Emily's school Band Concert

Emily's School, Lincoln Park Academy in Ft Pierce, had their winter concert and we went to see her, it was really good.




This is Chris and Emily and Jim outside after the concert, I need to get some concert pictures from Chris, mine are BAD.



This is the best one I got during the concert, most of the time I could not see her, but the music was excellent.




Diane

Disney World for Thanksgiving November 2009

Walt Disney World November 09

Pictures:

From Walt Disney World November 2009

Cast of Characters:
Me, Diane, 57
Hubby, Jim, 61
Son, Chris, 36
We just spent 4 days at the world, me, Hubby and son. WE had a wonderful time, but as some one said, BOY WAS IT CROWDED

We headed for Disney World ON Thanksgiving November 25, 2009. We left the house near 630 am, to go pick up Chris, our son. We were on the road by 715am.

We arrived Thursday morning near 9 AM, At All Star Sports, we had done the on line check in, there was a couple in front of us so we had to wait, the regular line only had one person in line also, never saw it so empty, it took only minutes to check in and our room was ready. We unloaded the car; I decorated our room window with Christmas things I had brought, had a snack or two and headed out to Disney Hollywood Studio. WOW was it busy, we tried to get into the artist studio to do some drawings, and the line was so long it looked like it would be way over an hour; the fast passes were gone for Toy Story. We did not wait. We did the back lots tour and they did not have the guests get wet with the water pouring out of the tubs, it was cold, I guess, it was near 50°s, warming up to near 60 in a few hours, so then we got to go to Lights, Motor, Action Stunt show. We really enjoy the show, but we had an added bonus, the cart/truck to held the air bag from one of the cars to fly through the air had a broken axle, they had to spend a bit of time scrubbing the asphalt where bearing grease had leaked out of the housing, they did finally get the truck/cart out of the way and the show went on, but they had to use scrubbers to clean the paved areas, for it would be a hazard on the cars spinning around. The show went on and it was fun as usual.
We ate lunch at the BackLot Express. Found a prop from “Roger Rabbit” there, the Toon Patrol car. Plus many other props, but had never noticed the car before. Walking around to see if the line at Toy Story was any better, NOT, we did Journey into Narnia, then Indiana Jones. It is always still amusing when the audience member is a plant, and they pick on him, a fun show. Went to the Muppet’s 3-D, then off to see the lights of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights on the Streets of America, I love them, and it seemed this year they had different music, we stayed for a while and just love the snow coming down. There is a hidden Mickey I have never noticed before, in the smoke of the Mickey lite Train, the smoke moves on along the length of the train, lighting up in separate sections, and the second section has a hidden Mickey. I never did get a picture of that section lit, but I tried.

Back to our room, we bought two Thanksgiving meals from the Food court at the All Star Sports and took it to our room, we had packed drinks and eggnog and snacks, so we 3 split the two meals, it was more than enough, and it was nice that we had turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and green beans and cranberry and pumpkin pie and apple pie, it was just perfect, no work, we got to relax back at our room and toss the dishes.

The next day, Friday, we headed for the Magic Kingdom. Tried to get there for the rope drop, but the bus took a while to pick us up at the Hotel, so we missed it by about 10 minutes. But oh what a neat site, the Christmas decorations at the Magic Kingdom, In the front of the Train Station is a HUGE Mickey Ornament with plants, just so neat.. It still takes my breath away, and we have been making it for the Christmas decorations for many many years. We just strolled along taking it all in, taking pictures, it is just like wow. Strolled through the shops and just admired all the goodies, then we had breakfast at the Main Street Bakery, we carry bagels and buy drinks and fruit, to make our trip affordable. We rode the People Mover, AKA: Transit Authority, it was fun to ride it and go into Space Mountain, since I do not ride it, and I call it the People mover, because we heard the voice telling us that it was a great People watching spot on the People Mover, We had gotten fast passes for Buzz Lightyear, and rode that. Then headed back to our hotel, Chris wanted to go into Orlando and check out a “black Friday” sale at a Coral Shop, so we went back to the room, ate lunch and got the car and headed off Disney Property, traffic was heavy, but OK, we went, we saw, we went back to Disney property and stopped at Down Town Disney, walked all around spent several hours there, My husband ordered a T-shirt in the Haines T-shirt place, but it would be two more hours, we wanted to ride the Balloon but it was too windy, so we took fun pictures with us “holding” it up and then our hotel and parked the car and headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We watched Mickey and Minnie’s stage show in front of the castle and then headed for Pirates of the Caribbean, there was a long line, but that was ok, all lines were long and then made our way over to Mickey’s ToonTown, we rode Goofy’s Barn Stormer, toured Mickey’s and Minnie houses, and aimed back to the Castle to watch Cinderella’s lighting of the Castle, it was cute, I had NEVER seen that before, the castle was AMAZING, I have seen it each year, and it still takes my breath away. We then did Mickey’s PhilharMagic, always a great show. I was trying to remember what used to be in that building, but I believe it was a Lion King show. Just not sure. We then watched Stitches stage show over by Space Mountain, meantime our son had gotten a fast pass for Space Mountain much earlier, so he rode the New and Improved Space Mountain, he says it is darker than it used to be and the Queue has more interactive things, but do not remember what else he said, we are too old to ride those kinds of rides, it hurts. We secured our spot in front of the castle for the fireworks; we tend to be in different places each time we go, this time we were right there down front, you miss some of the lower fireworks, but it was fun to see them different and we could see Tinker Bell real good, she just waved and waved as she flew out of site. The fireworks of course are amazing and sometimes the lights to the castle are on, and like WOW, it is so beautiful. We strolled through some shops and then took a cruise on the Jungle, it has been a long time since we did it after dark, it was very empty, I think we had 6 on our boat, but it was fun, as always. Then back to our Hotel. Somewhere in there we did eat dinner at Cosmic Rays Starlight Café. Back to our room.



Saturday the next day we had to go back to Down Town Disney to get the T-shirt Jim had ordered. We got there before the shops opened, but that was ok, we strolled around taking in the Christmas decorations. Chris has stayed in bed, so he got extra sleep. We got back to the hotel and headed on to Epcot, we got our fast passes for Soaring, it was noon time, so the return time was 9 pm, and we were the end of the fast passes. We then found the new ride, Sum of all Thrills. We had fun making the ride, Chris picked out the curviest and upside downiest, and fastest things he could, so Jim and Chris went on the ride, I chickened out. They had a ball, it as fun to watch, having watched others, I was surprised at how much theirs machine moved, and other people were like wow, look at that one, they loved it, and I loved that I could chicken out.
We rode Test Track as single riders, and Chris went on Mission Space. We love seeing the new cars in the show room at Test Track. We spent time at Living Seas, OH I just realized it is no longer called the Living Seas, it is The Seas with Nemo & Friends, never noticed that, I know the claim shell ride is very fun of fun Nemo things, just never noticed the name of the whole thing was changed. We then started going around the countries, Stopped in Canada for the movie, it is just so beautiful, and stopped a listened to Off Kilter, then on to the UK, Had to see Pooh and friends, and then father time in the court yard. Then on to Paris and saw Pere’ Noel, listened to him and had my picture taken with him. We went in and out of all the countries and listened to the music of the season as we went around. WE headed towards Spaceship Earth but stopped and had ice cream cones first, it was good ice cream, even with it cold outside, by now it must have been about 50°, we enjoyed our ice cream and went on to ride Spaceship earth, with no wait, when we came in the line was 60 minutes. It is fun with the interactive screen on the ride now and I actually got to send the little video home to my email, I have never gotten close enough to the screens to find out that it was even possible to do so, it has been so busy. Then on to our Soaring fast passes, it was 9 pm by now, and the fireworks started at 930, so we got to do our ride and made it out towards the middle before the lights all went out and watched the fireworks with very tall palm trees in our way, but it was nice and the added “Let there be Peace on earth” for the holidays was WONDERFUL, much more than the first part, and just so moving. Then on to our room by way of the busses, a bus was waiting so we got right on it. We enjoy coming back to our room, I have the window decorated and lights come on with a timer so our room is very festive, and we were on the ground floor by the elevators, so I know others enjoyed our lights, but I forgot to take any pictures of the window, that is a first.

The next morning was check out time, I had to pack up, and we recently got a small car, traded in a gas guzzler for a economy car, and packing up is a chore in itself, for 3 adults to fit in the car for the 120 miles drive home. So we did manage just fine and then off to the Animal Kingdom, we leave AK for the last day, it closes early, we read 5 pm, but it was extended to 7. Our car is with us and we have a two hour ride home. (and work the next day.) We get into the Animal Kingdom, and I of course spot Stitch and have my picture taken with him, Jim and Chris do not want to, but I convince then they need to take pictures with my camera and then Stitch gets into the act and uses his finger to draw them two into the pictures, it was cute, everyone was laughing at them. We proceeds to the Safari to get fast passes, then head on over to the bird show, one of our favorite shows to see. We saw the vine lady in the walk area, she is just so neat to see, seems like she is finally out more, not sure of her schedule, but seems like we hardly saw her for a year, now we have seen her each time we go. WE just love the bird show, all those magnificent birds up close and personal. We head back for our fast pass times and see the vine lady again, not sure what she is called, but it is neat. WE really enjoy the safari ride, sometimes it seems like they are really rushing it through, you can hardly get a picture in, but still so fun to see the wild elephants and giraffes and hippos and so on, it is fun. Then we do the Pangani Forest exploration trail I just love all the animals, the gorillas and birds, the Meerkats. We then head over to Tuff to be a Bug, always a favorite and the most fun I think is the new people who get poked and sprayed and air blown on them, their reaction just makes it so much fun, beside the fun of the 3-D interactive show. We get our fast passes for Expedition Everest and then go see Nemo, Always so much fun, I just love how they do this show, sometimes I find myself watching the actor and other times the character prop that they are holding, it is so much fun and a wonderful show, and I am glad they enclosed it when they converted it from Tarzan and added AC, I do miss Tarzan but Nemo is a wonderful show. We did our fast passes to Expedition Everest, Then ate at the Flame Tree and sit by the water to watch the mountain and listen to the screams of people on the ride, this time there was a lot of egrets and cranes and ducks wanting hand outs at the tables, one big bird almost took someone’s food right off the plate, it was incredible, I chased them off the pavilion. No one else did. This is where we had seen an alligator when we were there in September, but did not spot him this time; He was small, like a 2 footer. We did the Maharajah Jungle trek, I really love the BIG cats, and they were all sleeping this time of the day. We did see the end of the Jungle parade also, I love Mickey. WE then did the character spot the is just by the bridge from DinoLand, I got my picture taken with Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger in their Christmas attire, I can not tell you how many times I walked by this spot and never noticed the character sign, and since I found it a few years ago, I always go it is always the three of them and always short lines. Oh what fun, then we decided to leave and hit the road it was near 5pm, and we wanted to get home since everyone but me had to work early the next morning.

It was a great get away for the holiday, very crowded parks, especially the Magic Kingdom, my mom had passes away a few weeks before and we needed a get away, I did, I needed to get away, we had also lost my sons wife 2 years ago, so we needed a huge change in our Thanksgiving holiday, and it was fun.



Diane Porter

My MOM

My mom passed away October 27th, 2009 after a short problem, she has a lot of pain with a pinched nerve in her neck, then all the pain meds she was on caused constipation and dehydration and her body just shut down. It was a ruff 2 weeks. but we now know she is out of pain.

I will miss you everyday mom...

WALT DISNEY WORLD

I spent my 57th birthday at Walt Disney World with my hubby.

We spent 5 days exploring the Four parks, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studio, then one day at Down Town Disney, we had a lot of fun, ONLY wish my son could have joined us.

Disney World trip

Disney World trip WDW

Here are two groups of photos, I may have duplicated some, but oh well.
We had a lot of fun. You might have to click on the pictures to see all of them..

I always decorate our window in our hotel room, and there is my new car in front of the hotel room building, the tennis ball can is the stair well. and the Tennis rackets is our building front. We took the Balloon Ride in Down Town Disney, it was fun fun fun, we figured it was the closest we could come to affording a balloon ride.

I will add more later....

Diane
Smile
It's contagious!

I cashed in a Clunker

I cashed in a 85 Lincoln Town Car as a clunker and bought a 2009 Chevy Aveo5, a very cute little car. On the last day of the Cash for Clunkers, the Lincoln started leaking water down the drive way, I knew it needed many things and was going to cost money, but when it leaked water, I have had enough... I called a few auto dealers to see who was still offering the deal. I ended up at the Chevy dealer.

I have enjoyed driving it and listening to XM radio, I have On Star for a year and turn by turn directions for a short time.

It has been fun.





We took our new little car on a field trip and went to Jupiter Florida and got it's picture with the light house..

MY New Car Chevy Aveo 09

MY MOM's birthday trip June 2009

My mom turned 82 June 8th 2009. She and I headed for Disney World for her "free" Birthday Day at the Magic Kingdom. We had a fun day traveling around the Magic Kingdom.


Then we headed to a friends house 2 hours north of Disney, Shirley, Shirley entertained us for 2 days.

From Georgia June08,2009

Then on to my Sisters house in Lilburn Georgia.

My sisters yard is just such a nature preserve and so much fun to be in, it is a vacation spot. My sister, Nancy, had a wonderful birthday party for our mom for her 82nd birthday.

This is My mom, Helen, my sister, Nancy, me (Diane) and my brother, Don, in back.

Here is a link to the rest of the pictures.

Georgia June 09

My mom's kitty had just died before we went to Georgia, and we ended up taking home one of my sisters friends cats that needed a home, she is Chloe and she is so cute hiding here at my sisters. Chloe has adjusted to life in Florida very well.

May 14-17th we visited DISNEY WORLD

WE, hubby and I, did our spring trip to WDW, stayed at the POP, but had to cut it short a day to save $$$$, hubby lost his job unexpectedly recently, since we are pass holders and live 2 hours away, we shortened our trip to save what we had not payed for yet.

BUT as I was there, and we were talking about used to be's, it dawned on me that I should have put maps to the parks in my son's baby book, he is now 35 and things have changed so much, so it hit me to tell those of you who are bringing your young ones ( or older ones) to keep a map in their book, and just forget you put it there. I wish I had done that, OUR first trip was October 1971, just before the "grand" opening, and I wish I still had my book of tickets and my map of the Magic Kingdom.

WE went to the Studio the first day, after we arrived at the POP and checked in and got our room right away, (before noon), and emptied the car and ate lunch and took a short nap, we were off, Arrived just in time for the street Party parade they do on the main street, it was a lot of fun to watch, we did not participate, we kind of wanted to get over to Toy Story Mania, but we were too late, no fast passes left, so off we went to the stunt show, stopping to see a few things as we went along, the stunt show was fabulous as usual, I just love to watch it. This is probably our 8-10 time. We did the Muppet show, which we always love, and I got to do two drawings in the artist studio, we saw they were getting ready for the "UP" characters, I later heard they were there the next day, we ate at the Pizza place, and then went back by way of Toy Story and it said there was a 40 minute wait, turned out it was less than 30, so that was nice, we went through the regular lines, but they had some of the blocked off, so it went fast, and Mr Potato Head was not boring since he did not have time to repeat himself over and over, as he did the first time we rode it.

Disney Hollywood Studio Lake Buena Vista May 2009

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom for the opening/rope drop, so we were there to see the train come and Mickey and Minnie and many others got off the train to welcome us to their magic kingdom, it was really nice.

We saw Mickey walking away from the train station and got in a line, not sure what character it was, the line was short, it was in the circle in front of the train station, turns out it was Pinocchio and the line of the left side of the circle was DAISY. We did not get in the other line, Pinocchio was a very bad boy, they had to go get him to get in his place, he was side tracked. LOL
We then saw the show at the Castle with Mickey and Minnie and all the gang, Dream along with Mickey, then we rode Buzz, it was a short wait, then on a new stage in front of Space Mountain we saw "Stitch's super sonic celebration", had no idea what it was, a bunch of dancers that made me think of the 60-70's with bright wigs on, the Stitch came out as Elvis, it was a lot of fun, Elvis was always a favorite for me. We went on to ToonTown Fair and rode Goofy's barnstormer, rode the train, went back to the room for lunch and a nap, then back to Magic Kingdom, and walking through we got to see the Live Glass blowing going on, it was mesmerizing, we enjoyed watching him make a vase and hearing the hows and whys and so on. We tried our first Dole Whip ice cream, wow, Pineapple soft Ice cream, it was VERY GOOD, we saw the parade and went to see Mickey's Philharmagic we love the 3-D shows. Enjoyed the fireworks after eating at Cosmic Ray's. Rode Buzz again, Then back to our room.

Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World May 2009

Our third day at the World we went to Epcot, I love the plants in front of the
Space Ship Earth, all the "couples" Beauty and the Beast", Cinderella, etc, We
headed for SOARING, got a fast pass, and got in the regular line, it was bout 20
minutes, then ate breakfast, carried it with us, we were having to keep it real
cheap, then back on Soaring for our second ride, I love that ride, sometimes
when we go we do not get there soon enough to get a fast pass or a wait more
than 70 minutes. So then we head over the Living Sea's, I love those pelicans
out front saying "MINE MINE MINE", LOVE IT, I talk back to them. LOL we found
Nemo on the ride then watched the fishes and manatee and dolphins and sharks,
and all the other stuff in the tanks, headed over to Coke world, to sample some
of our favorite flavors.
Then to see Minnie's Butterfly garden and now there is a fairy Hollow garden,
fun stuff. Love to take pictures of the butterfly's, always a challenge. then
off to Fast track, in the back door to see the cars, one of my hubby's more
favorite things, he sits in them all and dreams, we drive all OLD cars, so we
love the new ones, especially Pontiacs, it is sad they are doing away with
Pontiacs. Then through mouse Gears, Love to see what new hats or other toys
they might have.

Then off the Innoventions to the Visa Disney spot for pictures.
after a short wait we got to see Goofy and Minnie, Goofy just loved that my
hubby was wearing his Goofy shirt, we were all laughing our heads off, a lot of
fun. We headed back to the room by way of the picture place and got our free
pictures, ate lunch in our room, took a short rest, and back to Epcot....
We heading around the World just stopping and looking at things, nothing in
particular, we made it around to see Jose Feliciano at the American Pavilion, he
was good, I do remember most of his songs, his band had a good sound to it.
And walking around more, we decided to head back to Magic Kingdom since we had a
lot of fun seeing the fireworks, we left before the Epcot fireworks, we normally
do not.
We had dinner in the American Pavilion, we do not eat Beef and they have a
roasted chicken sandwich and lots of fixings to fix it with, it is always good
for us.
Got to the Magic Kingdom and the parade was going on, this one did not go the
day we where there, then the fireworks, we got Ice Cream and walked along the
path near the ice cream shop and sat on steps to watch the light parade from a
distance and then saw the fireworks from there, it was nice, we never Saw
Tinkerbell at the beginning of the fireworks so well, it was neat, she was right
over us and flew to the top of the Tomorrow Land noodle eating place, it was a
nice locations for a change, but it is amazing that the fireworks are now to the
right of the castle, amazing how a little change in location changes what you
see.
Then off to BUZZ, MK was open till midnight, and we had had a nice rest in our
room, so we were ready, we got on Buzz after a little bit longer wait than the
day before, and while on the ride it STOPPED, I mean all the electric was gone
from our cars, could not move them around and the scores where gone, (hubby was
beating me this time, I won the day before), so I took the opportunity to snap
photos of course, of us with our blasters and Buzz and the Aliens, it was fun.
Then when we got going the score went back to "0" LOL.
We got back to our room near 1 am, it was a nice day, not too hot and no rain to
speak of.

Epcot at WDW May 2009

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom. But first pack the car, we leave the
Animal Kingdom for last day, besides being tired, and such, it closes early for
the Animals, and we have a 2 hour drive home, it makes it easier to leave when
the park closes early, get home before it is real late, we are getting OLD, LOL.
We did not get there real early, but headed off to the Safari,first we had our
picture taken with Lilo and Stitch. Then a fast pass for Safari, then wandered
around and took pictures, we walked the Jungle trek and saw the gorillas and
monkeys and birds, then back to our ride, I love the animals and it is always a
challenge to get pictures of them, the giraffes were eating out of a tree
hollow, it was cool, and there was 3 or 4 baby elephants playing in the watering
hole, 2 or 3 were in the water, the last one was standing a playing and PLOPPED
down in the water as our truck went back, it was so cool and the whole truck you
could hear AWE. The Lion and Lioness were both napping on the top of the rock
and I got them both in pictures, blurry but pictures, the ride is a must.
Then off to Asia, we did the trek there, forget it's name, but we love the
tigers in there, this time only two were sleeping, I have seen as many as 6 or 8
playing around.
Then back to the Bird show, also a favorite of ours, I love all wild animals and
to see these wild birds up close is so cool to us. Then off to eat at Flame
Tree, our favorite place, and sit down by the water and watch Everest, and hear
the people screaming, the view is out of this world, we like the half a chicken
and beans, but it no longer comes with a nice big corn muffin, did not notice
that till we sat down. We snuck through a back trail back towards Africa and
saw birds on a trail we had never seen. Then off to bugs life, of course, a
must, I get a thrill out of peoples reactions, but it does seem scary to small
kids, with the darkness and the spiders coming down, and load noises, many
people have to take small ones out.
so then off to Lion King,which is a MUST to see if you have not seen it, then
after the Lion King Show, We watched the parade from the wooded area near a
bridge, nice a cool and shady. we got our pictures taken with Eeyore and
Winnie and Tigger. WE missed The NIMO show by only minutes, IF I had paid attention to
times we could have made both shows, but Nemo is a must also if you have not seen
it, it is amazing what they do on stage.

Animal Kingdom at Disney World May 2009

then off we drove home, out to Osceola Rd from the Animal Kingdom and strait on to
the Turnpike and south, home in two hours.

Hope you enjoyed my little story, it is hard to remember everything. but
pictures tell it all..



Diane
Smile! It's contagious!