time to come back. We also took the time just to take things in, enjoy the scenery and even some of the wildlife.

Tomorrow...Epcot!

Orlando Adventures - Day 1

2008-11-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

Today we flew out to Orlando Florida for a 2 week vacation/family reunion. My plan during this time is to provide a daily trip report with pictures (and maybe video) as we go instead of waiting until the end to try to catch up. I've got a computer with me this time due to work commitments that's making this daily report possible.

Things started out not so great but ended up nice. Our flight was at 6:00am which meant we needed to leave the house at 4:15. I also had some work I needed to get done before leaving the house, which meant I had to wake up at 3:30. Not impossible. This was something I planned for and was ready to deal with, so no complaints about it. But we didn't make it to the airport in time to meet the 45 minute cutoff. Yes, United Airlines (at PDX at least) requires passengers who are checking their bags to be there 45 minutes before the flight leaves or they don't get on. We missed it by 3 minutes. So we were put on standby for another flight. The United agents did their very best to get us on the next available flight, and I have no complaints about the way they treated us. They did a great job.

We did make the next flight 30 minutes later that put us through Chicago instead of Denver. We ended up getting to Orlando only about 45 minutes later than originally planned. But due to being put on standby we didn't get to sit next to each other on the first flight. They were able to find at least 2 seats together where Adam and I were able to sit. But David, Rachel, and Tammie had to sit in separate seats. They did fine though, and I had lots of leg room (yay). Adam and I played about 10 games of chess. (Yes, about a week ago I taught Adam chess and he picked it up very quickly. He's still learning strategy and is learning to take quick advantage of my slip ups. He's turning out to be quite a gamer. Any game, be it electronic or board. I want to introduce RPGs to the kids too. He'll probably love them.)

On the second flight we were able to get groups of 2 and 3 seats that were relatively close, so not so bad there. However, in the Chicago airport I think I got hacked when I tried to make a quick jump online to check in at work. I didn't have much time to do it and I may have tried to connect to the wrong hotspot. Those of you who got the email that appeared to be from me already know what I'm talking about. But I've been researching this email that went out and found that it's been happening to others and only with Yahoo mail. So now I don't know if my computer was hacked or just my Yahoo mail. Either way I've changed my password and that should prevent any further attacks. If it wasn't due to the Chicago airport hotspot then that's an awfully big coincidence since the email was sent roughly the same time I was in Chicago.

So we made it safe and sound to Orlando. Got a nice rental car. And we're currently staying in the Floridays Resort. It's a beautiful resort and very comfortable. We're tired, but excited about what tomorrow brings...Magic Kingdom here we come!

Water Park

2008-11-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

We went to the North Clackamas Aquatic Park today. It was our second time going, but this time I took my waterproof camera case.

The above embedded video is really low quality. I recommend going to the Youtube page instead and clicking on the "watch in high quality" link just below the lower right corner of the video.

More pictures here.

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

This Halloween I had a great idea for a costume, and it took a considerable amount of work. This year I discovered the awesomeness of Iron Man. And as soon as I read this Instructable on how to make your own Iron Man arc reactor, I just knew this was a project I had to take on. More pictures on that below. First, the kids... (As usual, click any picture to see a larger version.)

David was a headless man this year. He rigged up a very clever skeleton system to hold the shirt up and to simulate shoulders. It was working great for most of the night, but by the end he was complaining that it was hurting him, but toughed it until we were all done.

Rachel and Machika, the Japanese student staying with us this week, dressed up as Mulan and an American Indian. This was Machika's first time going trick-or-treating and she had the best time. I think she liked it more than any of the other kids there.

Adam was a ghost. He wore the costume to school yesterday, but then he wanted to be a vampire today. After we figured out how we were going to put a vampire costume together at the last minute, he changed his mind and decided to go back to being a ghost. Not sure what changed his mind, but we're glad he decided to go with his first choice.

Tammie was a witch and got to stay home to pass out the candy. We don't get too many trick-or-treaters. Our street just seems to be out of the way. And in the past few years we've always had way too much left over. This year though we bought less, and had just a few more trick-or-treaters and we actually gave it all away.

I usually don't even bother to put together a costume. But, as I mentioned above, I got bit by the Iron Man bug. So I had to do this just for the geek factor. And there was no way I could stay home. I had to get out and let my light shine. So I made the rounds with the kids to all the neighborhoods. I even had my own headlight.

Some assembly required.

I'm "It"

2008-10-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears that I've been tagged. One thing you should know about me: if I get one of those "forward this email to 10 of your friends if you [want money from Bill Gates/love Jesus/are patriotic/really think there's something to these stupid emails]" emails I will absolutely, positively, without hesitation delete it and not not not pass it on. I feel such things are a bane to email and are worse than the most hideous of spam. (Okay...maybe not that bad. But I do hate them.)

Given that then, how do I feel about blog tagging? Meh. It's cute, but not my thang. It's certainly not as heinous as those chain emails that only make servers more busy than necessary, clog the tubes, and propagate stupidity. (breathe...calm...go to your happy place...) Seeing as one of the rules is to tag someone else I get a little bit of a twinge at the thought. So I'll play along. But please excuse me if I don't tag anyone else. :-)

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago...
1. Graduating college.
2. Looking for a job.
3. Moving in with my parents (thanks Mom & Dad).
4. Found a job for 2 months (went out of business).
5. Looking for a job.

5 Things on my "To-Do" list today...
1. Work.
2. Work.
3. Make dinner.
4. Finish Halloween costume.
5. Install Japanese language support in Windows.

5 Snacks I enjoy...
1. Pie
2. Sourdough toast with butter
3. PB&J sandwich with milk
4. Cottage cheese on canned pears
5. Pickles

5 Things I'd do if I were a Millionaire...
1. Retire
2. Build robots and destroy them in glorious battle
3. Finally install the home theater of my dreams
4. Tour the world
5. Go off-the-grid

(Gah! I'm editing this to add... 6. Go into orbit!)

5 Places I've Lived...
1. Utah (American Fork, Provo)
2. California (Simi Valley, Antioch)
3. Taiwan (Beitou, Sinchu, Panchou, Junan, Yunghe, Jungli)
4. Oregon (Beaverton)
5. I already listed more than 5

5 Jobs I've Had...
1. Lifeguard
2. Chicken frier
3. T-shirt printer
4. Computer support tech
5. Mechanical engineer

Pet update

2008-10-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we decided keeping Lance wasn't going to work for us. He just wasn't compatible with the other pets we had. He almost ate one of our cockatiels and loved to chase the cat. Since it was going to be way too much work to keep him from attacking the birds and even from escaping out the front door, we returned him to our neighbors. Other than that though he was a great dog. Very friendly, hardly barked at all, and my allergies didn't act up. If we were to get a dog in the future I'm sure that would be the type of dog we'd get.

So now he's actually living across the street from us.

This week in pet news

2008-09-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

So we've sort of adopted a new dog. Giving it a trial run at least. Meet Lance:

He's a Yorkshire Terrier. One year-old. Our neighbor's friend got in trouble with their landlord for having a pet and can't keep him anymore. So our neighbor brought him home to help find a "forever home" for him. He's a very nice dog. Great with the kids. And even though he's small he's not "yappy" or hyper. He's not really shy either and enjoys our companionship. We just took him in today to see how things go. We want to make sure he'll fit in well with us, that we can take care of him properly, and that there are no issues with allergies.

My concern is that this is yet another pet that I initially didn't really want but got talked into. It began with a cat, who now pretty much gets ignored accept when she wants to eat and come in or out. She sheds a lot and with my allergies she just can't be in the house. So she lives in the garage, plays outside, and keeps our property rodent-free. Then came the tropical fish that just swim and die. Pricey little buggers that don't live very long. Next, the birds. 2 cockatiels that, so far, have had 3 babies. 2 last year that we gave away, and another this month that we'll be giving away when it's old enough. They get a lot of attention because they demand it. They love to hang out with us. And if they don't get enough attention they make a lot of noise about it. But they poop everywhere!

We had rats for a little while. They made good pets, but Tammie had a very bad allergy to them. Once their novelty wore off they pretty much got ignored too. We also had hermit crabs, which just hide during the day and eat at night. They aren't a whole lot of fun so the kids quickly got bored of them. Sold them on Craigslist.

Will this dog work out? I guess we'll see. I suspect that unless I show a severe allergic reaction he's going to be here for a long time.

Labor Day 2008

2008-09-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day we took a picnic and a short 2 mile hike in Hoyt Arboretum. It was a beautiful day. No rain and it started out cool.

Here we are in the Giant Sequoia grove. These are very young Sequoias, so they are not quite as big as the ones you can see in much older groves.

This tree was growing on the side of a steep hill. The exposed root structure is quite striking.

Hey Summer. This small group of trees is called the House of Summer.

Hoyt Arboretum is a beautiful place to visit on a nice day. Right next door to the Portland Zoo. It's a place every Portland visitor and resident must see. The park is huge. There's a 4 mile hike that will take you through just about everything there is to see. Or you can take a smaller 3 or even 2 mile hike and see most of it. My favorite part is of course the Sequoias, even if they're "small."

Me for Pres '08?

2008-08-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Did she call me a "virtual unknown"?! Pshaaa! If Real News is calling it "Catherall Mania" then I beg to differ. And, while I'm quite flattered, please...no more tattoos.

But really. I don't think the country is ready for another Bill in the White House. On the plus side, comedians would be impersonating me on Saturday Night Live. And I promise to increase NASA spending by 10,000%.

Adam - Piano

2008-05-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Adam has been watching Tammie teach other kids piano for a while now and has been begging to be taught as well. Tammie wasn't sure that he was ready or that he'd stick with it so she kept putting it off. Meanwhile Adam would occasionally sit at the piano and "play songs" by just randomly playing the keys. But he wouldn't pound, he'd act like he was playing for real. So Tammie decided to give it a shot and just see what happens.

He took to it like a fish to water and is progressing very rapidly. Tammie began teaching him sometime in late February this year and he's moving along very well. We're also surprised at how much interest he has in it. He begs for more lessons and we never have to force him to go practice. We usually have to force him to take a break. He'll even walk away from a full dinner plate to go play some more.

Mickey Mouse March

He performed these two songs at a Primary talent show last Saturday. When people asked how long he'd been playing and I'd answer "a little over 2 months," they'd respond with, "You mean he's been practicing those songs for 2 months?" "No, that's when he started playing the piano."

Popeye the Sailor Man

He got a big kick out of seeing himself on Youtube after I uploaded these videos. Now he wants me to make more.

PowerBots

2008-01-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, David and his Lego team attended the state FIRST LEGO competition. They participated last month at the local tournament and did so well there that they were invited back this month to the state tournament. The video above is from their 3rd round at the table competition where they earn points by completing mission objectives. (They are the Beaverton PowerBots in the bottom half of the split screen.) They designed and programmed the robot to perform the missions autonomously. This final round was their best of the 3 (I don't know what the score actually was, but things went much better than in the other 2).

The scoring at the table is only 25% of the final score though. The other 75% of the final score is comprised of judging based on teamwork, robot design (technical), and a presentation on the research project. This year's theme was alternative energy sources and the project was to visit a local building, do an energy audit, and make recommendations for more energy savings.

Here's a video from one of the practice rounds where the kids tested out some last minute modifications.

This competition is a really fun way to introduce kids to the world of engineering. They are given a set of problems and some parameters in which to solve those problems. Also, they are not given a whole lot of time to solve the problems. Even the most organized teams who begin meeting early in the year only have a couple months to work out the details of this particular competition. So not only do they learn some engineering principles such as drive trains, chassis design, power transfer, programming, etc. but they get to learn problem solving skills. There are often even problems that come up at the competition where they could only have a few minutes to brain storm and execute the change.

Here's a video from one of the practice sessions for the research project presentation.

They did really well yesterday competing against some of the best teams throughout the state and got 2nd Place in the category of Innovative Design!

Way to go team!

Dinner at Red Robins

2008-01-18T18:56:00.000-08:00

I'm testing writing to my blog while waiting for the food to get here.

(Edit at home - Apparently I did it wrong so the picture wasn't showing up. I had to post manually. By the way, this picture was taken with a "less than ideal" cell phone camera.)

Merry Christmas! (2007)

2007-12-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas! We had fun opening presents and ate our traditional Eggs Benedict. We even got our first real snowfall of the year.

David was very excited about getting exactly what he wanted.

Rachel got a "Just like me" doll. Although, I doubt the doll will behave just like her. (I mean the doll could never be as sweet...yeah, yeah...that's the ticket.)

And Adam loves games. Here's one that should keep him busy for a while.

Who asked for snow?

Halloween 2007

2007-11-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

The kids had a fun Halloween and scored lots of loot. Tammie made the kids' costumes this year.

Adam wanted to be a bat.

Do not call him "Batman." He'll get mad at you.

Rachel was an Indian Princess.

You can't see them in that picture but we made her moccasins too. She got some good use out of the costume this year. She went to (as far as I can recall) 5 costume/trick-or-treat parties!

David was a werewolf.

It's a fur wolf costume with some shredded clothing, hair glued to his face and hands, and fangs. Adam thought it was the coolest costume ever.

I handed out candy at home while everyone else went trick-or-treating. As usual, we only had about 10 kids show up. So we have way too much left-over candy. It's kind of disappointing having so few kids come to the door each year. Our neighbor does some pretty cool decorations, but he's starting to get burned out since not enough people show up to make it all worthwhile. I'm not sure if the low numbers are a symptom of the times or if our neighborhood is just too tucked away and doesn't attract many people.

Trip report and photos, Yosemite, April 2007

2007-07-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Dates: April 22-27, 2007
(I know, I'm posting this in July when we went in April.)

Day 1 - Driving, driving, and more driving. We left early in the morning so we could make the 12 hour drive and get in before sunset. We made good time, checked into our place at Yosemite Lodge, and had enough time to make the short easy hike to Lower Yosemite Falls before dinner. The weather was bad. Rainy, cold, miserable. I was a bit worried about how the rest of the week would turn out. There was also still snow on the highway on the way into Yosemite. The forecast was good, but I have a hard time trusting forecasts.

Day 2 - Our first big day in the park and the weather, true to the forecast, was beautiful. In fact, as predicted, the weather was gorgeous and perfect for the whole week. We took the shuttle bus to the trail head for Vernal Falls. It's an easy hike for the kids and I was only expecting them to make it to the bridge before the Mist Trail. But once they saw the falls and found out you can hike to the top they insisted on going the whole way. They did very well. We enjoyed a lunch at the top and rested before making the trip back down.

After the hike we went to Yosemite Village and visited the museum and the Ahwahneechee village.

Day 3 - We left the valley and headed to Mariposa Grove to see the giant Sequoia trees. But first made a stop at Inspiration Point for the standard valley shot of El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridalveil falls.

The trees were magnificent. I'd have to say, giant Sequoias are my very favorite tree.

Then we made a stop at Bridalveil Falls on the way back into the valley.

Day 4 - David and I planned on hiking to the top of Yosemite Falls, or at least see how far we could make it. Tammie, Rachel, and Adam were going to just hang around the valley. Rachel really enjoyed the art class she participated in. She got to learn more about landscape sketching and watercolors. And regardless of how much I protested, David insisted we go all the way to Yosemite Point!

Day 5 - A trip to Mirror Lake (located at the base of Half Dome) and the Ahwahnee Hotel. We wanted to to see the Happy Isles nature center, but it was still closed for the season.

Day 6 - Time to make the drive back home, but not before getting a few more pictures of Yosemite Falls.

All-in-all, a great time. We really enjoyed staying at Yosemite Lodge. It wasn't crowded or overrun by young teens (like Curry Village) and it's location was perfect. The kids had a great time and we look forward to going again next year. Maybe hike Half Dome?

Click the picture below to see the whole album.

Yosemite 2007

Snorkeling video clips from Turks & Caicos (Dec 2006)

2006-12-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

Underwater 1

A short underwater video clip. Snorkeling at a small reef just off the beach.

Underwater 2

Swimming with the fishes.

Underwater 3

Some cool blue fish.

Underwater 4

I shot this clip while snorkeling at one of the larger reefs.

Underwater 5 - Barracuda!

This was one of the barracudas hanging around and checking us out as we snorkeled. I estimate that it was about 4-5 feet long, and very intimidating.

Underwater 6 - Turtle!

Swimming with Crush out at the reef. I apologize for how jumpy this clip is. I didn't want to get too close and scare the turtle, so I stayed up at the surface where I was getting tossed around by the waves making it difficult to hold the camera steady. This turtle was a young one. It's only about 2 feet long.

Underwater 7

Tammie accidentally shot this video while snorkeling. It's not the best of the clips, but there was one fish that keeps appearing and I think it's pretty funny.

You can see the pictures from the trip here.

Caribbean Trip