stefa70

Meadow Trading Post

Where's my ball?

Now with a ball in my hand, he's told to go hide..... Like I couldn't see him behind the deck.

Just so we're clear, is the DB in the green hat or the lighted backpack?
If I see him on my next trip, I'll kick him in the shins for your son!

Hey Captain Curmudgeon, :rofl2:
I figured that Disney had some type of publication, and I still say that Dave should do it. After all, it makes the idiot managers do something. Hell I figure that it must kill them to actually document that an employee got a compliment or did a good job. My god that must be like doing actual work.... Managers working... now that's frightening.... I'm sure that they would rather just have everyone believe that they make it all work and deserve the bonuses and accolades instead of the employees. I like to acknowledge employees who do a good job, so that the mangers might have a clue that good people work for them.
In all sincerity Lou, I'm that guy that does not expect "magic" at Disney.. I do thank people and wish them a nice day like bus drivers, restroom attendants, security, and others who work to make it happen, but get shafted on acknowledgment. As far as the guest with an attitude on the bus, she is part of the "whackin crowd". You've seen them... Everyday at 5 PM in any part of Disney you can experience them. They are the families that have "invested a small fortune in this vacation" and everyone is going to have a magical time or else. Kids are tired, parents are tired and at 5 PM the meltdowns begin. Followed shortly by the beatings. People with unrealistic expectations usually are disappointed. I like to go and have fun.. Don't expect anything but try to provide courtesy to those I meet, and sometimes... magic happens... when it does I'm grateful... but I never expect it. I get drama at work, why would I take it on vacation... :nahnah:

Happy Birthday big boy!!

And they lived happily ever after.
Nice work.
I'm thinking of hosting a watch party this year for Daytona. I've been getting more and more into it each, but apparently my driver can't get past 8th.
And it just seems that much warmer, when you come in from the cold. 'Cause things ain't always better up the road.

The next morning I woke up and was relaxing for a few around the campsite when I notice I had a small visitor.

He was about 5 feet from my chair and just checking things out. He flew off when I got up to go unplug the cart and put the charger in the tent. When i lifted the cover on the outlets I found I had another visitor.

I unplugged the charger and left him to hang out after warning him if he wasnt careful he might turn into Frog's Legs.
I headed over to Stef's to see if they had headed out to Epcot yet as I thought that would be a fun day. We all headed out to Epcot and had a great time. They introduced Jordan to Test Track while Donnie and I grabbed lunch and then we all headed over to Soarin and introduced most of Stef's crew to that one. It seemed to be enjoyed by all. My favorite part was when my feet touched the ground again.
After that we headed to the World Showcase. On the way we encountered a sight for cranky bus drivers eyes.

A broken down Monorail.
We had an abbreviated around the world run. Donnie got a Guiness I think in England. I had a Grey Goose Citroen in France, It gets a little more blurry after that. I know I had a Canto Loopy in China, one of my favorite beverages if you like Cantolupe (sp.) you will love this drink. And then Jordan and Nate had Fiesta Margeritas I believe. Then we headed back to the Fort.
Before leaving I needed one more shot of one of my favorite sights.

Once there I headed off to my site for a while to figure out what I wanted to do. I decided what I really wanted to do was make sure Jordan had a good time at his party. I made sure my video camera and regular camera had a good charge and then headed off to Stef's to see if I could help with set up. Genia and Tony and I , along with Stef and Trevor got everything setup and looking nice for Jordan. I wont copy the videos here but if you are interested in seeing them and no kids are around go check out Stef's Red, White and Boo at the Fort trip report.. They are all in there. I will however post a food pic I found

If I remember right Stef made Macaroni Salad, Buffalo Chicken Dip, Large Italian Grinders, Meatballs in grape jelly in the crockpot and some other things. Later we had some C-A-K-E with some more fiends and even Judy came by and helped us celebrate in her own unique way. It was a great tieme. I did get one shot of Jordan during the party but I don't think he was to happy with me for it. Oh well.

Sometime later that night I headed back and went to bed. It was my last night a the Fort and I had to pack up in the morning.

I completely agree with you on Epcot.
I remember when it opened, spending hours looking and playing with all of the future things. Even Imagination had computers set up that you could e-mail with. Very cool when you're 12!
I hardly walk into Innoventions or Imagination anymore. There's not much "tomorrow" in EpcoT.
I will revisit those attractions when they bring out the flying cars.

:bellringer:
Well done!!!
This must go on the Swamp Donkey for the bog next month!

Happy Birthday to Stef's Daddy-O!
:partythree: :partythree: :partythree:

X3

Nope, not this year.
Nascar drivers that I know of participating:
Bowyer
Allmendinger
M Waltrip
Montoya
Ambrose
All I know for sure right now.

First person I thought of when I seen this..

After our day at AK, I came back to a very sweet, cute visitor...
Chloe!

Oh, and Donnie too. He's cute and can be sweet when he wants to be.

We had to run up to the front for a minute. Here's the 3 stooges boys doing whatever we came up there for.

Our ressies for Cape May were at 5:20. So after taking Chloe to play with Lil B while we were gone, we hopped in the truck.

I told the boys:
"if I had my father in the truck with us, I would be surrounded by my most favorite males"
Hubby, kids and my best male friend.
Definitely, a "life is good" moment.

We grabbed our plates and went to town on the buffet. Sorry this is my first plate and I forgot to take any more pics.
My next plate had crab legs!

The food was delicious and I wished I had taken more pictures.
I was seated next to Donnie and across from this beauty.

It's hard to eat, laugh and take photos!
Beach Club at night.


Right before we went to dinner, I had gotten a text from FP4, aka Cyndee that she was heading down to party for the night. I told her to let me know when she got there.
When dinner ended, Donnie had to head back to Jax. Don't worry, he came back the next day!
After dinner, we all relaxed at my site. I still hadn't heard from Cyndee. I know she's a busy Mom, so I thought maybe something had come up.
We all decided to do some night looping.
At the entrance to the 500 loop, Cyndee drove up!
We did some pick up/drop offs at her site with her truck and almost dead cart. We then piled into mine, Genia's and Donnie's (which Nate was using) and drove around.
The boys wanted a pic of this RV even though it was dark. I went back the next day to catch it in the day and it was gone.

After very little looping...it was chilly on the cart, we went back to our site.


Genia got down in Trevor's chair and I thought I may have to call Reedy Creek FD to get her out! :rofl2:


Jason showed up after his solo evening.

Then Nate tried to turn the camera on me!

It was a great night with old friends and new friends!
Jordan and Nate gave Cyndee a ride back to her site in the 2000 loop and we got ready for bed.
Remember, Genia had my boys at her site. She texted me 2 photos and a video of them wrestling. (I warned her they were nuts!)
Here is Jordan in his "ranger panties"

And in a thinker pose.

Tomorrow, the boys get some company and Trevor and I do some exploring....and waiting.

Having Jordan with us after a year in Afghanistan! :heart:

I always thought a few inches of snow at the World would be cool. Just think about sliding your golf cart sideways around the 100 loop. What fun!

Before you saw at me as a handsome, masculine, charming, intelligent specimen of male perfection and now....a handsome, masculine, charming, intelligent specimen of male perfection who has sired two beautiful daughters that like fairies?

Wednesday, January 8th -
I slept in til about 5:30 and ventured outside with my laptop to catch up on some e-mails. At 6:00 I received a text from TJ:
Are you awake?
I responded:
Of course!
He asked:
Do you want some company?
I responded;
Sure!
(I know TJ lives in Jax, and figured he would be driving down for the day)
He was almost at the Fort gate!!
Imagine me sitting outside, in the screen room, fresh out of bed, in a small t-shirt! EEK!!
I ran inside, put on some shorts and woke Trevor up. TJ Arrived at site 550 about 20 minutes later.
By the time the sun came up, Jason also showed up.
WARNING! If you've just eaten or have any heart conditions, these next 2 pics may do you in!


If my mug, first thing in the morning, didn't scare you off, you are one brave soul!
We sat around and BS'ed, waiting on Tony & Genia to arrive.
Remember the fries from last night? They did not go to waste. TJ had them for breakfast! Of course, I took his picture.

When Genia got there with the rest of the punch supplies, Trevor and I left the boys at camp and ran down to get some ice.

Judy's empty site from the rear.

We got the important stuff out of the way (punch on ice) and took a couple cold beers to Genia's site in the 1600's. TJ was with us, Jason went to MK for a while.

Genia's decorations.

We could see Kelly's (tiggerinbama) site from Genia's

Not long after, Kelly and Brit showed up.

As usual, we all ended up back at my site!



Even Mama & Ed showed up!
(Ed bent over so he would look the same height as Mama & I....it actually looks like he's passing gas! :hah: )

Nate & Jordan would be arriving this evening, so we hung around camp.
TJ took off around 4:00 to head back to Jax.
I went over to Judy's and we relaxed on the swing solving all our girl problems.
I made Jordan's favorite meal, BBQ pulled pork with coleslaw.

The boys showed up and dropped off the cart we brought for Genia & Tony. Trevor gave them a quick lesson.

Then followed them to Genia's site to help Nate get his camper set up.



With everyone's beds ready, we went back to 550 to let the boys eat. We then toasted to Jordan!

He was one happy young man! :heart:

It was a great night! By midnight, we were all tired...or drunk...or tired of being drunk.

But Nate had a sweet tooth.
If you are diabetic, I would refrain from looking at this next photo.

Running a gym, we get TONS of these boxed candies from clients as Christmas gifts. My mother sent this one with Nate, knowing that with all the kids and visitors, someone would eat it.
We ended up eating about 15 pieces. FAIL.
That's a wrap for Wednesday!
Coming up: "It's Jordan's choice!"

:rofl2: Forget it, I'm out!

Heck yeah, you can come along! Just don't wear any NASCAR stuff. We like to give the illusion that we have some class.

So later that night after a few of these:

Cindy (fortpartyof4) shows up with these:

I had a tear in my eye after that! I got beer!!!!!!
We ended the night with some looping and I saw the 2000 first hand.....later that week I saw it in the daylight with boyscouts and there is NO WAY in SAM hell I will pay Fort prices for that! So Tony and I have decided to stick with preferred.
In addition to Cindy's GREAT and THOUGHTFUL gift, I got this from Stef and Trevor. They are so WONDERFUL and THOUGHTFUL too. True Friends.

You might not be able to tell what it is. It's a keychain that when you whistle it will alert you to your key location. A KEY FINDER!!!!!!!!!!!
Lets all say awwwwww in unison......AWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
Until they realized I can't whistle loud. So if you see me on the Fort beach sands kissing sand, it is because I am trying to whistle for my keys....
AWWWWWWWWWWW
The next morning (Friday), we had bfast at TE's with Cindy, Nate, Jordan and 3 of Nates friends. Food was great, but it's not something we will do every trip. In fact, I doubt we will go again without our cooking equipment.
Tony and I left from there to get some supplies from Wally World. And after taking care of some tent TLC and restocking coolers, we hit DTD to try out the margarita stand.


The habernaro margarita was good. Had a slow heat build. Once again not to dominant, but good overall.
Tony had the wildberry or something blue and it was good too! He didn't get any salt.
And I stayed away from the LIME one due to language difficulties.

Happy Birthday Genia!! Wish I could have celebrated with you!
Wait.......never mind.

As promised:
Easy Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 TBS butter
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of celery soup
3 & 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 Onion, diced
1 Cup celery, diced
1 Cup carrots, sliced
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 (10 oz) can refrigerated biscuits
*When camping, I buy peeled baby carrots and pre-packaged cut up celery, for ease. You won't use all of either, but then you have some carrots and celery to snack on, later.
Directions:
Excluding biscuits, put all ingredients in cooker.
Cover & cook on low 6-8 hours.
About an hour before serving, remove chicken and shred, then return to soup mixture.
Shred (I use kitchen shears and cut) biscuits into small pieces (they will bloat) and drop into cooker for an hour or so, until no longer doughy.
Done!

I got a hug from Ed yesterday and I molested Mama through the truck window at Judy's yesterday! :heart:
We rode by last night Jason but no one was home. Will try to stalk catch up with you later today.
Also, they don't post much, but drafthorsecrazy folks are still here in the 400 loop.

I got a hug from Ed yesterday and I molested Mama through the truck window at Judy's yesterday! :heart:
We rode by last night Jason but no one was home. Will try to stalk catch up with you later today.
Also, they don't post much, but drafthorsecrazy folks are still here in the 400 loop.