b*i*r*t*h*d*a*y*s

I was able to leave work in good hands for the first time in a long time, knowing I could enjoy my birthday vacation completely!  on the Friday before we flew out, Janet, Joyce and I joined Nana for her birthday dinner - steak and lobster, her favorite! - and had a very enjoyable time.

day 1

at 3:00 in the morning the shuttle van picked Joyce and I up and took us to San Francisco for our 7:00a.m. flights, first thru LAX, then on to Orlando. We landed in early evening, and had a fun shuttle driver take us to the hotel. We were so tired - I'd been up for 37 hours with very little dozing-off happening on the plane - so we just had an early dinner and turned in. We knew we would have a very full week of activities!

(all of the pictures are click-able, to see a larger image)

day 2

slept in a little, then got brunch, and headed off to Downtown Disney. we wandered around taking in all the sights, doing a little shopping, and stopped for drinks and to watch a game at the House of Blues. I tried the moonshine drink called Dolly, which had maraschino cherries embalmed in more moonshine - WOW! It was good, but powerful! The weather was nice - for Florida in October. It was in the 80's and luckily the humidity was low. We wandered the entire length of DD then caught an uber ride home. One of my co-workers recommended using them, since taxis are usually more pricey. Since tomorrow would be an early day, we had dinner early again, and turned in early.

  

day 3

caught a gray line bus tour at 8:00a.m. that drove us out to the Atlantic coast of Florida. or the Atlantis coast, since that is the shuttle that we would tour!  three bus-loads of folks just like us made the hour-plus drive, listening to interesting facts brought to us by our fascinating and fun tour guide and driver. Once at the Center we wore ourselves out going through all the exhibits, riding the tour inside the Center grounds around all the launch pads and viewing areas. We even got to touch a moon rock!

after several hours of space travel, we hopped on the bus again and rode out to a little dock on the St.Johns River where we took an airboat ride out into the swamps to find alligators! We saw only one, but just being able to ride on an airboat was the real attraction. It was quite a full day by then, and the tour bus driver and guide even dropped us off not at the hotel but the restaurant down the street so we could have a lovely steak dinner.  We were close enough to walk back to the hotel from there - - keeping a wary eye out for 'gators who like to prowl after dark, we were told by our guide. Too funny.

day 4

this was the day we would finally go to a Disney property! we chose EPCOT first, and of course the one ride we really wanted to go on was already FastPass'd-out, and every time we looked at the app to see what the wait was like, it never got below 40 minutes.  but we got to watch Captain Eo (Joyce has never seen it!), we road the boat ride thru the Mexico pavilion (very restful), and we designed a sports car for the Test Track.  the Food & Wine Festival was in full swing, so as we wandered around the various countries, we got to sample amazing food, and fine beers and wines.  we stumbled upon a Sugar Ray concert too, which started moments after we got there - - we were even able to get good seating even though we hadn't camped out like many of the tweens had done. When the concert was done we were just walking when we saw Aurora, Sleeping Beauty, in an alcove posing for selfies and signing autographs! And her line only had a couple people in it!! It was meant to be, so we posed with our Princess. the hotel shuttle bus picked us up at 10:00p.m. and we finally got to bed close to 11:00, completely wiped out. But happy.

day 5

between the heat, the activities and our need to still catch up on missed sleep, we took this day off to sleep in, have leisurely meals, and sit/tan by the pool.

day 6

we went to our second Disney property today, our Birthday! and we chose Animal Kingdom!! we started out by watching a 40 minute musical version of one of our favorite movies, Finding Nemo. we were not two feet away from some of the performers as they entered the stage! then we wended our way over to Mt. Everest, and rode that coaster - which much to our surprise goes backward for part of it (not good!) On our safari ride, we came up behind an obstreperous rhinoceros who would not yield the roadway to us for about 7 minutes. there were quite a few vehicles behind us waiting also when he finally moved along. We then got an uber ride over to Universal Citywalk where we shopped in a few of the shops before our birthday dinner reservation at Hard Rock Orlando. Our waiter was wonderfully attentive, and had the whole restaurant wish us happy birthday. We then had margaritas at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, and Joyce found this wave outside a surf shop. Another uber ride home after a very full day.

  

day 7

the hotel shuttle bus dropped us off at Sea World just before the park was to open. as we waited in line before 9:00a.m., the flamingos all had their heads tucked under their wings. when the chain jangled and opened up the park to us, that was the signal to the flamingos that they should also wake up! We went over to the manta ray and dolphin enclosures where we got to see them all getting fed. We caught the dolphin show, watched the orcas practice their behaviors, and shopped. A lot. I refrained from buying the giant house slippers shaped like flamingo feet - - I don't think they would have fit in my luggage! After walking through the shark tank, we had lunch at the Shark Grill, with a wall of aquarium to watch the many sea creatures watch us. Eat.

day 8

I picked up a rental car for 24 hours, so that Joyce and I could take a longer drive, northeast, up to Daytona. all this weekend they have an airshow called Wings & Waves, and the star attractions are the USAF Thunderbirds! it was very crowded, so I dropped Joyce at the beach's entrance, and went to find parking. on my way back to her, I found a young man who was renting beach lounges and umbrellas, so I had him deliver one to Joyce (whom he had already noticed on one of his deliveries - of course!) while I went to get us something to drink at the (very crowded) bar on the beach. after the 4 hour air show, we didn't jump right into traffic; we grabbed dinner and watched college football at Neptune's Grill - - yummy! We were so sunburned and tired!  The traffic had thinned a little, so we headed home, and Joyce took a few pictures of the Daytona Speedway as we drove past. And because we have picked up so many souvenirs, on the way back after filling up the gas-tank, I had to stop at the luggage discount center and get a new suitcase (for 70% off at least!) so that we could bring home all our treasures.

  

day 9

time to head home. I dropped the rental car off and got an uber back to the hotel. the airport shuttle picked us up at 2:00, for our 5:00p.m. flight (we got in a little more shopping at the airport shops, the things we forgot to get in the parks). We landed in San Francisco around 11:30, and finally got home around 1:00 ... just in time to go to work in 7 hours! But it was all worth it!!

What a Happy 25th & 54th Birthday!

for a 30 minute music video of our happy adventures, connect to my dropbox at: this link here! 

counting down to F L A

july * august * september

planning continues for our birthday week in the Southeast. we'll be visiting the Mouse, Shamu, and Atlantis, a shuttle by the sea. hopefully we'll get to see some family too!

in the meantime, lots of stuff was happening. my favorite karaoke jock is moving to Colorado, and Wednesday nights won't be the same again. we had three final weeks to sing together and reminisce, and then he packed his life into a truck and drove away. I wrote him special lyrics to "Fire & Rain" letting him know how much all of us will miss him.

at the theatre, our costumer for Gypsy emailed me and said if I was bored, she'd be more than happy to give me some stripper costumes to work on.  heheh. I spent several nights over three weeks - about 44 hours totalled - altering, ripping, repairing, and creating costumes (lots of costumes!) for this great show.  My two most favorite sets of costumes were the glamorous showgirl costumes in the last Gypsy strip scene, and the red-white-blue costumes for June and Louise - both sets, since that was the scene where in a strobe-lit dance number, they transitioned from kids to adults. Awesome!! It always got applause when the regular lights came up. Besides sewing, I also house managed at several performances.

had several opportunities to get to the Levi's Stadium! Yay!! first, as a Faithful 49, I bought a ticket to a pre-season game against the Chargers. took lightrail downtown to avoid the $40 parking fee (lightrail is $4 round trip) and got there minutes before they opened the gates. first thing I did was buy a ticket to the Museum, which is open the first hour to only game ticket holders. so we had the place mostly to ourselves for a good amount of time.  I took hundreds of pictures. of course. my seat was in the Intel end zone, in the sun for the whole game. and we won! only waited in the lightrail line for 10 minutes, and the drive home took about 70 minutes, with all the stops and the crowds. but I got a seat, so it wasn't bad.

also invited Janet to participate in a fun run that ended up with the finish line inside the stadium! That was exciting. The following day I had bought a ticket for a Stadium Tour. Got to sit in the Club Seats - for about 5 minutes while the guide told us pertinent facts about the stadium. After that I settled in at the Tailgate Bar for a Bloody Mary and to watch the game. Great fun!

read and sang at Temple several times, which is always a blessing. shows I've seen with or starring friends: Crazy for You in Saratoga; the comedian Dave Coulier at the San Jose Improv - my waiter was adorable, and when I left he called me a cool mom; Moonlight and Magnolias with "my son Aaron" playing David O. Selsnick! (this is the fourth production I've seen as it is one of my most favorite comedies); Great American Trailer Park Musical with one of my fellow 1776 ladies as the star.