Vacations - Part 3

As promised, here is the rest of the March vacation story. Without a lot of fanfare, let's get to it. My next family get together could take off any moment.

In Vacations - Part 1 I chronicled Nancy's and my first week in Florida last March, hanging with my mother and visiting old friends in the Ft. Myers area.

In Vacations - Part 2 I reported on joining up with daughter Cathy and her family at Disney World, including the events of our first theme park day. That post led off with a lament about how I had fallen behind in my footrace with life. I've caught up a bit now and am feeling very "bloggy". I hope it lasts for a while.

So. We left our little band at sundown on Monday March 18th, the 11th day of our trip, recovering from a day at the Magic Kingdom. As has become our family custom, Tuesday the 19th was not a theme park day. We've learned that taking a day off between the "shanks' mare-athons" that are park visits keeps the family fresher and more able to maintain the energy levels needed to make it to the end of the vacation.

Of course, these interlude days are not sedentary. One still has to crawl out of bed at a decent hour, get dressed, and interact with the world. And when the extended family is involved, we almost always have to do something fun. Tuesday the 19th was no exception.

If you're not familiar with the concept of a "character breakfast", here's my synopsis. It's an event where you wait in line a little longer than normal, pay a little extra for a meal, set unreasonable expectations for everyone's behavior, and hope your young children aren't scared to death by life-sized versions of their stuffed animals. I should mention that you also get mountains of delicious food, excellent photo ops, and (hopefully) gleeful memories for you and your kids.

Case in point. Here's a couple of my favorite photos from a character breakfast Nancy and I took the kids to in our early Disney years (circa 1994). This was when Christy taught me how to tell Chip from Dale. Chip's nose is black. Dale's is red.

Here I came face-to-snout with my own favorite Disney character. I'm the one on the left.

You get the idea. Age doesn't mean much at one of these events.

That character breakfast was the one held at Disney's Polynesian Resort. It's called 'Ohana, and it's still going strong. Of course, Disney has added some new characters since '94, and we've been back a couple of times to check things out. This trip we did it again for Ian and Lena. Here are a few pics.

First is the waiting thing, where kid management is key. Fortunately, Disney has provided a tropical paradise-themed sitting area where the kids have fun just trying out all the funny looking seats.

Even the little one seems to be enjoying things as much as her mom.

Then we were seated. Here's the happy crowd during the fruit and juice course.

Eventually, the giant critters make their rounds. A little scary, but charming. Mickey led off.

Then that rascal Stitch intruded.

Note that in this final group shot Lena was so excited at rubbing elbows with the "Mouster of Ceremonies" that she lost her pacifier.

It was a fun time. And enough food was consumed to carry us all the way to dinner.

Back at the condo, we all recovered from the excitement and gluttony in our own ways. The kids took long naps. Afterward, Ian and I played a fiercely competitive game of "Match". It's sort of a Disney version of the old Concentration game. It was a good test of how fast Ian learns and how well I forget.

Cathy and Matt also took Ian for a little outside time at the playground. Neat slides.

Based on the adjusted rules (first kneecap over the line wins), Ian smoked his mom.

And later there was this little encounter between short creatures. It's not often that this very lucky duck gets fed right at beak level.

All in all, a successful and somewhat restful day at The World.

Wednesday the 20th was another theme park day. Here's an early shot of me getting some assistance with my med pack during the load out.

This time the outing was to Disney's Animal Kingdom. In a nutshell, the day amounted to turning this -

Into this. Again.

We're getting quite good at it. Of course, there were some highlights. First stop this day was the feature attraction at the park - the Kilimanjaro Safari. This is sort of like the Jungle Cruise but on land and...with real animals. Oh yeah.

I'm happy to say that this ride has improved over the years to remove some of the "watch out for the poachers" narrative to focus more on getting riders close to the animals. We found the targets of our curiosity quite cooperative this time around. Like these rhinos.

I have to admit that not everyone was interested in performing for the crowd. I'm not sure but this may have been what you could call a "rhino moon". Impressive.

But the kids enjoyed the ride, as did the rest of us. Here's a shot of the Kuhlmans, each parent applying a firm grip on a child, always recommended when schmoozing with the wild life of central Africa. Or central Florida for that matter.

After winding our way through the crowds, enjoying another theme park lunch and stopping to watch the many street performers, we found our way to Pandora. Or at least a Disney recreation of the strange moon from the movie Avatar. 

In the movie, Pandora has unusual gravity and a substance called unobtanium which is a powerful source of energy coveted by corporate raiders. Not a new theme. Because of its unique materials, Pandora also sports islands of land that float in the air high above the surface. Among its unique creatures is one called a banshee, a smallish dragon-like creature that flies and can be somewhat domesticated.

The centerpiece of Disney's Pandora is a thrill ride simulating a ride on a banshee through these floating islands. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's undoubtedly a crowd pleaser (except for our crowd due to the extremely long wait time and a wimp or two). Here are a few shots of Disney's attempt to recreate the landscape of Pandora.

We cruised through the new exhibit taking in and admiring the detail of the design, with the usual outcomes. Kids snoozing.

And adults snacking. In this shot, mom Cathy enjoys a Mickey bar. Note in the background there is a caregiver assisting a poor senior who can't locate his afternoon Ensure.

Weary from interplanetary travel, we headed back to the condo late in the afternoon. Here's a shot of a key part of our end-of-day activity.

That brings us to Thursday March 21st, the 14th day of our trip. Remember in my last post I recited some Burk family vacation protocols. One of them was "Don't forget Grandma Burk". Thursday was Grandma Burk day. So after breakfast, we packed up and drove the hour over to my mother's place in Zephyrhills. It was the introductory meeting of my mother and little Lena. Things went swimmingly. This picture tells the whole story.

Dolores and Lena got along famously. We had a nice visit. A nice lunch. And took this four-generational pic to commemorate the day.

We had taken our trip to see Great Grandma Burk early in the day so we could return to Disney by early afternoon. That was the first day of the NCAA March Madness tournament, a major event in the Kuhlman household. Cathy and Matt had previously contracted for some high-end talent to sit the kids that afternoon and evening so they could go off to a sports bar and do things up right.

The kid sitting gig went just fine. The kids, not too sure of Grandma and Grandpa's tolerance for shenanigans, were on their best behavior. There were more match game challenges.

Some gourmet dining.

A little Disney channel before bed.

Through it all Lena was her usual "gotta love me" self.

The kids went down without a hitch. And Nancy and I settled in for a little quiet time.

All the while, Cathy and Matt were finally enjoying a little kid-free time watching sports and doing a lot of this.

 

Another successful day.

Friday the 22nd, our 15th day on the road, was also our last full day at Disney. Time for a little R&R before the Kuhlmans headed home. That meant pool time. Here's a shot of the happy foursome packed up and heading to the pool, complete with proper headgear.

And for good measure, here's a few pics of the lovely walk to the Old Key West Resort pool area along the pond, the golf course and the concourse in the common area known as Conch Flats.

And a few shots at the pool area. First, sand play.

Then some water play, in pursuit of a beach ball.

Unfortunately, despite her fancy outfit, Lena's beach activity was fairly restricted.

Having had quite enough of the Florida sun, the group headed back to the condo for their usual afternoon routine.

After dinner there was a little more excitement as Ian discovered Disney bubbles.

To wrap up the fun, Grandma and Lena shared one more cocktail before bed. To help them both get a good night's sleep for the journey home.

For the record, while the kids were lounging at the pool that morning, Nancy and I, being annual pass holders this year, took the opportunity to cruise through the new Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. It was very cool. But I'm out of ink again, so I'll save that story for a future post.

The kids arose on Saturday the 23rd, packed and loaded up their rental car and headed to the airport. Rumor has it that the kids were a little more rambunctious on the plane home than on the way down. But since I'm only a grandparent, I'm allowed to ignore that story. I'm sure the little darlings were angels.

Nancy and I also packed up and headed back over to Zephyrhills for another couple of nights with my mother before the long journey up I-75. We made it home on Tuesday the 26th, the 19th day of the trip.

It took three posts, but there you have it. An update on our vacation habits which now include kids and grandkids as often as we can lure them out of their real lives.

Until next time,
Grosse Pointe Charles

Vacations - Part 2

Prologue

This post has been delayed because of the "L" word - life. Despite my diligence in adding "Blog" to my task list nearly everyday the last couple of months, very little work was done. Because of a few life surprises during this period, I found myself forwarding this commitment with painful regularity. I've never really been comfortable with the notion that life happens faster than you can blog about it.

To be specific, our straightforward plan to replace the Wiser Times deck morphed into a rebuild of the entire cottage front (lakeside) wall, including new windows and door walls, new siding, and reconstruction of the bay window area and front bedroom floor. Throw-in a tree limb incident back home and - oh yeah - an emergency root canal, and you begin to understand why I've been distracted. (I wonder if home ownership problems can make your teeth go bad? Hmm.)

Of course, I'm not talking about losing time to actually performing house repairs and new construction. We have guys for that kinda stuff. I'm referring to the myriad of issues and decisions one has to process in order to get through such ordeals (although I did personally participate in the root canal thing).

It all started innocently enough. There was the cottage deck to replace. Materials to select. Built-ins to consider. Canopy, no canopy? Things like that. We managed to navigate that process fairly smoothly. But when the old deck was removed to make way for the new, we received the dreaded news. The words one hopes never to receive from a service provider. The news that can drive one to the liquor cabinet. It came in a brief but ominous text - "We have issues." Yikes! Not that!

The issues turned out to be rotten wood. A lot of it. Underneath the surface of the old deck the wind, the rain and the sand off mighty Lake Huron and its shores had for years been beating the crap out of the front of the cottage. That coupled with what appeared to be questionable materials and shoddy workmanship in the original construction of the lakeside wall, made for this home improvement opportunity.

Then, back home a couple of weeks later, licking our wounds and pondering our next step in the "save the cottage" campaign, we felt a big thud overhead. The big maple tree in our deck, apparently feeling ignored, saw fit to hurtle part of itself onto our family room roof, taking out some eave trough in the process. It was the third time in three years that this arboreal menace has laid siege to our battered abode. Lesson to be learned - old maple trees can be moody.

I'm happy to say that we are now truly on the mend. My smile has been restored, and we have had the downed limb removed from our roof. And after much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, we've concluded that the fickle Ms. Maple has to go. Her value as a source of shade has been negated by her potential to cause financial ruin. It'll happen toward the end of this month. You don't have to hit us in the head four times for us to get the message. Three did the trick.

At the lake we've digested the damage to the cottage and come up with a plan to restore and weather proof our little piece of paradise for good. Our builder is just about done with the repairs at this point and well into construction of the new deck. We've also laid in a case of Wiser's and tapped into our kids' inheritance to fund it all. We hope to return to normal life at the cottage within a fortnight.

Despite all this drama (or maybe because if it) we are anxiously awaiting this season's social calendar at the lake, which will launch soon with a visit from all our kids and grandkids. And I'm determined to wrap up reporting on our last family gathering before we run into the next one. Or before more life surprises intrude into my usually well-organized existence. So back to Disney.

Vacations Part 2

In Vacations Part 1 I chronicled the first week of our March vacation south. During that week Nancy and I caught up and spent time with several sets of friends. There was also the mention of a new bed in my mother's guest quarters. All good. A week of relaxing, fine conversation, overeating, and a libation or two. All the key ingredients of a successful seniors' holiday.

On Sunday March 17th, St. Patrick's day and the 10th day of the trip, that all came to an end. For while Nancy and I were re-packing the car for the next leg of our journey, this was happening.

That would be daughter Cathy and husband Matt with little Lena and big brother Ian aboard a silver bird hurtling through the skies to meet up with us at Disney World. Note that Lena had dressed for the occasion.

As the story goes, the kids managed the flight very well. Ian, a stickler for procedure, spent his time boning up on the safety features of their aircraft. 

Confident big brother had the situation under control, Lena took the opportunity to rest up for the rigors of theme parking that lay ahead.

Nancy and I arrived at the "Happiest Place on Earth" first, sailing under this friendly arch for the umpteenth time.

We went through our regular ritual of checking in, being told our room wasn't quite ready yet, and heading off to the local Publix to stock up on a week's worth of groceries. We then returned to the Old Key West Resort to await the text that would confirm that our vacation home was available. Meanwhile, the air travelers had transferred their kids and their gear to a rental car and were on their way to join us.

While we wait for their arrival, I think this would be a good time to update Burk family Disney statistics. Haven't done that for awhile.

Let me start with my usual disclaimer. We know that Disney isn't everyone's cup of tea. It's often crowded, always pricey, overwhelming in it's variety, and uniquely exhausting. And from time to time controversial in its business and employment practices. 

But the bottom line for us is - we don't care about all that. Through the years we have made so many visits to the various Disney venues that they have become an important part of our family history. And with a little research and planning, we have found the immensity of the entertainment options and the not-always-at-their-best crowds to be quite manageable. But the art and science of enjoying theme parks is a subject for another post. For the present, suffice it to say what we proudly display on our license plate mount - "Been There. Done That. Goin' Back".

Regarding the statistics. Lena's visit to meet Mickey and Minnie was the 84th time someone in our family has checked into a Disney resort. A couple of other numbers. Over the 84 visits we have spent 374 nights in Disney properties. Yes, that's slightly over a year. And on 95 separate days at least two of us have visited a theme park (can't remember anyone ever going alone). Some time later this year we should hit our 100th theme park day as we have two more 2019 visits on the books. And they say I'm not a numbers guy.

But back to the fun at hand. The kids arrived a little after 4:00 pm in fine shape. We unloaded, set up house in the condo, tended to the kids, and reviewed the week ahead. Being a chip off the old block, Cathy had a plan. It was based on some well-established Disney vacation protocols, the most important of which is "the optimal length of stay at a theme park is equal to the attention span of your youngest child" (this long-standing principle has recently been expanded to include "or the endurance of the wimpiest grandparent, which ever expires first").

Other guidelines built into the plan were:

--Don't rush. You can't do it all, but this won't be your last opportunity to see Disney.

--Provide plenty of downtime in between major activities (allowing the kids to savor the fun, the parents to recharge, and the grandparents to check their vitals).

--Don't forget great grandma; she lives only an hour from WDW and always knows where we are.

The plan shared and confirmed, we each in turn shuttled off to get a little sleep before the adventure began.

On Monday March 18th, we got up early, ate, bundled up our kid-management gear and headed off for today's venue - The Magic Kingdom. Here are some shots.

In this first pic, taken between parking the car and catching the tram to the park entrance, we see some last minute prep activity. Matt is taking a final attitude reading from Ian and fine-tuning expectations, essential to the tenuous art of managing toddler moods. Cathy meanwhile is rigging the dual stroller for extended travel. For my part, I'm observing and admiring this display of parental care and concern, and wondering how my kids ever made it to puberty.  

In this second pic we are underway, engaged in our primary activity for the day - walking. Note that despite its creature comforts, Ian has eschewed the high-tech stroller in favor of a more traditional conveyance - pack-grandpa. 

Fortunately, Ian quickly bored of my conversation and shortly after this pic joined Lena in the stroller. I wasn't offended.    

    

I must say the day was a huge success. The weather was pleasant, the crowds were manageable, and Cathy had gotten fast-passes for a couple of high priority rides (for the uninitiated, that would be reserved times). First up on our list was Dumbo, historically the most popular ride at the Magic Kingdom. Here is a pic of Ian flying with mom and dad for the first time.

And a shot of the aerial cameraman who couldn't help this selfie plus.

Lena didn't quite meet the height requirement, so she sat out the ride and kept an eye on Grandma.

Feeling a tad peckish after our flying pachyderm experience, we cruised over to Frontier Land to a favorite eatery, the Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. Sad to report that no photos were taken during this overly interactive experience. The four adults were otherwise occupied as we split up to accomplish the tasks integral to theme park dining. 

At Pecos Bill's that would be selecting and procuring appropriate foodstuffs from the western-eclectic menu (sort of a Tex-Mex/fast-food/happy-meal fusion thing). While the food crew was on their away mission, the table crew (my assignment) was busy locating and defending a table from other desperate would-be diners with the same goal. All this while working with the little ones to keep them semi-amused until the food arrived. You could say taking pictures was, well, just not in the picture.  

But as usual, it all worked out just fine. We used the stroller and park bags to mark our selected table and benches. The food crew arrived in good time with an impressive array of sandwiches and chicken nuggets, French fries, cold drinks, and most importantly plenty of napkins. And despite our weakened state, we had no trouble cleaning our plates (or more accurately our little paper baskets).  

Revitalized from our epicurean delights, we tacked our way through the park to the Jungle Cruise. On our way through Adventure Land, Cathy, Grandma and Lena made a stop at the powder room (read diaper changing station). While the girls were busy, Matt took the opportunity to give Ian a few pointers on the tricky art of safely navigating a theme park filled with life-threatening wheeled vehicles. As you can see from this pic, the lecture came none too soon.

Most of these hazards are one, two and even three person strollers being pushed way too fast by tired, wild-eyed, sometimes cranky adults looking for an opening in the crowd ahead rather than what's right in front of them. 

The practice of counseling new family members in this critical skill arose back in the 90s after one of these unlicensed assault weapons took out my Dad during a visit to Busch Gardens. Pop ended up face down on the concrete without even so much as an "oops" or "I'm sorry" from the perp (not to worry; an hour in the first aid station and a few stitches later my Dad was up and around and doing his best not to frighten the Clydesdales with his battle-scarred forehead).   

Following the counselling, Ian took a shot at applying what he had just learned.

But a few steps later after a close call with a runaway Graco, he opted for his traditional mode of transportation.

We'll work on the solo thing next trip. Meanwhile, I was off fulfilling my most frequent duty during theme park days. That would be watching all the gear while taking a breather on an out-of-the-way bench. And practicing my selfies.

Note my badges of accomplishment. Clip-on sunglasses in the right-hand ready-access position for a quick one-hand mount when emerging from a darkened theater. Important when your other hand has a firm grip on your two-year old charge. And of course a stylish park bag sporting a couple dozen collector pins. I'm the envy of every 10-year-old in the park. 

Everyone suitably refreshed, we were off (another 10 minute weave through the horde) to the Jungle Cruise ride. That's where we float around in a low slung river boat adorned with survival equipment and pet the elephants and hippos. Well, we don't actually pet them. We ooh and aah at them. And they're not really elephants and hippos. They're sort of animal droids. But just as scary as the real thing to a two-year old. I liked it.

Here's a shot of the Kuhlmans nestled into their boat seats awaiting launch. Note the expressions of excitement. Especially on the parents.

And one of the happy grandparents. We were excited, too. But mainly to be sitting down again.

Here's a couple of pics of what the fuss was all about. 

The kids did seem to be really into it (both generations), as indicated below by what on a jungle cruise passes for an action shot. Lena was somewhat distracted by the cute tour guide.

After the cruise, we were nearing both of our theme park red lines - napless antsy kids and weary grandparents. So we started our trek back out of the park.

However, not too far into the journey we came upon this unique attraction.

Disney movie fans will recognize this as the tree house from Swiss Family Robinson. Ian, having recently semi-mastered the art of stair climbing, showed interest. So after a brief status check of the crew, Cathy and Matt decided to fit in one more adventure. They and Ian went climbing while Nancy and I stood guard over Lena and our gear.

We were able to catch the threesome on film a couple of times as they wound their way up and around the several levels of the tree house. In this first pic the group is in standard "dad-lead, mom-rear guard, charge-in-the-middle" formation. The preferred mode. Ian's shirt can be seen just under the leaf.

A little later in the climb, the group began to spread out a bit. This was an attempt to accommodate Ian's methodical but time-consuming both-feet-must-touch-each-stair approach. Here Matt has foraged slightly ahead to clear the way (and perhaps encourage a little quicker pace). Though unseen, you can be sure Ian is in there somewhere between the parents.

Although missing from the final report of the climb, this pic later showed up on the Internet. Apparently for one reason or another, mom was forced to apply the one-hand-hood-grasp control technique to restore order. The details are still fuzzy, but as far as I know no park officials were involved.

Though harrowing at times (at least for the grandparents watching from below), the exercise was successfully completed, as indicated by the "victory" photo below. Personally, I think Ian is well on his way to zip-lining.

After returning the kids to their dual stroller and bundling/strapping them in securely, we resumed our quest for the park exit. The kids seemed ready.

Of course, at Disney the shortest way to anywhere is never a straight line. As we shunted around the throng of park guests, enemy strollers, street vendors and roaming Disney "cast members" keeping the place tidy (there is always an army of white clad staff armed with brooms and long-handled dust pans sweeping up debris often before it hits the ground), we managed two more stops. 

The first was for nature. The kids, serviced independently, took their respective turns as the other sat patiently with the grandparents. Here's a shot of Ian in the queue, contemplating the days events.

  

And baby sister with grandma, once again fresh as a daisy.

The second stop was ever so brief right in the middle of Main Street. Necessary to take the classic family photo with Cinderella's castle looking on. Ian seems to be wondering "So who's Cinderella? 

Having made our escape through the gate and across the Seven Seas Lagoon, we found our car, disassembled our equipment and loaded the kids. Here's a shot of the happy first-timers maybe not remembering much except that they'd like to do it all over again. 

Back at the vacation condo, the evening meal and bedtime went just fine, with kids and caregivers alike weary from the days events. Or so we thought.

Once the little kids were down, the big kids took the opportunity to get a little more time in at the park. So while Nancy and I kept watch, Cathy and Matt slid out to enjoy some of their own favorite Magic Kingdom attractions. Among those, or course, were the fireworks.

And what better way to wrap up a day at the "Happiest Place on Earth" than with a ride on the carousel. Here's a shot of Cathy reliving her several summers at Black River Horse Camp.

__________

I took up a lot of ink at the beginning of this post whining about my personal problems. So to keep the length of this edition reasonable, I'll close here. Our family spent four more days floating around Walt Disney World in March. I'll tell that story in a Part 3 that you won't have to wait long for.

Until then, Grosse Pointe Charles,

Or as they refer to me at Disney World, Goofy.