Day Of Disappointment

While Friday may be the day of dreams, Sunday is the day of disappointment where you realize all the things that you could have done over the weekend didn't get done.  All that opportunity that exists on Fridays is officially dead by Sunday. 

As for me, I really didn't get much of anything done.  I did clean out the freezer and got rid of all the old take out from the fridge, so I guess that's something.  I also finished some uploading stuff that I was working on.  Overall that's nowhere near complete, but the specific section that I was working on is done uploading.  I'm thinking of getting the Amazon Cloud video storage service.  It's like $60 a year for unlimited storage of video files, so it seems pretty cheap and worth it, since I have a TON of video that I don't want to lose in the event of a flood or computer self destruct.

Also, the rain beat the shit out of our flowers.  My Peony bushes look pretty banged up, as well as our flower pots on our front porch.  And can we talk about how cold it is today.  What is up with that?

On the upside Game of Thrones was fantastic tonight, and the whole last part of it was crazytown!  I'm really sad that there are only two more episodes left for this season.  I'm not sure what we're going to watch when there's really not much on during the summer. I mean, practically everything is off for the summer.  We've got the Daily Show, the Tonight Show, and really that's about it.  There are some new series on Netflix that we can watch, so perhaps we'll just focus on our Netflix queue.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 151
Sal took a nap (that was far too short) in her own crib today.  We're trying to slowly transition her to her own room since it'll be quieter and she won't wake up when our alarms go off in the morning.  We're also working on getting her out of her swaddle, but she wakes herself up if her arms are free, so we're trying to slowly transition that out too.  Also, this bunny is wearing striped pajamas like he's a concentration camp prisoner.

Random Roundup

Not much going on today, it's kind of overcast and there's the threat of rain.  There have even been a few sprinkles here and there, though the actual rain isn't scheduled until later this afternoon.  So, not much is going on.  We are about to head up to the outlet mall so that Becky can spend her gift card that has been burning a hole in her pocket for a while now.  I like that the one we're going to is closer than the one at Birch Run, but it also has less interesting stores for me, it's all just clothing and I have no interest in that.  Other than our trip to the outlet mall we don't have too much going on.

Sal is continuing her trend of being a booty when it comes to sleep.  She woke up for her bottle today around 6:30, and then decide at 7:20 it was just time to be up for the day, so I got up with her so Becky could sleep in a bit.  By 7:50 she was cranky and wanted to go back to bed, so I took her upstairs to put her in her crib and she decided that in fact that was a terrible idea and screamed for a bit before finally falling asleep.  I miss the days where she would just nap no problem, and sleep in till like 9 or 10.  This 6am shit is not my favorite.

In pet news I fear that Fluffy may not be with us much longer.  As I mentioned a while back she had some lumps forming and the vet said that they looked like they were cancer.  Well those small lumps are not very large lumps.  In terms of behavior she seems to be doing fine.  She still gets pissed if her food isn't full.  She comes up to me every morning while I'm putting on my shoes to say good morning.  However, things like that can change quickly. 

So that's basically what's going on here.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 150
I saw this mobile episode of Horders and immediately thought of Eric.  I should have followed them then he could have saw the live version, it could have been exciting.  I think the thing that disturbs me the most is the deflated happy face balloon next to the empty root beer bottle.

The Day Of Dreams

Oh, Friday.  You day of fries.  You.....day.

It's no secret that Friday is probably the best day of the week. Sure you have to go to work, but you also know that you don't have to go the work the following day.  And for vacations you know you're going to be gone for some time.  Friday is a great day because it is filled with possibility.  It's the Christmas Eve of days.  See, on Christmas Eve you have all that excitement.  There are presents under the tree, and they could be anything.  Sure, you don't know what and you don't get the joy of opening presents, but on Christmas Eve there is possibility.  It could be anything in that gift.  There is no disappointment, there is no coming down from the excitement.  It's just pure anticipation and joy.

Friday is like that.  The weekend is beginning, but hasn't happened yet.  There is the opportunity of going places, there are thing that can be done, places to go, things to do.  Anything could happen.  Sure the rest of the weekend is good, you get to go and do, but you also have those opportunity costs of making choices.  You will slowly choose what you will do, and miss out on all the things you won't do.  The possibilities slowly decrease.

But today is Friday.  Today is opportunity!

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 149
These seemed to just appear over night. They weren't anything like this the other day and then today they're already a good two feet tall!  It's crazy!  But I like the pretty purple flowers.

Thoughts On Thoughts

Yesterday I talked a little bit about loss and some of my family situation.  I'm always very hesitant to talk about any of that sort of thing.  Not because I have any trouble with it.  I'm full aware and acceptance of the things that have happened in my life.  I know what bothers me and why, I know what I don't care about and what really has no influence on me at all.  I know what triggers instant rage, what gets me down once in a while, or what are good spots.

No, I don't like talking about that sort of stuff, not because of what it does to me or how it makes me feel.  I don't like talking about that sort of stuff because of how other people deal with it.  Others are quick to hear these things and put you into some bucket of how they understand and would deal with the situation.  You become a character that they make assumptions about because that's how they understand the world.  They play the armchair psychiatrist who thinks they know more than they actually do and that because they took a few courses in college they are full of all this high level knowledge.

I don't like talking about these things not because I'm scarred or broken in some way, but because other people will assume that I am, and treat me as such.  I was very reluctant to say that thinking about the things I've lost makes me angry because others will make this broad assumption that I'm someone who hasn't dealt with my past and stuck in this position of anger and hate and that explains why I hate my job, or why this happened, or why that happens.  They'll start spinning out to become more than it is because that's how they understand the world. That's just not some nonsense that I care to deal with.

In reality, there are very few people who really are open and able to understand people who think differently than they do.  We all talk about how that's something that super important, that you have to realize that we are all different.  It's the big "we all love diversity" fiction that we promote.  In reality, we like things to be how we understand them.  We like things to be the same.  We like things that we understand and can relate to.  We don't like the idea that there are things that are outside of our understanding.  We create us v. them all the time, and it often works.  We pick camps, we pick tribes, we pick the things that are familiar. But, we all promote this idea that we're all special and different and that's ok, until we are actually forced to deal with it.

We throw around these one size fits all phrases and lump people into groups and then use that as the reason behind everything.  Oh, that person has daddy issues.  This person has ADD.  You're sad, you must be depressed.  It allows us to throw people into categories and not have to deal with complexity.

So, I'm very reluctant to talk about things, to say how I feel, to discuss some of my past, to really go into too much detail, not because I haven't dealt with it, but because everyone seems to think that because I'm angry and unhappy now that it has to be some deep rooted issue that I've been wrestling with my entire life.

Anyhow, just some thoughts on thoughts.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 148
Baby took a nap in her room! She was so happy and sleepy.

Memorial and Loss

This week was Memorial Day, which means a lovely three day weekend, but it also means that there are a lot of shows and programs on those lost while serving the country.  We watched the Memorial Day concert on PBS, HBO was doing a marathon of Band of Brothers, and I realized that I had Saving Private Ryan but that I hadn't watched it since I got it for Christmas a few years ago.  All of this made me think about teaching, and how I wished I was in a classroom because I really love teaching about history.  I've also been reading a book about teaching history differently than what is standard,which has also been making me think about teaching.

However, it also made me think about my grandfathers who all served at one time or other.  Unfortunately I only really knew one of them, since my step-grandfather died well before I was born, and since my parents are divorced we didn't really spend time with my paternal grandfather.  My mom's dad I knew but he didn't talk too much.  He talked about being stationed in Europe when he served (this would have been in the 50s), and how he visited Paris, and that on the boat ride home they served horse meat, which wasn't bad.  But that is literally all that I ever heard from him about things.  In fact that's about all he ever said about his past, at least to us.  Perhaps it was because we didn't ask because we were young and didn't think about those things, or perhaps it was because he died pretty young, and worked, and slept most the time.

My paternal grandfather we did visit occasionally, but I can only remember visiting maybe a half dozen times.  They lived out in Detroit and I never liked going to that part of town.  So we'd see them once every couple of years, and that was about it.  He was talkative, in fact he spent the entire time talking to us and my grandmother was the one who didn't say much and just cooked and smiled. 

On one of the last visits we made before he died he started talking about being in World War II.  I didn't know that, in fact I don't recall him ever mentioning being in the military, but he was.  He joined up in 1941 before the war began and signed up to serve in the Pacific.  As such he had trained and was stationed at Pearl Harbor.  He was in the Army, so he wasn't on a ship, but he was there on December 7th.  He talked about being off base that night and then the attack coming the following morning and having to try to get back on base.  That they had to find a way on base because they locked everything down.  It wasn't a very long story and I was just kind of amazed that he was there that I didn't ask many questions.

That was about all he said about the war.  I never knew what happened after that.  Apparently he said he had gone on suicide missions, but that's about it.  He showed us his medals.  He had two Purple Hearts, and then a star, but again being a teenager I didn't really know what that meant or what it was.  Recently I found out that it was a Bronze Star, and that he got it because he volunteered for a very dangerous and secret mission.  Without knowing what it was or where he'd be going he was one of 3,000 men who signed up.  What it turned out was that they were going to be trained and sent to Burma to try and open up supplies lines that had been controlled by the Japanese.  It was in fact very dangerous, and apparently from the little bit of research I've done, only around 200 of the original 3,000 made it out.  They were all given Bronze Stars for valor.

However, I never knew any of that.  I didn't know anything about what he had done.  I didn't know this because I didn't really get to know him.  Most of the visits were when I was young, if he were around today I'd know what to ask and I would have that chance.

However, more so it makes me think about the loss that comes from being the child of divorced parents.  Sometimes the implications of those decisions aren't really felt until much later, and this is an example of that.  Since they were divorced when I was not quite two, there was never that relationship.  They were always distant to me, they weren't people who were in my life, and I never was able to build something.  They were also older than my other grandparents, so they've both been gone for much longer so I really didn't get to know them as an adult.

Sometimes the loss we experienced at a young age comes back again and again in situations like that because we are only finding out later how massive the loss really was.  You realize things when you have a kid that you never had because that person wasn't there for you.  You realize as you're older and able to see the world more complexly that you have missed out on things, and that you won't be able to experience them.  In this case I won't get to hear the stories, or understand from first hand accounts what things were like for my grandfather.  I only have the few snippets that he had the chance to tell me about.

When I think about those things it does make me more angry that those things were taken from me. However, the past is over and we can't change it.  Anger won't bring back things that are loss, but we can know and acknowledge what we lost, and move on from it.  I can learn from others I can study and get the stories of others who experienced things with him.  I also must accept that some things I will never have, that they will forever be lost to me.  I know these things, and I'm able to move on from it.  Sure it may annoy me, or make me angry, but I don't dwell on them.  I accept them and move forward, which is all any of us can do.  We can stay trapped angry in the same position our entire life being the victim of circumstance, blaming others, and making excuses, or we can choose to accept it, and move on to build a better life and make sure the mistakes of the past aren't repeated.

Anyhow, just some thoughts.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 147
I sat and watched her do this for a good 20 minutes trying to get video of her rolling over.  She's get to her side and look like she was about to do it, then she'd just roll back to her back and act like she couldn't do this.  After waiting for about 20 minutes it seemed like she was getting tired and wasn't rolling much so I grabbed the computer to do some stuff and looked up and the booty was on her stomach.  Just waited for me to not be looking.  What a turd!  Also I love her face in this picture.

Movie Friday - Tomorrowland

With all the reminiceing I didn't have a chance to discuss the last movie that Becky and I went to see on our anniversary, Tomorrowland.  I think a lot of the draw for this movie was that they really didn't tell you what it was going to be about. I wasn't sure going in what they could do with a movie about a part of the park that is woefully obsolete.  I mean it's a nice time capsule, but it's a vision of the future from fifty years ago, so it isn't exactly current.

Funny thing is I came out really having enjoyed the movie and feeling like they had a really strong message that they were trying to send.  The creators really had something that they wanted to say, and I really enjoyed the message, and I think they're totally right in what they had to say and what the movie was all about.  It was nice going into a movie with no expectations and coming out finding that they had really put a lot of thought into it and actually had a message that they were trying to convey.

So, the non-spoiler plot of this is that you have this girl who gets this pin that shows her Tomorrowland, she's young and optimistic.  She meets up with a jaded cranky man who is pessimistic and through some struggles have to overcome some obstacles to reach a climax of a story and then falling action.  Add in a brief storyline that gets a little bit creepy/eww because of the subject matter and you've filled an entire movie.  Like I said, no spoilers.

However, the message that they were really pushing with this movie was that the world used to look at the future as this amazing place with technology and innovation.  The future was a great and amazing place.  You see this future in places like Tomorrowland, or the Jetsons.  The future was bright and positive.  However over the years that has changed.  The future really isn't depicted like that anymore.  Every other move is post apocalyptic, post civilization, or very dark and bleak.  The Hunger Games, Divergent, Terminator, even Star Trek reboots have gone down the dark road with the destruction of Vulcan, with terrorists bombings, military buildups.  Our future is now depicted as a bad place, where bad things happen and technology kills us or imprisons us.  We don't look at the future as a place of possibilities and where the world will be a better place.

The message of this movie is that there needs to be an attitudinal shift in that.  That we are constantly fed these images and therefore we begin to think that way.  We are constrained by that fear and resentment and it stifles our growth.  Instead of being excited about the future we are jaded about it.  We see our destruction and the negatives instead of the awe and excitement.  So Tomorrowland is more about the ideals of how we look at the future.  It's about coming back to that positive view of the future and to reject the negative.  Perhaps they were a little heavy handed with their message, but it's a good message, and as a result I really enjoyed the movie.

So it terms of ratings, on account of the fun, as well as the strong message I'd give this a full price rating.  It's not multiple screenings, or opening night, but it was worth the price and had a lot to say, and I liked that. 

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 146
After transplanting the flowers, here is how our front porcn now looks.  I like that we have red and orange this year.  We usually get yellow and purple, but I think this year the colors are quite nice.  I'll have to post another picture in a few weeks once they have had time to grow more and cascade over the edge of the pots.

In Retrospect

So the past week I decided to do some blogs about ten years ago and what we did leading up to our wedding.  It was fun go write about them and go through the hundreds of old pictures to find some that would be good to post for the blog.  However, in all of that I didn't really talk about the today, and the time since then.

So last week was my 10th anniversary, in one hand it seems like a long time, on the other hand there is so much more time ahead, many times more than what has passes so far, or at least hopefully.  However, it's one of those bigger milestone kind of years.  No one says much on like seven years, or on 13 years, or on 22 years.  We seem to enjoy those nice round numbers.  A decade, a quarter century, a half century.  We can look at those and mark them as major periods of time.  So, it seems like this year was a bigger year than always.  However, we celebrated it in a very usual way.  We saw a movie, we went to our favorite restaurant for dinner.  Some may feel that isn't fitting for such an event, but we kind of went all out last year and did a big cruise knowing that this year would be harder since we have a beautiful nearly five month old.

Looking back it's been a great ten years.  We have done so many things together, experienced life, traveled, saw and did things.  We've seen shows, we've been all over the place, we visited Europe, we started a theatre company, we made friends, we lost friends, we moved, bought our first house, took in people who needed a home, basically adopted a teenager, and even decided to have a baby.  We've done so much in such a short time, and it's been wonderful to have someone there with me the entire time.  We don't' always see eye to eye on everything, but who does.  The important part is that we've always been on the same page or gotten there eventually.

I am happy I've been able to share nearly half my life with my beautiful, intelligent, caring, and hard working wife.  It's been delightful to climb mountains in Maine, to see shows in New York, to walk the beaches of Normandy, to see the lights of Paris, to walk the ruins of Rome, to build things that are bigger than ourselves, to be there for other people when they need it.  And I don't think I could find a better partner to go through all of that with. 

So as I mark ten years I wish my lovely wife a happy anniversary, and I can't wait to find out what grand adventures will hold over the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 145
Those it was late, we went out this weekend to the greenhouse to pick out flowers for the house.  We usually do this on Mother's day, but Becky was feeling really bad so I had to just zip in really quick to pick up flowers for my Gran and Mom.  The pickings weren't as good as a few weeks ago, but they still were quite lovely.

The End Or Beginning

After the wedding we spent a few more days in Florida for our honeymoon.  We spent the first day in Universal Islands of Adventure, which really turned out to be kind of a disappointment because growing up near Cedar Point means that nothing is ever going to be as awesome.  However, we did have a fun time of the fire alarm going off that morning very early because there was too much lint in the dryer that started smoking.  After that day in Universal we drove down further south to Singer Island for some time on the beach before heading back to Michigan.

One thing we love is beach time.  Ever since my first real time on the beach in 2002 when we went with Jeff and Sara to the ocean I have loved it.  This time we went further south than we've been and the water was just lovely.  However, the weather wasn't very cooperative.  We ended up with a lot of clouds and rain, so we didn't get to spend a ton of time on the beach itself.  We did get to sit out briefly and read some, and we went out into the water a bit and climbed on the rocks.

We also saw these crazy guys that ignored all the storming and decided that they wanted to swim and were out a lot.  They were specifically memorable because one of them was wearing this bright orange wig, as if he were a clown or something.  Despite the crazy rain, we actually had a really nice time.  It helped that we had a ocean view room so even if it was raining we could still watch the ocean.  It was also nice because we had this huge sliding door that we opened at night and got to listen to the waves and enjoy the cool breeze.

It was a nice relaxing couple of days to unwind after the week of parks, and planning, and family and friends. It was a beautiful location, a lovely hotel, and a nice end to an amazing week.  It was also a great way to start a marriage, and ten years on I'm so glad we got to have and share those experiences, and that I can look back on them and remember all the good times we had that week.  While it was the end of a great event, it was also the beginning to a great life.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 144

I also don't have very many pictures from our honeymoon to the beach.  Mostly because it was only a few days and most of the time it rained.  We spent a little bit of time on the beach, but then the storms started so we spent most of the time watching Friends and the rain.  Incidentally, the hotel we stayed at they tore down not long after to put in condos instead.  It was a really nice hotel, so that's kind of sad.

Pleasure Island

Well, since I spent most of yesterday's blog talking about the wedding itself, I thought I'd use today to talk about everything that happened after the wedding.  Apparently a nice long party wasn't enough because that night we spent it with our friends out partying at Disney's Pleasure Island.  It's a little sad because apparently they didn't like that format and the Pleasure Island we went to doesn't exist anymore, but at the time it was a bunch of night clubs that you paid admission and then go to go to all of them. 

It really wasn't busy that night we went to a few of the night clubs but none of them were packed. The first one I recall going to was called Mannequin's which was just your general night club, except that the dance floor was a giant rotating thing.  So you had to get on and off it, which was challenging and I hadn't even had anything to drink at that point.  There really weren't that many people there, and I don't recall spending all that much time there.  But then again I do recall that we had some other things we wanted to hit and that were more timed because they were clubs/shows.

The big win of the night though was the outdoor adult beverage station that was selling drinks in buckets.  This was the only drink I had that night, and they were a bit heavy handed with the booze.  Though now that I think about it, I think I finished off a drink that Becky ordered and decided that she wasn't a fan of.  Jack and Coke, if I recall, wasn't nearly as good as bucket.  I remember the one I picked was called a Shark Bite.  They all game in these lovely yellow sand pails and everyone had to have one.

These were those kind of drinks that were very dangerous because they don't' taste like anything except juice or Hawaiian Punch, so you have to be careful.  Though the $10 price tag also meant that you probably wouldn't go too nuts, but then again perhaps I'm just cheap when it comes to buying drinks at bars.  Regardless they were delicious, and a great pit stop on our way to the next club of the night, which was a sort of comedy improve club, where you sat and watched a little show.

The comedy club was actually kind of lame.  Looking back we probably should have gone to the Adventure Club which was set up where some guy would tell these adventure type stories.  The improve wasn't great, and they asked for audience participation.  You know, they'd ask for a person, a place or a thing, and the audience would raise their hands and pipe in so that the actors could improvise their scene.  Unfortunately they called on Eric who decided his contribution was "Magical Scrotum" which they declined to use saying it was a family show.  Though, I'm not sure what family was there since the clubs were 18 and older.

After the comedy club we were getting pretty tired since we'd been up so long.  We missed the new year's eve party, an I seem to recall that perhaps there was a short split where we went to check something else out and had to meet up with the rest of the group in the 80s club, or something like that.  By then we were pretty much dead so we left our friends to finish up their night of partying to take the bus back.  On the bus I kept trying to put my feet up on the seat across the way but it was too far.  Becky suggested that I use a closer seat but I told her no, then the other people on the bus would think that I was drunk.  Logic provided by the Shark Bite.

Getting back to the room Becky decided that she was going to shower, and I decided I was too tired to figure out the alarm clock and told her she had to do it then fell asleep fast.  It was a fun finish to a crazy busy day.  Later we found out that the party went on to closing time with our friends, who decided to have a Disney sing along on the bus home (according to the not yet 21 and therefore not drunk sister).  The problem was that they couldn't' remember all the words and would just jump from song to song.  As the story goes, the bus applauded when they got off the bus, to which one sister said "Oh they're applauding us" and her sober sister replied, "no, that's not why".  Haha!  What great times!

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 143

I thought I had more photos from Pleasure Island, but apparently I do not.  however, this one has a number of the people in it that went with us out to party.  I'm a little sad that Pleasure Island has changed so much that we can't go anywhere that we went 10 years ago.  However, it was a fun night and the end of quite the day.

A Grand Day

Ten years is a long time, especially when your life has only consisted of three sets of ten.  Basically ten years accounts for nearly a third of my entire life, so that's a big deal.  I suppose as you get older perhaps it is less of a big deal, but then again maybe not since we don't live that long in the grand scheme of things.  So today marks ten years of marriage, though later this year will mark the 17th anniversary of when we first started dating, so basically half my life.  So what does one think about when it's been ten years, or seventeen years, or basically half of their life?  Well, you think about the main event, you think about everything that has happened since and you enjoy the journey that you've gone on up until this point.

So, ten years ago this morning all the planning and travel and stress, and drama faded away and instead was replaced by a grand event that perfectly reflects the kind of people we are.  We wanted to bring those close to use together to celebrate.  We wanted to have an experience to share with those we are closest to, that we could think back on and smile about.  We wanted a grand event to share and enjoy. Ten years on that mission was accomplished.  I still thank back fondly to the week spend before the wedding, I enjoy scrolling through the pictures, remembering the food, the music, the people.  Friends still will still occasionally do the same. It was exactly what we wanted to happen.

It's really amazing how you kind of go on auto-pilot for some of these things.  The entire day was managed by a fantastic team at Disney who made sure we got where we needed to go and didn't have to worry about anything.  They moved you along, they planned everything out, so I didn't really have to think about much except what was going by.  At the time it seemed like a bit of a blur.  So many people are talking to you, so many people are moving you along, so much is happening.  It's like everything is compressed and you have to later go through it all and think about everything that happened. It also didn't help because I didn't have a ton of sleep, I believe I ended up sleeping on an air mattress the night before (though it could have just been the floor, I don't quite recall but I know it wasn't a bed).  I remember going to bed later than I should have, and getting up early than I wanted to.

We had a limo take us from the hotel to the Boardwalk, and I had some family drive my car since we would be leaving from the Boardwalk to our free night at the Grand Floridian.  I had one job that morning, other than getting dressed, and that was to bring the marriage license.  Of course, that was the one thing that I didn't do.  I left it on the dresser, and had to ask Doug to run back and pick it up for me.  Thank goodness for realizing that early and having family there to help.  They moved us around the resort to get the pictures of the groomsmen, though we really had it gender split at the wedding itself.  It turned out to be a nice sunny day which was nice since the wedding was outside.  The next bit was a blur, except for the surprise wedding ring I got for Becky and the face she made when she realized it wasn't the plain one I told her I got.

Afterward there was the license to sign, there were people all passing us well wishes, there were pictures, then more pictures, then pictures some more.  It was about that time I realized I was hungry.  Apparently our friends anticipated this and tried to smuggle us out some food, but were stopped. I remember getting a few minutes in the reception hall alone before anyone arrived so we could see it.  Our wedding planner brought us some cheese and fruit. (Haha, probably our first cheese plate, which is now a staple of events). Then again a blur of dances, and food, and music and fun.  My one regret is that no one really drank much in the way of the bar, they all just kind of stuck to sodas.  As a result we ended up getting a refund that would have paid for the video package.  I would have loved to have the event on video.  I have some video that Eila took, which I love, but I'm sad we didn't splurge for the professional video.

The one thing I'm still happy we kept was the confetti cannon for the final dance of the reception. That was a lot of fun, and really was a final bang to an amazing event.  It's a shame I didn't have a blog then to better capture my memories of it all.  It was a grand day, but also a great way to start a marriage.  A wonderful experience, a shared  experience, a party, a day filled with fun and those we care about.  You couldn't ask for anything more.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 142
I thought this picture was fitting as the picture of the day.  They asked us if we wanted a picture with everyone, and we thought they meant everyone in the wedding party, but they meant everyone who attended the wedding.  I'm actually really happy that they asked that and we misunderstood because it's a great picture to have.

Rehearsal Rememberings

The day before our wedding ended up being less fun and more business.  Not to say that we didn't have fun, but it did mean that we weren't able to spend time with the Robertseseses at the Animal Kingdom.  No, ten years ago today meant that things had to be ready for the big day.  We had to pick our our tuxedos, our wedding favors, our rehearsal, our rehearsal dinner.  So many things to do, so little time to do them.

Actually, I don't recall it was all that bad.  Since we didn't have to get to a park it was a rather easy day of going to the various places we needed to go in order to pick up what we needed to prepare for the wedding.  The guys who flew in had to pick up their tuxedos, so we headed over to the Men's Warehouse to get them.   I don't know what they did but when we got there and I tried mine on they had really measured incorrectly and the coat and pants were far too large.  It was like swimming in fabric, I looked like Marty McFly Jr. in Back to the Future II with that floppy coat thing.  I seem to recall getting some lunch at the Denny's that was located next to the shopping center with the Men's Warehouse, which was of course before they mutilated their french fries into wavy piles of potato shit mashed through a Play Doh fun factory.

After getting the tuxedo's all sorted out we had to have the official wedding rehearsal where our wedding planner and all the wedding party had to show up and walk through how we'd do the wedding the following day.  It wasn't a super long event, and with the size of the wedding part and their affiliated companions it was really like half the guests were there to see the pre-wedding.  That was ok though, because it was our family and closest friends, so it was fun to get to have them there for it all, plus some of them had picture and filming duty the following day so they got to see how it was all going to unfold.  We also had to make a quick stop to Godiva after this to pick up the wedding favors.  We got these little two piece truffles in lovely little white boxes as wedding favors.  Everyone loves something you can eat, plus who wants silly little knick-knacks?

After the rehearsal we had our rehearsal dinner, which at the time was at one of our favorite restaurants, Macaroni Grill.  We had actually planned to try and do it at The Cheesecake Factory, but they were really buttholes to us and wouldn't do the reservation and were just generally shitty.  Their district manager got a pretty cranky letter about how their staff treated us.  Turns out that it was great that we ended up at Macaroni Grill, they had this lovely private room at the back of the restaurant that was a great size for our group.  I was a bit surprised that we only had one waiter for at least two dozen people, maybe more, but he was excellent, and his managers got a letter praising him.  It was a nice dinner to have all our family and closest friends there


Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 141

One of the two tables at our rehearsal dinner.  We had a little over 50 people show up for the wedding, and of that about 20-25 of them ended up at the rehearsal dinner because they were either in the wedding or connected to someone who was in the wedding.  It was a lovely dinner at the Macaroni Grill back when their food was good.  We also had the best waiter, there was one guy for all of us, and he really hustled.  Becky called his manager to let them know how great he was, and they recognized him at their regional managers meeting for his excellent service.

MGM-emories

Back in my day we called it MGM Studios, and the special guest star during the car show was Herbie not that cartoon Lightning McQueen.  It's sometimes crazy how some things change in such a short time.  Though, I guess ten years isn't really that short of a time.  I've always loved MGM because I really like the old Hollywood feel that the park has.  The style and look of the entire place is right up my alley.  I'm not sure what you call that style, my first thought is Art Deco, but I'm not sure if that is correct. Whatever the look may be called, as a park it's my favorite theme.

So yes, things have changed over the  years since we took our trip there.  Now the park is called Hollywood studios, they've torn down the big hat at the center of the park (though this happened very recently and I haven't yet seen the park with out it. I think it may totally weird me out to go there and not have that at the end of the street), they've changed all the signs, they've added new characters to some of the shows.  At the same time there are many things that are still the same.  You can still find all the fun street performances, they still have some of the greatest rides at Disney parks, and they still have some of the iconic shows and events like Indiana Jones, or the Star Wars weekends (which is sure to become an even larger thing now that Disney owns Star Wars.

Ten years ago today we spent another fun filled day with the Roberts clan, as well as Becky's brother Rob, and my uncle Danny at MGM studios.  It's funny that even though they've changed the name I have a hard time and still call it MGM.  I suppose that's just habit from having been there so many time when that was the name.  I suppose it's also because that was the first name that I knew the park by, so it's just the name that kind of sticks.  Of the parks this is probably the one with the fewest things to do, but at the same time it also has some of my favorite things from any of the parks.  Generally we can whiz through this park pretty quickly but for people who haven't been there, of course we had to be sure that we did everything that was there.

Of course you can't miss the Muppet's 3D show, though I guess they technically call it 4D since they add some live things, smells, wind, and things like that to help you enjoy your experience.  It's funny that even though I've seen the short little nine minute film, we still go to see it every time we're in the park.  We also happened to be there during the Star Wars weekends, which happen every May, so we got to see a lot of people in cool costumes doing pictures and autographs.  That wasn't anything our group was super into, though two years ago Tori and I had a good time enjoying the Star Wars theme.

Of course we had to see the Indiana Jones stunt show.  I seem to remember that when the park opened they did a special episode of Full House where they went to Disney and they showed a good bit of the show, or at the very least the beginning of the show.  This is again one of those things that hasn't changed since the first time I visited the parks, and yet I still go to see it every time we're there.  We know all the jokes, the tricks, and surprises, and yet every time we see it and enjoy it.  But being huge Indiana Jones fans, how can you not?

We also got to see their new car stunt show for the first time.  I think this was just opening when we were down planning for the wedding, so we didn't get to see it until this trip. I think we've only seen it one other trip, it's not exactly something that we're super into, and I have a thing about loud noises, so I try to avoid things like this.  The cars are very loud, but it's really neat seeing the stunt driving. I sometimes think that I should find a stunt driving school as a gift to Becky because I think she'd totally like that sort of thing. Driving fast, doing tricks, seems like something she'd like.

We of course rode the major rides like the Aerosmith coaster, the Tower of Terror, and the great movie experience ride where you go to their disaster film "set".  While it's a fun park and it has a wonderful theme, it just doesn't have as much to keep you busy for the entire day.  I mean, when you see very show then you do find a way because you have to plan getting in line, work out what you want to see and when you'll be able to see it.  I think we even did the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire game show experience, which was surprisingly fun.

I also don't recall why, but I do remember that at the end of the night Becky had to get off somewhere and meet someone for some reason.  That's super vague, but I know that I ended up staying in the parks longer and we ended up seeing the Little Mermaid show which had a really cool laser effect combined with gas to make it look like you were under water.  I think this may have also been the night that Jeff, Sara, and Eric flew in, and we met them and got some pizza at a Pizza Hut on the way back from the airport.  I remember being relieved when they arrived because my family was being so obnoxious that I needed someone to vent to.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 140

The Trixie Robertseseseses after our day in MGM Studios (now called Hollywood Studios).  It was wonderful to be able to spend a few days in the parks with them, they're a lot of fun.  It helped to reduce the stress of having to deal with all the drama that was going on with my family at the time.  Good friends and good times!

Magical Memories

One of the best parts of the whole wedding process was that so many people decided to make it a bit of a vacation.  They came down early, they brought their family, the spent time in the parks.  Because of that we actually got to spend the time leading up to the wedding with some of our best friends relaxing and having an all around wonderful time.  To this day it remains one of the best trips I've had the pleasure of taking because I got to share it with so many people.  Sharing experiences is a big deal for me, it's something that makes me the happiest and is a way to connect with others.  We get to share an experience together and now ten years later we can think about it and remember that experience.

That being said, 10 years ago today we met up with the Robertseseses and spent the day in the Magic Kingdom, and we had a wonderful time.  They flew in the night before I believe, and were staying in the same resort not far from our room.  Though, I think they were in the Herbie section of the resort and we were staying in the Mighty Ducks area.  The resorts weren't overly crowded thanks to the time of  year, being right before school ends, not many people take their kids out to go to Disney. I really enjoyed how fun the All Star Sports resort was.  Lately I've enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness of the other resorts, such as Boardwalk, Old Key West, and Saratoga Springs, but for the time we went All Star was perfect, fun, and just very Disney.

Kara acted as our group leader and was very organized in making sure we did practically everything that the Magic Kingdom had to offer at the time.  As we went she would check things off of the the map so we knew exactly what we still needed to do.  You would think that having someone march us through the park in such an organized and focused way would be annoying, but it was quite the opposite.  We got to do everything we wanted to, and had time left over.  We even rode some of the more popular and time consuming rides like Dumbo, It's A Small World, and the Teacups.

The morning was spent going clockwise around the park.  We had a good time visiting the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, the Jungle Cruise, the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the pun filled Jungle River Cruise. Even then I was known for my Puns, and it was unanimously decided that perhaps my career should be as a jungle cruise director.  I'm somewhat sad that ten years later I see the pictures and remember them, but don't remember as much of the experience as I would like.  Just bits and pieces, which is sad, but thankfully there are pictures to help jog the memory.

As we were in line for the Big Thunder Railroad I got a call from my uncle letting me know that he arrived at the resort.  He was going to stay in our room because originally he was going to stay with my mom and grandma, but there was a bit of drama a few weeks prior where things had gotten heated with my grandparents and he took some pills and had to be checked into the hospital for a few days.  Things were icy because of some things that were said and to save the drama he stayed with us instead.  So, I had to head to the resort to let him into our room.  I don't think he joined us in the parks until the following day when we went to MGM Studios.

When I returned to the group we ended up finishing off the park with the mid-day parade, Dumbo, Micky's Philharmagic, and unfortunately I wasn't able to miss It's A Small World. I seem to recall we ended up eating lunch/dinner at the food court right on the edge of Tomorrowland, and I do remember that we saw the fireworks that day in Magic Kingdom, but we also had Disney Extended hours at Epcot so after spending the day in Magic Kingdom we headed over to Epcot to ride the major rides there. But, we didn't get a chance to go to the World Showcase since that part was all closed.

We also learned the important lesson of wearing sunblock since Meghan became a lobster. I also learned that apparently wanting to avoid being sunburned for your wedding, so buying  nice hat means that Merlin is going to make fun of your fashion.  Haha!  But, I didn't sunburn so I guess that's a win.  At the same time I look a little too pale in the wedding photos, so perhaps a nicer tan would have been good.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 139

While there are many pictures that could be the picture of the day for this, I think the best was when I was picked from the crowd to be teased a bit and try to pull the sword from the stone.  Of course no matter how hard I tried I couldn't do it, but the little girls was able to. Thankfully Meghan documented this fine event in photos.

Time Flies

Time really moves when you're not paying attention.  I did a blog the other day about waiting, and how before you know it time has passed.  Days go by and you just sort of get through them and until you start thinking about it, or noticing the big events that have kind of become flags on the timeline of your life, you don't really notice how much time has passed.  It's strange because when you start to think about those events they are at once fresh memories, as if they just happened, and yet also seem so distant and so long ago. 

This week is my 10th wedding anniversary.  On the one hand it seems like that was so long ago.  I wasn't even finished with college yet, I was working as a store manager under very stressful conditions.  My old car was a new car.  My grandpa was still with us, though sick.  Things were very different, and it seems like ages ago.

On the other hand, it seems like just yesterday.  I remember driving down to Florida, the time spent having fun in the parks, the day of the wedding, the reception, the food, the evening at Pleasure Island.  And when I think about those things the memories are so vivid and clear that it doesn't seem like much time has passed at all.

So, going back 10 years ago today is the day that Becky and I left Michigan to head to Florida for our wedding.  We ended up making ridiculously good time, I believe we made the drive in something like 14 hours.  Clearly the speed limit was optional.  I recall we stopped for lunch at Wendy's in Kentucky.  We listened to the Harry Potter audio books on the way down, as it was before the age of iPods.  We checked into our hotel, the All Star Sports, and got our room in the Mighty Ducks buildings. 

10 years goes by faster than you'd expect.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 138
One of the fun things about staying at a Disney hotel is that you often come back after a day in the parks to find that the house keeping staff have left you a fun little towel creation.  When we arrived in our room for our wedding we found that they had created this little bowl of elephants, which was super cute.