lklasing

I like the way you think!

I've been quiet, but I have to point out that alliegant flies out of knoxville to Sanford nonstop for $191 round trip - so less than 400 for two and apply the extra $$ to said preferred site ?
Lurkers - I know you are lurking and I want to point out that the folks on this site merely want your friendship or fiendship as it were. Meaning if you spend any time on this board, you'd know that TCD sounds like he always does - his TR's are a whimsical cornucopia of blunt observation and tongue in cheek. Friendship means you share- your pictures, stories, and you take the time to get to know the folks here. Go back and read the origins of this board. You will not find a nicer bunch of folks. But they will be quick to call BS - as friends do for each other.
I've learned rhino faces, not to hate the Gators quite as much, can't wait for an Anna hug someday, and actually want to put faces and people for names. You have to share...not take.
And as my daddy always said... You get more bees with honey than vinegar....
Admins- delete if not appropriate place or time.

Monday and Tuesday were fairly similar in that we spent the days working on the project that El Hogar had planned for us – moving cinder blocks across campus and then using them to construct a wall which would allow them to reformat an unused space in one building into a larger art room for the kids.  We started Monday morning, though, at the devotional that the kids have once a week.  This was a fairly long gathering, including a video and a skit that some of the kids put on about honesty.  Apparently, they focus on one character trait each week.  They also recognized all the kids having a birthday that week and officially introduced us to the group, even though we had already spent a good bit of time with many of the kids.
 
Johana:
 

 

 

 
One of the wonderful teachers:
 

 
Elder must have had extra good performance in the days leading up to Monday, as he was honored by carrying the flag and by getting to introduce us to the school.  I was so proud of his English:
 

 

 
https://youtu.be/MOejwIeIgCM
 
Next up was work!  They were renovating a former bathroom into a new use, which required 187 cinder blocks to be moved from one end of the campus to the other, which happened to be uphill.  It was tough but good work.  I had thought before I came that the jobs they have the volunteers do might be “make work” work, but I think that they really do need the help that the volunteers provide, whether it be painting, building a wall, moving cinder blocks or,  in at least one case, building new playground equipment.
 
Our cinder blocks!
 

 
The room we were revamping, and the El Hogar worker who was helping us (and exceptionally patient):
 

 

 
The playground consisted of two old metal structures which would never be allowed to remain in this country, plus thankfully a wonderful new wooden one.
 

 

 
Before our family got involved in these trips to El Hogar, we couldn’t really figure out how they were the right thing to do to help the country overall, or even El Hogar in particular.  I mean, wouldn’t it be better to just raise money to send down to the country, so it could be used to train locals to do the jobs we would be doing – painting, building walls, etc.?  That way, the locals could gain a marketable skill, the work would get done, etc.  But through going on these trips, we really have learned that the manual tasks which the teams do at El Hogar are really third in priority on what is being accomplished by the teams that go.  The first and truly most important benefit is just being there to play with and love the kids.  With their backgrounds, giving them as much love as possible is the best thing that a group like ours could possibly do for them.  The mission trips also provide a tangible benefit to the orphanage in the form of payment for “rent and board” – roughly $2500 per team for the week, if I am recalling correctly.  That payment, regardless of the size of the team, is definitely more than it costs for El Hogar to provide us food, lodging, and transportation around Tegucigalpa. So, getting back to what I had always thought of as “the reason for going” – the menial tasks performed like teams like ours – that is really far behind in priority for the importance of what the teams give to the kids.  But these jobs were actually of meaningful help too, which was great.  After we moved those cinder blocks and built that wall, I could really see that those two days spent working on that was a real tangible help to the kids.  But I had to go to the school myself to understand the real reason for going.
 
We learned a lot about some of the individual kids at El Hogar and their backgrounds that brought them there.  Sadly, these stories are not completely out of the ordinary for the students.  One group of three siblings had come to the orphanage about a week before we arrived, after their mother abandoned them at home.  The eldest is about a 13 year old boy, with younger sisters who are 8 and 6 years old.  Their mother left them at their home without any indication that she was leaving for good.  I don’t think anyone knows whether she did this on purpose or whether something may have happened to her while she was gone.  Regardless, these three children were at home by themselves, eating whatever food they had in the house, for about two weeks before the brother decided that to survive, they would have to leave.  By the true grace of God, somehow Claudia found them living on the streets and brought them to El Hogar, where they are now being educated, being fed three healthy meals a day, being clothed and housed, and being loved.  When we first arrived, they still had a shell-shocked look to them, but as the week went on, they started opening up and seeming to trust that the rug wasn’t about to be pulled out from under them again.
 

 

 

 

 

 
I could go on for days about this trip and have probably already given y’all more info than you thought you were signing up for, so I’ll stop here.  But I will say that this was just an amazing experience and I’m so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to go. 
 
If anyone wants any more information about El Hogar, go to www.elhogar.org.  There is lots of info about this amazing place there. 
 
Thanks for reading!

Monday and Tuesday were fairly similar in that we spent the days working on the project that El Hogar had planned for us – moving cinder blocks across campus and then using them to construct a wall which would allow them to reformat an unused space in one building into a larger art room for the kids.  We started Monday morning, though, at the devotional that the kids have once a week.  This was a fairly long gathering, including a video and a skit that some of the kids put on about honesty.  Apparently, they focus on one character trait each week.  They also recognized all the kids having a birthday that week and officially introduced us to the group, even though we had already spent a good bit of time with many of the kids.
 
Johana:
 

 

 

 
One of the wonderful teachers:
 

 
Elder must have had extra good performance in the days leading up to Monday, as he was honored by carrying the flag and by getting to introduce us to the school.  I was so proud of his English:
 

 

 
https://youtu.be/MOejwIeIgCM
 
Next up was work!  They were renovating a former bathroom into a new use, which required 187 cinder blocks to be moved from one end of the campus to the other, which happened to be uphill.  It was tough but good work.  I had thought before I came that the jobs they have the volunteers do might be “make work” work, but I think that they really do need the help that the volunteers provide, whether it be painting, building a wall, moving cinder blocks or,  in at least one case, building new playground equipment.
 
Our cinder blocks!
 

 
The room we were revamping, and the El Hogar worker who was helping us (and exceptionally patient):
 

 

 
The playground consisted of two old metal structures which would never be allowed to remain in this country, plus thankfully a wonderful new wooden one.
 

 

 
Before our family got involved in these trips to El Hogar, we couldn’t really figure out how they were the right thing to do to help the country overall, or even El Hogar in particular.  I mean, wouldn’t it be better to just raise money to send down to the country, so it could be used to train locals to do the jobs we would be doing – painting, building walls, etc.?  That way, the locals could gain a marketable skill, the work would get done, etc.  But through going on these trips, we really have learned that the manual tasks which the teams do at El Hogar are really third in priority on what is being accomplished by the teams that go.  The first and truly most important benefit is just being there to play with and love the kids.  With their backgrounds, giving them as much love as possible is the best thing that a group like ours could possibly do for them.  The mission trips also provide a tangible benefit to the orphanage in the form of payment for “rent and board” – roughly $2500 per team for the week, if I am recalling correctly.  That payment, regardless of the size of the team, is definitely more than it costs for El Hogar to provide us food, lodging, and transportation around Tegucigalpa. So, getting back to what I had always thought of as “the reason for going” – the menial tasks performed like teams like ours – that is really far behind in priority for the importance of what the teams give to the kids.  But these jobs were actually of meaningful help too, which was great.  After we moved those cinder blocks and built that wall, I could really see that those two days spent working on that was a real tangible help to the kids.  But I had to go to the school myself to understand the real reason for going.
 
We learned a lot about some of the individual kids at El Hogar and their backgrounds that brought them there.  Sadly, these stories are not completely out of the ordinary for the students.  One group of three siblings had come to the orphanage about a week before we arrived, after their mother abandoned them at home.  The eldest is about a 13 year old boy, with younger sisters who are 8 and 6 years old.  Their mother left them at their home without any indication that she was leaving for good.  I don’t think anyone knows whether she did this on purpose or whether something may have happened to her while she was gone.  Regardless, these three children were at home by themselves, eating whatever food they had in the house, for about two weeks before the brother decided that to survive, they would have to leave.  By the true grace of God, somehow Claudia found them living on the streets and brought them to El Hogar, where they are now being educated, being fed three healthy meals a day, being clothed and housed, and being loved.  When we first arrived, they still had a shell-shocked look to them, but as the week went on, they started opening up and seeming to trust that the rug wasn’t about to be pulled out from under them again.
 

 

 

 

 

 
I could go on for days about this trip and have probably already given y’all more info than you thought you were signing up for, so I’ll stop here.  But I will say that this was just an amazing experience and I’m so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to go. 
 
If anyone wants any more information about El Hogar, go to www.elhogar.org.  There is lots of info about this amazing place there. 
 
Thanks for reading!

Hey guys!  Thanks first of all to everyone who commented and is still reading.  This time I’m just going to jump right into the report instead of doing individual replies, as I’m just so anxious to tell y’all about my week in Honduras.
 
Before telling you about the trip, let me tell you a little bit about where we went.  Smack in the middle of Tegucigalpa, Honduras – a city riddled with poverty and crime – is an oasis called El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza (which I believe means “The Home of Love and Hope”).   El Hogar is an orphanage, but it is not the type of orphanage I think of when I think of orphanages.  Many of the children at El Hogar have family of some sort.  None of them are children that El Hogar is seeking to have adopted or fostered by a family, either in Honduras or elsewhere.  Rather, many are children whose families are not able to care for them and are willing, because they love them so much, to let them live with someone else who has the resources to care for them. 
 
However, while most of the children at El Hogar have some family, several do not.  Some children were rescued literally off the side of the street by Claudia de Castro, the director of El Hogar.  Many of the children have very terrible backgrounds – young girls sold into prostitution, boys who without having been rescued would have undoubtedly ended up in gangs or in the drug trade.  Without El Hogar, these children might have had short, violent lives.  But thankfully, El Hogar actually changes the direction of these childrens lives, in such an amazing, positive way.
 
The children at El Hogar are generally age 5 and up, and they stay there until graduation at the end of 6th grade.  Once they come to El Hogar, they are educated, housed, fed and most importantly, loved.  Many of the children don’t know how to live in a community at all when they first arrive.  Sometimes it takes quite some time to help the children learn that they don’t have to try to hoard food or objects – that their next meal will come without them having to scrounge to find it.  They learn to live together.   They learn how to be loved.
 
The main campus of El Hogar is the home for these children until they graduate from 6th grade.  After graduation, the girls go to live at the El Hogar High School for Girls, where they will continue their education with the ultimate goal of the girls graduating with the skills necessary for a vocation and the educational background to prepare them for attendance at the universit.  The boys either go to live at the farm school or the technical school, both associated with the Episcopal church with which El Hogar is connected.  The boys at the farm school learn how to farm both crops and livestock, and the boys at the technical school are trained to be able to market themselves upon graduation in one of three trades, including welding, electrical or automotive repair.  Whether they go to the farm school or the technical school, the boys are prepared either for going to college upon their graduation or for working in their trade.
 
If you have a few minutes sometime, please watch the video at this link about El Hogar and all the different schools – it is a great representation of what these children receive from living at El Hogar:   https://vimeo.com/96450831
 
Anyway, seven of us left the US on Saturday, March 14 on the Delta flight nonstop from Atlanta to Tegucigalpa.  We had been well briefed by our team leader Christine about how to safely and successfully make it through the airport, which thankfully was something we had no problem with at all.  Soon, we were smushed into a van on a hair raising ride to our destination.  Thankfully, we had no wrecks (a true miracle), as the van had no seatbelts.  We passed poverty like I have not seen firsthand before, including shacks that would have been torn down by the city as uninhabitable ages ago at home, as well as children looking through dumpsters for food on the side of the road.  Just the drive was eye opening, and not in the way you hope for.  But within 15 minutes, we arrived at our new home. 
 
Please forgive me if this next part of this report is inappropriate, as I am not a very overtly religious person and rarely put my religion out there in any public context, but from the moment I stepped foot outside the van, I felt God’s presence as I had never felt before.  His grace was so evident on the faces of the children who ran into our arms immediately.  None had ever met me before as it was my first trip, but I received hug after hug after hug.  Danielle has been on this trip twice before, so she was really covered up with love by kids who remembered her from prior trips as well as kids who had come to El Hogar after her last trip.  It was truly an experience like I’ve never had in my life.
 
Danielle and Reuben:
 

 

 
Johana:
 

 
I can't remember this little girl's name, but she was adorable:
 

 

 
Ronnie (a kid who is always smiling) and Danielle:
 

 
The rest of Saturday and most of Sunday was spent getting to play with the kids in a totally unstructured manner, as the kids were out of school until Monday morning.  On Sunday morning, we got dressed up and got to go to the Episcopal church in town with some of the kids and a few of the adults from the school.  The ride there was another interesting ride as there were 18 of us in a 15 passenger van.  Church was a really nice service, despite the fact that it was all in Spanish.  Most parts of it were very much like what we do at our Episcopal church at home as the service was out of the same Book of Common Prayer as we use, except in Spanish. 
 
One of the boys’ bedrooms in the dorm:
 

 

 
View from the dorm:
 

 
Some of the children were receiving extra academic help on Saturday, including Daniela, whom you’ll hear more about in just a sec, and her twin Christian:
 

 
Some of the girls sitting on the steps of the dormitory:
 

 
One way that El Hogar raises funds to take care of the children is through sponsorship.  Anyone who wants to sponsor a child can, and many people who visit the school end up not being able to leave without sponsoring one or more.  That’s what happened with our family on Ray and Danielle’s trip last year.  We are now the proud sponsors of Daniela, a very sweet 9-year old girl, and Elder, an awesome boy who turned 12 while we were there.  Elder was very busy with various activities promoting the school that weekend, but Daniela and her brother got to join us at church and at Pizza Hut afterward for a special treat meal.
 
Danielle, Daniela and Christian:
 

 

 
Danielle (whose Spanish is very good) getting beat at a thumb war by Daniela:
 
https://youtu.be/rEYjpfkBsAk
 
After lunch, we headed back to the school to play for the afternoon and evening.  I was given the opportunity to get lots of exercise – jumping rope, playing chase, kicking a ball….  These kids are very active!  Having this free play time was just wonderful.  
 
Our fearless leader and the girl she sponsors, who is now at the girls’ school but had come for the weekend to El Hogar:
 

 

 
Danielle and Nancy, one of the most beautiful children in the world.  If she lived here, she could be a serious model if she wanted:
 

 
The boy in the striped shirt is Elder, who truly is now the son that Ray never had.  They had an instant connection on Ray and Danielle’s first trip, which just got closer last year.  Elder was disappointed that Ray wasn’t with us this trip, but was happy to know that Ray will be returning in July with another group from our church.
 

 
Elder, Danielle and Ruben:
 

"Anna Learns the Rhino"

First, I want to say that this thread has forced me to waste entirely too much time today!  I decded that in the interest of figuring out how we've been using our DVC membership since we bought it in the summer of 2012 (direct from Disney) and then added on around fall of 2013 (resale).  So far, we've gone on 8 trips using DVC points that I can remember, including a week at Aulani. It's far too advanced math for me to figure out whether it was worth it, on a financial basis only, for us to do it through DVC rather than through WDW, but I definitely believe that it has been worth it overall for us.  We have gone on more trips than we would have otherwise, we have stayed longer on some of the trips than we would have otherwise, and we have stayed in nicer resorts with a lot more space than we would have otherwise.  Plus, we have gotten good use out of the APs that we bought at a discount, whereas before I alwsays just bought regular tickets for each trip.  Plus, the APs allow me to get Tables in Wonderland, which saves money on dining.  And both DVC and the APs will get a discount in the stores.
 
For us, it's been great.  It lets us go to WDW far more than we would let ourselves without it, which is a winner for me.  It's definitely not for everyone, but I'm so glad to have it.  I've even thought about getting to take grandchildren on the same memberships we have now one day.  (No day soon!!!!  We love Mr. Napkinbra but we're not going there anytime soon!   :popo: )
 
 
No kidding.  Where do I sign up?

Sunday – our last day! 
 
I woke up on our last morning in enough time for one last run around SSR.  I had fun finding a Hidden Mickey in this here fountain:
 
 
 

 
It was yet another beautiful day.  Why can’t they all be like this at home?
 

 

 
We all finished packing up and toted our bags to the airline check in, and then hopped a bus to the MK.  We had ADRs at Chef Mickeys that I had scored at the last minute.  But first we had time for a quick run into the MK for a ride on BTMRR.
 

 
I have no idea what is happening here:
 

 
Chef Mickeys was exactly as it always is, which was just right for a departure day last breakfast.  The girls wound up leaving before Ray and I were ready to as they wanted to hit the MK for their last hurrah.  Ray and I just headed back to the SSR pool after breakfast to enjoy the sun and relaxation before getting picked up to head back home.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Love this guy:
 

 
Back in the MK, I honestly have no idea what all the girls did, other than Space Mountain and Splash, as those are the ones that had pictures show up.  Apparently right before these Space Mountain pictures were taken, Jodi talked Susan into reaching up and touching the ceiling in the tunnel thing, which resulted in a visible, audible and painful shock to Susan, which in turn resulted in these:
 

 

 

 
After soaking in all of this that we could:
 

 
we made it back home uneventfully. 
 
It was a really great trip.  Totally different from the first trip with Danielle – a different pace to the trip, different travelers and different goals – but they were both equally wonderful.  That’s what I love about WDW trips.  They are all different but always great.  And Ray and I are learning more and more about how to have a great time in our old age, including more pool time and less racing about trying to hit every attraction we can.  
 
So that’s it for Trip #2!  The exciting news, though, is that Trip #3 is almost here!  Danielle and I are meeting up in Atlanta on Friday, and then a week from today we travel to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to stay for a week at El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza, an amazing orphanage where children are given a chance to have a future they would never have without it.  I’m fairly nervous but thrilled to get to be going.  
 
So, this report will resume as quickly as I can get myself together after getting back.  In the meantime, though, here is a little preview from when Ray and Danielle have been on this same trip before:
 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for hanging in there with me! 

Wednesday:
 
Thankfully, I slept a little later than usual at home, and Ray slept a lot later than me, so we both woke up feeling refreshed despite our long travel and Epcot day yesterday.  We debated whether to go on a run around the resort.  The angels on our shoulders reminded us how much we like doing that to get our bearings in a resort and just be able to check everything out, while the devils said that we should go straight to eat breakfast instead.  The angels won out, but not by much!  We went for  a short run which was lots of fun, especially when we stumbled upon the bridge to DTD, which we used later in the day, so it was good to find out exactly where it was. 
 

 

 
One thing totally weirded me out about SSR – anyone notice anything odd about this map?
 

 
Check out the compass.  Its North points down.  That’s how about 75% of the maps scattered around are.  But some of them had the compass the right way – with North pointing up.  It made it a lot harder to get our bearings in the resort for a day or so.
 
We grabbed some breakfast after the run, cleaned up and headed out for AK.  We had a decent number of FPs in our pockets, between our MBs and also those belonging to Jodi and Susan, but we really didn’t use many.  We rode Safari and EE (twice for me – the single rider line was non-existent!), and watched Nemo for the first time.  It was cute and I’m glad we saw it, but I definitely prefer FOTLK if I’m going to have to make a choice next time.
 

 
Birds!  At Animal Kingdom!   Crazy, right?
 

 
Love these guys:
 

 

 

 
No rhinos this trip! 
 

 

 

 
My new favorite picture with Ray:
 

 

 
(Check out my single rider companion on my second ride on EE – this dude held onto the bar the whole time!)
 

 
So, here’s my new find on Everest!  Has anyone ever notice that apparently it’s a thing to throw your hairbands over to the right when you’re at the broken track?  I hadn’t, but apparently I’ve been missing out on an opportunity to get rid of some ponytail holders.
 

 

 
Weird, huh?
 
Dave, since we're all so glad you're back with us, I'll warn you now.  Close your eyes!
 

 
After a while, we decided to head back to SSR and walk to DTD for some lunch.  Earl of Sandwich was calling out to us, especially Ray who had their holiday turkey sandwich.  Ray was tickled by their sign saying that they had “The World’s Greatest Hot Sandwich”, and thought about running inside and shouting congratulations to them, ala Elf with the world’s best cup of coffee, but wound up just walking in and ordering his lunch instead.
 
While we were eating, some big deal was going on at the carousel.  There were a bunch of CMs, some costumed and some not, celebrating a group of kids and parents who were riding.  Signs, shouts of celebration, the whole shebang.  We never figured it out, but it looked like fun for whoever all those happy people were.
 

 

 
After a tiny bit of shopping (Ray doesn’t tolerate shopping very well , we headed back to the room and rested for a bit.  We didn’t have long to let our food digest before it was time for dinner at Bluezoo at the Dolphin.    We had gotten ADRs at Bluezoo as Ray liked the looks of it when I gave him some choices.  I’ve never really heard anything much about it but I was interested as Todd English has opened a restaurant in our area that I’ve thought about going to and I figured if Bluezoo was good, then his other place near us would be good too.  So, off we went.
 

 

 
(Note to self – dress up more next time.  This place was a lot nicer than I was expecting.)
 
(Another note to self - next time, try to go a little later when we might not be the only ones there for a while.)
 

 
Y’all, the food was awesome.  I had a shrimp and grits appetizer, Ray had oysters, and then we both had the fish (grouper, maybe?). 
 

 

 
 
I don’t know how to say enough about Bluezoo.  It truly was amazing.  The food was great – about the best we’ve had anywhere – and the service was outstanding.  It was a little more expensive than, say, California Grill or Jiko would have been, but not much.  And the experience was many times better than those.  It was really first rate.  Sadly, we were in a hurry or else we would have gotten dessert, but there will definitely be another chance for us.   We’ll be back as soon as we can.

I say we all pool our money together and Melvin can be the honorary guest at our Grand Gatherings.

Yay!  We're back!
 
Dave already posted the Hidden Mickey cloud, but I'm going to also since I took a picture too and it was so cool:
 

 
This must have been during the sitting around before supper time:
 

 

 
A Boy Scout must have made this awesome fire!
 

 
The rest of the evening was more of the same, but loads of fun.  It was really great getting to spend time with everyone!
 
The next morning, I woke up and snapped these from my bed.  Pretty cool to have this view without even getting up:
 

 

 
And that was about it for us.    We had to get on back pretty early so we missed out on the last breakfast.  But, we did take the time to learn a valuable lesson for all newbie campers out there - don't leave your SUV doors and hatch open too much over a weekend when camping.  Otherwise, you might have to hit up a fiend for help!
 

 
Dave was our hero!  We made it home safe, and now I'm ready to start planning for the next time!  
 
Lots of fun everyone!  Thanks for everything!  

I'll chime in!  We had such a great time with everyone!  It was great seeing fiends from DeSoto and meeting new fiends too!
 
We arrived Friday around 5:00 and got started putting up our tent.  I was so excited to see a deer when we got there that I took a pic, only to see many, many more while we were there, especially when leaving early this morning.
 

 
We got the tent up just before dusk.  Loved the site!
 

 

 

 
Our next door neighbors - Grumpy and Grandma!
 

 
It was fun seeing everyone as they arrived Friday evening and hanging out for a while at DIT's site.  
 
Saturday morning, we all enjoyed Dave's pancakes.  Here was my contribution:
 

 
Dan and I missed the big Walmart trip.  We went for a run around the campground, which was lots of fun.  Then, Dan took a big old nap.  :)
 
I have just a little more when we get to dinner.

Leslie, I'm pretty sure that if you forget something, one of the rest of us will have extra.  Don't stress.  
 
Just toss Whatshisface into the car and start heading north.  

Awesome sign.  Should apply to every day!

You can make Magic Band chains for your Christmas tree instead of using construction paper!

"Tent camping with teenagers" caught my eye, as that is rapidly becoming a favorite hobby of mine these days.  :)
 
Here is a link to an AC I am seriously thinking about trying if we pull together a summer camping trip this year.  Looks so very fun.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxSLbpAwibg
 
Looks very easy and like it could work for even a newbie like me.
 
Have fun!  10 days at the Fort with a big group sounds like a blast, even in August in a tent!

This reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld where George lies to win a "contest". .....and I will leave it at that :)

Fun article.  I love reading just about anything about the Fort.
 
I will agree, though, that TCD is pretty detail-oriented.  I'm guessing he is right about the article being corrected, and I'm sure it was based on his comments that the author even became aware of the errors.

These pictures are all great, but the ones of your mom loving life are the best. She is too cute!

Here’s a video bonus – this was taken around dinnertime Sunday while Ray and I were at dinner. This is the kind of fun that I love about going to WDW. I call it the “Cousin Song”:
http://youtu.be/HlYVZC5JS9w

Even though we went back to WDW in May 2011, I’ve really been planning this trip since our last trip to the Fort in March 2010. That report is back over on voldemort, but in a nutshell it was my dad and wonderful stepmom (Paw Paw and Buddy), my step-sister Marie, her husband Daniel and their oldest Ryan; my brother’s oldest child Evan; my step-brother’s oldest son Brad; and my two DDs (Danielle and Jody) and me. That was a great trip, but we were missing several key players.
Ever since that trip, I’ve been looking forward to our next big family trip to FW, but really hoping we’d be able to fill in the gaps in the family of people who weren’t there last time. My amazingly Disneyfied DH Ray needed to come; plus my brother, whose real name (believe it or not) in our family is Tiger, and Tiger’s youngest Elise (6 years old); plus Brad’s dad (my stepbrother) Michael, Michael’s wife Susan and their youngest John; and finally the youngest member of this extended family, Stephen, who is the youngest son of Daniel and Marie. If you’re paying attention, you’ll find grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, step-relatives, half-relatives, and all other sorts of combinations we can put together.
So, believe it or not, we did it! All 4 children of Buddy and Paw Paw, plus all spouses of those children, plus all 8 grandchildren made it this time. 17 of us in all.
So, here’s the cast of characters:
My family – Ray, Danielle (15), Jody (13, but taller than her sister (and me too)), and me: (Ray and I were actually going to get a picture with just us, but the girls decided to photobomb us – love it)

Tiger and his kids, Evan (9) and Elise (6) (dimples run strong through some portions of this family):

Marie and Daniel and their sons Ryan (7) and Stephen (4):

Michael and Susan and their boys John (5) and Brad (17):

And most importantly, the ones that this trip wouldn’t have happened without, Buddy and Paw Paw:

Finally, about the name of this report. My dad, for reasons unknown to me, spent much of this trip saying at random times, "This life is just a test. Otherwise, we would be told what to do and where to go all the time." This was usually said sometime in the afternoon or evening, when his theme park day was over and his drinking day had begun. I'm really not sure what he meant, but it sure seemed profound. I was struggling about what to title this report when I remembered that refrain of his. So, there you have it.
There you go with the introductions! Next up, lots of travel!

Cool! I didn't know walking them was allowed! Maybe I will "walk/run" a marathon one day afterall. ;D