Family and Disney, Of Course

Friday Gary went off to work in his new costume. He looks a little like Ben Franklin, right?
Just needs those little square glasses…

I cleaned up the coach and waited for Michelle, my daughter, and four of the six grandkids to arrive. They have a new van and even though the kids have stayed with us in the coach, Michelle hadn’t even seen it with the slides out. Around 1 o’clock they pull up in this! Wow, what a van! We hung around the campsite for an hour and then headed over to Disney Marketplace. The parking lots were jammed because the Festival of the Masters had begun today. Just as we were turning into the parking lot, Graham (4) thought he was going to be sick. We pull into the bus parking spot, and head him over to the bushes. Nothing. OK, everyone back in the van. Turning right into a lot, we notice a car pulling out – and hitting the car next to it! It kept backing up, apparently oblivious, so I opened my window and shouted to her that she had just hit that car. She said no. We said yes, look at all the white paint on your bumper. She got out (of course, we are all blocking a packed exit) and looked, saying there wasn’t a scratch on it. We let her by, but got the plate number. We parked this large vehicle, got everyone together and went to look at the hit car. There was a long black paint mark. We trooped back to security (which, thank heavens, was right there) and talked to a very nice security lady, walked back to the car with her and she made a report. This was done for the benefit of the children (and, of course, the victim). We finally made it into Downtown Disney.

Festival of the Masters was happening this weekend, and the kids couldn’t have come at a better time. The first thing we found was a LEGO event. The children were handed a 2x2 inch square color-coded LEGO base. They were to add LEGO pieces according to the colors on their square. The three of them got to work. When finished, they handed it to a helper and he used a rubber hammer to attach their square onto a large board according to a number on the back. When finished, this mural is to adorn a wall in the new flagship, the Disney Dream. How cool is that! To know you helped make a piece of art that millions of people will see. . Here they are looking at their pieces on the board.


We walked down towards LEGOLAND and passed artists making chalk drawings from a picture and painting Mickey in various mediums. Arriving at LEGOLAND, all kinds of displays were shown, all made from LEGO. By the way the name LEGO was coined from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well". The kids got to make a block that would be the base of an 8 foot dragon sculpted by a LEGO MASTER. While they were working on that, I got a call from my recruiter, Barbara, telling me that my original job was open and waiting for me. I start on Tuesday! YAY.

Then the kids were hungry. A few hot dogs and fruit later, we looked in the World of Disney store for their take home treats. Lance chose an ice cream cone, Lauren some Lego, and Graham a bag of CARS. Henry enjoyed the day as well, as you can see.


Saturday Gary and I needed to drive to St. Pete to pick up Michelle’s car which I will be using to get to work because my honey and I can’t carpool unless we happen to have the same work hours. The kids were excited to see us again and we hung around playing with them until they had to leave for playdates. We decided to take the scenic route over the Sunshine Skyway bridge south even though it was out of our way. It was another spectacular day and driving over that beautiful bridge looking at the sparkling water and blue sky is a reminder of why I love Florida. Two hours later we got home, did a few chores, and were invited for dinner with Donna and Ron. We ended up making merry as Donna played her dulcimer and Gary played the guitar. Ron and I sang (if we knew the words). It was a lot of fun and we finally got home around 10:30.

Today I needed to get my own lunch box and we decided it was prudent for each of us to have a phone just in case, so we visited Walmart, picked up another TracFone and some minutes. Sixty bucks for peace of mind. We won’t use it for conversations, so the minutes should last a long time. We chose the phone with double minutes for a lifetime – not a bad deal – and no contract.

Then Gary started to get ready for work (4pm-midnight) in his Ben costume after having a hot meal and packing a sandwich for dinner break.

It sure is strange to be alone again. But there is plenty of people and activities around here to keep me busy if I want. I kind of like a little peace, now and again, though, and I only have one day left before time clocks and commutes.