meinen Reisen MY TRAVELS mijn reizen mes voyages meus cursos mis viajes minhas viagens mo taisteal mine rejser mina resor i miei viaggi

Well, it has been an interesting and challenging last few days. Andrea and I became pretty sick on the 26th, but we recovered to make the plane to Orlando.

Yesterday, my heating light (maybe radiator light) came on when I turned on the car around 8:30 a.m. About 15 miles later, I noticed the gauge to be beyond red. Then, about a mile later, all lights on my dashboard began flashing and the accelerator stopped working.

The good news is that, while we were on I-4, I was able to get to the side of an exit  (near the volcano at Volcano Bay) and a road ranger pulled up behind us within a minute as we were still thinking of whom to call. The road ranger was so nice. He took us to McDonalds and we caught an Uber to the Murphy’s hotel. We even made our first FastPass at Animal Kingdom. I just left the car on the side of the road for the tow truck. The car made its way to my mechanic. I am glad that Dad and Andrea were in the car with me as breaking down on I-4 is a nightmare for all. I think I am in the market for a different car. I am thinking a RAV4 or a CX-5.

We went to Animal Kingdom, drove to Duck Donuts, drove to the airport to get a rental car, and went to see the night shows at Hollywood Studios.

While we have a lot a fun in life, I do feel I solve a lot of problems.

I am back in Florida, so I thought I better update the Christmas postings before I get behind.

Highlights include:

• Eating at Bluebird Cafe
• Going to Rand Park to see the Christmas lights
• Snow on Christmas Eve
• Seeing Aunts, Uncle, and Cousins and Friends

We landed in Orlando late last night and made it back to my apartment around 2 a.m.

We made it to Disney Springs around Noon. Dad ran into the Murphys at Ghirardelli’s. We ate at Wolfgang Puck after walking through the Tree Trail.

Later, we went to Epcot and Andrea completed her scavenger hunt. We saw the Dickens Carolers and the Candlelight Processional.

We went on Soarin’, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth. It was pretty cold…..I know not -20 degrees like Iowa, but 55 degrees here in the damp cold is still pretty cold.

Video

I am waking up in 5 hours to catch my flight back to Iowa.

I thought I better update my blog before Christmas Eve.

In these pictures, you will find:

• Jonathan’s wedding
• Christmas decorations at Epcot
• A visit to Port Canaveral
• A visit with old French Quarter friends and the Trail of Trees at Disney Springs
• Maryann’s farewell party

I apologize for not updating the blog much. I have been working on many Christmas presents.

I have had 8 get togethers in the last week. One included seeing Casey and Melissa (who I hadn’t seen in 5 years) and I also had dinner with Bev among other work, church, and hostelling international Christmas parties.

Maryann is leaving the NEC, so I threw her a Cookie Party.

You might not recognize me as my hair is now darker. It is a long story, but maybe it had to be done to get back to healthier hair in the long run. While I don’t want the next two weeks to ever end, I do look forward to 6 weeks, when I can lighten my hair a little bit. I will plead not to go back to platinum, but my current hair is way tooooo dark… Just you wait. While all of you realize, beauty is on the inside… just wait………

We got into town a little before the rest of the family. We went to Jonathan’s for dinner. Later, we played Rook and other games.

The next day, we went to HEB, celebrated Thanksgiving, went for a walk, and jumped on the trampoline. It was a really nice, relaxing time.

On Friday, we drove into Austin. I think we saw part of the Greenbelt. We played mini-putt where I believe Andrea won. We saw Lady Bird Lake and a production area of Blue Bell creameries. If you can get it, get the Peppermint Bark Blue Bell ice cream. I am going to a Christmas party and I might take that. It is sooo good though it is about $2 more in Florida than in Texas.

We ate lunch at the Salt Lick which was an event. It was a neat place. Andrea and I shared a plate and Dad got the Senior Combo. We learned (not soon enough) to share plates in Texas as the portions are too large for one person.

Afterwards, we went to Hamilton Pool. It was a fun walk to get there. It reminded me of the walk to the Narrows in Zion.

Back in Bastrop, we ate at this Asian chain restaurant. Let’s just say Texas should stick to dominating Tex-Mex and BBQ.

Yikes. Where did that month go? Wow! I haven’t updated in more than a month.

I am really sorry for those who check regularly. I am going to update it today.

My lack of posting goes back to Wine and Dine 2017 in early November.

I included some pictures of me visiting the Orlando City Soccer Stadium as a possible event venue. There are pictures of the last delegation visit also.

I volunteered during the first weekend of November for Wine and Dine. Due to a new registration system, I only got one race. I had to choose Kid’s races which was fun to see and very easy, but I don’t get tickets for volunteering. I have to work 16 hours to get a ticket, so I probably have like 11 more hours as I only worked 5 last weekend. I did get breakfast and lunch during the Kid’s races.

I did pass out water for the half-marathon. They have a new truck system where you just lift the tables with extra water cups, flip, and the water drips out, but the cups get separated out. It is pretty nice and easy. They probably have the course cleaned up within 5 minutes of the last runner.

You can see the pictures here:

The rest of the month before Thanksgiving was just typical stuff: going to Mall at Millenia, going to some Korean restaurants (I went to the one on East Colonial and went to Hawkers for work. I met Bev for dinner one night at one near I-Drive.), and going to some events.

At work, we had out annual Thanksgiving Potluck. I was on the decorating committee. I left towards to end to catch a flight to Cedar Rapids.

Andrea picked me up at Cedar Rapids and we drove back to Burlington. I was delayed about an hour which is a weird delay for Allegiant…. (either you are on time or delayed 6 hours).

We met Murphy’s at Boogaloo and Andrea opened her presents from me. The reason I went to Mall at Millenia in the last post was to visit Anthropologie to get some bulldog items for Andrea.

We also went to Coldstone Creamery where they had a grand opening kid’s cone for $1.

The night culminated with Andrea packing her Samaritan’s Purse boxes.

She had a great birthday I believe.