This evening was meet-the-teacher night at Isa’s school, so we went out there. It takes all of 10 minutes, but I hate that drive. Anyway, Isa’s teacher seems really nice. He’s a first-year teacher, with a long, difficult-to-pronounce name. When we first got there the PE teacher came over to see Em and ask Isa who’s class she was in. He told us the other teachers were just calling the new guy “Mr. B”, but that Mr. B wasn’t having it. (Reminds me of a great line from one of our high school video productions–on mathematical functions. Colin: “We’re carrying groceries from point A to point B. We’re doing that so Mrs. B won’t kick our A.”) There’s only one or two kids from Isa’s 1st grade class in her new class, but she seemed to hit it off quickly with a few of the new kids. They kind of already knew each other from recess last year.

Tonight we had a family movie night. After several picks that Mom and Dad vetoed, Isa finally picked G-Force. We relented on that title since it featured Will Arnett, Tracy Jordan, Steve Buscemi and Zach Galifianakis. I think the trailer really sold that movie short, because after seeing the trailer I never, ever wanted to see it. So maybe it’s because my expectations were so low, or because Isa’s finally starting to watch live action movies, but I really enjoyed G-Force. Guinea pigs who save the world? Come on! And there’s a twist. That’s all I’m saying.

PS-After reading back over this post, I think it says a lot about summer activities in Texas: pool, milkshakes, and plenty of indoor activities like movies.

Yesterday Megan was not feeling well, so she was lying on the couch. Isa came out of her room and asked how to spell “nauseous.” Thinking that she was making a card, Megan told her. Isa came back and asked how to spell “relief,” and Megan told her how to spell it.

A few minutes later Isa brought her laptop into the living room and showed Megan several websites explaining how to achieve “nauseous pain relief.” That’s what Isa had typed into the Google search bar.

(Warning-This post includes potentially boring and sloppy descriptions of our vacation last week.  There are a few pics on Facebook with more to come as well as a highlight reel video that might be coming to YouTube…)

On Friday, 6-12, I finished my last day at Cranberry Middle School and immediately left for Walterboro, South Carolina.  We stopped in Fort Mill to pick up our sweet ride, a brand new Town and Country minivan, at the Enterprise place.  After a quick stop in Rock Hill to give the kids a break we continued on down to the low country.

Saturday we drove the 5 hours to Orlando and had plenty of time to swim in the hotel’s pool.

Sunday Isabella went with the aunts and Appy to Sea World.  Megan, Emmeline and I met up with Abby and Tadd and drove over to Emeril’s at Universal Studios.  Emeril’s has good food and a nice atmosphere (except for the bizarre and giant portrait of Emeril on the wall) for reasonable prices.  If you go, don’t expect some kind of life changing meal, though.  No bam.  Also, if you’re going to Universal Studios just for Emeril’s, go at night when the parking is only $3 per car… not $12.  I got the barbeque shrimp appetizer and the filet.  I wish I had gotten one of the flatbreads (pizza), though, because while a filet is great, Emeril doesn’t do it better than any number of restaurants.  However, the banana creme pie was OUTSTANDING.  If you like bananas, you must try it.

Sunday night we checked into Orange Lake Resort where we would stay until Saturday.  It’s a lovely resort with great restaurants, mini golf, water parks, pools, golf (not that I played), and, this year, INTERNET.  It’s located on Hwy. 192 in Kissimee and borders on the Animal Kingdom.  We could see Mt. Everest and Spaceship Earth from our suite.  It was around this time that I noticed the heat.  Just unloading the van drenched my clothes with sweat.  It would take until Thursday before I finally started acclimating to the heat.  It also took until Thursday until we figured out how to keep Emmeline cool.

Monday Isa went back to Sea World while Megan, Emmeline and I went to Downtown Disney to wilt in the heat.  I had picked Emeril’s as my celebrity restaurant, and Megan picked Wolfgang Puck’s, so that’s where we ate lunch on Monday.  We also perused many of the shops and had sundaes at the Ghirardelli soda fountain.  I’ll just say that if you like chocolate, you must go to this place.  I had a dark chocolate sundae that opened my mind.  That evening Megan and I cooked ddukbbokki for everyone, and I was surprised that it was a moderate hit.  I also think it was the best ddukbbokki I’ve ever had in the US.  On the downside, it did cause a vile odor to creep into the hotel’s walls for several hours.

Tuesday we left Emmeline with Appy and took Isabella to the Magic Kingdom.  Isa wore her Aurora dress.  When we got to the monorail station Megan asked if we could ride in the front and they ushered us to a special line.  We had a wait a little bit longer, but we got to ride with the driver in the front.  Isa loved it, and I thought it was pretty cool, too.  The morning was rough for some reason.  We took Isa to meet the princesses.  After an hour in line, we finally got there, but Isabella had a melt down.  She cried and kicked and didn’t want to meet any of the princesses.  We finally got her to take pictures, but she would not talk to them, smile at them, or even acknowledge them.  We later found out she doesn’t like a) characters who talk and b) characters who talk and are in large groups.  I took Isa back to the hotel for a nap after lunch and she was in a much better mood after that.

We were very disappointed that Space Mountain was closed, but we did ride several other attractions.  Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain were just a couple of the mountains we rode (we usually ride the train over to Frontierland).  We rode Pirates of the Caribbean mainly to get out of the heat.  Aladdin’s Magic Carpets was like Dumbo, but more fun and with camels that spit water on the riders.  Quite refreshing.  We climbed up the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, where the line IS the attraction, and then drove race cars.  And, of course, we rode the Teacups, one of our favorites.  It started raining so we went into Philharmagic, a wonderful 3D movie, hoping the rain would pass.  When we emerged from the theater we could not see across the street it was raining so hard!  I got a poncho and a plastic bag to cover our camcorder, and when it looked like the rain wouldn’t stop, we ventured out anyway.  In Tomorrowland we rode Buzz Lightyear and Stitch’s Great Escape, two attractions we’ve never done, two times each.  Then we rode Peter Pan and the Haunted Mansion.  By 10:30 pm they had canceled the parade and fireworks and all the fun rides were closed because of lightning, so we headed back a little earlier than planned.  We did however get some delicious Disney fudge

Wednesday was our midweek day off.  We spent it by the pool at the resort.  Wednesday night we went back to Downtown Disney for beef gorgonzola pockets at Wolfgang Puck’s and sundaes at Ghirardelli’s.

Thursday was the Animal Kingdom.  We took Isabella early to the Tusker House African restaurant for Donald’s Safari Character Breakfast.  Breakfast was a buffet with all the typical fare and a few African specialty dishes.  I tried the curried frittata and the coconut-sweetened sweet potatoes, but wasn’t that impressed.  The best things on the buffet were little Mickey Mouse shaped waffles.  Isa did much better with the characters Thursday… I guess because they couldn’t talk to her.

Animal Kingdom was Emmeline’s first trip to a Disney park and she was riding in style.  We packed a cooler full of frozen gel packs that we wrapped in towels and placed in Emmeline’s stroller.  Then we duct taped three little fans to her stroller so she would have a constant breeze.  I must say I was envious.  We rode the Kilimanjaro Safari first–it’s our favorite.  Then we rode the whitewater ride and walked through the Asia animal exhibit.  I was most impressed with the bats this time around.  Many of the animals were hiding in some shaded corner where we couldn’t get a good view.  By early afternoon, the heat was really getting to us so we went indoors ($$) for lunch.  We decided that’s how Mickey Mouse gets you in the summertime–make it really expensive to eat in the air conditioning.  The Yak and Yetti restaurant was pretty good Chinese food… but not Indian/Tibetan like the name implied.  After lunch we saw It’s a Bug’s Life with no wait!  Then on our way to Mount Everest to use our fastpasses the clouds burst shutting down the attraction… and the ice cream vendors.  I got the last Mickey-cicle for Isa and frozen banana for me at one stand before they shut down.

We decided that one attraction the rain wouldn’t shut down was the characters in Camp Mickey Minnie.  We were wrong.  Blerg.  While we were there we decided to duck into the Lion King show just to get out of the rain.  Talk about lucky!  I never would have gone to that show, but it was amazing!  Fire eating, acrobats, ballet, singing and dancing.  Very entertaining.  After that we headed over to Dinoland to check out the midway.  Surprisingly Isabella was tall enough for the roller caoster with the tallest height requirement, Primeval Whirl, so we rode it.  It made Megan and me sick, but Isa loved it, of course.  By then the rain had abated and we were able to ride Expedition Everest… twice.  I begged Megan to ride with Isa the second time, but to no avail, so I manned up and rode despite the nausea the first ride had created   As the park was closing Megan and Isa rode Primeval Whirl and Triceratop Twist while I frantically shopped for Emmeline.

Friday was Epcot.  I went through the gate at 9:04, got to The Land at 9:09 and saw about 1000 people in front of me trying to get to the Fastpass kiosks for Soarin’.  Outrageous.  Finally I got our Fastpasses by around 9:30.  Then we rode Living With the Land, a slow moving boat ride through Disney’s farm.  I really liked that one more than I expected to.  We even saw one pumpkin growing inside a hard plastic ball shaped like Mickey Mouse, forcing the pumpkin to match its shape.  While we stood in line (in the air conditioning, thank goodness!) for photos with the characters, I called the Moroccan restaurant and made lunch reservations. I liked it, but Megan didn’t.. I’m not sure if she didn’t like it because it was hot and we were tired and cranky or if it was the belly dancer entertaining us. For an afternoon snack, we stopped by the patissérie in France for a sampling of good eats. Then we went over to England to see a cool Beatles cover band. While we were watching some intrigue was going on behind us. Not sure what it was, but Tigger and Alice kept running around the building. The fireworks were great, and Emmeline loved them. Epcot has the best fireworks show except for Hollywood Studios, but we didn’t go there.

On the way home we stopped for the night in Savannah, Georgia. We met a family at the pool from Denton, Texas, of all places. They gave us some useful info. We had dinner at a seafood place where everything was fried, and the grilled cheese sandwiches were filled with salt. That’s what Isa meant when she complained that hers was “spicy.” We didn’t believe her until Megan tasted it. It was like they had dropped it in salt or something.

It was a great vacation!

I was booked on Northwest Airlines to fly from RDU to Dallas-Love Field through Memphis. Unfortunately, the plane hadmechanical difficulties and didn’t arrive in Raleigh until 30 minutes past the departure time. We boarded and the gate attendant told me not to worry–that I would have plenty of time to make my connection.

In Memphis we pulled up to a part of the terminal where there were no jetbridges. No problem, since we were in a small plane. I’ve unloaded on the tarmac in small planes before. For 10 minutes we just sat there while I watched the watch on the arm of the lady next to me. 2:05… my connecting flight’s departure was 2:15. The flight attendant got on the PA and announced that we had actually landed at the wrong airport. I think everyone believed it for just a moment.. it was Northwest after all. “Just kidding!” he said.  Not funny. We were waiting on the ground crew to arrive.

I called Dad to see if my connection was delayed. I had seen on the news that morning that it was snowing in Memphis, so I hoped that many flights were delayed.  Nope. On time. Finally, they let us off the plane, onto the tarmac.

I grabbed my bags and ran to the terminal, up the stairs, around the corner to find a gate agent waiting. “Dallas Love Field,” I sputtered breathlessly.

“Gate C9.”

“Am I going to make it?”

“Maybe.”

I started running. I hit the moving walkway only to be foiled by a dad teaching his toddler to walk. Not the place, buddy. I saw others from my flight running past me on the non-moving walkway. Ugh. I came out of the A terminal where I saw a bank of LCD screens. My flight was still on time. I ran. Finally, there was one last bridge to cross to get to terminal C. As I ran, I looked out the windows.  I saw planes lined up. C13. C12. C11. C10. C9. There is was.  There was my plane.

I stopped. The door was closed. I was pretty sure government regulations prevent anyone from boarding after the door closed. I started running again anyway. I ran into the waiting area at gate C9. It was empty except for two Northwest gate attendants.

“Can I help you?”

I couldn’t talk; I was breathing too hard.

“I’m…  supposed…. to be on that…. plane.”

It was over. She could get me to DFW at 11:00 pm. I told her either airport was fine. In that case she could get me to Love Field at 9:30.  Sure.

“Maybe I can get you on an American flight that gets in at 6:30.”

“Great.”

She called and got me a ticket. Then she gave me a lunch voucher for my troubles. “For a minute there we thought you were going to make it.” At least they were thinking of me. I started for gate C12 to get my new boarding pass from American Airlines.

I was the fifth person in line when someone came over and said, “Five more minutes then we’re closing up.”

“Great,” I thought. “I’ll have to come back later to check in.” Miraculously, no one in front of me had any time-consuming business, so I made it to the counter. They seemed to know who I was before I explained the whole story.

“Do you just want to get on this plane?”

I looked to see the gate door open.  She handed me a boarding pass.

“I won’t get to use my lunch voucher.” Yep. When offered to the chance to get to Dallas quickly, I worried about losing free food.

“You can use it in Dallas.” I immediately boarded the plane, and got to Dallas earlier than originally planned (albeit the wrong airport).

Me:  Duh.  I knew that.

Isabella:  (with some condescension) Yeah, I knew that too.  I’ve already seen this commercial.

Isa: There is a boy I don’t like and a boy I like. Some bad people are making marry the boy I don’t like.

Me: Well, you know, you can pick the person you marry. You don’t have to marry anyone that you don’t want to.

Isa: Well, I don’t want to get married at all. But, I do want to have kids… I’ll probably adopt.

Ashley: “You gotta have a J-O-B if you’re gonna be with me.” Isn’t that a TLC song?

Josh: Yeah. And then she burned down that guy’s house.

Ashley: Then she died.

The Red River rose to 40.2 feet in Fargo, North Dakota, early today, breaking a 112-year-old record and creating a quandary for emergency officials who can no longer rely on historical data to guide their response…

This is the kind of irrational, reactionary thinking that is also guiding the government’s response to the recession.

Megan: He was literally levitating?

Josh: Yeah, he should have said he was figuratively levitating…

Megan:  If he was literally levitating, they should put him in the circus.

Josh looks up, appalled.

Megan:  I mean, he’s a levitating dwarf… they could make millions off of him.

Click on the thumbnails to see high-res versions.