April 22, 2006

• 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. 

  
  

  

  
  

   

  • 10:49 pm
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