Day 10 Tuesday April 25th

Savannah

Once we got in to Savannah we drove around a bit and I reoriented myself around the city.  We drove by my old mission apartment and everything there was exactly the same.  I’d also spent six months here and had really enjoyed my time here.  The city is beautiful and the members really treated us nice there. I had a great companion there but he’d sometimes turn off his hearing aid at dinner appointments.  My other companian here had water on the brain and was really tough..I doubt they’d let him on a mission now.

Anyhow, here is a shot of our rental car.  I actually like it quite a bit and it drives pretty well for a station wagon.  It doesn’t have the HEMI in it but that’s probably a good thing considering the miles we are putting on it.  We’re seeing gas prices anywhere from $2.75 up to $3.05 per gallon and getting 22-23 MPG.  Ouch.

Even though I knew the city pretty well I wasn’t sure of all the history and figured the best way to see everything worth seeing in a day was to take one of those trolley tours.  Serra and Sophia were the only kids on the tour and Pam and I were atleast 30 years younger the next youngest couple but everybody was friendly enough. We purchased the On/Off option so we could get out and walk around. Our first stop was St. Johns Cathedral.  I remember being blown away by it while I was on my mission (even considered converting for the afternoon) and it was just as impressive as a non-elder.  The pictures don’t do it justice as it’s the second largest cathedral (seating wise) in the US behind NY’s and just ahead of the National Cathedral in DC. 

I think what Pam enjoyed most about Savannah was all the beuatiful buildings and houses.  These here are just a fraction of the shots that she took.  We only took one tour of the Green/Meldrim house that isn’t pictured here.  It was an impressive tour as the house was General Sherman’s headquarters when he occupied Savannah after his march through Georgia.  It was also where he penned the famous letter giving Savannah and 20,000 bails of cotton to Lincoln as a Christmas gift. 

The entire tour was very educational and enjoyable.  We took advantage of the on/off feature twice, once for the catherdral and house tour and another for lunch.

This top house was the house that was made famous in the book/movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.  Pam hadn’t heard of the book as it’s a bit on the risque side I think. I haven’t read the book or seen the movie either but everyone made a big deal about it.

The second picture here is of oak trees draped with spanish moss.  These oak tress are all over Savannah and line just about every street forming a tunnel with the moss hanging down.  Georgeous.

Speaking of our lunch, we ate at the Pirate House.  It is a building that dates back to the 1700′s and is reputed to have been a house frequented by pirates.  There was very little history to back it up but it was fun nonetheless.  Serra enjoyed the paper hate/mustache/eye-patch and earings. 

After the trolley tour we drove out to a great old cemetary that was in my area.  It’s the St.Bonaventure Cemetary and it borders the Savannah River and has some HUGE oak trees in it.  It’s very beautiful and peaceful there, not to mention the great headstones and epitaphs.

We were feeling pretty bad for Serra since we’d lugged her around Savannah on a trolley so we made reservations that evening for a horse/buggy ride around historic downtown.  Serra loved the horses although she was rather disappointed that she wasn’t going to be riding the horses but rather pulled in a buggy behind them.  She mentioned that that was “unfair” several times but I think she had a good time nonetheless.  We certainly had a great time as it was much more relaxing and enjoyable than the trolley rides.  The guide was knowledgeable and she shared some additional tidbits that the trolley guides either forgot or didn’t know about.  We did hear some conflicting information but nothing major, it’s just a reminder that what you hear about history in never overly acurate (yes, I’m a tad cynical). 

Here’s Serra explaining to the horses who the boss is. She’s a little miss independent and likes to remind everybody that “I’m in charge!”.  She has to be the one who pushes the elevator buttons and uses the cards to get in to the hotel rooms.  She’s got a lot of personality traits of my younger sister Adriane…take charge and being the boss! I love to see it her tenacity and Pam does a great job of tempering it just enough and keeping her reminded that she’s 4. 

Our last two stops in Savannah were the Wormsloe drive and the Tybee Island lighthouse.  We got to Wormsloe after it was closed but I was able to still show it off to Pam through the gate.  The line of oak trees is as far as you can see and it’s rather breathtaking if I do say so myself.  Tybee Island was part of my area and I always liked the lighthouse.  It dates back a couple hundred years and is 150 feet tall. 

We ended the day by ordering some Papa Johns pizza and enjoying it in our hotel room.  I couldn’t think of a better way to end the day. 

Day 11 Wednesday April 26th

Charleston, SC and travel to Williamsburg (7 hours)

Our initial plan was to leave from Savannah at a leisuraly time and get up to Williamsburg, VA at an ok hour to look around a bit and plan out our stay.  Pam pointed out however that Charleston, SC wasn’t too far out of the way and that she’d love to see some of the plantations and homes there.  It sounded alright to me so we woke up and got on the road about 10:00 AM.  I’d done a little web research the night before and picked out two plantations that seemed worthy of seeing.  We figured if we got off early from Savannah and didn’t stay long in Charleston, that we’d still get in about 10 or 11 to Virginia.

Here’s some shots of our girls. The one of Serra is just after dining on a popsicle in case you were wondering what’s up with the tongue.

The Middleton Place Plantation - click on this link for more info

Our first stop was The Middleton Place Plantation.  It is a restored plantation home although the actuall building still standing is just one of the wings of a much large plantation but it’d been burnt by the Union Army and never rebuilt.  The wing was also burnt but  it was the least damaged of the three structures so when the family came back after the war they only had money to rebuild the one. 

Unfortunately, because it’s been “restored” you can’t take pictures in the building so you’ll have to look on the website for interior shots. 

The grounds had huge acres worth of gardens and paths.  It was an old rice plantation and occupied by the Middleton family.  The family was prominant during the formation of Georgia and also were staunch supporters of the conferderacy during the Civil War. In fact the Middleton living there at the time (Arthur I think???) actually signed the decleration of secession from the Union.  When the Union troops were coming the family left and the father stayed behind to hide all the family heirlooms and possessions out in the nearby forest.  Most of the stuff had been reclaimed but they did find a giant trunk full of clothes owned by Frank Middleton just 30 years ago.  Very cool.

The girls and I at the reflection pond and me unsuccesfully trying to catch a gecko to Serra’s amusement.

During the stay, and going against our idea of a quick visit, we decided to take another horse carriage ride around the property.  Serra was very pleased.  The tour was about 45 minutes and the first 40 minutes of it were great.  The guide talked about the family, the area during the civil war, and the use of the land.  It made us feel real bad for the poor slaves that were subjected to trying to grow and harvest rice.  The family made a fortune doing it but it was a hard life for the slaves.  The second picture is of a swampy area that used to be a rice paddie (sp?).

During the carriage ride we saw a giant rat, a copperhead snake, and some beautiful country.  Unfortunately the last 5-10 minutes of the ride we got caught in a major downpour.  The carriage wasn’t covered but there were umbrella’s for all on board except myself and one of the couple. It was kind of funny because there was a guy who took an umbrella rather than sit next to his wife and share, thus leaving the other couple without one.  I didn’t mind getting wet as it felt good since it’d been so hot earlier in the day.

In all it was an excellent tour.  We skipped the whole “African American History Tour” as we really wanted to catch Drayton Hall before it closed.  We pulled out of Middleton place at about 3:30 and ran down the road to Drayton Hall.

Drayton Hall Plantation - click on this link for more info

Drayton Hall was also a fully functional rice plantation.  It was much different than The Middleton Place in that it was not restored but rather “preserved”.  This was actually VERY COOL as it allowed you to see it as it was and your imagination could run wild with how it was decorated, painted, etc.  Also, they let us take all the pictures we wanted, Pam was beside herself. 

The first two pictures of the actual back of the home.  The front faced the river since that was were the majority of visitors came from.   However the back architecture is actually the more impressive. It is modeled after “Georgia Palladian” which means that everything was “balanced” and symmetrical.  I love that patio and balcony.

Here’s the view from the balcony looking out towards where the 1st picture was taken.  You can see a mound of dirt there that used to be the carriage turnaround. 

Once inside you could see the ornate detail work that was put in to the house.  The tour guide did a great job of explaining the use of each room and pointing out the architectural finepoints that helped them deduce details about each room.  One interesting anecdote is that in the side rooms there were two doors put in but only one of them went anywhere.  The other was just a facade.  The fake doors were torn off by union soldiers searching for supplies and were never replaced. 

Our tour guide was a nice Southern lady who was very knowledgable and did a great job of leading us through the home.  Both Pam and I were having a great time imagining what it looked liked finished and the amazing times that the family must have had here. 

The second picture here is of the detail on the great halls’ ceiling. 

This small spiral staircase went from the basement all the way to the top floor.  It was used by slaves and servents. They were very narrow and I don’t know if I could have gone down them…so I didn’t.

We ended up with a ton of pictures of the place and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  As far as places that we’ve visited so far on our trip it’s right up there.  A truely great experience.

We didn’t end up pulling out of there until about 5:15 or so and everyone was hungry and tired so we went on a search for somewhere to eat.  After about 35 minutes of driving around and Sophia screaming in the back seat we finally found a spot and went in to dine.  By the time we finished that it was 7:00.  After taking an energy check we decided it’d be a good idea to get the girls in their pajamas and travel all the way to Williamsburg that night and then just take it easy the next day.  No sooner had we decided that that one of the worst rain storms we’d ever been in started pouring.  The wind was howling like crazy and sheets of rain were coming down….we pushed through and ended up pulling in to Williamsburg about 2:30 AM.  Needless to say we were glad to get there.  Overall I’m glad we did it that way as we didn’t lose any “trip time” due to the long drive.

Day 12 Thursday April 27th

Williamsburg and Jamestown, VA

As planned we slept in the next day and Pam, being a little fresher than myself since she napped in the car a bit, went down and brought up breakfast for the bunch. The hotel we were staying at provided a full breakfast each morning and it wasn’t half bad.  Anyhow, I got served breakfast in bed and then it took us a bit to get rolling but we finally made it out by just after noon.  We wandered a bit but eventually ended up at the Jamestown historical site and “living settlement”.

Jamestown was actually 20 years prior to the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and involve John Smith and the whole Pocahontus story.  Of course as we were explaining this to Serra on the way over she was getting very excited.  We explained that, unlike Disney World, this Pocahontus would be a statue and one that she could get a picture with.  This of course set off a bunch of questions about death and what happens when we die and so forth.  It was finally capped off by her telling me “Dad, when you die you need to tell Pocahontus that I’ve seen her movie…ok dad?”.  I assured her that’d be no problem.  I need to write all these promises I’m making down.

One short note on Virginia…it’s BEAUTIFUL and much cooler and less humid than the South.  I don’t think I could ever live in Florida/Georgia/South Carolina regardless of how pretty it is.  Virginia on the other hand is perfect right now.

This chruch here is the church in which Pocahontus and John Rolfe were married in (She never married John Smith as the Disney movie insinuates) The chruch itself has been reconstructed however the bell tower is of the original 1607 group. The ruins on the right are actual recreations of the original ruins that are buring just beneath these.  They are of the actual settlement.  Archeological digs help them determine the use of the various buildings and they ranged from homes to blacksmiths, to glass blowers.

Here’s the before mentioned Pocahontus and John Smith statues.

Glass blowing was one of the first industries that they tried to get going here but they were unsuccesful both times they tried.  In fact nothing really worked for the colonists until they started growing tobacco.  It was amazing the hardships the group went through.  One statistic that they mentioned was 6 out of every 7 individuals who came over died the first 5 years of colonization.  Mainly from starvation, disease, and indian attacks.

The pictures below are of the glass blowing exhibit.  Interesting.

Once we finished with Historic Jamestown we made our way over to the Jamestown Settlement.  It’s here where they have people dressed up, both as Indian and Jamestown Colonist, to show you in more detail what their lives were like and how they got by.

Serra has this new thing in pictures where she raises up her hands.  I think it’s hilarious.

They had the entire Jamestown fort recreated with the placement of the buildings as authentic as they could possibly do it.  It was very cool.  Serra had a good time feeling the furs, dressing up, and sweeping the floors. 

They also had a musket demonstration.  That was really neat other than the fact that the loud bang made poor Sophia freak out. She cried for a good 10 minutes then decided she was ok.

Just outside the fort they had exact replicas of the three ships that they sailed on.  Actually only one of the ships was exact as they had court documents on the ship detailing its plans due to a court case that it was involved in prior to it setting sale to America. Again, Serra V had a great time clowning around on the ship and Pam was more than happy to oblige with a camera.

By the end of the day the exhaustion of the late night and the go go go was starting to set in by evidence of the growl on Serra’s face.  We called it an early night and went and enjoyed a nice meal at a steakhouse near our hotel. Our waitress had Colonial Teeth.

Day 13 Friday April 28th

Our last day in Williamsburg was spent between Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg.  I’d seen on the website TripAdvisor that Colonial Williamsburg was a bit overpriced and that you could see everything there was to see there in half a day so we planned accordingly. 

Yorktown  

There was a large battle at Yorktown that more or less ended the Revolutionary war.  It’s where Cornwallis surrendered. They had a great museum with a lot of artifacts and a timeline of the entire war along with a “living” colonial army encampment.  It was very interesting to talk to the “interpreters” as they explained how the soldiers lived, how they were fed, and some of the medical procedures they underwent when they were injured. We had a great time and ended up ducking out at about noon after 3 or 4 hours or perusing around.

This guy here was giving another musket demonstration.  This time I stuck my fingers in Sophia’s ears so she wouldn’t scream.

Our little colonial princess warrior.

Colonial Williamsburg

We made our way over to Colonial Williamsburg only to get lost a couple times.  We couldn’t find it in our navigation system so we ended up trying to follow a map that the hotel had given us.  I think it was the worst map ever created.  In big letters at the bottom it says “MAP IS NOT TO SCALE” which should have said “You might as well not try to follow this map unless you want to get hopelessly lost”. After about 20 minutes of driving around I saw a sign for Colonial Williamsburg and we just kept following the subsequent ones.  It was a relief to finally arrive and we realized that one reason we couldn’t find the actually village was that you had to park at a visitors center and then take a shuttle….who knew? 

The church here is still functioning as an every Sunday church. The steeple tower dates back to the early 1700′s.  Nice. Also pictured here is another carriage ride that we didn’t end up taking but it was really cool nonetheless.

When we saw this house we knew we had to take a tour and take plenty of pictures for Gary and Leisl.  It’s the George Wythe House.  In fact Pam has commented several times that Gary and Leisel et al would absolutely love coming out here and getting a living history lesson….so mark it as a thing to do for you! I don’t know if you can read that description of the house or not. Just in case you can’t it reads “This mid eighteenth century building was the home of George Wythe, tutor and friend to Thomas Jefferson.  Wythe was the first professor of law at an American College, and first Virginian signer of the Decleration of Independance. Washington used the house as his headquarters in 1781 before the seige of Yorktown.  Five major outbuildings and garden plan reflect a plantation layout. Furnishings are in the manner of a well-to-do 18th century Virginia Household.”

Unfortunately it was closed (BUMMER).

Some of the charming things about Colonial Williamsburg was the “characters” that were wandering around.  They were dressed appropriately for the period and would address you as if you were living in that era.  You could ask them questions about stuff and their responses would reflect something about the troubles with the British or an insight in to daily life back in the 1700′s.  The temperature was great so don’t feel bad for them, although come summer time I bet they are hating life. 

As part of the festivites they had an ongoing “skit” taking place that started with the reading of the Decleration of Independance from the Williamburg Capital Building (It was Virignia’s first capital) and also included several other skits that had to do with reasons we went to war, how life was during the war, and culminated with Washington and General Lafayette taking Yorktown with an impassioned speech.  It was really rather moving and a treat to witness. 

The redcoats and General Washington.

A sweaty wig lady.  I thought of Julie as this store was full of hair all over the place.  She had a lot of great information about the wigs of the day. 

Drummers and General Washington’s speech.

After all of the festivities we made our way to a period resteraunt called Kings Arms Tavern.  The building served as a tavern back in the day and now it’s a good steak restaraunt.  They actually served it with English flair that included bread pudding, creamed spinach, and some interesting “relishes”.  They had us tie our napkins up around our neck and a colonial interpreter guy came in with a guitar and we all sang songs.  Serra had a great time and we enjoyed the good food. 

Can you believe our Rosie is sitting in her very own highchair now?  She’s growing up fast right in front of us.

Overall we had a great time at both Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg and we didn’t feel slighted in the least by only spending a half day at both.  The ticket lady at Colonial Williamsburg gave me a ration about wasting a whole days ticket on half a day and that I should really buy a two day ticket and come back tomorrow.  She was even kind of rude about it.  Anyhow, we had a great time and made it back to the hotel in time to rest up for the next day…Monitecllo (Thomas Jeffeson’s home) and our first night in DC.

 

Commentary:  I finished updating the last entry with all the writeup.  We’re in Savannah now and are enjoying ourselves immensely.  We’ll have a lot of new pictures to post tomorrow as we’re planning a bus tour, a visit to the world famous Savannah cemetary, and out to Tybee Island to check out the lighthouse.  Savannah is a beautiful city that I spent six months as a missionary in but never got around to doing any tourist stuff on our Pdays.  This will be fun. We’ll be here till Wednesday morning when we’ll head out for our longest day of driving of the trip….all the way to Williamsburg, VA (Same distance as Vegas to Logan (500 miles or so).

Day 8 Sunday April 23rd

We woke up early in Albany and hit the road.  We had a 1:00 lunch appointment in Opelika, Alabama with a lady whom I’d baptized some 10 years ago.  Her name is Edna Collins and she’s one of the sweetest kindest lady I’ve ever known…more on her later.

As we were traveling through Georgia I had to laugh at what kind of stuff Pam was excited about taking pictures of.  She saw “the red clay of Georgia” and took 5 or 6 shots of it as we drove.  When I asked what was so cool about that she mentioned that in Gone With the Wind Scarlet always longed for the Red Clay of Georgia.  Here’s one of the best ones.

The Ranger Jo’s picture is of a place in Columbus, GA that one of my best friends frequented when he was doing basic training there.  I’d visited it while on my mission a few months after he’d left.  Anyhow, nothing really special about it other than he and I share the fact that we’ve been there.

“Way down yonder on the Chattahoochie…”…I don’t know the rest of the song but something about …”how much those muddy waters meant to me…”.  This is the the river that all the fuss is made over.  The water is muddy.

When we finally got to Opelika it was 1:10 by our watch and I felt bad about being a bit late.  However when we got there nobody was home.  I couldn’t believe that she’d dog me and I immediately hearkened back to the 1000 or so times that people made appointments and didn’t keep them on the mission…but not my Edna!  Just as I was loading up the kids to go take a tour around Opelika Edna came up through the driveway with a smile from ear to ear.  We shared a big hug and went inside. It wasn’t until a few hours later that I realized that we had switched from the Eastern Time Zone to Central when we crossed over the Chattahoochie.  DOH! We were actually there at 12:10 and Edna was just getting home from church.  I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten that.

A little background on Opelika and Edna is in order. Opelika was my first area and I was very green.  I was thankfully paired with a very wise and experience Elder who was very diligent and took his job as trainer very seriously.  He helped me say goodbye to a lot of stuff I was holding on to back at home and really helped me focus on my mission and really get going.  Anyhow, both he and I had felt “prompted” to knock on a house that was nearby the our church building but the three times we’d stopped by there was never anyone home.  One day when we were on splits with the Auburn elders my trainer and the elder from Auburn finally found Nellie and Earnest (Snappy) Reeder home.  They are pictured on the left and right of me in the picture.  They taught them a 1st and scheduled a time to come back.  I was a bit jealous that they’d actually found someone home and had indeed taught them a 1st but was excited as we thought it was definitly going to happen with them.

During the second followup appointment we went back over the 1st discussion and read 3rd Nephi 11 with them.  It went well and as we were leaving we asked them if they had any friends that they could think of that might be interested in hearing the message.  They immedietly mentioned Edna and we asked them to invite her to the next discussion. 

All this happened within the first few weeks I was out and it wasn’t until January that Edna ended up being baptized.  I was blessed to be able to stay in Opelika through the entire process as I went through two other companians during the time.  Because of that Edna and I became incredibly close and she chose me to actually baptize her. I was so honored.  There are a lot of fun stories to tell about her conversion and the time we spent together but they are too lengthy to expound on here.  She has since gone to the temple and has served faithfully in the ward in a variety of callings. 

Snappy and Nellie never ended up getting baptized.  We went through the whole “Do you believe the BOM is the word of god”..Yes…”So what does that say about Joseph Smith”…that he’s a prophet…”and what does that say about the church he founded?”…..that it’s the true church….discussion with them many of times. They both grew up and attend a small baptist church out in the country.  Earnest is a deacon and Nellie sings in the choir and also has a small gospel singing group.  In the end their ties there were too strong to severe…perhaps in the next life.  They are the greatest people and are right there next to Edna in my heart.  I spent as much time with them as we did Edna including my first mission Christmas dinner (of chitlens and cornbread no less!) and many of family functions. 

Anyhow, back to present day….Edna had invited not only the Reeders and her two daughters and slew of kids (whom we’d also taught) but also several of the old ward members that she thought might remember me.  She was right on two counts as two of the families she’d invited I had actually helped move in the ward 10 years ago.  It was so fun to reminisce with everybody and I found myself pinching myself more than once.  It really was a dream come true for me to be back in Opelika with my family visiting these people that meant so much to me. Edna had cooked up her unforgettable fried chicken, some lasagna, some great southern green beans (cooked with ham and fat), and some delicious banana cream pie and strawberry jello.  I ate a lot at her home and it was great to experience her southern cooking again. 

As the house slowly emptied we ended up being alone with Edna for a few hours talking about her conversion and some of the feelings she’d had at the time.  It was wondeful to hear her talk about how much the church has meant to her and changed her life.  We shared a lot of laughs, some tears, and gave each other several hugs as we said goodbye again.  As we were driving away Pam chastised me greatly for not keeping in better contact with her….going forward I certainly will.

note: One of the funniest comments of the day came from Nellie Reeder when she took a look at me and said “Boy…you sure weren’t done growing were you!”.  We all laughed at that one.

This picture here is of my apartment there in Opelika.  There wasn’t the negative feelings that I had about the Albany apartment…in fact rather the opposite.  I experience a lot of “growing up” and maturing while I lived her for six months.  Our apartment was the bottom left one.  We did have a large rat that lived under our kitchen sink.  We’d feed him tortilla shells every night. 

Day 9 Monday April 24th

We ended up staying in the Comfort Inn there in Opelika last night.  Pam didn’t feel the need to take pictures of it but it wasn’t a bad place.  Fairly new and right next to a Waffle House for a quick breakfast before hitting the road today. 

As we were driving back through Georgia we saw this giant peach on a stick.  Unfortunately there’s no frame of reference in the picture but it’s about 30 feet around and 100 feet in the air. 

Rather than take a straight shot over to Savannah I’d read where there was the official Georgia Antebellum Trail that was near were we would be.  Antebellum is the architecture that is typically associated with the great Southern Mansions and plantations back in the day.  Anyhow, we took a detour to jump on that trail and ended up in Milledgeville, GA.  The home here is one that Pam really liked…check out the mansion we happened upon further below.

This great Southern Antebellum home is in Milledgeville and was built in 1839.  The grounds surrounding it now consists of beautiful gardens that we were able to take a driving tour through.  Unfortunately the tours of the house were at 10:00 in the morning and we showed up at 4:00 but they let us peer through the windows and take pictures.  Pam was in heaven.  We’re going to also be hitting some great homes here in Savannah and Charleston, SC on Wednesday.  No doubt more pictures to follow.

The day consisted mainly of the stops in Milledgeville and driving from Opelika, AL to Savannah.  The girls have been great in the car but Sophia has been a bit on edge.  If she’s hungry or bored at all she certainly lets us, and the car next to us, know.  Serra and I sing lots of songs together and play games as we go….lots of fun and quality family time.  We are truely having the time of our lives on this trip.  We’ll never forget it.

We’re staying tonight in the Marriot Springill Suites in midtown Savannah.  Not a bad room at all and the price was right compared to more expensive options downtown.  Tomorrow is a full day of touring Savannah.  I’ll post agian probably on Wednesday night when we get in to Williamsburg.

Commentary:

The internet connection here in Albany GA stinks and keeps booting me off.  I’m hoping to have a better connection tomorrow night to finish the update.  Right now I’m just able to get the Animal Kingdom pictures up…lots to talk about.

Saw Dave today, he looked great and was in great spirits.  It was fun to have a good lunch with him.  More details to come.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Opelika, AL visiting an old friend whom I was able to teach/baptize back on the mission.  She’s arranging a lunch and get together tomorrow afternoon. 

Day 5 (April 20th Thursday)

 We were exhausted after our long day in the sun at Disney World Magic Kingdom but we got up early and made the early bus to Animal Kingdom. We chose to do the Animal Kingdom the 2nd day because it closed at 8:00 so we would be assured of an earlier night, which we felt like was sorely needed. 

Our first stop was the Stitch character as he has become one of Serra’s favorites.  She was thrilled to see him and take a picture with him….which was a much better experience than the lame ride. On a side note, I don’t know how these people can deal with being dressed up in those costumes.  The weather is miserable due to the humidity and heat (although it only got in to the mid 80′s….poor mom and Dad in Harlingen will have no sympathy.  Anyhow, I hope Disney pays those people a lot because I’m sure they stink horribly and are horrible to wear in that heat. 

Our next stop was Serra’s next favorite character, Pocahontas. She had a live show with a few trained animals…a few rats, a racoon, some ducks, and a skunk. The animals made really brief appearances but at the same time the kids loved it and the Pocahontas lady had did a good job entertaining them. The coolest thing for me was the “Grandmother Willow” tree and how real it looked.  One thing I can say about Disney is they really don’t cut corners when it comes to the quality of their shows/rides/and props.    

After we finished that, Pam, Serra, and Sophia waited in line for the Lion King show while I ran to the other side of the park to pick up fast pass tickets for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.  When we were deciding whether to go to this park or not the Safari ride was one of the rides that really made we want to go there.  After getting the fastpasses I hightailed it back in time to catch the Lion King show but unfortunately I ended up sitting by myself off in a corner since Pam and the girls had already been seated.  I felt a little weird being by myself surrounded by big groups of women and kids.  Anyhow, the show was again EXCELLENT and well done.  Pam got some great video of Serra dancing around in the aisles and a few pictures….they don’t do the show justice though.  There were people on stilts, people dressed as monkeys doing trampoline gymnastics, giant floats with the various characters, and some good singers.   

One thing that I really liked about the Animal Kingdom was that there was always a lot of trees and shade along with a zoo atmosphere with several animals to look at (Hippos, fish, birds, weird exotic animals).  Another fun things about Disney is they have a lot of extra attractions like random bands playing, jump ropers, a quartet of brass instruments, etc.  Pictured below is a termite mound (good guess Gary) and some cute pics of Sophia.  We figured we’d pose next to the little critters that cost us a pretty penny and lots of headaches back in Santa Paula.

These next pictures are of the Kilimanjaro Safari.  We all loaded up on a big bus and they took us on 20 minute ride or so around a savannah looking area.  There were a lot of cool animals that we saw that included, giraffes, rhinos, lions, ostriches, wilderbeasts, cheetahs, gazelles, etc.  It was fun and very well done.  One of the coolest things was this “Upside Down Tree” Neither Pam or I can tell if it’s real or not but we though it looked pretty sweet.

The newest and best ride at the Animal Kingdom was Expedition Everest.  The ride is actually pictured below and to the right.  It might look like the Matterhorn but it puts that to shame.  There’s actually a 30-40 foot yeti inside the mountain that you almost run in to along with some big hills and thrills.  At one point the track deadends on a hill and you start running backwards through the mountain in the dark.  Pam went alone first and then waited for me to run through it.  It was well worth the wait.  Serra was actually tall enough to go but declined due to the fact that it was “too scary”.

While I was going on the rollercoaster Pam and the girls went to the 3d show at the Bugs Life area.  Hence the cool glasses.

Various pics of Rosie.

Serra and I went on the standard ride down the rapids.  We had a good time and neither of us got overly wet.  It was the last ride of the day for us and I was again spent from packing Serra around the park but we’d had a blast.  I’d have to say that Animal Kingdom was our favorite park due to the fact that it had a lot of unique things we hadn’t experienced already at Disneyland and California Adventure.  It was also laid out well, had unique and fun areas, and it had plenty of shade.   

We ended the day by eating at the Rainforest Cafe located at the parks entrance as we waited for our shuttle to show up.  It was a perfect ending to the day as they have a lot of fake animatronic animals in the restaurant and Serra had a good time.  She even kissed a frog hoping to make it a prince (too much Disney for this child!)

When we got back to the hotel we ended up deciding to try and do a load of laundry at the hotel facility only to find out that the two dryers on our side of the building were out of order.  This of course became evident to us after we’d already washed one load and then had nowhere to dry them.  I ended up packing up the clothes and hiking them to the other side of the building only to then spend the $2.50 to find out the dryers stunk and only halfdried the load. By then it was late at night and I was too exhausted to do anything else other than just bring them back to the room.  It was our one bad experience with he hotel however with all the perks we’d gotten it we had no right to complain.

Day 6 (April 21st Friday)

On the way back to the hotel on Thursday night we talked to a lady who had a small girl that the bus had picked up at Epcot.  We had originally planned to do Epcot on Friday but we were concernned that Serra wouldn’t have any fun since it was mostly educational exhibits and not much to do with typicall Disney stuff.  I think Pam and I would have thoroughly enjoyed it but in the end we decided we’d go ahead and go to Disney MGM Studios instead.  They didn’t have many rides that Serra would like but they did have several shows that we knew she’d love (Beauty and the Beast & the Little Mermaid). A side perk was that the shuttle didn’t leave the hotel for the park till 12:15, which gave us a built in excuse to sleep in…bonus! 

When we got the park we were both impressed by the “feel” of it.  Some parts looked like the backstage of a studio while other parks actually made you feel like you were on set.  Like all the Disney parks it was obvious that they took great effort to spare no detail in the park. 

I was excited to participate this time in the silly 3D glasses picture but unfortunately Serra’s only half present. This how was the Muppet show. 

Our little princess exciting her star trailer and doing a little curtsy. 

One of the shows we ended up seeing was the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.  We had fastpasses for the show so we got great seats down front right behind the sound engineers booth. Several of the guys in the booth had taken notice of our little Sophia and they were kind enough to voulenteer some ear plugs to us before the show.  The show was fun and interesting to see how they did some of the stunts on the original Indiana Jones.  It was nice that Sophia had the ear plugs as there was some fairly loud bangs and she startles easy and starts really screaming. 

After our pizza lunch at the Toy Story Pizza Palace we found oursleves caught in a pretty big thunder and lightning show.  The downpour was pretty steady and thankfully Pam had packed umbrellas or otherwise we would have gotten really wet.  Serra hasn’t had a lot of experience with thunder and lightning…hence the concerned look on her face. It ended up raining for a good two hours or so but we were able to hop from show to show and never got overly wet.  Good times were had.

Our final show of the day ended up being the Beauty and the Beast and it was very well done.  We’d high tailed it down to the stadium to avoid the rain and we were glad we were early as they had an acapela quartet entertaining the crowd prior to the show.  They were dressed as stage crew and at first they just started doing sound checks and then broke in to song.  It was a fun way to introduce themeselves and they ended up singing 3 or 4 songs.  I must say they put Voicemale to shame….which is really my only point of reference on acapela singing guy groups.

The show itself again was very well done with lots of dancing and a very abbreviated version of the story.  I think the entire thing lasted 20 minutes or so.  Great costumes. I still can’t figure out if the characters are lipsyncing or not…I guess if they are they are talented enough to hide it very well.

Doh…this picture should have been before the Beauty and the Beast pictures.  This was a story time with Bear and the Big Blue House and Winnie the Pooh and friends.  It was very entertaining for Serra as they had her up and dancing in the aisles but what made it most memorable for Pam and I was that they made everybody sit on the concrete floor during the 20 minute show.  Not a big deal for me but Pam’s tail bone has taken a beating over the years due to two kids and a few unfortunate incidents on the stairs.  She complained the rest of the day…..ouch. 

We never did get Serra to go on the Tower of Terror.  I can’t say I blame her…it’s a little too much for a 4 year old.  I did talk her in to going on a few scary rides during our Disney time (Dinosaur and the Rapids at Animal Kingdom). 

 - She finally collapses! WE WIN!

We decided to run back to the hotel early rather than stick around the park until it closed. We knew we had a long driving day and that we’d have to get up at a decent time in order to meet Uncle Dave by the prearranged 2:00 time.  We did however not waste the time as we decided to go ahead and rent King Kong off the hotel movie menu and picked up some popcorn at MGM to munch on.  We decided to all climb in to the big King bed in the master bedroom and snuggle up since it was unlikely we would all finish the movie without falling asleep.  As the movie was getting started and we were all cuddled up munching on popcorn Serra piped up with another gem and said “This is the happiest day of my whole life.”  She said it a little under her breath like she was muttering it to herself but Pam heard it loud and clear.  I just about started crying I was so happy to hear that.  That’s what it’s all about…a happy Serra V is a happy Dad. 

Day 7 (April 22nd Saturday)

We got up at the appointed time and got all of our luggage and ourselves out to the car by the time we were hoping to.  We were amazed at how good the car looked when the valet pulled it up and we thought that perhaps they’d actually washed it due to the shineness and lack of spilled coke all down the back of it (long story). After thinking about it though I think it just got a good wash from the rain…but either way, it was good to get back in the saddle and get moving again after 4 nights in Orlando.

Thanks to our navigation system we maneuvered our way through various toll roads and highways to finally make it to Lake City.  We’d have been on time if it weren’t for an upset Sophia Rose and an emergency diaper changing stop but as it was we ended up making it by 2:15 to Daves door.  The apartment was immedietly recognizable due to the picture of Christ in the window.  We pointed out which one it was and Serra V ran up the stairs, knocked on the door, and helped herself in.  She met Dave in the hallway and was given a hug but ushered out.  We gathered at the doorway and exchanged big hugs and met his companion (nice guy from South Africa…Elder Charsley I think was his name).

We let Dave know that we would take him for lunch anywhere he wanted and mentioned that if there was anywhere he always wanted to go but couldn’t afford as a missionary then that’d be just fine by us.  We were surprised a bit when he chose Applebee’s over a myriad of other options that we figured he’d have jumped on (including some great looking BBQ spots) but we were happy to oblige.  Unfortunately Applebees was a ways away and so I ended up running the two boys to the restaraunt and then ran back to pick up the girls.  Not a big deal, in fact I enjoyed the time in the car with Elder David to talk shop with him and see how he’s doing.  He’s definitly a happy missionary and is a stickler for rules (those two traits are highly correlated in my experience).  I don’t know what else to say about how he’s doing other than he looks great and he’s doing exactly what he needs to be doing and he loves it.  He sends his love to you all. 

I think the picture of Dave with the two girls is great.  I can’t believe the coloring difference between our fair little Sophia Rose and Serra V’s Pocahontus tan. 

We ended up spending two hours or so with Elder Dave and then I ran he and his companion to Wal Mart and then back to their apartment while Pam remained at the resteraunt feeding Rosie. 

After picking Pam back up we made great time as we headed up to Albany GA for the night.  We’d taken a little different path than the one recommended by the navigation system as I wanted to show Pam a little bit of what the backroads and small towns of Georgia were like.  We had a blast doing it and saw some beautiful country.  Pictured here is what we typically saw…lots and lots of vegetation. 

Albany, GA was my third area of my mission.  I arrived here at my year mark and ended up spending six months in the apartment below.  It was quite possible the most trying six months of my mission due to a variety of tough companion issues and the apartment itself.  Frankly, I’m surprised they are still standing due to how horrible they were.  The lady who lived next door to us (we had the door on the right in the picture) wouldn’t allow the bug sprayer to spray in her apartment due to her belief that the spray would kill her and her pets along with the bugs (in fact we saw her walking her dog when we dropped by and she had a Michael Jackson like surgical mask on…crazy!).  That reason sounds pretty reasonable except what her home became was a huge breeding ground for roaches and our apartment became their feeding area and home away from home.  The roaches were so bad that they’d crawl all over us at night, get in to our food, and would eat the glue in the bindings of our BOMS.  You know when you see the pictures of the people in Africa and you wonder how they can stand the flies crawling on them….that’s how we got with the roaches.  I remember the day clearly that one was crawling on me and I didn’t even brush it off….just kept on with the companionship study.  We had a terminex guy who we had reactivated in the ward come take a look at our situation and he laid down some pretty nasty chemical in our apartment but he said that the problem was too big to be helped without getting in to the lady next door. 

Other horrible things about that place was the dark paneling on the wall and black carpet.  There were no ceiling lights so the place was always poorly lit and very dark and depressing.  Add to that the paper thin walls and the crazy fighting/raucous couple on the other side of us and it was truely a horrible spot.  I’m sure there are those of you who went to 3rd world countries that scoff at my complaints…but it sure stunk. We finally invited our mission president down to the apartment just before I left and he agreed that we had to get out of there.  He also called us to repentance for our “Wall of Dead Roaches” that we had created…ask me about it sometime. I’ve got pictures.  My parting gift to the area was that we moved to a much better apartment just down the street the weekend that I’d gotten transfered. 

Actually visiting it agian brought back some good and bad memories and was theraputic in a sense.  I feel really bad for whoever resides there now.

This last picture is of our hotel room in Albany at the Jameson Inn.  It was a big step down from our three room suite but worked fine for us. 

 

Also…posted pictures for Days 1 and 2 so refresh your browser if you want to see them. 

Day 3 (April 18th, Serra Senior and Junior’s Birthday!)

We got up at at about 9:00 with the goal that we’d be out of our hotel room and on the road by 10:00.  It’s been difficult adjusting our clocks to the three hour time change.  Especially in the mornings.  Anyhow, we still did well, by my calculations, by getting out of there by 11:00.  After a quick stop at Einstein Bagles for breakfast we hoped on the 95 Freeway and left Ft. Lauderdale and started the trek towards Orlando.

Before we left on our trip out here we’d talked about getting a navigation system for the car but in looking at what the rental car company offered it looked like it’d run us about $300 to rent one.  At that price we figured we’d buy one so we stopped at a Best Buy along the way and made the purchase.  All we have to say about it is that it’s really nice although it’s already led us astray a couple of times (when looking for a Wal Mart it took us to a Sams Club…huh??) I want to see about getting a celebrity voice for it.

Other than that purchase the only other significant event on the ride to Orlando was the fact that we took toll roads.  It was both Pam and I’s first time doing that and it was a bit different.  The toll booths are a lot like the fruit checkpoint on the 15 just outside of Barstow and they give you a ticket on one end when you get on and then collect at the other end of the road.  In between there are no exits (and about a 100 mile distance) other than “Service Area’s” put in to the center divider.  In all the tolls got us for about $10 but it cut about an hour of travel time off our trip if we’d tried to take “free” roads.

Once we arrived at our hotel in Orlando we were completely blown away.  We’re staying at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissemee, which is about 5 minutes from Disney World.  This place is HUGE!  We could see it from several miles off and once we got there I missed the turn for valet and it ended up taking us 10 minutes to get all the way around it.  It’s really hard to describe it but you should visit the link above to take a good look at the place.  It’s really the nicest hotel we’ve ever stayed at and bow down to Priceline for booking it for us (at an amazing deal nonetheless). It has 1000 something hotel rooms and a giant open atrium area with two large pools, 5 fullsize restaurants, all kinds of shops, and fantastic rooms.

Did I mention the fantastic rooms? When we were checking in the girl at the front desk was making a fuss over our two girls.  She’d mentioned that they had a large convention in and that rooms were at a premium and then she was quiet for a little bit as she punched her keyboard.  I was half expecting her to say “Sorry Mr. Priceline Rate you’ll need to either stay in the broom closet or make other arrangements” but instead she said “We’re sold out so I’m going to upgrade you to a suite…is that ok?” I quickly confirmed that that would certainly be ok by me.  Both Pam and I were floored as we were both in awe of the place as it was and could only imagine what a suite would be like for the four nights we’d be here. Now I must say that we aren’t exactly naive to what a nice hotel room is but we are certainly more “La Quinta” than we are ”Ritz Carlton”. Anyhow, here are some pictures of the hotel and our room…needless to say we feel very spoiled with our 3 room apartment. Can you say SCORE!?

These pictures are from outside on our balcony overlooking the INTERIOR of the hotel.

By the time we’d unloaded all of our stuff in to the room we decided to relax a bit at the family pool.  We had thought about doing four days of Disney World rather than the three but we figured that with the drive and all it’d be worthwhile just to get here and relax.  Relax we did as we played around there for a few hours.  One funny tidbit was that Pam left before Serra and I as she was going to go back and get cleaned up and feed the baby.  Serra and I started back about 20-30 minutes after Pam had left and naturally I’d forgotten my room key and the room #.  Serra and I were debating as to what room to start knocking on or if it’d be worth the 20 minute walk down to the front desk in our pool clothes to ask what room we were in when Pam, in full pool attire, came walking down the hall pushing the stroller.  She’d gotten lost on the way back and had wandered the hotel for 30 minutes looking for our room….did I tell you this place was big or what?  Thankfully she knew the room # and had a key so it all worked out in the end.  Here’s some pictures of the cool family pool and the crew enjoying it.  It had a giant octopus with a slide down the center of it and water spraying from its tentacles.  Also the seafood restaraunt..aka boat just outside our window.

After getting back to the room we decided to clean up and get out to dinner to continue to celebrate the V’s birthday.  We let her choose what she wanted and she naturally announced that she wanted Pizza.  We plugged in the new navigation system and searched for Pizza.  It led us to a Checkers (which apparently used to be a Flippers Pizza) but did lead us from there across the street to another Italian eatery. It was there we dined on Pizza and had the entire restaurant sing Happy Birthday to her.  I, and I know Pam despises it as well, typically hates the singing of Happy Birthday at restaurants but our Serra V absolutely LOVES it so we indulged her.  We got the whole thing on film…she was beaming. When we explained to her that it was no longer her birthday tomorrow she said matter of factly “Well that breaks my heart.”  That melted my heart and I assured her that she needn’t worry…that we’d be celebrating it all week long.  I know I’m going to be in trouble when she’s older and asking me for stuff.

Day 4

Disney World (Day 1)

We took a good look at the various park schedules and decided that our first day of Disney would be spent at the Magic Kingdom.  We chose that one because it had the majority of rides that we were familiar with as well as it being open the longest (all the way till midnight). We’ll be spending tomorrow at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and then Friday at Epcot Center. 

A running theme is our difficulty in getting out the door in a timely manner but that’s to be expected with two little girls that need to be dolled up and us still wanting to sleep in till 10:00 (PST vs EST). We missed our intended shuttle but that wasn’t so bad as it gave us time to sit and plan a little and we still made it in to the park by 11:00 or so.  The Gaylord Palms has a free shuttle to all three parks we’ll be going to which is a major perk.  Have we said already how much we love this place?

Pictures of dolled up girls

We’re so thankful that Pam and Serra had some training from Gary and Leisl et al in regards to the whole “Fast Pass” usage at Disney.  The place was absolutely packed with most waits, even for the smallest rides, being 45-60 minutes. There were several school bands there that played a parade down main street so there were a ton of teeny bopper zit faced kids running around the place. Anyhow, I digress.  The fast passes came in handy big time as we were able to ride just about every ride we wanted to and only got caught up in a couple really bad lines (The Haunted Mansion and Pirates).  Serra and I rode Dumbo together while Pam and Sophia ran off to It’s a Small World for a quick feed and torture (is there any other way to describe that ride?). Other than that little excursion we pretty much stayed together the whole time.  Other observations about Disney World vs. Disneyland for you Disney nuts out there;

• Much smaller area so stuff is right on top of other stuff.  We were still dead from walking by the end of the day but it was nice that nothing was all that far.  Then again, maybe that’s why it seemed so crowded.
  
• PAM EDIT: It’s actually bigger but with less rides and more restaraunts and shops than Disneyland.  Much less dead space but is situated similarly to Disneyland. It’s also cleaner and newer.
  
• You actually take a ferry across a lake to get from the parking (Bus dropoff point as this case was) to the park entrance. You can take a shuttle, similar to Disneyland, but we chose the ferry.  Very cool.
  
• Pirates ride is very similar but shorter.  It’s obviously still open……no word on it closing down like the Disneyland one.
  
• Winnie the Pooh is much better here than at Disneyland. 
  
• The Lilo and Stitch ride was lame.  I would have been upset except we did the fast pass thing and didn’t wait 90 minutes like the other poor souls.   
  
•  We saw a great show that was done on the steps of the castle.  I forget what it was called but it was basically the story of Cinderella getting crowned a princess and it had Jasmine, Snow White, and Belle there as well.  Actually it wasn’t all that great but Serra sure loved it.  I had her on my shoulders the whole time and I was ready to be put to rest after enduring the heat and all the dancing and princess stuff.  I sure love my Serra.

 - Dancing princesses!

I’m sure Pam has some stuff to add to that list as she’s been to Disneyland a lot more times than I have recently but that’s what I can remember.

Various Disneyland Pics (most are of Serra just smiling)

Hard to see but Pam is pulling a “Gary” in this one. Either that or she’s having far too much fun on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

By about 7:00 Pam and I were pretty much done and Serra was petering out as well.  Actually Serra was tired almost from the getgo as I don’t think she slept all that well the night before.  This was evident by the constant request to be carried and the aches and pains in my feet and shoulders from obliging. She had a blast though and Sophia more than cooperated and if she wasn’t only 5 months and I knew better I’d say that she had a great time as well. Pam and I both had fun but we clocked it in and decided that we’d rather go back to our abode than take in the parade and fireworks that would have kept us out till midnight. 

Unfortunately our sense of time management needs some help as I ended up running from the ferry to catch our Gaylord Palms bus before it left us stranded.  Had we missed it the next one was an hour and a half later…DOH! On the way home on the bus Serra was all over the place showing off her new toys (a small stuffed Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh) to other kids on the bus.  It made me think that perhaps she wasn’t all that tired during the day and maybe she was just asking for rides because she knew she could.  Anyhow, she also ended up with some small Lilo and Stitch play people and a spray bottle with a fan attached to it…all courtesy of her birthday gifts from her admirers.

Once back in the hotel we’ve spent the evening cleaning up and relaxing…not to mention updating this this thing and getting caught up with the pictures.  I know it’s cumbersome to read but I’m going in to as much detail as possible as again, we’re using this to supplement our own memories so we can reread it when we get back as it’s all happening so fast.  Anyhow, I don’t know if I can keep up this posting pace but we’ll keep trying. night night.

Day 1 – Arriving in Ft. Lauderdale

Well it’s our first stop and we’ve already misplaced our cord required to transfer pictures from our cameras to the computer.  It’s too late to launch an all out search tonight but I’m sure it’ll turn up in the repack tomorrow morning.  Here’s a text version…surely pictures to back it up will be posted sooner than later.

Here’s a quick picture of our Embassy Suites Hotel in Los Angeles along with some airport pics…it was Serra and Sophia’s first flight.

Our flight out of LA was better than we could have expected.  We flew Delta/Song non-stop in to Ft. Lauderdale.  We had no idea that they had individual Dish Network equipped TV’s installed in every headrest of the plane.  It was awesome!  Serra got 4 hours of uninterrupted Cartoon Network and we were left wondering how anyone ever got through a long flight without them.  Aside from Serra spilling cranberry juice all over herself and Pam it couldn’t have been better.  Sophia is an angel.

As we exited the plane and entered the terminal Serra started calling out “Aunt Holly…Aunt Holly”.  We had to explain that while we were going to see Aunt Holly while we were here that she wasn’t going to meet us at the airport.  She also took one look at the terminal and exclaimed that we really hadn’t gone anywhere and that she thought we were going to Florida. Apparently the terminals look similar. It was pretty funny. We made our way to curbside where we caught a taxi to our hotel, the Pier 66 Hyatt.  We had scored the hotel on priceline (as we have the majority of our hotels on this trip) and we were impressed by the nice lobby and reception we got.  Overall the hotel is nice but it’s pretty dated and there are stains on the carpets in the hallway and the paint is peeling…the rooms are nice though.  No complaining here as the view is wonderful of the various local waterways and the parked cruise ships waiting to load.

After getting our stuff to our room we were hungry and made our way back down to the hotel restaraunt.  We are pretty naive when it comes to costs at hotel eateries but let’s just say a dinner of two hamburgers, fries, a coke, and Serra’s chicken fingers came in at around $60.  Yikes. Atleast the burgers tasted really good.

Day 2

Someone who’d stayed before us in this room was so kind to leave the alarm clock set to go off at 6:00 AM.  This normally wouldn’t be a big deal other than we’re still on Pacific Time and it was really 3:00 for us.  Pam wondered aloud why I was getting up so early while I was blindly pushing every button on top of the alarm clock trying to make it stop.  After that little episode we managed to sleep in till 9:00 EST before I got up to make my way back to the airport to pick up our rental car.

I’d made reservations for a fullsize car months ago at Thrifty and Budget as the prices seemed low and I wanted the flexibility to go to Budget if I got to Thrifty and all they had was a Ford Focus for me.  Having worked in the rental car industry I know that sometimes, no matter how hard you try as a rental guy, the only car you’ve got on your lot is a 2 door, 3 cylinder, with no power steering and no a/c, Chevy Metro.  At any rate, I’ve been checking both reservations off and on the last six months to see if I could get them cheaper but the prices were a good 300-400 higher than my original reservation.  I tried again last night and found to my surprise that Thrifty’s price actually was $200 less than my quoted price that I’d reserved months ago.  I hurridly cancelled my old reservation and made a new one…yipee!  I kept my Budget reservation as my backup. 

Anyhow, you didn’t need all that background but this is our journal and I want my kids to realize how hard I tried to save their money.  I showed up at Thrifty fully intending to offer the rental person a $100 bill to hook me up but I unfortunately got a girl who was getting trained by her manager.  They offered me either a Dodge Magnum for my reservation price or a minivan for $300 more.  I really like the looks of those Dodge Magnums so I was happy to hear that it was an ’06 with low miles so I knew I wouldn’t be going to Budget and the minivan, while likely better for our trip, didn’t hold the same appeal.  I tried to pull a fast one by trying to get them to give me a Chrysler 300 (luxury car) for the minivan rate but they weren’t budging.  Anyhow, long story short, we’re cruising in a real cool looking silver Dodge Magnum. 

On the way back to the hotel I stopped and picked up McDonalds for the girls since we’d gotten our taste of what the hotel restaraunt prices were.  I got our whole breakfast for the price of one hamburger! It was hilarious when Serra finally saw our car and she promptly asked me “Where did you get it? Did you steal it?”  I assured her that I had and that if she saw any police to let me know.  She’s a very funny kid.

After getting mobilized we decided to go brave the city streets and find our first destination; Sawgrass Recreation Area . It’s a pretty small little outfit but we had a blast going on the airboats and cruising through the everglades.  Our captain was a salty guy who looked liked he’d seen plenty of sun while sitting on top of those fan boats, but he gave us all the info we ever wanted on the everglades.  We did see one alligator while out in the wild but it made itself scarce fairly quickly.

After our fun boat ride we made our way over to the alligator exhibit where there were several ”baby” alligators.  They were anywhere from 3-5 feet long and the guide there was telling us all about them while letting us get up close and personal with them.  Serra was having a great time until we suggested that we take the guy up on the $2 donation for the chance to hold one of them and take a picture.  She refused but was ok with it as long as I was the one doing the holding and she’d pet it.  The guide put electrical tape around it’s jaws and handed him over to me.  Serra was brave enough to hold its tail and she’s been talking about it ever since.  She was excited to tell Grandpa Anderson since he’d warned her to “watch out for alligators”.

After that we headed towards a large shopping mall to pick up some miscellaneous items. We were surprised at how hot and muggy it is here so we picked up Pam and I some lighter shirts, and me some shorts and sandals. By the time we make it to Pennsylvania we’ll likely be doing some heavier clothes shopping but for now we just need to stay cool.

As we were finishing shopping we got a call from my sister Holly who was just getting off of work.  We made our way over to her place where we rendevouzed with her while we waited for her husband Ian to get off of work.  Serra was enthralled with her two dogs and I took a quick power nap.  After Ian got home we visted for awhile and headed out to a nice Mexican food place and enjoyed a nice dinner and visit.  We don’t get to see Holly much since she’s been in vet school in Wisconsin and is completing a residency down here so it was great to spend some time with her.

By now it was about 10:00 EST but we were full of energy and made our way back to the hotel where we partook of the nice pool facilities.  Pam bought a little inflatable boat that Sophia can sit in and go out in the water…it was fun.  I was in heaven as I was sitting there relaxing in the heated pool, surrounded by beautiful Ft. Lauderdale, and taking in the night sky and relaxing.  Not to make anyone jealous but it’s awesome.  Tommorrow we leave for Orlando…stay tuned.

Wow…what a great day.  It’s one of those days that will be engrained in my memory forever. Not to be overly dramatic or anything but it really was one of those days where everything was just as I’d imagined.  A total decompression and celebration of what our family has been through the last three years and also what we have to look forward to.  Not just the vacation, which we’re obviously excited about, but what is awaiting us when we get back. 

The weather was perfect, the cermony not too long and actually enjoyable, and the company was excellent. It was great to share the day with my Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma Gee, Pam, Serra, Sophia, and Dallas.  Those who couldn’t make it, we missed you and wished you could have joined us.

The ceremony was from 10:30 to 12:00 followed by a 1 hour reception outside the Pepperdine Fieldhouse.  The key speaker was the CEO/President of AAA and the atmosphere was full of energy as names were called and we all made the march.  One of the coolest things was there was a trumpet quartet that belted out a great introduction as the graduates entered.

Afterwards we gathered for pictures and partook of Pepperdine’s cookies and punch refreshments.  We then made our way down to Zuma 6 to partake of the sun and beach for the last time in awhile.  We were a bit out of place without our shorts and sandals on but enjoyed ourselves immensely nonetheless.  The ocean is always inspiring and it brought up a lot of feelings about how grateful I am about all that has happened in California the last few years.  Not to mention Pam and I’s time spent at Zuma when we were dating.  

We then made our way up the coast to Camarillo to take in some Wood Ranch goodness.  After a very large steak we ended up back in Calabasas for enough time for some good chat and a quick power nap.  Tonight we’re at our first hotel, the Embassy Suites next to LAX and getting ready to embark on our trip tomorrow.  We’ll be in Ft. Lauderdale the next two nights and then on to Orlando for four.  We’ll keep you posted as we go. 

Backing up a bit…here are some pictures of Serra’s crazy eyebrow, Sophia, and Serra’s birthday party we had this last Thursday.  We wanted to celebrate with the Anderson contingnecy.

Serra’s crazy eyebrow and 5 month old Sophia.

Serra’s 4th Birthday Bash

Graduation day…including some interesting attendees

Pictures afterwards……

Some long lost photo’s that we came accross from Dallas’ graduation

There are some great beach shots to come…but I’m tired after a fantastic day and we’ve got a plane to catch tomorrow morning!

Ok a lot has happened and I think I better keep up with it all so it doesn’t get to overwhelming. 

I spent all last week packing as you all know.  Brian attended his last class on Saturday and when he got home he nearly finished the garage patch job.  We attended our ward for the last time Sunday and Monday we moved.  It took us aaaalllll day and we still didn’t finish.  The driving rain didn’t help.  Brian loaded the truck as full as it could possibly go and we needed about 3 more feet of truck.  We left the remainder there in the garage and pulled out at about 9pm.  We got to Vegas at around 4am.  Yes, it took that long.  You see California doesn’t have a problem all but shutting down the I-15 through the night even though the traffic is still heavy to do a little road work.  It took us several hours to get from Barstow to Baker.  We were VERY tired and gratefully fell into bed upon arriving in Las Vegas.  Fortunately the girls fell right back to sleep. 

I got my hair cut and highlighted yesterday and it took 2 hours.  How nice it was to have babysitters again.  I didn’t worry about them at all.  I also was able to get Serra’s birthday shopping done without her there which will make it better for her when she opens her presents. 

Brian coaxed one of his buddies into accompanying him back to CA yesterday to finish up.  They left bright and early and loaded up a trailer with the rest of our belongings.  He cleaned the carpets and tried to finish the garage ceiling with the acoustic spray stuff.  He had the same kind of luck Dad did in their hallway a few years back.  What a mess.  But it is DONE.  We are officially moved out and escrow closes today.  We also submitted our wish list to the sellers of our property out here.  The flooring needs some work to the tune of $2500.  Travertine is difficult to install because it is a natural stone.  The thickness varies from tile to tile.  It was not very well done and there are many sharp ridges.  We were concerned about little toes getting stubbed or cut and asked them to take care of it.   We asked them to take care of that and they AGREED!  We were preparing for a bit of a battle with it but they just rolled over so we are very pleased with that. 

Tonight we are having a little party for Serra’s birthday.  We will be in Orlando on her big day so it will be much better to do it all here.  There will be no other kids though so it will be a little bit of a let down there for the birthday girl.  Although there won’t be any competition on the candle blowing.

Brian is running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to get everything done he needs to before we leave.  He got home about 3:30 this morning and was up at 6:30 and off to meetings.

We are headed back to CA tomorrow morning for Brian’s graduation ceremony on Saturday.  Then it’s off on a month of fun. 

We will be downloading the camera software on Brian’s laptop so we can post pictures while we travel.  But for now no pictures. 

I’m spending way too much time on the computer today, but I need to get this stuff done before we take down the computer.    Here are shots of the office all done.

   

   

 

 

 

 

While making cinnamon rolls I asked Serra to climb high and get the powdered sugar down for me.  The bag came open…whoops.  And Rosie is officially an expert toe grabber.

 

Brian wrote that last comment at 4:30 this morning as he finished his final paper.  He was up by 6 and off to his final class.  Tonight when he gets home he will finish patching the garage ceiling.  I continue to pack and sneeze.

A nice box full of do-dad’s arrived a few days ago for my girls from “Gwamma and Gwammpa on a mishoun.”   I knew it was for Serra’s birthday but we opened it anyway because we need to make sure everything gets packed away.  To our suprise was easter treats as well.  Serra promptly took care of Sophia’s candy.  Serra got one balloon out to play with and cried when I packed up the shells.  Sorry Charlie..but it will be like a second holiday when we get settled in the new place. 

Martin and Randy took us out for lunch yesterday.  We invaded the Woodranch in Agoura.  It was really good.  It was Brian’s last day at Expedition.  How weird is that?

Well, I am stalling because today I have to get the rest of everything in boxes and the end is the hardest as it is all miscellaneous stuff that doesn’t really belong anywhere.  We have filled both the recycle and garbage bins to overflowing and my car is packed to the gills with stuff for Goodwill.  If I haven’t used it or looked at it since we moved here, it goes. 

Serraisms:

The other day we were talking about the new house.  Serra was with us when we went house shopping.  The house we are getting is the one she refers to as the one with the hill.  There is a slight hill in the front yard.  We also looked at a few places where people were home and she had fun playing with the kids while we looked around.  She asked again which house we were getting.  I told her it was the one with the hill.  She said, ” I want the one with the kids. ”  I wonder if she thinks it come with the kids. 

This morning as I was practicing good hygiene, Serra asked, “Are you putting on odorant.”  I certainly hope not. 

Packing…Packing….and more packing.

It’s a good thing we move fairly often as the dust in the unreachable and hidden areas is unbelievable.  I guess that is what spring cleaning is all about.  Well….it is officially spring, isn’t it.