6 month 2012 resolution check

1. To "work on" not chewing my nails - I was a monster on this in the beginning with 7 fingernails growing like weeds.  Then they began breaking.  I went from seven nails to 2 nails and suddenly I was chewing again.  I have only one semi-long nail now and tons of stress that isn't helping me in this resolution.  Score: 1
2. To lower my cholesterol - I had my cholesterol checked in December before I saw my doctor and it was 242, the highest I have ever had it.  She wasn't concerned and knew I could lower it.  I had to discuss some things with my gastro doc before I could resume fish oil pills, but once I got the okay for that I started back on them at the end of March.  I also started working on eating better.  I tested again in the beginning of June and the nurse called to say the doctor wanted to put me on cholesterol medicine because it was still too high.  I asked what it was and found that it had gone from 242 to 214.  Huh?  I refused medication and explained that I had only just started with the fish oil pills the last two months.  We agreed to let me keep working toward getting it under 200.  So...dammit I did lower my cholesterol!  Score: 10
3. To find time and do things only for myself - For some reason I only just remembered this resolution recently.  Probably because I never think of myself....snicker, snicker.  I went to the movies this week by myself between drop offs and pick ups of children at summer activities.  When I mentioned it to people, all but one, said, "What?  You went to the movies?  You went to the movies?" as if this wasn't allowed.  Only Kelly said, "You need to do that more often, Cara."  Jeez! Perhaps the people around me are making me feel too guilty to work on this one! I think I'll score me half just because of that.  Score: 5
4. To do a better job of keeping on top of my SAHMly chores - Whoa!  Another one I forgot!  Oops!  Maybe next year I should only do one resolution so I can keep abreast of these babies.  Cleaning has not gotten more exciting in my life, and I just don't give a damn about it.  I just took my laundry basket of dirty clothes into the "laundry garage" and when I set it down it fell over and knocked over the laundry sorter.  I just turned around and went back inside.  That's not really the attitude I was looking for in this resolution.  Score:  0
5. To say something nice to every person I come into contact with daily - This is one that I think about, although don't always do.  It is a hard one since I might come into contact with tons of people one day and only a few the next.  But I really am a nice person and thus I think I do a fairly decent job on this one.  It isn't a ten, but it is decent.  Score:  6

 Total:  22 out of 50 - I'm going to have to step up my game these last six months.  I'm aiming for perfection and this isn't even half at the half.

After Debby beach photos

I decided to venture out last night after reading about all the beach erosion caused by Tropical Storm Debby to check things out for myself.  Darcy and a friend who shares her birth date are planning a bash on the beach later this week so I wanted to make sure that was even a possibility.  Since we were planning an excursion on the beach we of course called our live-on-the-beach- gal Kelly.  She gave up a dinner at church to join us in our fun.

Things looked good as we made our way down the wooden walkway toward the water.  Darcy had heard that the beach was gone, but although the tide was higher than normal it looked good from where we were crossing.  Right before the end of the walkway there was a sign that warned us of a drop off and sure enough the walkway ended and we had to jump to reach the sand.  I was quite confused wondering where the steps were, but Kelly told me there hadn't ever been steps just a sandy slope that was no longer there.

She then pointed to the sand ledge where once the sand had been this packed.  Ah, erosion.  I guess I expected the water to be as high as the walkway and the beach completely gone?  I'm not sure what I was thinking, but since it was obviously more dire than what we saw I was pleasantly surprised.

This was the drop off from the other end which doesn't look so drastic, but when you are an overweight, middle aged woman with a bad knee trust me it was more so than it appears in this photo.  It did make for a nice place to sit and watch the sun drop though.

The gulf is usually very calm (although I always post pictures when it isn't - I realized that after typing that sentence).  The waves weren't as high as they had been on Monday, but it was still choppy.  Darcy had spent the day again on Clearwater beach and was allowed in the water with only a caution flag flying.  She said there wasn't much of an undertow and I didn't find much of one while wading in this water.

The big thing to do on the beach this week has been to build big holes, according to Darcy.  We found this one right off to the right of the walkway.  Because it fills with water, kids seem to like digging to China.  Kelly wanted to get in the hole, but was concerned an animal was down there or that she would be sucked down into Asia.  I assured her that if she started sinking I would seek immediate help from the people down the beach.  When she inquired why I wouldn't be pulling her out myself, I told her, "Because I'll be taking pictures for the blog, silly!"

So Kelly talked Darcy into stepping into the hole.  She is sort of like the Mikey kid from the cereal commercial.  "Let's get Darcy.  She'll do it!"

Then Kelly told her she should sit down in it like a hot tub so she did.  She lasted less than a minute before the walls began caving in covering her in sand.  She had to spend quite some time at the showers to get herself clean again.

We left the beach before the sun went down in search of a place to eat.  I wanted to try something new where we could sit outside and enjoy the view (much to Kelly's dismay), and we settled on a new place that had taken over for a really popular restaurant in the next beach town.  Madison went in and got us a menu to peruse beforehand, and I made the decision to try it.  We ate outside and enjoyed the above view.

The food was so so.  My fish tacos were excellent and just the right amount, but the side of black beans and spicy rice was almost cold and from a package.  Darcy's caesar salad wasn't made with romaine lettuce, but iceberg.  Her side of garlic red potatoes, however, were good.  Madison's meal of a Cuban sandwich was not quite up to the par of Cuba, but her fries were tasty.  Kelly's fish chowder was hot, a tad spicy, and quite tasty.  She also order the scallops ceviche which turned out to be fish instead of scallops (called the Daily Ceviche on our bill) and it came with a huge pile of saltine crackers instead of the chips that it said on the menu.  Kelly complained nicely and the waitress brought her out a small plate of multi-colored chips.

There was music playing inside the first seating area and it was very loud so I'm not sure how anyone could communicate if sitting there.  Outside we could hear the same music at a better volume and it was pleasant.  About ten minutes into our evening, a man's voice came over the speakers telling us the storm had past, and suddenly he broke out in song.  It was so rough and off key that we thought it must be karaoke night, but since he continued throughout our meal we realized he was the night's entertainment.  So we made the most of it singing and swaying along to his version of the oldies.  He appreciated us, telling us folks on the patio to continue joining in, but the rest of the diners eyed us suspiciously.

It isn't a place I'll return to anytime soon, but perhaps I'll give it another shot when I'm looking for a place to sit outside and have a drink.  Although Kelly's jack and coke cost $6.50 for a juice glass portion so maybe not...  But it was a nice ending to our little evening beach excursion.

5 quick things

1. We are currently on our third day of rain, wind, and darkness.  Tropical Storm Debby came through our area and battered us with all of the above all day on Sunday.  Yesterday we saw the sun for spurts, and although we hardly got rain, we were treated to very gusty winds.  My neighborhood has been lucky with us all keeping our power and minimal wind damage.  Darcy went out in the yard yesterday and picked up most of the sticks that had fallen from our huge oak tree.  By the end of the evening it looked like she hadn't touched it.  She also trekked down to the beach to explore the waves, but the lifeguards were keeping everyone out of the surf because the currents were too strong.  They could wade and she said she and her friend caught a close wave that pushed them all the way to their chair before the lifeguard caught them.  I was hesitant about letting her go in the first place, but my friend went to Clearwater where there were guards.
2. For the past few weeks of summer we have been lazy.  Not much has happened and we haven't done anything since our jaunt to Orlando.  Both girls were sick for several days and then tired.  We stayed up late and slept late.  This week, however, we are loaded with activities.  Both girls have camp days and Madison is finally doing her volunteer work for school.  We have had to rise and shine early and for some reason I'm doing so with vim and vigor. 
3. No luck on finding the travel log notebook.  I have searched and searched and cleaned out a closet looking for the thing.  While I did find my missing Wii Fit DVD in the messy closet the notebook is gone.  I'm sure I tossed it, which is really unlike me when it comes to that sort of item, but I'm giving up.  Instead I have made a new book and labeled it accordingly in black sharpie across the front.  Kelly and I have outlawed electronics during the car rides throughout the Indiana countryside so we expect the girls to contribute to the notebook.
4. Yesterday after our grocery excursion I went into my pantry to put things away and discovered I had an infestation of weevils that were in my pasta, cereal, cookies, pancake mix, etc.  The girls and I had to remove all the items in the pantry and clean it out.  Of course, Madison began checking dates on the canned goods and before long we had four bags of trash to add to our newly emptied garbage can.  I have to say though that my pantry has never looked better.  If I want to keep it this way then I can't buy any more food.
5. My vacation is fast approaching and I'm already dreading returning home.  The problem with vacationing in July is that it leaves very little time for "summer" when you return.  I've been on the girls to get their summer homework done to no avail so I know that we will return from vacation and run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to buy supplies, get homework done, etc.  I'll need a vacation after all of that.

Our extreme coupon summer

A few years ago, due to something I read and my own feelings, I decided to do a month of summer homeschooling which I blogged about here and here.  It went well and I learned a lot.  The main thing was the girls all felt they were better prepared for the start of school than they had been in years past.  It made me rethink the year school plan.  I only did the one summer of homeschooling, but each summer I try to come up with something that keeps their minds working.  This summer I gave Darcy the assignment of working with coupons.  I told her that it was her job to cut out the coupons and accompanying me to the grocery.  For every dollar she saved me I would give her that amount at the end of summer.  To her credit she said she didn't think that was saving money in the end, but she would take the deal.

She started out with the Sunday paper inserts.  Madison and I came up with our weekly meals and made a grocery list.  Darcy went over the grocery list and circled the items she had coupons for and then we went shopping.  At the end of the trip she saved $14.70.  I was shocked.  My mother has always used coupons and is always on me to use them myself, but although I cut them out some weeks I inevitably forget them and they expire.  Now I was experiencing coupon savings via my daughter.

Not long after our first week of shopping I was thumbing through the cable channels and landed on TLC's Extreme Couponing.  Darcy, Madison, and I watched several episodes with our mouths dropped open.  Now seriously these people are very extreme and if you ask me most of them belong on A&E's Hoarders, but it got us all pumped to keep on cutting. 

Darcy has a two coupon caddies, one for the grocery and one for stores like Target and Walmart.  She spends about an hour online downloading and cutting coupons that she finds on various sites.  If Madison and I talk about a product we want to add to the grocery list she will veto it if she doesn't have a coupon for it.  I recently read a an article about extreme couponing that made some sense and might just help me plan my weekly menu, a chore I despise.  The author said that a good couponer plans her meals around what is on sale so when this week's grocery ad appeared in my paper I went through it circling everything I was likely to buy, and now Madison and I will try to plan our meals around this sale.  If Darcy has extra coupons on top of that, then we will be that much richer as well.  I will still purchase those things I crave, against Darcy's wishes, because life is too short to deny oneself, but I will not go crazy as I have in the past.

Keep track of Darcy's savings to right of my blog.  Maybe if she gets good at it (without becoming a hoarder because my house is not designed for that) she will start her own blog!

Preparation #1 for summer travels

Once upon a time Kelly and I went on vacation and started jotting down thoughts, pictures, and summaries of our experiences.  Each time we went somewhere else together we brought the notebook.  Eventually I started this blog and transferred the notebook to the blog.

A month or so ago in a cleaning frenzy I ran across the notebook and thought that I should chuck it.  I can't remember the reason behind it.  I'm not sure if there were any more blank pages, but I vaguely remember thinking that it was all on my blog and I shouldn't hold on to it.  Clutter, clutter.  I threw it in the can, but then retrieved it, and then...I don't remember.  But I can't find it now that I'm heading off on vacation again with Kelly.

Me:  "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Kelly:  "Really?  O-k-a-y."

Me:  "I can't find the travel  notebook."

Silence

Me:  "I know, I know.  It's terrible.  I've looked everywhere, but I think I might have thrown it out."

Kelly:  "Well, I don't even know what travel notebook you're talking about so..."

Okay, so obviously that notebook wasn't important to her either.  I had to remind her of the notebook, and I still don't think she remembered.  She eventually was sorry that I threw it out without a proper burial such as a night of reading through it and remembering good times.  She suggested we start a new one.  I thought perhaps we should progress to an electronic one that would make it easier to post to our blogs and facebook, but then I remembered that I was outlawing electronics and my kids would for certain to be all over that one.  Sigh. 

From someone else's babe's mouth

We were in the grocery store taking Connie on her weekly shopping spree.  I sit in the front of the store while Madison follows behind Connie in the motorized scooter helping her feel tomatoes and hauling in her weekly cranberry stash.  After about forty minutes I thought I should go and find them so I wandered to the frozen section of the store thinking it about time they were in the last aisle.  The last time I searched for Connie I could see her at the end of the aisle wheeling toward the next aisle so I went down that aisle, but by the time I got to the next aisle she was wheeling down another one and she was always an aisle ahead of me.  It was a comical search. 

This time, however, I found Madison at the end of an aisle and signaling to her that I was coming.  She pointed to the milk section where Connie was having her read out the dates of the 2 %.  They got the right milk and proceeded down the dairy aisle.  I was behind the two of them and we had to pass by a cart with a baby in one of those infant seats that sits on top of the cart.  The baby was very wide eyed and so I stopped a moment to goo goo gah gah with her.  Her mother was with a smaller toddler off to the right picking out yogurt.  The toddler was being very helpful holding a couple of yogurts in her hand and her mother told her to go put them in the cart.  The girl approached the cart with the baby, started to put the yogurt in the back, and saw me smiling at the baby on the other side of the cart.  She hesitated and came around to peer at the baby, the yogurt still in her hands.  She squinted up at the baby as I passed by, and then I watched as she went back to her mother and asked, "Mom.  Is that our baby right there?"

I thought that very funny and giggled.  I know my presence there threw her off, but I couldn't resist tossing back, "Because really they all look the same" to the mother who was rolling her eyes and telling her daughter that yes that was their baby.  The girl went back to the baby and the cart and dropped the yogurt in the back, but she kept peering at the baby as if she weren't sure she had the right one.  Adorable.

Out of the mouths of my babes

Darcy: "Aunt Susan told me on Skype that she will call you later and no she's not mad."

Me: " Okay thank you."

Darcy: " Why is Aunt Susan mad at you?"

Me: "What? You just said she said she wasn't mad."

Darcy: " Well why did you think she was mad."

Me: "I don't know. Don't worry about it."

Darcy: "Tell me!"

Me: "Oh my god, Darcy I just said that because every time I call her she doesn't answer so I thought maybe she was upset or mad about something."

Darcy: " Are you kidding? That kind of stuff still goes on at your age?"

Me: "What stuff?"

Darcy: "Drama! I was hoping all that girl drama stuff would be over by the time I got to high school."

Me:  "I hate to tell you, but drama follows girls and women til the very end."

Darcy:  "How depressing!"

Summer 101

We are two weeks into vacation and already my kids are bored.  They sleep, they watch television, and occasionally they eat.  If I remind them.  It is starting to drive me crazy.  Their choices when asked what they want to do range from "shopping" to "go get something to eat".  We have a pool outside our house and a beach a half a mile away, but Madison doesn't want to get sunburned and Darcy is bored unless she has a friend to entertain her.  All of this is foreign to me because back in my day when the last school bell rang we were gone.  Gone out of the house and away from any adults.

My neighborhood was chock full of kids that all interacted with one another.  We may have split off into sexes, but eventually we all came together to play sports or games to pit the sexes against each other.  We even got the boys to play superheros with us and to put on plays and musicals in my backyard.  Every time I hear the Four Season's December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) I think of my my neighbor across the street singing that song with his brother and my brother as his backup group.  I probably had something on them to make them participate, but they showed up for the daily practices.

If we got tired of something we made up something else. Some of our best games were the ones we invented. We played a game called Thunder & Lightning with a Frisbee in my backyard and Tennis Baseball in the street. We rode our bikes around the neighborhood giving tours, each area a different country. We had a small woods in our neighborhood that we hung out in building forts across the creek and having wars. We never went inside if we could help it, drinking from hoses in yards. If the weather was bad we played board games and cards at someone's house, but the television was never an option.

As we got older our parents put us into activities. I was on a summer swim team and took tennis lessons. My brother swam and played golfed during the day and baseball in the evening. I worked the concession stand and the audio booth during his games. We were all involved. At night we all gathered to shoot hoops or play four square in the street.  I'm not sure I even watched television in the summer because we were tired after playing outside all day.

Yesterday while working on this entry I had the following conversation on the way to the orthodontist:

Darcy: "What day do we go to Indiana?"

Me: "We leave on a Wednesday, and just so you know all electronics will be left here at home."

Madison: "What? No!"

Darcy: "Uh, no!"

Me: "Yes. You guys are going to have the kind of summer vacation that I use to have. We are going back in time."

Madison: "Dad doesn't like it when we don't have our phone."

Darcy: "Yeah, Dad isn't going to be happy with that."

Me: "I don't mean your phones. You can bring your phones, but they are only to be used for talking like a phone was used back in my day."

Madison: "Then you can't use your phone either."

Me: "I will use it for talking and maybe directions."

Madison: "See. That isn't fair. You could use a map instead of your phone."

Me: "Good idea. Okay, we'll use a map. You two can work on reading maps."

Darcy: "This is going to be boring."

Me: "No. You can talk and look out the window and play games like the "license plate" game or the "abc" game.

Darcy : "We've done that before. We do that."

Madison: "But you and Kelly are going to want to talk."

Me: "Exactly! And you can participate in that conversation."

Madison: "But you will want some privacy and instead you'll have us listening to you all the time."

Me: "Well, back in my day we had headphones with our...what was that thing...Walkman! You can use a Walkman."

Darcy: "Uh huh. And your going to get us one of those?"

Me: "Yes! On Ebay."

Connie Foot Update

A week or so ago the home health nurse told Connie her foot was healed.  It had closed up and her job was done.  She called the office of the Foot God and someone there told her if it was healed to just let it go.  Luckily for Connie, the nurse was smarter because when we got to the appoinment a week later the foot was close, but not healed.

There is still a slit exposed and so he had to write orders to keep maintaining for the nurses.  We didn't discuss what would happen once it is healed because, well, we haven't ever been this close before and so it never crossed our minds until after we left the office.

In the meantime Connie sits in her wheelchair in her condo.  We get her out once or twice a week for doctor appointments and grocery shopping.  Last week the girls and I took her out to lunch and to various stores to shop.  We were all exhausted upon our return.

We return to the Foot God in a little under three weeks.  This time we plan to have some questions ready for him to answer.

Keeping the earth green

I've written before the story behind why my husband doesn't recycle, but because we seem to be going through bottled water like, well, water, I have been saving the bottles to recycle.  We live in the county and while we have curbside recycling we have to pay for it.  We did so with our original trash collector, but recently we switched companies and Tom opted not to add recycling to the bill.  My neighbors, however, are still with the original trash company and thus recycle every Friday.  I figured I would just add my bottles into their curbside container on Fridays and become a recycle princess at least in plastic bottles.

When we had recycling pick-up the truck came every Friday in the late afternoon.  Trash pick-up came early morning, but the recycle truck came much much later.  This past Friday when I had several bags of recycling material the truck came while I was still in my pajamas and before I could get my bags into the neighbor's yellow recycle bin.  Annoyed by this, but still determined to save our earth, I piled the bags into my car to drop off at a recycling drop off center while out running errands.  The other thing I've been working on recycling is plastic bags; the kind the grocery still uses to pack up my groceries.  I have purchased the canvas bring your own bags, but inevitably I always leave them in the car or forget them at home and back I come with ten new bags of plastic bags.  I do recycle these bags in my home.  I use them as liners in the bathroom trashcan, but because the bagger insists on putting only three items in a bag I have tons of those earth destroyers.  Darcy reminded me that there are recycle containers at the front of our grocery store for the bags and so I have begun storing them, along with the bottles, in the garage in a space rarely utilized by the husband.

We set off yesterday to run errands and purchase a Father's Day gift.  The first stop was the grocery store where they were having a "decorate a cookie cake for your father" event.  Darcy wanted to do this and so I brought her and her friend in to the store to do so.  I also remembered to recycle the plastic bags.  Check.  I did not remember, however, to take a detour on the way to the grocery to the recycle drop off center for the plastic bottles.  I reminded the girls to remind me so I wouldn't forget as the bottles were in the back where they were seated.

We ran the cookie cakes to their respected father's houses, picked up Madison, and drove to where I remembered the recycling drop off to be.  It use to be across the street from where I lived with my friend Kim in my first apartment.  We lived directly across from the city pool and park where the drop off for recycling plastic, bottles, and newspapers was located in the parking lot.  While I wasn't a huge recycle princess then my roommate was so I had walked over several times with bags of various recyclable material.  That was several  a few years ago and is now no more.  The parking lot was full of cars for a swim meet, but no recycling containers.  I told Madison to goggle it for the city, but she didn't have much luck.  Oh, yes, I said aloud at one time the containers were in the city's treatment area next to my old apartments.  Remind me, I told the girls, to head that way on the way back since I was already pointed in the opposite direction.

We completed our errands, grabbed a bite of lunch, and headed back to recycle.  Again, no containers.  Gone.  No sign to tell me where it had moved to.  We tried to goggle again.  My frustration level was at high by this point.  Here I am trying to do the right thing, trying to save our planet and our wild life, and I'm being hindered by those who want me to do the right thing.  This is why Tom would tell me to chuck the stuff into the nearest trash bin.  Darcy's friend asked why we didn't have curbside recycling because they did.  A light bulb appeared brightly lit over my head as I explained that we lived in the county and had to pay for it while she lived in the city and it was included in their trash pick-up, which of course they paid for in city taxes.  I drove to her house and dumped my stuff into her recycling containers.  Recycle plastic bottles.  Check.

Once I got home I quickly found the drop off centers on my computer.  Where there was once several drop off centers there are now two and neither are conveniently located near my house.  They do take glass, plastic bottles, newspapers, aluminum cans, paper, cardboard, and tin cans.  I can even recycle my used cooking oil there and receive free mulch for my yard.  Hmmm...those two just might be selling points with my non-recycling husband and the centers are on his way to work...

It's magic

This afternoon while rushing to clean up the kitchen after a bout of baking Darcy's friend, Savanna, peered up under the microwave, which is over the stove, looking for the switch to turn off the stove light. Casually, I leaned over to peer under with her while my hand found the button on the microwave. Taking a big breath I blew out the light and her mouth fell open.

"How did you do that?" she asked in wonderment before reality hit her and she discovered the button.

I laughed and told her that my father was famous for that blow out the light technique. He would turn off lights that way when we left a room and he would blow on stoplights to turn them green. We thought he was magical. She thought that was cool.

A good memory for Father's Day.

Vacation Photos

This was the first ride everyone went on.  The girls and Tom went on it first because I thought it was a type of roller coaster and I don't do those.  It turned out to be a train ride, albeit high in the sky, around Seussville.  I got on it about the time they got off so they had to wait for me.  I got in a car with a family of three and the father and I sat in the back and talked so that neither one of us would look down.

The Men in Black ride.  Neither of my kids know the movie, but we enjoyed shooting aliens with ray guns just the same.  Tom and Maddy beat Darcy and me, but Darcy shot her gun and the gun in the empty seat next to her so really we won.

This guy was in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I was hoping that each time I looked at it I would feel cooler, but it really didn't happen.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

Spongebob Squarepants!

I never got in to see my favorite purple dinosaur, but I promise you next time I will!  I saw Barney here the first time with the girls and my mother.  The whole room went dark, the music started, and Barney rose up in the middle of the stage.  I cried.  My mother looked at me and said, "You have got to be kidding me."  But he was my hero...he kept Madison quiet when I needed her to be.

Darcy packed her suit so she could play here.  She actually got Maddy unsuspecting and drenched her, but they tried and failed to get Tom wet.  I stayed far away on the benches with the other parents and thought back to the times when my kids played here in their diapers.

This is who should be playing Lee Child's Jack Reacher instead of Tom Cruise...in my opinion.

Lucy is pointing at my redheads.  She kept waving to them and saying she liked their hair.  If only it were really Lucy...

The entrance to Islands of Adventure

Ah, basketball.  I know it well.  Go King James!

This stone structure from ancient times found here in Orlando was amazing...

...who knew banking was done even back then?  A rare find indeed.

Hogwarts

This brought back moments of jolly ole England...shepherd's pie

We figure we will investigate this attraction at another date...after all you never know what the other child is like.

Universal vs. Disney

We are Disney folks. For several years we have held Disney passes and traveled Main Street U.S.A. as if it were our second home. We have hopped from one park to another riding our favorite rides and viewing attractions over and over again. I have compared and contrasted Disney with Busch Gardens with the end result being that Busch Garden couldn't hold a candle to Disney's magical flame. Disney knows how to run parks, and I went into Universal with the same preconceived notion based on my memories of Universal. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was wrong.

(This ketchup packet would never been seen on a ride at Disney)

1. Cleanliness - I've always said that Disney is the cleanest place next to my friend Krista's house and Universal did not change my mind on that.  Universal wasn't dirty, but at Disney if you drop anything- ice cream, soda, wrappers, lint- Disney fairies swoop down from the sky with a broom and dustpan and poof it is gone.  Not so at Universal.  Darcy spilled her soda inside the I love Lucy tribute exhibit and no one appeared.  She had to find an employee who told her no problem and then put up a cone to keep people away from the soda.  When we left ten minutes later it still hadn't been cleaned up.  Universal wasn't dirty, it just wasn't lick the floors clean like Disney.  Also, I found that most of the floor mats inside the doors of shops had a terrible wet, mildew odor mixed with the bleach they had used to clean it.  I had to leave one shop the smell was so awful.  Advantage - Disney 


2. Employees - This is a hard one to vote on.  Disney has twice the amount of employees maybe more.  In Disney parks there are cast members at every corner willing to help you find something or help you buy something.  Universal didn't have that many employees, but the ones we encountered were so pleasant and accommodating.  Each time we passed someone they greeted us, asked us if we needed anything, or offered to help us find our way.  The ones manning the attractions were the same way.  I even give kiddos to the employees who managed the lines and ticket handing out of the Victorious events.  They weren't informed of things, but they kept everyone cool and an in line and tried hard to answer questions.  While Disney has the same when it comes to all of that we never once encountered a disgruntled employee at all.  Maybe because the park wasn't all that crowded or maybe because they enjoy what they do.  Either way that pushed me to give Advantage - Universal by a slight edge. 


3. Parking - Disney has parking cars down to a science.  They have the correct amount of employees in parking and each one knows his stuff when it comes to moving traffic and getting cars in the correct spot.  Universal didn't have enough employees and those that were there tried to get cars in spots, but there was always some problem.  The spaces are definitely not as marked and spacious as Disney's spots.  But Universal has the covered parking garage where Disney's parking is all outdoors.  I have to say that the covered parking sure was nice when we came out to get into our car at the end of the day.  That in itself made the other stuff no big deal.  Advantage - Tie 





(This was a sign that was not necessary as the castle was so large)

4. Signage - We were only a mile from Universal from our resort, but we had trouble getting to and from the resort.  The signage for Universal both out of the park and in the park was minimal.  We got lost leaving the park each night and usually by the time we came to our senses were going in the opposite direction of our resort.  Disney, on the other hand, has so much signage outside the park that even I can't get lost.  The same for inside the park.  You want to find your way from one end of the park to the other?  There are numerous signs, and employees, to help you find your way.  Not so much at Universal.  Signage was hard to find and employees to direct you sparse.  Advantage - Disney 


5. Extra Passes - Universal had two types of parking; regular parking for $14 and preferred parking for $4.00 extra.  Inside the park if you wanted to move ahead of the regular lines then you could purchase an Express Pass.  Prices were anywhere from $20 to $40 depending on dates and parks.  Seriously?  To bypass a line?  Disney, however, offers Fast Passes that are given at the busier rides for free.  Granted you can only hold one Fast Pass at a time, but it works out quite nicely.  As for the parking?  Again, Disney's parking is superb so premium parking isn't necessary. Advantage - Disney


6. Character Greeting - There use to be a time when characters roamed the streets in parks, but not anymore.  For their safety, as well as park guests, characters are brought out sporadically to certain designated areas and lines are formed for picture taking and autograph signing.  Disney, like their parking, has this down to a science.  One cast member walks with the character directing him to his destination.  Another cast member or sometimes two walk beside or behind the character keeping kids at bay.  Once safely at the destination one cast member directs the line and the other mills around taking photos and keeping an eye on the character.  At Universal they needed some help with their character greeting.  For some reason forming lines is not something they teach at Universal.  They didn't use moveable barriers, ropes, and chains to their advantage like Disney does.  They always ended up with a crowd of people surrounding the one employee who accompanied the character and no one knew where to stand or whose turn it was next.  Advantage - Disney 


7. Dining - Eating at Disney drives me crazy because the choices are never healthy and if you spend several days at the park you leave feeling sluggish and a couple of pounds heavier.  Not to mention lighter in the wallet as everything costs triple the amount you would normally spend at a fast food restaurant.  And really the food isn't very good.  Even at Disney's premier restaurants the healthy selections are minimal.  At Universal, however, healthy choices were in abundance.  They have fewer kiosks and restaurants to begin with, but the ones we visited offered salads and healthy sides.  Most of the restaurants had signs telling you to talk to them about healthier options as well.  In Harry Potter I ordered shepherds pie that came with a garden salad, and at another restaurant another day I had half a rotisserie chicken that came with broccoli and mashed potatoes. Both meals were simply delicious and reasonably priced. Advantage - Universal


8. Bathrooms - This could have been included in the cleanliness category, but there were so many other annoyances in the bathrooms at Universal that I had to give it its own.  Bathrooms in Disney are spotless.  Most have attendants hourly that come in and restock and clean.  At Universal, other than the newer Harry Potter site, the bathrooms were horrendous.  The floors were wet and dirty.  The paper towel dispenser, and I do mean singular, was hanging over a sink so that you had to wait for the person washing her hands before you could dry your own with a paper product.  The bathrooms had one machine hand dryer so that a line would form, and in most bathrooms the toilets still had to be flushed by hand.  Advantage - Disney


9. Water - This might seem like a strange category, but in the end it was the most important.  In Disney if you want water you open your wallet and dole out plenty of cash for a cold water bottle.  For those who don't want to pay there are plenty of water fountains to fill up bottles or to sip from throughout the park but for the most part they are lukewarm.  At Universal, however, every restaurant and kiosk offer small free glasses of ice water...with a smile.  Madison noticed the cups first and asked for water.  The employee happily gave her one and then asked if he could get us all one.  The day of the concert after running from venue to venue collecting tickets we went into a restaurant for breakfast.  I sat down at a table while Tom and the girls went to get our order at the counter.  An employee wiping tables and refilling napkin holders stopped at my table asked if I was alright and then brought me over a nice glass of ice water.  The best thing to happen to us was the last day.  We stopped at a kiosk to purchase a slurpee like drink, our favorite in the whole park.  While one employee was getting it the other employee saw that Darcy had an empty bottle of water.  She offered to fill it with cold ice water, did so, and then filled Tom's coffee cup that he had brought in with him that morning.  For us that made Universal the king.  Advantage - Universal

Madison summarized it well as we left.  Disney has a better product that turns over year after year where Universal banks on movies that go out of style after a couple of years.  Disney is all about promoting their products all through the park from the entrance to the exit.  Universal, while they have the shops and kiosks, they have fewer and seem more concerned about customers enjoying their time on the attractions first.  Disney is first rate and still reins supreme in the park attraction business, but Universal's personal touches won us over.  It was a good vacation. 

Vacation - Day 3 - Victorious Day

Darcy had us up by 6:30 am encouraging us to dress and pack for the day.  The park opened at 8:00, the Q&A was at 2:00 pm, the screening of Victorious was at 3:30 and 4:00 pm, and the concert at 8:00 pm.  A long day by any standards, but a great day for a teenager.  Even Madison was excited.  We pulled into the parking lot at 8:01 am, one of the first few to do so.

And we found out that was because Universal Studios didn't open until 9:00 am.  We had to wait outside the gates for 45 minutes.  We were third in line behind two teenage Victorious concert experts and a mother with a child about ten years old or younger.  The teenagers were only there for the concert and planned on standing in line for eleven hours.  A mother was with them, but she just got them through the gate and then left.  They had to be 12 or 13 years old.  I was stunned.  We listened to their stories of stalking the cast at hotels and seeing them in concert at Hershey Park.  People are nuts I thought, but then again here I was.

When the turnstiles opened and we pushed through Madison and Darcy, along with a small crowd, began running toward the theater where the Q&A would be held.  About halfway there employees stopped us and told us we had to wait until nine.  Immediately, the woman who had been standing in front of us started complaining.  She had been told that only 100 tickets would be given out for the Q&A, and despite several of us telling her it was 1300, she insisted we were wrong.  The employees had absolutely no idea or answers to anything and mostly stood around with wide, vacant, or shell shocked eyes.  Eventually someone told us that the tickets to the concert would be handed out first and pointed us in the opposite direction.

Off we ran.  Darcy ended up directly behind the two teenage girls who were first in line, having ignored the Q&A line.  Again, employees knew nothing.  Finally someone arrived with a big roll of tickets and one employee began tearing them off, handing them out, and fielding questions to which she didn't know the answer.  All we got from it was these tickets would assure us a spot on the field (the concert venue was outdoors on concrete and astro turf, the stage covered) before anyone else.  We could stand one person in line all day and still meet up with her at eight that night.  Darcy wanted to do that, but we said no.  Off we ran to get the tickets for the Q&A.

We did not have to rush.  We were some of the first to arrive and receive our tickets.  The employee there told us the gate would open at twelve thirty or one o'clock and to return around that time.  The venue did hold 1300 and that was how many tickets they would be passing out.  We left to find some breakfast.

Darcy made us return at 11:30 where she joined a small group of girls and boys at an area they had roped off with visqueen for the Q&A.  Tom, Madison, and I found a covered and shaded area with table and chairs and sat down to wait.  A little after twelve o'clock an employee appeared and we tried to get to Darcy to stake our place in line.  It wasn't easy as the rush was just starting.  There was no line.  The employees tried to get one started, but without barriers like the ones at the rides where you are forced to march in single file, he wasn't getting any corporation.  He eventually gave up, opened the visqueen gate, took tickets, and ignored the running to the front of another rope just to the left of the bottom of the stairs into the theater.  

Darcy and Madison ended up at the front with Tom and I several feet behind them and twenty other people.  The line behind us began filling up slowly.  We weren't too packed in at the beginning.  We could sit down, which most of us did, and move around our little space.  Darcy and Madison were having a grand time at the front talking to kids and listening to Victorious music.  We could communicate with them via text.  Tom and I got to know the parents around us, many of whom we had met in line at the entrance or while getting tickets. 

Slowly, and I mean s l o w l y, the time ticked and ticked away.  The line began growing and the people behind us began inching forward, pushing us up against one another.  We had been told we would be let in at 1:45 pm.  That was a lie.  The animal show began at 12:30 in the theater, went 20 minutes, and then had to be cleaned and set up for the Q&A.  A woman behind us passed out.  A woman in front of us asked for someone to come by and sell us water.  A manager appeared and lied about getting us water and letting us in.  A red headed kid (not the one in the picture) around 15 years old suddenly moved through our group gently until he stopped right in front of us.  Some of the parents began asking how we would be let in so that the people behind us didn't crush our children.  The employees called back the manager who called security and then assured us all that it would be organized.  1:45 came and went.  We were told we would be let in at 2:00 pm.  Another lie.  I started to get claustrophobic and thought about attacking the woman in front of me for the bottle of water that the manager finally brought her.  We were told if we left the line we wouldn't be able to get back in again.  I wondered again why I was doing this.  Up ahead of us our kids seemed not to mind any of the going ons around us.

At about 2:15 the rope came down and the first wave of people were let up the stairs.  They did not follow the directions of walking up the stairs, but instead pushed and shoved and ran like idiots to secure seats.  Tom and I were in the second wave and we got separated as I was desperate to see if my girls, who had been in the first wave, were safe in seats.  They were, but Darcy had lost her shoe.  It magically reappeared on the step next to her after the show so I think she must have lost it there instead of up the first flight in the beginning.

We hadn't a clue who the three cast members would be at the Q&A, but the theater was jammed pack with 1300 people by the time they finally arrived on stage.  I only recognized two out of the three males, one being the kid who has a relationship with a puppet on the show.  The three cast members, Matt Bennett, Leon Thomas III, and Avan Jogia, came out full of enthusiasm and wonder that this many people had actually shown up.  They all took their own photos with their cameras and were very informative and gracious.

There were two Universal employees in the stands who came around and picked kids who raised their hands.  These kids were chosen to ask the three guys questions.  They ranged from "How did you get started in the business?" to "What is your favorite episode of Victorious?" There was also a host down on the floor with the cast members to keep things moving and who asked his own questions like, "Where is Rex?"  (That is the puppet and he was playing baseball with his Little League team)

I found the Q&A delightful, but too short.  It was over in about thirty minutes, and I thought bringing three of the female cast members in after that would have been a nice surprise.  I'm not sure how these things work, but seriously these are young actors who have more stamina then thirty minutes.  It is interesting to all of us how show business works, especially for kids, and after waiting in a sardine packed group for over two hours I thought we all deserved more.  Little did I know what I was in store for next!

We filed out of the theater to find it was raining.  On went the ponchos.  We started toward the Shrek ride because that was where the screening of the Victorious episode was to be shown.  It was called a premiere screening so we all assumed it would be an episode from the new season, but alas, it was not.  Nor was it a decent episode.  I hadn't seen it, but Tom, who hasn't ever seen the show looked over at me about ten minutes into it with a look that said, "You have got to be kidding me?  This is what we are doing this for?"

We left the screening and Darcy begged us to head toward the concert venue so she could check on the line.  About a hundred people were inside barriers like caged animals braving the light rain.  We nixed on joining them and instead went into a restaurant and got some food.  When we exited the cast of Victorious was on stage doing a sound check and Darcy begged again to join the caged people despite the fact that we could see everything from where we were standing.  Tom told her okay and we approached the man guarding the barriers, which where at the very back of the venue.

We presented our coveted tickets, but he held up his hand and asked what time we had gotten them.  Perplexed and annoyed I told him 8:30 am and must have looked like I would take him down because he opened one side of the barrier and waved us through to another area away from the people.  He got on his walkie talkie and told someone that he had a family that had been there since 8:30.  I told him it was actually 8:00 am.  In a second another man with a head set appeared and told us to follow him.  He opened up another barrier and we walked out into the bare concert venue.  By now the rain was picking up in volume.  We trooped past employees squeegeeing water from the astro turf until we reached an area to stage right that was barricaded.  He moved aside the barriers and herded us inside.  An events employee named Kim was our master.  We got to know her well.

On stage the cast kept singing and checking sound.  Everyone would scream and clap after they finished and they would wave and thank everyone.  The rain began coming down in torrents.  Then came thunder, and of course where there is thunder there is lightning, and Florida is the 2nd lightning capital in the world.  Kim disappeared.  The man with the head set let in two other families, one we had stood next to in the Q&A line and a family with a hearing impaired girl who told great stories to keep us entertained.  Down came the rain!  Crack came the lightning!  Boom came the thunder!  The cast on stage had stopped performing (probably because someone told them it was dangerous) and instead stood in their safe and dry stage taking pictures of all of us nutcases standing out in the rain waiting for them.

But like storms are in Florida this one was moved quickly through and out came the sun to beat down on us plastic poncho wearing idiots until we were baked.  Kim reappeared and let us leave for a bathroom break and return to our spot.  She too told interesting stories of events she had seen while working and kept us entertained.  While Madison and I had been in the restrooms she had had to handle an irate father who insisted on entry, but Tom said Kim knew what she was doing and handled him professionally and quietly.  She restored my faith in Universal.

At 5:30 pm an excitement began building among those in the middle section.  Kim stood at attention, her walkie talkie in hand, and than suddenly she opened our barrier and told us to have a good time.  We were the first barrier to get in and we actually just strolled right up to the stage while the middle section was let in screaming and running.  Darcy and Madison got right in front while Tom and I hung back a few rows with the parents.  As the middle barrier started closing in our space became limited.  There was no way I could have sat down.  We were on concrete, but the small pieces of astro turf that were spaced between the concrete walkways were full of water, as were my shoes.  I was standing arm to arm with Tom on one side and an Indian woman on my right.  Suddenly two hands appear between me and the woman and this voice says, "Excuse me.  Excuse me, I just need to get right up here."  I turned around to find the same red headed kid that had suddenly appeared in the our group at the Q&A.

Me:  "What are you doing?"
Him:  "I just need to get up there."
Me:  "No, that isn't going to happen.  You are quite the little crowd pusher aren't you?  I saw you do that at the Q&A, but you have a nice spot right where you are."
Him:  (looking at my Steelers poncho I still had on)  "Oh, you're security."

He plopped down right at our ankles and stayed that way for about an hour.  The rest of us stood.  In the beginning we chatted with the parents around us exchanging stories and relating concert memories.  The family in front of us came prepared with a cooler and so they gave me a bottle of water so I wouldn't feel the way I felt in the Q&A.  All of that happiness last about 30 minutes and we still had two hours to go.  One of the dads and I kept bending over and touching our toes to stretch every twenty minutes or so.  Some of the parents left for bathroom breaks and came back telling war stories of trying to get back in.  Eventually security started appearing at the front of the stage and wandering.  My red headed kid stood up and began again, his hands appearing between our shoulders.

Him:  "Excuse me."
Me:  "Stop.  Just stop."
Him:  "I just need to get up there.  I want to videotape it with this camera."
Me:  "You have a fine spot to videotape right there.  You're three feet from the stage."
Him:  "Excuse me.  I just need...."
Me:  "All of our children are in front of us.  That's why the parents are here.  Those are our kids down there.  We need to keep an eye on them.  So just settle back and relax.  We have two hours to go still.  Maybe I'll change my mind by the time the concert starts."
Him:  "Actually we have one hour and twenty-six minutes."

I didn't kill him.  He tried one more time with at the 45 minute mark and I just flat out told him, "NO, you are not getting in front of us!" and that was the end of that.  He did enjoy the concert and he did get his videotaping and he did end up next to me when that family moved on about halfway through the show.

It was the longest bout of standing I've ever done.  The longest bout of standing elbow to elbow with strangers I have ever done.  The rain held off, but the sun was relentless.  We were just happy that the evening was upon us and that we weren't doing this in the heat of the afternoon.  I was sure I wasn't going to make it.  I kept thinking that we still had an hour of this after the concert started.  I was sure that I wouldn't be walking the next day.

Suddenly a man appeared behind Tom shouting for his son.  He kept inching forward, reaching his arms out toward the front as if beseeching his son to appear.  Thinking he was for real I explained to him that all of the children in front of us, three rows deep, were children of all of these parents in this vicinity, that his child was not there.  He said he was a red head and that he was up there.  I told him he wasn't up there, but wondered if he were blind to the kid behind me.  Then the man started dropping the f-bomb angrily telling all of us that he knew his kid were there.  The woman behind me who had a four year old and another younger one (made me wonder who was the real fan) told him to watch his mouth.  Tom got into it with him.  I was beginning to worry when suddenly five security men appeared in the front, stood up on boxes and told him to carefully move to his left to meet them at the end.  He didn't argue and soon he was gone.  We all cheered.  About twenty minutes later a woman appeared and began shouting for her daughter.  She stood up on the railing and seemed genuine, although the concert was only minutes away from starting.  She had lost her daughter and kept telling us to scream out her name.  I wondered how in the world you could lose a child squeezed in like sardines, but eventually she too was hauled off by security and we never knew what happened there.

Finally the music started, and the screaming began, and the cast came out on stage to give us what we had been waiting for...the concert.

Victoria Justice did most of the singing with the group as her back-up.  They eventually left the stage and she sang several songs, a few that I actually knew from Darcy.  She isn't any great singer, but she is wholesome and puts on a decent show.  It's a great starter concert for kids.  She interacted with the audience, explaining that she too was a Florida girl having grown up in Hollywood, FL.  She told us how she got her start right there at Universal.  She kept thanking her fans for making her what she is today.  They all seemed really humble and surprised that this many people would come for them.  They thanked us a lot.  I found them sincere and refreshing.

After Victoria Justice had performed she invited out two of the guys who sang songs they had written for the show.  Then Ariana Grande came out and performed with Victoria Justice on a new song they had for the new album.  Then everyone came out and performed with the guys teaming up and the girls teaming up.  They did one final big number, thanked us for coming, and then it was over. 

By then it was dark and we had about twenty minutes before Universal did the big firework show.  We filed out of the venue.  Many of the people headed for the exit.  We headed the opposite direction and watched the fireworks; well, Tom and Darcy stood and watched them.  Madison and I sat on benches in the smoking section of Universal and rubbed our wet, aching feet and enjoyed cups of complimentary water that Darcy brought us from a nearby restaurant.  I figured I'd watch the fireworks another visit.  Plus, I knew we still had the long walk to the car.

We didn't get back to our unit until almost 11:00 pm.  A fifteen hour day.  That I WILL NEVER DO AGAIN.  I'm glad we did it.  I'm glad to have done this for my daughters.  It is something they will remember, I hope, and it was something different to do for a birthday.  The only other thing to have made it perfect would have been to have had my niece, Gabby, with us.  I knew how much it would have meant to her and so I tried to tweet her and send her pics, but having her with us would have been the icing on the cake.  Maybe now I will have to do it again...

Vacation - Day 2 - Universal Studios

We lazed around the unit enjoying a homemade breakfast before heading out to survey Universal Studios.  Our plan was to head back to Islands of Adventure this morning, but Darcy had other ideas and since this was her birthday present we deferred to her.  She felt like we needed to head to Universal Studios this morning to get the lay of the land for the big day on Saturday.

She had been up since 7:00 am doing her hair over and over and over again.  She wore bows in her hair three days because that is what her favorite character on the show Victorious wears.  I have seen a handful of these television shows, don't care for it much, and really don't know the characters or the actors.  I do know the star of the show, Victoria Justice, because she use to play on a show I did enjoy; Zoey 101.  When that show was cancelled Nickelodeon obviously felt Victoria Justice deserved her own show and Victorious was created.  Darcy follows some the actors on Twitter and Instagram and she had seen that they were already at the park so she got everyone up and moving.

Once inside the park Darcy insisted that we find all the venues that the cast would be at the following day.  Madison, reading the park map, began directing us toward the outdoor theater where the cast would hold a question and answer session.  Of course, Tom and I insisted on stopping at rides and happenings along the route.

We eventually made it to the theater where we spoke to an employee who told us they would be handing out 1300 tickets to the Q&A first thing in the morning.  We made note to hightail it to that venue first thing and we moved on through the park.

Around 4:30 pm we got into "San Francisco" and began searching for a place to sit down and eat.  Our big breakfast had carried us through lunch, but I was feeling famished and thought an early dinner would jump start me enough to get me through the end of the park.  The first place inside of "San Francisco" was Lombard's Seafood Grille and everyone thought that would be just fine.  Knowing my children, I insisted on reading the menu that was on a stand outside, and seeing that there wasn't anything on the menu except seafood my kids naturally vetoed the restaurant and we moved on.  We were just outside the entrance to the restaurant when we were stopped by a Universal employee wanting us to take a short survey.  It was about our visit to "San Francisco" and I was explaining to him that we had just walked into that section of the park and couldn't really answer the questions when Darcy started shrieking at the top of her lungs.  She was behind Madison, hanging on to Maddy's backpack, and pointing with a shaking hand in the direction of Lombard's.

We all turned, including the employee, as she shrieked, "It's them!  It's them! Oh, my god!"  A group of about twenty people were heading into Lombard's and all I saw was a sea of men in black outfits.  Apparently, those guys were security and surrounding the cast of Victorious as they made their way into Lombard's to have lunch.  Madison and Darcy of course recognized the actors, many of whom smiled and waved at us.  No one else in the park even paid any attention to them or my shrieking teenager.  Suddenly Darcy had a craving for seafood and we quickly followed the group into the restaurant.  They went upstairs to a section reserved for them and so we left Lombard's and decided to eat close by so that we could maybe run into them when they exited.

It took a good twenty minutes for Darcy to stop shaking, but we all managed to eat burgers and fries at the restaurant next to Lombard's, sitting out on the deck overlooking the water and Lombard's entrance.  I spent my time eating and looking at pictures of the cast hoping to familiarize myself with them just in case.  After about an hour of our spying the entourage, out they came.  Darcy and I took off running, hoping to catch another glimpse.

The group was walking around the corner to the left of the restaurant where a big fence was closed off for park employees, etc.  Darcy spied her favorite cast member, Ariana Grande just around the corner taking a picture with another fan.

But when she tried to get her picture taken a security guy told us she had to get going and apologized.  We sighed, turned around, and literally almost bumped into Victoria Justice who was walking up behind us.

She had stopped at the entrance to the restaurant to take her picture with a hanging fish.  Madison, who had followed behind us, stopped to watch that and so she was practically walking beside Victoria Justice when we turned around.  Immediately Darcy squealed and Victoria Justice smiled and said, "Hi" to her.  Darcy asked if she could get a picture with her, but again security jumped in, told her no and began moving the idol toward the fence.  Victoria Justice was very nice.  She looked as if she was going to defy security, but changed her mind, and instead said, "OH, I'm sorry."

She kept saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry." as she was moved toward the fence, but she kept turning around and waving to Darcy and apologizing.  I thought she was very kind and understanding.  If she was acting, she was good, because she apologized and kept eye contact with Darcy until she was moved through the fence.  For the most part we were the only ones even near the group.

We probably should have just staked out the entrance to Lombard's while we ate, but Madison and I felt sort of bad for stalking them.  It has to be hard to try to maintain a normal life amongst people who are rapid crazy fans.  We told Darcy she could do it as we could see her from our position on the water, but she didn't want to go alone and felt uncomfortable I think in approaching her idols.

The encounter just got us excited for the following day and we continued our trip around the park taking in rides and shows as we made our way to the exit.  It rained some off and on, but nothing hard enough to break out the ponchos.

We ended the night with a trip to Target and hit the sack early because the next day we would be up at the crack of dawn.