The Countdown Begins.......

One Down, 387 To Go...

• G'ma and I made reservations for our 40th anniversary trip. Amazingly enough, it's for Walt Disney World in Orlando FL. Hence the countdown...
• WDW has a special place in our heart. G'ma and I spent our honeymoon down there in 1972, during it's first year of operation. We have tried to make a trip down there every five years or so. (Not often enough for me, but cooler heads prevail!)
• We have been to two of the Deluxe hotels, the Wilderness Lodge and the Polynesian Village, as well as Fort Wilderness, the campground on site. Additionally, we have been down there off site for a "Make A Wish" trip for the Ace of Spades. This trip, we will be 'roughing it' at Fort Wilderness in the new rig, 'The Phoenix'. We will be traveling down with our friends, Tom, Mars and Mike in their fifth wheeler, and Barb (the Nun) will hopefully join us down there to do WDW right!
• Our best trip down there was nine years ago for our 30th anniversary. We spent ten wonderful days on site. When I made the reservations for that trip, I mentioned it was our 30th, and the agent made sure we got one of the best rooms at the Polynesian Village. It was on the ground floor right by the water front where we could watch the Light Parade every night! We spent three days down there by ourselves before our kids came down with their kids and friends. We hit all the right places and saw all the right things. (Note to all: when you make plans like this a year in advance and mention to the girls; "you might not want to be knocked up for this trip, because I want to hit EVERY attraction with y'all", you can bet one of the no impulse cheerleaders would not listen. One of the princess', (I won't mention Sarahs name), was wondering why she was always sick on the rides......DUH. After the three days in the PV, we moved over to the Wilderness Lodge. The WL is a MUST DO for any Disney visitor. It's the best!
• In an effort to make sure everyone had as good a time as possible, I made an itinerary revolving around one thing per day. Everyone was asked to, (or ordered to, depending on who you talk to), attend one family function a day. Some days it was a meal, other days an event or show. I made little 'tickets' with all the pertinant information so no one would forget the event. All in all, it worked very well. There was some concern about being on a tight schedule, but in the end, it went very well.
• That's one of the secrets about having a good time at WDW. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SCHEDULE. The sheer number of things to see down there requires you to make a plan and stick to it as close as possible. Of course, a good plan always allows for the "fudge factor". You cannot plan too many things in one day. You have to leave room to relax and take in as much as possible.
• The second big secret about a good trip is DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE MONEY YOU ARE SPENDING! It's expensive. All good things are. I do not plan of leaving the kids any money, that's for sure!
• I am excited. I have already ordered my Birnbaum book. It's not printed yet, but Amazon.com has my credit card on file, and as soon as it's available. I will be getting one of the first! (Open open open.......)
• I will update y'all with plans as the year goes on....
• Oh well...back to work......(how many more days?)
• Bump

1111 Days

• This post is dedicated to my younger Daughter, Sarah Kristen

• One Thousand, One Hundred and Eleven Days Sober. Your Mom and I are very proud of you and glad you have been able to fight the demons that plaqued you, even for that short time.
• I started a post at 1000 days, but because of the location that we were in, I lost all of the information before I could save it. It was witty. It was sappy. It was painful. Anyone who writes likes this, off the cuff, knows that once you put "pen to paper", you cannot duplicate it no matter how hard you try. The following is an attempt to do just that.

• In the last 1111 days, you have been divorced. Moved into your own house. Hurt your back. Lost your Grandfather. Wrecked another vehicle. (You get the picture). Life's been a bitch lately. Yet, you have remained strong through all of this and not strayed back to the sauce.
• We, (your whole family), are happy you know you don't need vodka to be the happy, bright, smiling, (for the most part), daughter/sister/mom/aunt that you are. Your laugh and your sense of humor is infectious and reminds me of my Aunt Bobbie. She was as devious and twisted as you and I are.

• In the blog I wrote 111 days ago, I touched upon the "misplaced kids", the wrecked Jag, (horror of all horrors), the dumbass enabler you were married to, and a couple of other points. Since that was the "Painful" part of the last post, I chose not to remember all of the language. You remember it, and that is one of the reasons you remain sober to this day.

• That all being said, between you and the rest of the Girls' prodding, I will try to post more often. Someone needs to entertain them with you!

• Congratulations Sarah. Your Mom and I got your back!

• Gotta get back to work! Bump