ModestGeniusXL

Change of Plans

I had intended to put down an entry about the latest changes in vacation plans.  How we had discussed a couple of other options to do due to time constraints.  Had the entry written out and everything.  It was just a matter of putting it on here.  Then I got some news that threw a monkey wrench in all that. 

A family emergency has now come up that will be an ongoing situation that will have to be dealt with.  As a result, the vacation plans are officially out the window.  Any vacation time I have will be dedicated to this.  Any extra money that would have been for fun is now for this.

In case anyone out there is genuinely concerned, it's nothing health-related.  Besides my occasional stomach flare-up due to my inability to stop eating spicy food, everyone's physically fine.  It's an unfortunate legal situation that has to be dealt with accordingly.

Normally, I would be an open book an divulge more details.  This is probably one of the few times it's best for me not to.  What I've already said is more than plenty.  For now, keep us in your prayers and I'm confident God will see us through.

Blessings in Disguise...(or Not)...

While at work this morning, I got a call from D that she needed to go back to the doctor because the meds for the strep throat weren't working.  I was thinking that not enough time had passed since she first started taking them for them to take effect.  She corrected me saying that the last time she had strep, she could start to tell the difference by the following the day and that wasn't the case this time.

She had already made appointment with the family doctor so we headed to the clinic closer to our place.  This time, the place was packed with patients when we got there but we were seen right away.  The nurse there was asking her questions about the strep, what symptoms she was having, the medication and then out of the blue, she just arbitrarily asks "Do you feel safe at home?"  Do I look that intimidating that she felt D was suffering from domestic abuse?  She didn't have nann bruise on her body, just a sore throat.  Since when does  a sore throat merit a question implying domestic abuse?

Anyway, they decided that she would take a day off the antibiotics and try a shot instead.  Of course, it couldn't be in her arm.  Nurse lady had her drop trou and put it right in the hip.  At least it was the nurse that did it instead of the guy doctor.  I don't care if that is his profession, I would have had a problem with that.

They also told her that she would have to be off tomorrow too.  The problem with that is now D will have had 3 days off from work that she has to use from her own personal time.  That was 3 days that she was trying to save for our family summer vacation.

D and I get to talking more about the planning of the vacation and came up with a tentative plan that could work only to find out I screwed up when doing my planning of it.  I told E the first week of August we'd be down there and it's actually going to be the week before.  Now he and B have that week off and can't switch so all those plans are down the drain.

The positive out of the whole thing is we can postpone our family vacation.  It can now be the second week in August.  That will give D time to accrue more vacation time and us more time to save money for a better vacation.  Also, I can now attend my department's meeting/outing that I was initially going to have to miss if we would have went thru with the original vacation idea.

All in all, maybe things can still be worked out where we can spend some time with E and the fam.  It would have been ideal if we could have hit some of those spots like the zoo, Sea World and Six Flags as joint families.  It's also too bad all of those things are in San Antonio instead of in Mexico where they live.  Of course, with my luck, these recent floods will flood out the whole state anyway via New Orleans and we'll be stuck taking another vacation to Orlando.

Vacation Synopsis

Before saying anything else,  I must give all the credit in the world to D for her involvement with this vacation.  It took the patience of Job for her to deal with me as well as whining children the entire time without losing her cool.  Not all of her ideas were winners during this escapade, but this whole thing wouldn't have even been possible if it wasn't for her persistence.

Having said that, her sister's inclusion on this trip was quite the experience, for a lack of better words.  It was the first time I've gone on a cross-country trip with a teenager and not been a teenager myself.  It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't at that boyfriend phase.  Her borderline psychotic boyfriend called her cel phone at least once every hour to check on her whereabouts.  As D pointed out, she spent more time talking to him during that trip than she did to us.  All that could have been avoided if D would have made her leave the cel phone behind as I suggested.

Well this trip was definitely about the shorties.  Everything we did was predicated on their anticipation of enjoyment.  Last time, it was about half and half as D and I also enjoyed SeaWorld and Universal Studios.  This time around, it was just a so-so factor for me as far as enjoyment.  It would have been nice to do some things like Busch Gardens, Animal Kingdom or Kennedy Space Center.

We're still doing the Houston trip in the summer but most assuredly we will have better planning this time.  We will have more time to save up with that trip so we can do the amusement park visits.  Elijah and Mariah will also be coming so that will mean a more crowded ride down there.  The plus side of that is with them coming, I will have more of a buffer for B's inevitable tantrums.

As she always does after a vacation in warm weather, D was once again whining about wanting to move to Orlando.  I'm sure she'll do the same thing after we visit Houston.  I have to always be the voice of reason and remind her that I won't be moving that far away from my family.  Especially Elijah and Mariah.  She complains that she can't take another Iowa winter, even though she was born and raised here.  I remind her that I always say the same thing about one of B's infamous tantrums but if I can suck it up and fight thru that then she can do the same thing about Iowa's inclement weather. 

Day Seven - Eight : The Departure

(Editor's Note:  All entries from our family vacation are entered as I recorded them.  Therefore, even though at this point it is past tense as everything has already transpired, they will read here as they were written by me at the time the incidents occurred.)

Up and at 'em early in the morning.  We were packed and ready to leave O-town by 6am.  Payback really can be a mutha.  D insisted that since she drove the majority of the way there, I had to do it on the way home.  Plus, she wanted to stay even longer so making me drive was another way for her to exact some revenge.

We actually picked an ideal day to leave as far as the weather was concerned.  Orlando's expecting rain all day long.  We left early enough where we only caught the tail end of some sprinkle showers.

I was determined to make it the entire way on pure will, determination and MDX high.  I nearly made it as I approached the 17-hour mark.  That's right...17 hours of straight driving with stopping only for gas.  At first, I was doing an MDX once every few hours, but as the trip wore on, the frequency increased.  I was up to one an hour.  By the 17th hour, I was jittery and feeling sick to my stomach from the caffeine overdose.  I had lost track but I would guess at that point, I had probably drank close to 9 MDX's in a 17-hour span.  Therefore, D had to take over for the final two hours to Bloomington.

This weekend was also my weekend to have Elijah and Mariah.  It would have been ideal if we could have just picked them up in Cedar Rapids on the way back home.  Nope, that plan was too simple to work.  D had to bring her two rats since they apparently couldn't be left home alone and their cage took up 2 spots in the van.  That meant I would have to drive all the way to Des Moines to drop everyone off to make room then drive back to Cedar Rapids.  An extra four more hours of driving that could have otherwise been avoided.

Dad was in Chicago on business getting ready to fly back to Bloomington.  With all the driving I would have to do and having to get Elijah and Mariah by 5pm, I was going to miss him before we left.  But remember, this is the GDITW we're talking about here.  He called from O'Hare and suggested the idea of staying longer then we he got here, he would follow us to Cedar Rapids, pick up the shorties and go to Des Moines.  That was definitely quite a blessing in disguise because I was still having some residual effects from my caffeine overdose.  Did I mention that I have the greatest Dad in the world?

Day Six : Indecisions, Indecisions

(Editor's Note:  All entries from our family vacation are entered as I recorded them.  Therefore, even though at this point it is past tense as everything has already transpired, they will read here as they were written by me at the time the incidents occurred.)

Initially, today was going to be the day that everyone went to Clearwater beach to visit D's brother there.  I thought I would stay at the hotel and catch up some journalling and maybe even screen a movie or two for the blog.  The more I contemplated, the more I reconsidered going to Busch Gardens in Tampa instead.  It was right on the way to her brother's place so I could be dropped off and easily spend the entire day there.

We checked out the weather report and saw that Tampa would be 77 and sunny.  I tried to explain to them that when you consider the breeze from the ocean, that would be too cold.  They listened for once and decided to go to a beach here.  D tried to argue at first that it meant her brother would have to drive 2 hours to visit them.  Well big whooptie doo.  We already drove 22 hours here...I doubt a 2 hour drive will kill him.

As everyone's getting ready, D changes her mind again and decides we should hit the Orlando zoo instead since her brother would be a while.  We get within 10 miles of it and she decides not to do that either because we didn't have the exact location and she didn't want to miss her brother's arrival.  She then brings up the idea of SeaWorld and even changes her mind on that within minutes.  Somehow a destination of Cocoa Beach comes from all of that.  I still don't know how that came about but when I think of Cocoa Beach, only one thing comes to mind...

Ironically, when we got there, it turns out there was actually a street there that was named I Dream of Jeannie Ave.

Regardless of what the beach choice was, I already declared I wasn't going.  As a matter of fact, when the Cocoa Beach idea reared it's head, that worked pretty good for me.  Cocoa Beach was also close to Kennedy Space Center and I always wanted to check that out.  Finally, I would be able to get some epic photos on this vacation.  Alas, it was not meant to be.

All the driving around we had done made it 2:30 before we got to the beach.  The last Kennedy Space Center tour was at 2:45 so there was no way I would have enough time to get there and do it.  Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper.  Then, to top it all off, they get to the beach and the breeze coming off the ocean had it feeling like an air-conditioned room.  Sometimes it sucks being right all the time.  And this is to be our last full day here as we depart tomorrow.  What a way to end our stay in O-town.

Day Five : Negative Ghost Rider, Patern Is Full

(Editor's Note:  All entries from our family vacation are entered as I recorded them.  Therefore, even though at this point it is past tense as everything has already transpired, they will read here as they were written by me at the time the incidents occurred.)

I've always wanted to find the opportune moment when I could use one of my favorite sayings from a perennial classic, "Top Gun".  So what if it's not a dead on match, it's close enough.  Today was the first day we had a jam-packed schedule of activities.

Green Meadows Petting Farm

After getting thru what has now been our daily morning routine of B's tantrums before his medicine kicks in, we started off with this place.  Ash stayed at the hotel to try to get some tanning in.  My hopes weren't too high and it definitely met my lowered expectations.

It was a huge piece of property that offered a guided tour to different animal's pens.  These weren't any different than any animals you would see in even an Iowa petting zoo: chickens, ducks, ostriches, llamas, a buffalo, sheep, horses, etc.  The guide himself was a pretty humorous fellow with his clever quips to keep the shorties amused.  Many of the animals Zeke and B wouldn't even touch with their scary selves.  However, it was relatively inexpensive fun and the look on Zeke's face for the ones he wouldn't touch was still priceless.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not

We actually stumbled upon this accidentally.  We were looking for this other place and drove by this huge building that was lopsided.  It was on our options list anyway so we stopped and gave it a chance.

There were several cool things in that museum, I mean it is Ripleys Believe It or  Not afterall.  I have always had a fascination with wax figures so I particularly liked these.  Especially the world's tallest man who I got a chance to take a picture with.  I don't think this was actually his chair,  but I had to get a photo-op in it anyway.  Any chair that can make me look small I just had to capture on film.

The Fun Spot

There were actually several places like this all over Orlando, but this was the larger of those.  Plus, it was the only one we had coupons for.  It was a hybrid spot where they had several arcade games inside on two different levels.  The outside was like a mini-amusement park with thrill rides for teens, adults and four different intertwining go-kart tracks.  The outside is where we dedicated our time.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a big kid at heart.  I've always loved me some go-karts.  Unfortunately, the best track I've ever been on is the one in Des Moines where the Plantation Drive-in used to be.  All four of the tracks here made that one look like a a Hot Wheels track.  The only bad thing was I didn't have any real comp to race against.  Other than that, I was in heaven.  Guess I may have a little NASCAR nerd in me.

As you can see, Zeke had no problem going on it with me and that was surprising.  I went a little slow at first and he was cheesing the whole time demanding that I go faster, even wen I had it floored.  Not only did he brave that, but he also tackled the kiddie version of a free-fall drop ride.  Granted, it was probably only about a story high, but that would have still normally been too intensive for him.  He's on his way...next stop: the Space Shot.

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As we get back to our hotel, Ash noticed a tiny lizard scurry under our locked door into the room.  We thought she was making it up until we opened the room and she actually caught it.  D made her let free back outside even though Ash wanted to keep it.  Down here, those tiny salamander things are the equivalent of our boxelder bugs in that you'll see them scurrying around everywhere.  At least that's a better nuisance to have than alligators that force residents here to have mandatory screened porches to keep them out.

Day Four : The Adventure of Adventure Island

(Editor's Note:  All entries from our family vacation are entered as I recorded them.  Therefore, even though at this point it is past tense as everything has already transpired, they will read here as they were written by me at the time the incidents occurred.)

Our first full day in Orlando and the weather projection is 88 degrees and sunny.  We toyed around with some different suggestions then finally agreed on Adventure Island in Tampa.  I didn't even realize Tamps was that close to Orlando until we got on the road.  I also had never even heard of this place before.  Then again, Orlando/Tampa has TONS of things to do that I had never heard of.

We started to second guess ourselves when we got there.  Actually, D and I started second-guessing ourselves since we were the ones footing the bill.  It seemed like the place had much to do for older kids like large water slides and whatnot but not much to do for the younger ones.  That wouldn't have been a problem if, as I mentioned earlier, we weren't having to manage two 5-year-olds instead of just one.

How can a person be 12-years-old and be so scary of even water slides?  Now rollercoasters I can maybe see, but not water slides.  It reminds me of how my dad always likes to tell the Orient Express story about me and how I took the chicken exit when he tried to get me to ride it before I was ready.  First of all, I was 11 and not 12.  Secondly, I had intended on taking the chicken exit before I even saw the guy with epilepsy getting off the ride despite how Dad likes to tell the story.  I was just using that guy as an excuse not to ride it.  Lastly, the very next year, I decided I was getting old enough to where I shouldn't be afraid of rollercoasters and I haven't looked back since.

Anyway, so Zeke was a bit timid at Adventure Island at first but then he let loose and you would have thought he was a mer-man.  They have a wave pool there that he couldn't get enough of.  He would get closer and closer to the deep end on his own where the waves were bigger.  I captured some awesome video of it on my camera.  Too bad I can't get it to show here.  This pic will have to suffice.

As with any amusement park I go to, I have to get my staple.  Mmmmm...funnel cake.  I can't eat an entire one in a whole sitting anymore like I used to.  However, I wouldn't want to now since all that grease is the last thing I need.  And I have to hand it to Adventurelnad...it may be a pathetic excuse for an amusement park, but I have yet to have any freshly-squeezed lemonade that tastes as good as theirs.

The thing about water parks that never ceases to amaze me is how some people will wear bathing suits regardless of how they look.  Now I'll admit, I don't have the body of a greek Adonis like I used to.  Knowing that, I realize my current limitations and I'll have my standard baggy shorts and scuba shirt on.  Some of these women need to recognize what they're exposing us to and use more discretion when they pick out their bathing suits.

This park also had many feathered visitors.  They were somewhat cute at first with their bird calls that seriously sounded like they were laughing.  Then we realized why they were laughing.  One dropped a bomb right on Zeke's beach towel.  Several minutes later, one managed to hit Ash on the face and shoulder.  Well that one actually was funny.  While I was eating my funnel cake, I saw one swoop down and grab a chicken tender off some girl's plate.  She moved to a different table and kept eating them.  People can be so nasty.

Day Three : The Arrival

(Editor's Note:  All entries from our family vacation are entered as I recorded them.  Therefore, even though at this point it is past tense as everything has already transpired, they will read here as they were written by me at the time the incidents occurred.)

Man, do I miss that GPS.  I used to have a deluxe model a couple of years ago that was a godsend.  Couldn't get lost if I tried with that joker.  When I changed jobs and went to an in-office location, there wasn't a need for it anymore.  I sold it and times like this made me wish I never got rid of it.

We would have rolled in to the hotel around 9am-ish, but following Yahoo map directions had us lost for at least a good hour.  And let me clarify that this is to be known as a "poor man's vacation".  Along with driving instead of flying, we also got "bargain" accommodations at a Motel 6.  Definitely no frills here.

So we're less than 30 minutes away and B AND Zeke decide to start acting up.  It would be nice if we had one adolescent and one toddler to deal with.  No, instead we have one toddler and one adolescent with the maturity level of a toddler.

Due to our late arrival, our plans for today were a little askew.  It was going to be the beach day and visiting D's brother who lives here.  She was going to do that but then found out that he got called in to work so he wasn't going to be home anyway.  And I thought I was actually going to get some quite time to myself so there would have been at least a few hours of the trip where it would actually seem like a vacation instead of a chore.  At least I did still get to catch some of the tourney games. Sweeeet....

Day Two : The Interlude

(Editor's Note:  All entries from our family vacation are entered as I recorded them.  Therefore, even though at this point it is past tense as everything has already transpired, they will read here as they were written by me at the time the incidents occurred.)

Major tragedy has struck.  While at my folk's place, I was showing off my new Zen toy.  I was in the process of calling myself being extra careful and the thing jumps out of my hand onto the kitchen floor.  I couldn't have possibly dropped it so the only logical explanation is that it jumped out of my hand.  It then locked up, wouldn't respond and wouldn't reset.  I know somewhere, E is laughing inside.

So the Zen would basically be rendered useless the entire rest of the trip and there was a LOT of trip left.  When I get home, I'll have to get it synched up to the pc again and see if that fixes the problem.  I'm guessing that it won't and my only recourse will be to reformat it which means losing all my data on it.  Somewhere, E is laughing even harder.

Fortunately, I saved all my favorite cds onto my pc's hard drive and the classics are still in my personal collection.  It's just a matter of installing them into the Zen again.  A good two days of work was down the drain.

Then to add insult to injury, my favorite pen stops working as I'm working on logging this journal.  The only kind I have ever preferred are the Pilot Rolling Ball Fine pens.  This one was even brand new and it just up and quits on me.  Naturally, being the visionary that I am, I didn't bring any extras.  in the bigger scheme of things, it was pretty inconsequential considering the blog you see is entered electronically anyway.  It's just a comfort thing for me while I'm in the process of preparing it.  And it almost felt like the Zen and pen problems were an omen of things to come.

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The drive is entirely too long when it's not broken up into two separate days.  We saved money but now I'm not certain if some of the sanity we lost as a result was worth that expense.

Once again, I forgot to stop and take pictures of one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  It's a nearly 200 food illuminated foot cross that you can see from the highway.  Although I didn't get my own pic, I found one on the website for the place that I could include.  You still have to see it in person to truly appreciate it.

We also missed some beautiful parts of the country by driving at night.  The journey takes us thru a portion of the Appalachians which are difficult if not impossible to appreciate in the dark.  There's a spot in particular in Tennessee that is known as Lookout Mountain we enjoyed during our excursion down to O-town in 2004.  You may remember it being made famous by getting a shout out in Martin Luther King, Jr.s' "I Have a Dream" speech.  I only wish I could have gotten more than just this one picture.  Of course, I'm not a fan of heights (rollercoasters excluded) so maybe it was for the best.

Much props to D for shouldering a majority of the driving load at night.  With the Zen out of commission, I was struggling with the night shift.  This drive home is definitely going to suck.

Adding to the grievances of the lengthy road trip was the fact that Brandin made a full recovery from earlier.  That meant he was back to his normal complaining and whining self.  I remember now why I waited so long to agree to another one of these family road adventures.

Day Two: The Blessing and the Curse

(Editor's Note:  All entries from our family vacation are entered as I recorded them.  Therefore, even though at this point it is past tense as everything has already transpired, they will read here as they were written by me at the time the incidents occurred.)

The curse part-- if you could even consider it that --of having children is that you get into the habit of early rising.  I was the first up at 6am-ish.  I almost felt like logging onto Dad's computer to blog an entry from a remote location.  I decided against it when I knew I'd be out of my element if I wasn't at my own pc.  Not to mention I wouldn't have my pics to add and you all know how much I need to have those.

There are several things I look forward to when I visit the folks and one is Mom's cooking.  I hate that we can't stay long enough to get some dinner that even Cracker Barrell can't touch; however, the breakfast is just as good.  Homemade pancakes and bacon.  Doesn't get any better than that.  It was Mom's cooking-- and my affinity for some Gates BBQ --that had me start eating pork again just when I thought I had stopped for good.

It's also with my fam that the infamous "tomorrow at 2 o'clock" concept started.  Well actually, Dad started it but I perpetuated it into the art form that it is to this day.  Whenever a question is asked as to what time I'm leaving and/or going somewhere, that's the generic answer that is given.  Diah's gotten to the point now where she rarely even asks me because she knows what she's going to get for an answer.

Not to be outdone as far as cooking is concerned, Diah can throw down herself.  She complemented scrambled eggs with the breakfast that were off tha chain.  Now I wonder where she learned those skillz (..cough...Mom...cough...)?  She also can get down with some hair.  She hooked up not only hers but Mom's also.

Another blessing in disguise was that Brandin was sick while we were there.  Normally, even if healthy and heavily medicated, he can be out of control when he gets around all his cousins.  Being sick, he was uncharacteristically serene and very manageable.  Okay, maybe again it's a little sadistic of me to wish illness on somebody.  I'm just sayin'...

It took me a minute to catch her, but I finally got a pic of Teandra when she wasn't looking.  I actually had a better posed pic of her that she wanted me to use instead, but where's the fun in that?  I tried to get her to hook me up with an artist's rendering of me that I could put up as my main pic as something new.  However, she doesn't draw as much as she used to with two shorties keeping her hands full as a single mom.  I was able to cop some of her pieces of work that she's done lately.  She draws so beautifully, don't you agree?

 

I'm still going to see if she can eventually do a special piece just for me so it can be the main pic.  As talented as she is, it shouldn't take that long.  It's just a matter of getting her motivated to do it.  Maybe her seeing these pieces of work displayed here will serve as just that motivation.

That bomb breakfast allowed me to finally get a good rest before we finished the longest stretch of the drive.  I wished it could have been longer with the fam, but the trek was going to be long enough without procrastination to add to it.  Couldn't very well wait until tomorrow at 2 o'clock to leave.