at a crossroads

diana and i have been churchless for a while. that doesnt mean that we didnt go to church, it just means that we were ready for a change. i had been going to first highland crc ever since i moved here. by the time my first school year wrapped up, i was a member. i enjoyed the chuch and the pastor. ken, the youth pastor, and i became good friends. we would regularly go out for breakfast on saturdays just to chat and hang out. when diana and i started dating she was able to come to church with me there every once in a while (that hour long drive made it pretty tough to do so regularly...). when we got married, the pastor who married us and gave us premarital counseling was my pastor from first highland crc. once we were married we attended there regularly and enjoyed it, but both of us were feeling like there might be something better suited for us.
that church felt like it was my church, but we wanted a place that would be our church. we began the process of looking for a new church. we spent many months going around to different churches each week, trying them out, seeing if it was a place where we could find a place to grow. eventually, based on a recommendation from one of the ladies at work, we stopped by crossroads community crc to check it out. we fell in love! she loved the lively singing, and i was thrilled by the preaching (as a bible teacher i can sometimes get a bit callus about sermons 'i know that already, i teach it every year!', so to find someone who could capture my attention week after week was very exciting!). after visiting there for about two months, the church offered membership classes and diana and i jumped at the opportunity. it was a three week class that met for a couple hours on sunday afternoons. we got the rundown of the church and what it means to be a member there.
now, we are proud to say, we are no longer churchless!

showtime

diana and i both were lucky enough to have monday off of work, so we stayed an extra day with the family. monday around noon we stopped by jill and tim's to see the kids. we brought lunch for everyone (thank you, little ceasars). when we first arrived, we walked in and no one was there! well, we followed the noise, and it turned out that we had arrived just in time to hear the kids putting on a musical number for jill and mema! they were all singing their little hearts out!
after lunch jill decided to take aves in for a doctors appointment, so diana and i played with the kids for the afternoon! mom stayed for a while, but once the kids wanted to watch a movie, we offered her the opportunity to head out, so she did. we watched 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs', which was pretty silly. as the movie was ending, jill got back with aves. turns out she didnt have anything major, so all was well.
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one last present

over christmas, barbara was so thoughtful that she got gifts for the kids! what a great aunt-in-law! (i think thats what you would call her, right?) we got the gifts from her to give to the kids over christmas, but this was our first time back in town since then. well, we gathered the kids up in the living room and asked them if they remembered barbara, 'thats aunt diana's sister!' chimed in tweets. it sure is, we told them. we explained the situation and they were quite pleased that they were still getting christmas gifts in february! they soon busted into the gifts and loved them! thanks, aunt-in-law barbara!
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sunday afternoon

Sunday we got up for church and met jill, bubba and tweets there. aves wasnt feeling so hot, so timmy stayed home with her. bubba has been busy growing up since last we saw him- he does such a great job listening at church! he sits still and listens, better than i do to be honest! i even tried poking him and being silly, but he would have none of it. he hardly even draws during the sermon either! i wasnt able to do that until i was about, oh... 23!
after church we went back to mom and papa's place for dinner. soon after, jill and tim and the kids came over. mom had made one of her world famous (i figure we know about it here in indiana, mom and papa have michigan covered, and chad has been in enough places around the world that i can safely say it is 'world famous'!) sunday dinners, so we were quickly full and happy!
the kids were happy to see us, so things quickly devolved into playtime after dinner, which diana and i are always willing to participate in.
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steak and shake

after the fiasco at chicago dr pub, we decided to fill our bellies at steak and shake! we all headed over there to recount the strange memories of the night. jill and jeffry lee were about an hour late in arriving there (for some unexplained reason). we had a fun time and washed our sorrows away with milkshakes!

shirt optional

we got to chicago dr. pub and found a seat, which is rare to find a seat big enough for all 9 of us! we didnt have any plans or expectations while we were there, so we just sat around and enjoyed each others company. it had been a while since diana and i had been able to hang out with all of these guys together, so we were having a great time! we had fun talking about anything and everything, rex talked about his new job, aaron was eager to get his new phone, freddie was just enjoying the night, and jeffry lee was on a mission. im not sure what that mission was, but i think it was to embarrass jill as best as he could. if so, mission accomplished!
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start the night

recently diana and i went to visit my family in grand rapids. we got there friday night, dropped off the dog, and met up with the guys. there wasnt any sort of real plans for the night other than hanging out. jeffry lee and his girl jill, freddie, rex, aaron, and keith were all there. we spent a little time over at their place and had a few random guests stop by. i didnt know them at all, but they were highly entertaining... when they finally left we headed over to chicago dr pub to enjoy the rest of the night.

bowl me over

every year i watch the super bowl. this may come as a surprise since i dont watch any other sporting event during the rest of the year, but for some reason i really enjoy watching the super bowl. this year ali and jeremy invited us over to enjoy the game. we got there a bit before kick off and just hung out. we werent too into the game or anything, but it was a fun time just having it on. at the beginning of the game ali said that she would like to see the colts win it. jeremy, diana, and i didnt really care one way or the other, but its no fun if a fan goes unopposed. so, doing the competition thing, i decided that i had suddenly and for no good reason become a fan of the saints. as the game wore on we both got more and more vocal about out new found affiliation, which lead to the game being much more exciting than it would have been otherwise! and somehow, the saints did win, which made me wont to go out right then and buy a saints shirt to wear the next day! in your face!

hair and a meal

at school diana is always excited when someone she knows stops by for a hair cut. well, recently barbara and nick made the long trek from south bend all the way to her school so diana could cut her hair! at the end of the day the three of them came to the house to hang out. we went out to a mexican place for dinner and had a great time! barbara's hair looked very nice, which pleased her and nick. diana got to spend some time with her sister, which pleased diana! and with everyone else pleased, that pleased me too. nice how that works, huh?
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blu ray upgrade

our dvd player went out again. it was past due, we had been using the dvd player i bought almost ten years ago when i lived in utah- back then i payed $140 bucks for it, and it was a black friday deal! i have certainly gotten more than my fair share out of it, so when it died i didnt feel too bad.
i have been tucking money away for quite a few months in anticipation of buying a new tv or blu ray player. i had saved almost enough to get a blu ray, but with the dvd dying, i had to make it work. even though we dont have a hi def tv or anything, i figured it would be a waist to buy a new dvd player, so we went out and joined the blu ray revolution!
we went to best buy and i talked to a worker or two and got the low down on what ones would be good buys. we found this top of the line samsung over in the 'open box' section where it was marked down 90 bucks! we bought it and brought it home (after i took way too long picking out a blu ray to buy so that we could try it out). i got it hooked up easily and unwrapped the blu ray we bought, grabbed the remote and clicked the button to open the disc tray. it was then that we found a special little surprise: the people who had returned it forgot to take out their movie, because when i opened it there was a blu ray copy of quentin tarantino's latest movie! score! this thing just keeps getting better and better!
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at the car wash

it doesnt happen very often, so i knew i should document it: i washed the car! on a saturday the weather was amazing and diana and i decided to go to merrillville for a fun afternoon out. the best way to start that fun day was to make diana happy, and a clean car makes diana happy! we had a great time out and about, and diana felt pretty cool with a good looking car.
(by the way, dont tell my dad that i dont wash the car very often, he will be very mad!)

poco on the job

one day i accidentally forgot my phone at school. i was about to go out and walk the dog when i realized this. i figured i would kill two birds with one stone, so i took poco for a short walk, then hopped into the car and drove with him to work. i wasnt going to leave him in the car, so i brought him in and went to my room. he had a great time sniffing around and wondered over to my desk. i figured i couldnt miss out on this photo op, so i scooped him up into my desk chair and took this adorable photo! ha! i'm sure poco is ready to teach twenty sixth graders, right?
(since i'm sharing poco pictures anyway, check out some more here!)

leaving on a jet plane

after a little ride, mom and david dropped us off at the airport with plenty of time to spare! there wasnt any sort of hurry once we got there because we found out that our plane was delayed about an hour (hmm, just like at the start of the trip...). fortunately there was a pretty big shopping center connected to the airport, so we just wandered around there for an hour or so. after finally going through security we hung out at the terminal for a while. eventually we got on and flew out. back home in chicago it was a wee bit colder than it had been in florida! barbara's luggage had gotten torn up and pretty well destroyed, so we talked to someone about that and got it taken care of. we found the car and nick and barbara dropped us off at the house, safe and sound.
its been a long and fun filled week, but now that we are home- its time for bed!
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goodbye, disney

the day wasnt over, but we were. we had to cut is short on wednesday because we needed to go home! sad, huh? we had so much fun here that it was sad to say goodbye. we had to be at the airport by 3:00pm or so, so we had to head back to the house and pack up.
we got there, got all our stuff, and packed up the van. mom and david were sticking around for the rest of the week (lucky bums), but the rest of us had to head out. dumb work, making me leave disney to go do what i love and teach young impressionable minds...
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not small enough...

as we made our way through frontierland we rode the railroad roller coaster and wandered through liberty square. we took a ride at the haunted mansion and peter pan's flight. all was going so well for us. and then it happened- we were drawn, against our will, to the most annoying song every written: 'its a small world'! once the song had its dirty paws on us there was no way we could resist. we finally succumbed to it and went on the small world ride. this is one crazy ride, let me tell you. who ever dreamed up this thing was high on something...

a nick-sicle

after checking everything out in tomorrowland we walked past the castle again to adventure land. nick and barbara checked out the swiss family treehouse while diana and i went to get us some fast passes to the big thunder mountain railroad ride. we got back to them and decided it was time for a little frozen treat. nick got a fruit popsicle and diana and i got a dove bar. if you want to see a funny picture of what happened to nick next, click here!

to the moon

a ride that diana and i didnt get the chance to ride last time we were here was the astro orbiter because it was closed. nick and barbara wanted to go on it, so we headed over to check it out. its a simple ride that circles around and goes up and down. pretty basic, but the fun part is that its actually three stories up so its got a great view of the park! the cars are quite small, but somehow diana and i managed to get in one together. my legs were cramped, but the view was amazing. afterward i was a bit dizzy...
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our last day

for our last day at the parks we decided to go back to the magic kingdom. nick and barbara hadnt been there yet this trip, so they were really excited to go. we wandered around the place and checked out a bunch of different places, one of our first stops was tomorrowland. they have a ride there called 'space ranger spin', its a bit like the toy story midway mania ride over at hollywood studios, but this one is a bit more old fashioned. we had a ton of fun on it, nick really loved it and the line was nonexistent, so we circled around a couple times and went on it three times! its a shooter game where you try to ring up the points and nick had us all beat because he found a target that was worth 100,000 points! he ended up quadrupling most of our scores.

a crabby dinner

after another long day of living it up at disney, we headed home. instead of going straight home though, we stopped at joes crab shack for dinner! i had never been to a joes crab shack before, so this was all new to me. we got there and just hung out for a bit until mom and david joined us there. we got to tell them all about our day and the fun we had. when it came food time, nick went all in and got a big steampot meal. not to be outdone, i got one too! they were jam packed with crab legs, sausage, and corn. i had never eaten crab legs before, so cracking them open and all that goes with it was a new experience for me- quite strange! by the end of the night we had full stomachs and a great time.
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the maelstrom!!! (again)

after having experienced the grand splender that is the maelstrom (the maelstrom!!!) on our own, diana and i wanted to share its majesty with nick and barbara! we walked over to norway and got right in line. ok, there wasnt exactly a line, but we got in it anyway... nick and barbara were, in a word: amazed. we loved it so much that immediately after we got off we circled around again and took the plunge one more time!
i've recently had someone ask me 'mark, what is it that makes the maelstrom so amazing?' the problem is, i dont have an answer. why is the sky blue? why is the grass green? what is two plus two? some questions just dont have answers...
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oh, canada

since we missed it on our last go around epcot, we decided to check out the last three nations on the world showcase. first up on the list was canada. they didn't opt for the hockeyland canada i usually think of, rather, they focused more on the woodsman/native american type canada. there were shops filled with old style rifles and animal skin hats, and a few things adorned with maple leaves too! each nation has a ride or attraction in the world showcase, and canada is no different. we went to go see 'o, canada', a brief tourist style video hosted by martin short. the cool thing about it though was that the theater showed it in 360 degrees, every direction you looked you would see another view of the land. it was actually kind of cool, i've got to admit...
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epcot rides

the rest of the afternoon at epcot was spent checking out some of the other rides. we had all taken in the world showcase at epcot the night before, so this time we spent our time checking out what else epcot had to offer. there were a bunch of rides and quite a few learning shows, so nick was in his own geeky heaven! we enjoyed a little lunch at the electric umbrella, then continued exploring the park.
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imagine that

after the aquarium, we walked over to the imagination area of epcot. david had told us that this was always alanna's favorite part of disney when she was a little girl, so we wanted to give it a try! the area starts off with a ride, called 'journey into imagination', hosted by eric idle and a little purple dragon named figment. after the ride it opens up into a huge play area filled with all kinds of different games and tech toys to play with. in this picture nick is conducting an orchestra that changes the tune depending on where your arms are in space. pretty cool!
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a new froggy friend

at one point while we were wondering around future world in epcot, diana found a cute velcro cut-out of a frog! she really took to it and kept it with her all day long. i'm not sure what her fascination with it was, but she really became attached to it! (ha! that was a little velco humor, ladies and gentlemen...)
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sea the world

one of our first stops in epcot for the day was the seas aquarium. they had a 'finding nemo' ride (which was really lame) which ended right in the middle of a really cool huge aquarium! we spent a ton of time there checking out all the cool fish. they had little areas with sea horses and small fish, and a couple big aquariums filled with large ocean creatures too. they even had a couple manatees that they had rescued from the state park when they were injured. it was really cool to see all the fishes and it turned out to be nicks favorite part in all of disney!
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in stitches

around disney they always have a bunch of costumed people walking around that you can get your picture taken with. i didnt really have any interest in getting a photo with any of them though. we saw aladdin and jasmine, woody, goofy, and a bunch of other characters. i was pretty ho hum about the idea, that is, until i saw a costumed stitch! soon after going into epcot with nick and barbara i spotted stitch and diana and i walked over to get a photo with him. for the photo he took diana's hand. after the picture, he was reluctant to give her back and motioned that he was going to keep her! with a beauty like her, i cant blame him!

in the house

we spent all of our time in florida staying in this really great house. it was a huge house with five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a game room, and even its own pool! the whole place was furnished, which meant that we could save a bunch of money by making our own meals instead of paying disney's ridiculous prices each time we were hungry. david found the house online and it was way better than staying at a hotel. it was only about 10 minutes from disney, so we could stop home during the day and take a nap if we wanted (we never wanted, but mom and david did!).
one thing that i thought was really interesting was that the house was right next to an abandoned amusement park. that place was called 'splendid china', it was a park that was actually run by the chinese government itself! strange... about 6 or 7 years ago it shut down because it couldnt compete with disney and the other parks. now it is just an abandoned walled off park. kind of cool, huh? if you want to learn more about it you can look here. and heres a website that shows what it looks like today.
as for the house? sure, the decor was pretty terrible, but other than that it was great!
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around the world

well, now that we are in epcot, we might as well take a look around, right? diana and i team up with nick and barbara to try and conquer the world! well, the world showcase, anyway... the goal was to go to each of the different countries in epcot, there are 11 in total, and enjoy a treat at each. we started our night off in mexico where we stopped in at the different shops and even rode the 'gran fiesta tour'. then it was off to norway to once again experience the wonder that is 'the maelstrom' (the maelstrom!!!). next we checked out china, checking out the cool swords and footwear. once again we stopped by germany, then italy where we posed for some pictures by good old poseidon. after seeing colonial america, we poked around in feudal japan where nick found himself in a bit of trouble, and barbara got found herself in a bit of water... by the time we got to morocco the clock ran out! the park closes at 9:00pm with a fireworks show and we only got to morocco by then. shoot. we still had france, the united kingdom, and canada to go! so close! well, we had a great time giving it the ol' college try!
(pictures of mexico, italy, asia, and the rest!)

a couple princesses

as we rolled out of the german buffet restaurant (at least it felt like we rolled out...) we stopped in one of the little shops next to it. it was a jewelry store that caught diana's eye. as we were looking around, diana noticed that they had tiaras! she had wanted to wear one the whole time we were at disney but all we could find were cheesy kids ones. with a little prodding i caved in and she got one. barbara, not wanting to be left out, got one too- they made a cute couple of princess sisters! they wore them for the rest of the night, and the next day. almost everywhere we went after that all the disney workers kept calling them princesses, which i think really pleased diana!

das goot!

we quickly headed out of hollywood studios over to epcot for a dinner reservation. last time diana and her family were at disney they had dinner at the german restaurant, called the biergarten restaurant, and wanted to go back there again. we made it in time for our 4:30 reservation and had a great time!
inside the restaurant it looked like a little german town and even had a stage! soon after we got there a german band came on stage and played a few songs for us. they played some polka on an accordion, one of the guys played a song with cow bells, and there was even a guy who played a really big long horn (like in those recola commericals!). at one point nick and barbara even went up to the dance floor and did a little polka dancing- it was hilarious! the german buffet was fantastic and the drinking chants were a ton of fun! thanks mom and david for the great meal and good time!
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toy story shootout

our last stop at hollywood studios before it was time to go was the toy story midway mania ride. david told us that this was the most popular ride at disney at the moment, so we made sure to check it out. after a little bit of wrangling, we got in. the waiting areas were really cool, they were filled with all kinds of over sized toys and childrens games. after hearing all the hype about the ride i didnt think it would really live up to it, but as it turned out, this was one of the funnest rides in all of disney! its pretty simple, its a shooter game in the style of old midway shooting ranges, you shoot to try and hit the different targets and try to get a high score. but what made this one so fun was the fact that it was on screens and in 3D! our little guns fired out plungers and stuff on the different objects. it was so smooth and effortless that it was pure joy to try and get those targets! i would have loved to go on that one about 10 more times!
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being their guest

as many know, beauty and the beast is by far my favorite disney movie, and my favorite animated movie ever. i can sing every word to every song by heart! when i heard they had a live stage show based on the movie i was really excited to see it! we found the theater and got some of the best seats in the house- second row! (a quick note, disney is a lot cooler and has far shorter lines if you are there with someone in a wheelchair!) the show followed the story of the movie exactly, they sang all the songs. i tried my best to not sing along, but i couldnt help myself... the actors who played beauty and gaston were really good and the costumes for all the other characters were very cool! this was one of the highlights of disney so far!
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mark skywalker

the ride that nick was most excited about was the star wars themed 'star tours' ride! its one of those rides that shows where we are traveling on the screen and then moves and shakes the cabin to match the motions on the screen. the only problem is that its not synced very well, so i was feeling quite woozy afterward! fortunately though, there was a star wars gift shop after the ride to occupy my attention while i recovered! they even had a 'build your own lightsaber' area. nick wanted to make one, but decided to pass (which he later regretted...). out front of the ride there is a life size speeder bike that you can take your picture on- nick and i had a ton of fun with this! (check out our pictures here)

back to hollywood

the next morning we were at it again! we got up on time, got ready, and all 7 of us hopped in the van and started our day of disney! we started off the day in hollywood studios again, this time everyone came: diana and i, mom, david, nick, barbara, and even grandma! last night when we were here we were in a bit of a rush to get to the fantasmic show, this time we could stroll around and take our time! we got grandma a wheelchair so she would be able to keep up with us. we wandered around the different streets enjoying all the shops and everything. after another go on the hollywood movie ride, we went to go see the muppets 3D show. it was great to be able to just aimlessly wander about and take everything in!
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an island of pleasure

after enjoying the show at hollywood studios, we headed over to pleasure island. its part of what is called 'downtown disney'. its an area of different shops and cool restaurants that are geared more toward adults. we had planned to meet nick and barbara there for dinner, but that didnt quite work out. we wondered around for a while taking in all the sights. we put our name in at a one of the restaurants, but after a bit of thought we realized that it would be much much cheaper if we just stopped at a place on the way home- even red lobster would have been cheaper!
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fantasmic

the goal we had in mind for going to the hollywood studios park that night was to go and see the 'fantasmic' show. its a really cool show that features live performers, costumed creatures, fireworks, a really cool water show, and even boats going around the arena! its basic story follows mickey mouse as he tries to fight against the evil witch from sleeping beauty. one of the really cool parts of the show involves water being sprayed into the air as they display parts of the show reflecting off of it. its really cool, and must be seen to be believed! we got to the show a bit late, but just before they closed off the gates for the next show. we had to stand in the overflow section because all the seats were full. even though we didnt have the best view it was still really amazing! the songs, performances, and light shows all worked together to create a really fantastic, or should i say fantasmic experience!

hollywood studios

after a little afternoon nap, we decided to try and catch a bit of fun at the parks. we hadnt yet been to hollywood studios, so the four of us headed out! after having so much fun exploring the parks yesterday with just diana and i, we both were looking forward to checking out a new park with mom and david.
we got there late afternoon, rode the parking lot trolley (i know thats not what they are called, but i think its funny...) and went in. diana had figured that she wouldn't really much care for the hollywood studios park, but she sure changed her mind once we got there!
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fish food

after enjoying all the wildlife and fish, we decided to stop at a local place and eat some of them! we stopped at a little dive just off the path and had some of their great fish! it was all-you-can-eat and it was delicious. we hung out there for a while and just enjoyed the nice lazy afternoon. after dinner we went back to the house for a nice lazy nap!

boat tour

the reason we got to the park so early was so that we could take the guided boat tour of the area's wildlife. there were only about 15 of us on the first tour, which was nice because then we got more time to talk with the guide and learn a bunch more about the animals! the guide took us down the rivers and pointed out all kinds of animals as we went. we got to see a bunch of different birds, turtles, and best of all: alligators! it was really interesting to hear the guide talk about the animals and their history in the region. we even got to see an adult alligator with her young! the tour guide even said that someone had once seen a florida panther on one of the tours. the tour was about two hours long- which flew by! we were worried at first because it was raining when we first left the dock, but about five minutes in it cleared up and was actually sunny the rest of the tour.
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manatee park

the next morning we woke all woke up bright and early. we werent going to disney this morning, rather, we were going to the state park! just a short drive from where we were staying there is a state park that has a bunch of manatees. there is a warm spring there, and the manatees travel there each year during the winter to stay warm. each day there can be as many as 100 manatees there just chillin out staying warm in the springs! we figured it would be a great activity to do together and we would get to see some pretty cool wildlife. we got there fairly early so we could check them out and go on a boat tour and check out all the other wildlife in the area.
the manatees were pretty amazing to see, and we got to learn a ton about them. we even got there before the rush, so we got to see everything without having to fight the crowds. as we left we realized just how lucky we were that we got there when we did- the line of cars at the entrance to get in to the park was over a mile long!
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other stuff from the day

it was such a fun and busy day, here are some more pictures from our first day at disney! (this picture shows one of diana's favorite moments at magic kingdom: when the castle was lit up with pink lights!) pics: 1, 2

reflections of earth

epcot center closes at nine o'clock each night, and every night they cap off the day with an amazing fireworks show! we stuck around that night to see them, and they were pretty cool. at one point there is even a thirty foot globe that doubles as a video screen showing images from around the world. there is some cheesy song that plays, but the fireworks show is worth it!
after it was all over, diana called her mom and david to come and pick us up and we headed home to see barbara, nick, and grandma.

the maelstrom!!!

the maelstrom! for some reason, i remembered there being a little ride in one of the countries last time i was here, so diana and i decided to look for it. one of the nations represented at epcot is norway, and they have a little ride called 'the maelstrom', which depicts life in norway in the past and today. very unassuming and pleasant enough premise. little did we know what kind of rock-out awesomeness we were in store for!!! this picture is on the wall of the ride where you get on the viking ship to enter the maelstrom (the maelstrom!!!). what comese next is almost too amazing for words. this is, by far, the greatest ride in all of disney. in fact, i would even go out on a limb here and state that this is the greatest ride on the continent! we will definitely have to revisit this ride- many more times!!!

epcot at dusk

as the day went on, we found that we had seen everything at magic kingdom, so we hopped on the monorail over to epcot! last time i was in disney i enjoyed this park the most, so i was eager to check it out again. as diana and i arrived it was already getting a bit dark. we walked around for a bit, went on one of the rides, and then made our way to the world showcase. they have little areas for eleven countries from around the world, complete with shops that sell stuff from the different places, and restaurants with that country's food. we were getting hungry and found a neat little place to eat in the morocco area! the food was fantastic, and diana really loved the baklavah!

crunch collection

last time i was at disney i had a fascination with these little machines. what you do is you put two quarters in it and a penny, crank the wheel, and out come pennies crunched with a new image on it! i dont know why they interested me so much back then, but i still havent gotten over it. where ever i go when i travel i look for one of these penny crunchers. i have amassed quite a collection by now, with pennies from disney, colorado, las vegas, lincoln's tomb, chicago, washington state, texas, st. lewis, and a couple more. now that i'm back at disney, i have been fiendishly collecting them again! here i found one at tomorrowland with the three eyed aliens from toy story! what a random collection i have...

the future, today!

diana and i wondered our way through disney's fantasyland and finally made our way to the last part of the magic kingdom: tomorrowland. i was geared up and excited for this last area. last time i had been here it was a great time with the guys. and as a sci-fi nerd, i figured something called 'tomorrowland' would be pretty cool! turns out, its not that special. tomorrowland seems to be what they thought the future would be like back in the 60's, very retro. we got there and realized that there is not much to it at all. we wandered around for a bit, went on the carousel of progress (which was amazingly lame), and gave up. back to the rest of the parks for us!
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stroller kingdom

i know its to be expected, but it still caught me by surprise. the majority of people at disney are families, and the majority of families seemed to have at least one young child with them. and it seems that where ever there is a young child, there must also be a stroller filled to the brim with junk! strollers were everywhere! i think the biggest hazard at disney isnt the fear of hurting yourself on a ride, the real hazard is from the strollers running into you! yikes! some of those moms pushing strollers just seem to be aiming for peoples ankles! at each of the rides there were even places to park the strollers while you go on the rides. this is a photo of one such 'stroller park', but this was only one of many!

taking it easy in disney

after lunch we used our fast pass to get in the fast line for one of diana's favorite rides: big thunder mountain railroad! we really enjoyed the short lines for all the rides. we werent in too much of a hurry all day, so we were able to take it slow and just enjoy the time together in such a fun place!
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liberty fish

after wandering around the magic kingdom for a while, we were both really hungry! there are tons of little restaurants and food stands through out the park, so we had a bunch of options. we ended up going to the liberty tree tavern- they had fish! yum! it was a cool place that had an upstairs where you could eat. we found a table by a window so we could look over this area of the park and see a great view. after lunch, it was back to the park where more fun awaited us!
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