Florida: More Pictures then You're Interested in Seeing

Day 1: Walt Disney World

Obligatory castle picture. They play show tunes on Main Street USA. We had to sing along to Hello Dolly and Oklahoma while we were there. 

The one place where the Magic Kingdom kicks Disneyland's butt is in the waiting lines. This amazing line is for the Little Mermaid ride.  There were interactive games to play all along the line and amazing set design. 

Another amazing line wait is for the Haunted Mansion. There are interactive activities and even a fountain. 

It ended up raining while we were on the Riverboat Ride and then stopped before we had to get off. 

Splash Mountain was shut down so the gift shop was nearly empty. Chuck and I were able to rock in some rocking chairs for a long while and Ruth and Jared played checkers.  The joys of having older children! 

Jared did have a good time.  I'm pretty sure he did, at least.   He just hates pictures.

 Day 2: Islands of Adventure (Universal Studios)

The way they build Hogwarts Castle was an amazing feat of optical illusion.  The thing looks huge.  There is a ride in the castle and even walking right up to it the illusion stands. 

The detail in Hogsmead was amazing. You could spend an hour just looking at the shop windows.   I just wish there were more actual shops to walk into.  

Waiting in line to go into Olivander's Wand Shop.  

The Flight of the Pheonix roller coaster wasn't that fun, but in the waiting line is a life-sized replica of Hagrid's hut. 

To actually ride the Hogwarts Express would have required us to buy an additional ticket to Universal's other park.  At least they had this one to take photos with. 

The waiting line for the Harry Potter ride winds through Hogwart's castle. There is so much to look at that this line was actually my favorite part. 

There was also a Jurassic Park section.  We spent some time in the Jurassic Park museum. Here Ruth has combined her DNA with dino DNA to see what a Ruthosaur would look like. 

We ate lunch in this pavilion that was copied from the one in the Jurassic Park movie.  In the museum, there were life-sized dinos you could puppet. 

Note:  We didn't get a picture in Super Hero land, but this was also a big favorite.  Ruth's favorite ride was the Spiderman ride, and Jared's favorite was the Hulk roller coaster.  Overall we enjoyed Islands of Adventure more than Disney World.  The technology on the Spiderman, Kingkong, and Harry Potter rides was truly mind-blowing. I've never seen anything like it.

Day 3: Kennedy Space Center

The Saturn 5 Rocket was huge!

Looking at a replica of the Hubble telescope with the Atlantis in the background.  We learned that they are shooting up a fancy new telescope next year that is supposed to see 100x better than the Hubble.  

The Space Shuttle was amazing!

They had a rocket launch ride that was quite intense. 

Rocket Garden

We went on a bus tour of several of the launch pads. This is Space X 's launching site.  Space X and Tesla are sister companies.

We'd say "somebody, get in the picture." and Ruth would sigh and say - "I'll do it." 

 

Ruth tried out the replica of Friendship 7. It was a tight fit. 

Jared tried out the interactive spacewalk.

The original logo that hung on the NASA building during the Saturn era.

Day 4: Palm Harbor/Tarpon Springs

I spent a lot of time on the stage of this theater in high school.  My old high school is now half high school half middle school. 

We ate at a great restaurant on the waterfront called Rusty Bellies. 

Jen Runy was my bff all through high school. We've kept in touch over all these years and she's still been there for me across the miles. 

We were so sad that the Spongarama museum was shut down by the hurricane. 

This is the house I was raised in. that window on the left was my bedroom.

I spent many happy hours  as a kid playing on Crystal Beach

Boardwalk through the swamp. 

Walking through Tarpon Springs

Tones of crappy little gift shops at the sponge docks.  We passed on these gator heads, but the real gator claw back scratcher was tempting. 

We saw an alligator and some huge spider webs on our nature walk. 

Flying Home

Exhausted, we stumbled into the Orlando airport at 4:30 am (2:30 am our time). Here is the picture of the glass roof over security.  I thought it was a great representation of how we are just one in the mass of humanity.   Huston was in a thunderstorm and our plane was stuck on the tarmac for 45 minutes.  The flight was the roughest I've ever had. I was so glad when we finally broke through to the light and out of the storm.  

Nothing of note really happened this week.  Just practices, orthodontist appointments, church activities, work, that sort of thing.  You might have seen in the news that Tesla fired a bunch of employees, but be assured that Chuck still has a job and got a good review. So no worries there.

So in the face of no news, here is a cute picture of Kaitlin and Ben.  People ask me about them all the time and I tell people that they are happy and working hard and are poor.

Happy Adulthood Ruth

Turning 18 while you are in the middle of your senior year of high school is kinda a weird thing because legally you are an "adult" but in every other way, nothing has really changed for you.  The only thing that has changed in actuality is that you can buy goldfish and spray paint, you can vote, you can have "relations" with another adult without it being a crime, and when you are arrested you go to real jail.   That's about it. 

With these things in mind, Ruth had a pretty low-key and chill 18th birthday last week.  We had a family celebration on Sunday which consisted of popcorn chicken bowl for dinner, some pumpkin cookies for dessert, and an evening of playing xBox together.  Ruth got a new-to-her iphone, and she spent most of the evening setting up. 

Her actual birthday was spent going to school and then going on a date with Quaid who came down from uni to celebrate with her. 

Other Things About Ruth

I know at times this could be called the "Ruth Blog".  It's not that she is that much better than the rest of us, it's just that while the rest of us are trudging along with normal life things, she has all these noteworthy things happening to her.

First off,  Ruth was appointed the Mayor of the city youth council. She's been hoping to get the position for a while now and has gone out of her way to express interest to the city council member over youth council in hopes of being appointed, and this week she was.  She went to her first meeting this week and has already started to lay out her vision for the youth council this year.

Secondly,  Ruth got her Stirling Scholar application finished and turned into the school. Now she is waiting for the first round of interviews.  She feels that she has a pretty good chance of getting it. 

Finally,  debate season started this weekend with a huge statewide tournament at the University of Utah.  She got fourth-place finishes in both HI and DI.  She is overall happy with her results as this was her first competition with these new scripts.


I'm Feeling HEROIC

This weekend was my first event with a local costuming club called HEROIC. It's a not-for-profit cosplay club where local charities ask us to come to their events.  They can even request certain characters.   On Saturday I went and volunteered with the Best Buddies walk.  Best Buddies is an organization that helps people with disabilities get employment.   I spent two hours as batgirl in the cold taking pictures and interacting with all the "buddies" as we did a mile walk together.   

I'm currently a "trial" member and will be for the next six months.  It's a time where the club and I can see if we are a good fit.  It's different for me because I am used to interacting with costume creators, and this is the first time that I'm interacting with people who buy/make a costume and then spend years performing the character as a cosplayer.   I'm not totally sure if this is my kind of thing. We'll see.

Cosplay is a Family Affair 

This weekend was comic-con.  On Friday, Ruth and I spent the day together.  We went to see some panels and walked the convention floor.  Saturday was my big competition day.  Ruth woke up early with me to be my handler for the in-person judging for the cosplay contest.  I can not understate how vital having a helper is to me when I'm in costume.  All day Ruth and Chuck faithfully stood by my side, helping me through doors, feeding me water, adjusting my suit. Chuck was my handler for the evening competition and he came backstage with me and helped me navigate everything.   This was my first time competing as a Masters at this level, and I was so glad that the competition was light. I didn't have to go up against any 12 foot robots that shoot fire out of their eyes, or quick change Cinderellas that spin their rags into a beautiful ballgown.  My goal going in was to place, I ended winning the masters division.

A Day with My Brother

I was so lucky this week to spend a day with my brother Richard this week.  I don't think I've spent that kind of time with him since I was just a little girl.  He asked me to drive him to a hospital appointment since his wife is out of town, and I was more than happy to do it.   I'm so glad his family has moved back out to Utah so that we can see each other much more often.  While he was getting his treatment he helped me get set up on Snapchat and showed me how to "snap".

Happenings

I'm happy to report that Jared made it into the district youth symphony. He starts rehearsals after school on Monday and is pretty excited.  He really wants to play at a higher level than his middle school is offering and I hope this symphony does not disappoint.

Ruth went to homecoming this weekend.  In the day her group went to miniature golf and drive go-carts. In the evening they ate dinner at one of the boy's houses and then went to the dance.  Ruth made the boutonniere for her date herself.    Ruth has also been gearing up for the new debate season. She is currently working on a Dramatic Interpretation (DI) and a Humorous Interpretation (HI). She's hoping to add a Program Oral Interpretation (POI) later in the season but we'll see.  She also started the process of applying to become a Sterling Scholar and joining National Honor's Society.

I had my first full week back to work.  I'm back in 1st Grade which I love, so I'm very happy about that.  They've changed my schedule a little bit so I'll be doing a lot more teaching in classes, like as a sub while teachers go to meetings, which I don't like at all. So we'll see how it goes.  I only messed up on the copy machine once before I remembered how to use it.

I also finished my batgirl cosplay and I'm pretty excited about it.

Finally,  because of some schedule conflicts, Jared is taking PE online this semester. He had to make a video for his PE class and we all thought it was so funny that, with his permission, I'm sharing it here.   This video is a prime example of Jared's dry sense of humor.

Back to Work

This week I had my beginning of the year training.  Tomorrow I head back to work as a teacher's aid for 1st grade.   Ruth also went back to work.  She was laid off last month but then got a call a couple weeks ago asking her to come back. I guess the guy that laid her off was fired and they were trying to rehire some of the employees.  Ruth agreed to come back but at fewer hours (because of school), they agreed  - so it seems to have worked out for everyone.

Because this was my last week before starting work I've been pushing to get all my cosplay stuff finished for comic-con in 2 weeks.   I've also filled a few orders on my Etsy shop.   Here is a picture of the batgirl cape in progress.  Making patterns is a tricky skill that I'm getting better at with practice.

The only other thing going on around our house is fighting over the xBox because Destiny 2 (a first person shooter game) came out this week.

Happy Birthday Chuck

Now that school has started we are getting back into a routine here at our house.  Ruth and Jared are both liking school so far and things are going well.   Ruth was invited to homecoming (which is a relief because it not being invited was getting stressful) and Jared has decided to audition for a youth orchestra and has been practicing his audition piece. I've been taking advantage of having some free time before I go back to work in a couple weeks by sewing a new project.

The extra special thing we did this week was celebrate Chuck's birthday.  We had pizza and homemade cinnamon rolls and then spent the rest of the evening resting and playing video games (Chuck's choice).