Disney Traveler

Disney: Day 2 & 3

2010-06-29T08:45:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I had some issues to deal with yesterday morning. As many of you know, I have Great Danes. Well, my 12 year old dane Delilah passed away yesterday morning around 5 am. So I had to get everything taken care of while being 12 hours away. Fortunately for me, my mom used to work for a vet and was able to arrange everything for me. It is a very tough loss for the family, which I am sure will become more real once we are back home. All I can say is that she was a great dog and had a wonderful life.

Enough of that, let's get on with Disney.

Day 2 found us at Animal Kingdom. We arrived right after they opened. From there we headed to Expedition Everest where we grabbed a fast pass and then jumped in line. After riding we headed to Dinosaur, which is one of my daughter's favorite rides, even though she keeps her eyes closed on parts of it. We spent our time moving back and forth between these two rides until my brother and his family showed up around noon. We then hit some of the things that my niece would enjoy before they headed to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. I will say that she did not like It's a Bugs Life. She totally lost it and had to be taken out by her mom.

After they met back up with us we headed to the Safari. There were quite a few animals out in spite of the heat. We got to see the baby elephant and baby rhino along the way. We then headed to the petting zoo for a bit where my son and niece got to pet a baby alligator.

After that my niece had had enough and was ready to go back to the hotel. We hung out for a while longer. We spent the remainder of our afternoon riding everest, which only had a 5 minute wait. We were pretty much just walking on. They actually shut down the normal line and just used the fast pass line. Amazing.

Here are a few pics.

Yesterday, day 3, found us at the Magic Kingdom. We started off our day heading to grab fast passes for the Peter Pan ride. When I got the fast passes, we were given bonus fast passes for the Philharmagic. Awesome! We were joined by my wifes cousin and her family, which includes their 6 year old son. So it was a blast for them since it was his first trip.

We hit all of the big rides which included all of the mountains, Splash, Space, and Big Thunder. It was awesome.

As we were riding the Transit Authority we went into Space Mountain and the lights were on! So, I took a few pics.

All in all, it was a good day in spite of how it started. So here are a few pics.

That's it for now. I'll post more later.

Yeti Out!!

Disney: Day 1

2010-06-27T07:29:00.000-04:00

I am going to try something a little bit different this time since I have a laptop and wifi on this trip. Instead of waiting until I get home and trying to remember all of the fun I had, I am going to attempt to do this as I go. Wish me luck.

So here goes.

We arrived in Orlando on Friday morning and checked into the Hilton Bonnet Creek. It is a very nice upscale hotel. Truth be told, it is a bit fancy for my taste. We were fortunate enough to stay there for free, due to the fact that my brother travels for his job and earns plenty of points for his hotel stays. He is also extremely generous with them.

Once we arrived I took a much needed nap after driving all night and the wife and kids hit the pool. They said it was nice. I will take their word for it.

Saturday we made our way to Hollywood Studios. We were able to make it there just in time for the opening ceremonies. Then it was the mad dash for Toy Story Mania! We headed over and grabbed fast passes and then moved on to Rockin' Rollercoaster followed by Tower of Terror, The Great Movie Ride, some food, and then Toy Story Mania. I ended up with the high score of the hour for TSM, which was kind of cool!

The park was surprisingly dead. Not sure if it was the heat or the fact that they closed at 7 pm, but I will take it.

Here are a few pics:

Pool at Bonnet Creek

Today we are headed to Animal Kingdom. I will attempt to keep this up to date as I can, but I am on vacation.

Yeti Out!

Disney in December 2009

2009-12-24T08:14:00.001-05:00

Don't give up on the trip report. The holidays have gotten in the way a bit. I will get this thing finished up as soon as I can.

Yeti Out!

Christmas Trip to Disney 2009 Part 2

2009-12-15T14:40:00.007-05:00

And away we go!

Tuesday December 8, 2009

We headed to Animal Kingdom to meet up with the Gibby's on their last day at Disney. We arrived just as the opening ceremony was finishing up and headed straight to the Expedition Everest fastpass, where we met up with the Gibby's. We then grabbed our fast passes and jumped into the standby line. Within 10 minutes we were riding. We were able to put in 2 more rides after the first one before my empty stomach had enough. We bid the Gibby's farewell and headed to find something to eat.

After a quick bite to eat we headed to the Safari ride. Since it was a little later in the morning there weren't a ton of animals roaming around. We did see the normal players though.

After that we caught the Lion King show and just took in the sites of all of the Christmas decorations before departing for our turn at the Magic Kingdom Christmas Party.

If I had to fault Disney on one thing, it would be that you can not travel from park to park by bus. You have to either head to a resort, Downtown Disney, or the Ticket and Transportation Center. This meant that we had to leave Animal Kingdom a little earlier than we would have liked so that we could get to the Magic Kingdom around 4:00 pm.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom just before 4:00 pm and were allowed into the park after getting wristbands to show that we were supposed to be there. We then headed to the Haunted Mansion for a quick ride. After that we realized that if we wanted a good spot to view the evening fireworks, we had better get it now. I thought that it kind of sucked that you pretty much had to find your spot at least an hour before anything going on that night. The fireworks were awesome though. We then made our way to Main Street and found a good spot to watch the parade. The parade was awesome as well.

After the parade we walked around a while checking out the decorations. When else can you see snow on Main Street in Disney? After that we headed back to the resort for some much needed rest. It had been a long day.

Wednesday December 9, 2009

We headed to Epcot for a second time. Upon arrival we headed to Soarin' and grabbed fast passes. Which were for later in the day. After that we headed over to Mission Space and Test Track.

After riding both of those it was off to the World Showcase to see some of the countries that we missed the first time around. The decorations are amazing. Both Canada and China have a movie about there country. The cool thing about this is that it is shot in what is called Circle Vision. What that means is that there are screens that completely encircle the room near the ceiling. The way that it is shot you have a 360 degree view of what the camera sees. Very neat.

We then decided to head to the Yacht Club to see the Gingerbread Carousel. It is amazing the detail that they put into things.

After roaming around the Yacht Club for a while it was time to head to the California Grill for dinner. The great thing about this restaurant is that it is on the 15th floor of the Contemporary, which offers a birds eye view of the Magic Kingdom. The food was amazing. After dinner we headed out onto their observation deck to watch Wishes from above the Magic Kingdom. The meal was pricey, $144, but I would highly recommend dining there just for the view.

After Wishes we headed back to the hotel for the evening.

That wraps up those two day.

So, until next time....

Yeti Out!

Christmas Trip to Disney 2009 Part 1

2009-12-14T13:03:00.009-05:00

All I can say is that Disney knows how to do the holidays. We had been wanting to head to Disney during the Christmas season for some time now. The Christmas party was one of the things on our Disney list that we had not crossed off just yet. So when they ran the free dining deal, it made it impossible for us to pass up the opportunity to take one last trip to Disney in '09. This trip was just Autumn and myself. We were joined for a few days by Gibby and Mrs. Gibby, who had flown down a few days ahead of us. So without further adieu, here is part 1 of my trip report.

Sunday December 6, 2009

We started off our day at about 4:30 am, since we had a 6:15 am flight. We knew from talking to friends that we did not need to be at the airport the cu

stomary 2 hours before our flight, since the Louisville airport does not have any overnight flights. This meant that there would be no one there that early. I had already done our online check in the night before, so that was out of the way. We were dropped off at the airport and made our way through security rather quickly. Our flight was on time, which was nice. So after a 45 minute layover in DC, we arrived in Orlando at about 10:45 am. We then headed to the Magical Express transportation and were on our way to Disney.

We arrived at the Pop Century Resort, which is a value, just before noon. Our room was ready, which was nice, so we headed there and dropped

off our carry on items. It was then time to catch a bus and head to the Magic Kingdom.

We had debated on not going to the Magic Kingdom that day, due to the fact that they were taping the Christmas Parade for Christmas Day, and we knew that it may be overly crowded. We decided what the hell and went there anyway. As we walked into the Magic Kingdom were greeted by the sounds of the show being taped. We saw Kelly Rippa standing on a stage right in front of the train station. So we hung out there for a few before heading into the park.

After watching a small parade we were on our way to Space Mountain, which had been recently refurbished. As we started to walk, we were lead into a back stage area. I quickly started taking pictures, since this is not an area that you are normally allowed into. I bet I only took about 5 pictures before I was approached by a guy with his badge out telling me that there was no photography back there. So I stopped.

We then rode Space Mountain, the Transit Authority, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion. We then met up with Gibby and Mrs. Gibby for a few and chatted before it was time for us to make an exit, and them to enjoy the Christmas Party.

We called it an early night and headed back to the resort.

Monday December 7, 2009

We headed to Epcot bright and early on Monday. Upon arrival we headed straight for the Soarin' fastpass line. We grabbed a couple of fast passes and then decided since the wait was not that bad to go ahead and ride it.

After we riding, we decided to grab a bite to eat in the Sunshine Cafe located near the ride. Pretty good food. After that we rode the Living with the Land ride, which shows you different ways that they are growing food at Disney. After that we were able to get another fastpass for Test Track. While waiting for our fastpass times we rode a couple of other small rides and just walked around checking out the decorations.

We rode Test Track just before heading to Les Chefs de France for lunch, which was a sit down meal and somewhere we had never eaten. The food was pretty good. I would say that the highlight was Remmy from Rat Tat Tooie being brought to the table.

After lunch we made our way back to Soarin' and used our fast passes. After that we made our way around the world showcase and checked out some of the decorations. Each land had it's own version of how Christmas was celebrated in that country.

After walking around for awhile we headed towards the front of the park and rode Space Ship Earth. Which is a very cool journey through history Disney style.

We then headed out of the park and over the the Contemporary to check out the decorations. One of which was a house made entirely of Gingerbread. Very cool. Then it was back to the room for the night.

That wraps up the first two days of my trip. In order to keep this from being the length of a Stephen King novel, I am going to break it up into 3 post.

So, until next time....

Yeti Out!

Disney in December 2009

2009-12-13T10:12:00.003-05:00

Well faithful reader(s), I am home. It will take me a couple of days to go through the 1700 pics I took and weed out the bad from the good. So give me a couple of days and I will post an in depth trip report.

So, until then...

Yeti Out!!

Not long now!

2009-12-02T12:04:00.002-05:00

Well it is almost here. This Sunday at 6:14 am my ass will be on a plane headed for Orlando. I can't believe it is almost here. My buddy Gibby leaves in the morning to head down. Our paths will cross on Sunday. I think we may be heading to check out some of the decorations at the resorts, but I am not sure since I don't make the plans when I go to Disney. I just go where I am told and it always pays off.

I will be sure and take lots of pics so that I can do justice to the upcoming trip report, since the last one sucked.

So check back soon to see how it went.

Yeti Out!!!!!

Second Chance

2009-08-14T14:01:00.002-04:00

Looks like I will be getting a second chance at doing a decent Disney recap this year. We have been wanting to head to Disney during December in order to check out their Christmas party. With the free dining deal that they offered through December, we couldn't resist. So we are heading back.

I will try and redeem myself with a good trip report for that trip with lots of pics of Christmas decorations.

Yeti Out!!!!

So I sucked at this year's Disney Recap

2009-07-07T13:04:00.002-04:00

I know, I said I was going to do a trip report. I suck. It just seems that I never found the time and now it just seems like it has been too long. I could probably put together a general recap, but I don't think I would do it justice. I promise to do better next time.

Let's just say that it was a great trip and I can't wait to get back. It seems like as soon as I leave, I am trying to figure out when to come back. The plan for now is to wait until next year so that we can get some things that need to be done around the house finished. I would much rather give my money to the Mouse, but if I keep doing that my house may fall down around me. Not that it is in bad shape, but all things need updating from time to time. I guess I will just have to live through Gibby and his December trip.

So here is me thinking Disney thoughts!!!

Yeti Out!!!!!!!!

Disney Vacation

2009-06-16T14:45:00.002-04:00

Well unfortunately I have returned from Disney and am back to work. It will take me a couple of days to get a trip report together, with all of the things that need to be done around here after being gone for a week. So please be patient.

Here are a couple of pics for now.

The view from the Hilton at Downtown Disney.

Inside the Great Movie Ride.

Horse on Main Street USA.

Inside the Haunted Mansion.

Yeti Out!!!!!

Today is the Day!!!!!!!

2009-06-04T15:28:00.002-04:00

Well it is finally here. We will be departing around midnight to head to Disney. It will take us a little over 12 hours to get there driving straight through. I love to drive at night, due to the lack of major traffic, kids sleeping on the ride, and cooler temps.

I don't have a laptop, so I won't be able to post pics on this blog. I will be providing some updates from the iphone, but not too many to be annoying.

See you in a week.

Yeti Out!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-31T14:00:00.001-04:00

With only 5 days before my Disney vacation, I thought I had better make sure I was able to post to my blog from the iPhone. So hopefully this works.

Yeti out!!!

St. Louis Trip

2009-03-28T11:11:00.013-04:00

Since it was Spring Break here this past week we decided to head to St. Louis for a couple of days. I had worked there a couple of times during my PI days, but the rest of the family had never been. Plus it was relatively close. We decided to see if we could do it on a budget of $200. We actually were able to stay in that budget, believe it or not.

We began our journey around 8:00 am on Tuesday morning. The drive was kinda boring, since it is all just flat. Not a lot to see. We ended up arriving in St. Louis around noon our time. They are an hour behind us. Autumn had found several things to do that would cost us little or no money. One of them being the Holocaust Museum. After reading Anne Frank for school, my daughter has been kind of fascinated with the whole thing and was very interested in the museum. I can only say that it was very interesting and depressing all at the same time.

We then headed to the St. Louis Science Center, which is also free. You just have to pay to park. I think it took us around 3 hours to see all of the exhibits. Tons to see and do. They had an exhibit that we thought was the T-Rex "Sue". It was not. It was an anamotronic version. We decided that since we had seen replicas of Sue at Disney, we did not need to spend the money to see one that moved.

As we left the science center it had began to rain. So we decided to head to Union Station. I will say that I was not too impressed. Yeah, the architecture is cool, but other than that it is just small shops and restaurants. Glad we saw it, but don't think we will have to do it again. After that we decided we would head to the hotel and check in. After a little time in the pool and hot tub we called it a night.

Wednesday we headed to the St. Louis Zoo. I was very impressed. The zoo like most of the things we did was free. The only fee would have been to park, but we arrived early enough to find some street parking. So we parked for free. The zoo is large. I think we spent about 6 hours wandering around seeing the animals. One of my favorites was the tigers. They had five that were young and active. Most of the other animals at the zoo, with the exception of the monkeys
just kind of laid around.

After spending all of that time walking around the zoo we decided that we were ready to head back to the hotel and relax. So we grabbed a pizza and headed back to the room. After eating we headed to the pool and hot tub for awhile before returning to the room in time to watch Lost. Even on vacation we can't miss that.

Thursday was our last day. After having some breakfast and checking out, we headed to the Ulysses S. Grant historic home site. I will say that I was not too excited about this, but it turned out to be pretty cool. One thing that was cool was that the property next to the site was owned by Budweiser and is where they stable the Clydesdales. There were probably 25 to 30 out to pasture that day.

We then headed to the St. Louis Arch. Unfortunately for some reason the trams that take you to the top were not running, so we could not go up in the arch. It is still very impressive.

After spending a couple of hours checking out the arch, we headed home. We ended up getting home around 8:00 pm Thursday night. Not too bad. All in all it was a good short vacation. I would have loved to have just headed to a beach, but with Disney coming up in about 3 months we are trying to save as much money as possible.

So that is how we spent our Spring Break. Back to work and school on Monday.

Yeti Out!!!!!!!!!

Check Out My Parent's New Pet

2009-03-23T06:28:00.003-04:00

Yesterday my brother and his family came in for a visit. Since this does not happen that often, with the way he has to travel with work, my parents took it as an opportunity to get everyone together for lunch. It was a great visit.

Earlier in the week my mom had told me that a young deer had shown up and that she would follow you around and let you pet her. I knew that my kids would love this. To my amazement, it is true. All you have to do is head into the back field of my parents property and call. Within a few minutes she will show up.

So, without further adieu here she is:

Letting my niece feed her corn.

Hoping my son had some corn.

They are not sure just where she came from, but she is extremely tame and not scared of people. This could actually be a bad thing, since people can be jackasses. Her ears are pretty messed up. We think that one of them may have been cut at the top, maybe to mark her or maybe out of cruelty. The other on is split and looks like it may have been caught in a barbed wire fence. My parents are currently talking with local conservation officers and looking for a possible place for her to go where she would be safe. Hopefully that works out. I would hate to see something happen to her. It is a shame that someone found/took her as a baby and tamed her only to turn her loose. That may not be the case, and she may have just strayed away from her home. But I would be willing to bet that she was just turned loose or dumped.

Anyway, she is pretty damn cool.

Yeti Out!!!!

Pictures

2009-03-09T15:58:00.003-04:00

Last night the moon looked amazing. So I decided I would try and take some pictures. The first couple did not turn out. So I jumped online and found out how to set the camera to take moon pictures.

I found this site which was very informative.

Here are a couple of the pictures.

I am still trying to figure out how to use my camera. These are my first successful manual photos.

Yeti Out!!!

Like A Walk In The Park

2009-03-07T09:36:00.004-05:00

Well it has been almost a month to the day since I last posted. At that time things seemed a little crazy where I work. So far since that terrible day things have somewhat calmed down. The only scary thing is that everyday the news keeps reporting that the stock market has reached a new low. It is concerning, but I am not going to go through my life worrying about what might happen. I feel that if you do that, then you are not enjoying life. You are just hoping that it doesn't effect you.

Enough of that.

As far as the title of this post, the weather around here for this weekend is extremely nice. So yesterday my wife and I decided to head to the Charlestown State Park with Cooper and do a little hiking. I had never hiked in the park before. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. We ended up hiking Trail 3, which is a little over 3 miles. By the time we returned to the car Cooper was ready to head home. I was a little disappointed by the amount of garbage that I saw along the trail. I don't understand why people have to be such assholes.

Here are a few pics. Enjoy.

Alright, it is hovering close to 70 degrees here right now. So I am going to head outside and enjoy some much welcomed sunshine.

Yeti Out!!!!!!!!!!

Perspective

2009-02-06T22:03:00.002-05:00

Today was a crazy day. Let me lay a little bit of ground work for this post. I work for a printing company in Indiana. I have worked there for a combination of about 17 years, minus the 4 year break I took to be a private investigator. When I first went to work for the company in October of 1989 it was a great place to work. It was family owned, and they really cared about their employees.

Now let us fast forward to 2006. The company is publicly held. It was the victim of a hostel take over. The person who bought the company is more concerned about money than people. I understand that is the way some people make their money, but I never thought that it would ever matter to me.

Over the next couple of years things were cut. We lost our 401k match, our raises were put on hold, and the stable life of employees that we had was shaken. I never thought that I would have to worry about my job with this company. Right before Christmas in 2006 several members of management were let go. To the workers on the floor it was a relief that they still had their jobs. Management always seemed a little overstaffed.

This past year there were suppose to be more cuts, but due to some people quitting and others getting fired, no cuts were necessary.

Today the ax fell again. This time all of the cuts were in the production area. I will say that some of the people who were cut deserved it. Others were just casualties. In all 37 people lost their jobs and joined the ranks of many others in American who will be searching for employment.

With this latest round of cuts, it makes me a little less confident in the company that I work for. I feel that it may be time for me to start making sure that I have something to fall back on in the event that I would become a casualty.

Hopefully the economy will take a turn for the good and there will be no need to worry. But until it does, NO ONE IS SAFE.

Yeti out......

Randomness.....

2009-01-22T09:27:00.003-05:00

Since I had not updated this blog in a while I thought that I should. There has not been a whole lot going lately. I have been training harder trying to get ready for the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon, which can be tracked on my other blog.

Last weekend was kind of a cluster. It all started off good and then quickly went to hell. Saturday I spent the morning putting my floor back down after getting all of the replacement pieces cut. Then it was the typical grocery shopping that has to be done on payday weekends. Sunday was my moms birthday, so I decided to have her over for a late breakfast. It was great. My aunt and her boyfriend showed up as well. After breakfast we broke out the Wii for a little bowling. My mom liked it so much that after she left my house she headed over to Best Buy and bought herself a Wii and Wii Fit.

A little while after everyone had left Autumn was walking down the hall. She was suddenly stopped by water coming out from under the floor! The damn dishwasher had obviously leaked again! So it was in to salvation mode. We had to tear up the entire hallway and a couple of strips in the living room. Luckily with acting quickly we were able to keep any of the flooring from sustaining any damage. I just could not believe that the dishwasher had not leaked in the week that I was waiting for my replacement floor to be delivered and that it waited until everything was put back together to leak. What are the odds. Everything is back down now. We just need to buy a new dishwasher. I am not chancing it again. The thing is a least 8 to 10 years old anyway.

As far as this week, all has been pretty good. On Wednesday Jade had her braces put on. She did quite well. We have not heard any complaints of pain or discomfort. They said that she would probably have them on anywhere from 12 to 18 months, depending on how things go.

The weather around here has been cold. But I am looking forward to the next couple of days. It is supposed to be near 50 today and tomorrow. Since this is the first decent weather we have had in awhile, Chris and I are planning on running later today.

Now I must try and get some things done around the house before a take a quick nap.

Yeti Out!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Crap!

2009-01-11T20:22:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it, but Robin Williams is coming to the area! He will be at the Louisville Palace on Friday March 20th. The funny thing about this is that I was just talking about how he was not coming anywhere close. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it in this mornings paper. I will definitely be going, since I missed him last time.

Can't wait! It should be awesome.

Just had to share.

Yeti Out!!!!!!

Totally Random Post

2009-01-03T11:50:00.003-05:00

This post is completely random, but I had not posted anything on this blog for awhile. I enjoy reading new things on the blogs that I follow, so I thought I would post something.

First off, it is official. I am old. As I was laying in bed last night around 1:00 am watching Vh1's 100 greatest rock songs. I saw the following commercial:

It was at that point that I realized I was old. SHIT!!!!!!!!

Next we have a couple of pictures that I took with the new 75-300 mm lens I received for Christmas. Enjoy.

I did go for a run this morning, but I have another blog for that. I will update it later.

Yeti Out!!!!!!!!

New Blog

2008-12-26T15:36:00.002-05:00

I have started a new blog. Check it out.

March to the Mini

Enjoy.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T06:58:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. It is hard to believe that it is here already. Hard to believe.

Christmas for my family always starts on Christmas Eve. We headed to my parents house around 1:00 pm. My brother and his family showed up about 20 minutes after we did. We then had a few turkey sandwiches and then off to opening gifts. I was reminded of how much fun it is to have a small child to buy for on Christmas. My brother's daughter just turned 2 earlier this month, so she had a blast opening gifts. It was really fun to watch. I took tons of pics. It just amazes me how a $2 toy can make a young child so happy.

After a couple of hours it was time to load up and head to my Grandma's house. You never know how many people will be there when you get there. I was surprised that the only people there were my cousin Pat and his family, and they were walking out the door when we walked in. We got to spend a little time with Grandma before having to head to my Aunt's.

My Aunt cooks a huge Christmas meal. Then it is into the chaos that is opening gifts with that side of the family. Let's just say it is a mad house. It is a very entertaining time though. We ended up heading home a little before 9:00 pm.

When we got home we just kind of hung out for a while. Watched A Christmas Story and then headed to bed.

It is currently 7:00 am and I am sure my house will soon come alive. I hope that the kids enjoy all of there gifts. I will try to post some pics later.

Merry Christmas!!

Later

18 Weeks!

2008-12-13T11:00:00.002-05:00

It is hard for me to believe, but the Kentucky Derby Mini-Marathon is only 18 weeks away. 18 weeks may sound like a long time, but in reality it's not. The bad thing is that I have seemed to have slacked off since I have returned from vacation. I am not sure if it is the weather or what, but I just don't seem to have the same drive that I had. I am still seeming to run at least 2 or 3 times a week. But I have not ran over 3 miles outside since before I went on vacation.

I talked to Scotty Z, and I think that he is going to run the Mini as well. Double D is still not sure if he can get his mileage up in time. I understand, since he is using every waking moment either watching his kids or working.

So I am going to have to re-dedicate myself or the Mini will suck ass! So starting next week it will be back to running every night. It may be cold, but I think I will live. I will start doing all of my long runs on the weekends. Hopefully the weather will be decent enough for Chris and I to run on Wednesdays. We had planned on running this past week, but the weather did not co-operate, it was pouring down rain.

So wish me luck!

Later

Long time no blog....

2008-11-30T15:27:00.005-05:00

It has been a while since I updated this thing. Not a lot to report. Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I know mine was good. It is always nice to get together with family.

After Thanksgiving it was time to get ready for Black Friday. I will say that I was not too excited about the sales this year. It seemed as if the retailers were holding back just to make sure that they made some money. Gibby and I headed to Meijer Friday morning about 3:00 am in order to pick up a couple of the 7" digital picture frames that they had on sale for $29. That is a good deal since they are normally about $80 or more. After waiting in the store for about 2 hours for the sale to actually start we checked out and headed home. Gibby dropped me a little after 5:00 am. That is when Autumn and I headed out the door. We shopped until about noon. We bought a few things, but nothing too exciting. After that we just hung out around the house.

Saturday started with cleaning in order to put up the Christmas decorations. After what seemed like forever we started assembling the tree. I always enjoy watching the kids put the ornaments on the tree.

You can see Grant getting a little air in the last picture trying to put an ornament near the top. The tree turned out pretty good in my opinion.

Since it is Sunday, it means back to work. They have cut out all overtime, which means 40 hour weeks. I am starting to get used to all of the extra time at home and I am liking it.

I have kind of slacked a little on the Mini Marathon training. I need to get my ass back in gear. I plan on starting that this week. I definitely need to get back to the long weekend runs. Maybe I can convince Chris that we need to start running on Wednesday's again. We will see.

Gotta go. Hope to post more often.

Later

Hunting update

2008-11-16T21:39:00.002-05:00

Hunting went well. I hunted all day Saturday and saw a total of 23 Deer. Nothing that I felt like taking. I was planning on hunting this afternoon, but covered up with the magic blanket on the couch and ended up waking up around 5:30 pm, when the family got home. Oh well, the season is in for 2 weeks.

I did get a call from my dad tonight and he had harvested an 11 point buck. I don't think I remember the last time that he had taken a deer, so I figured it had to be a good one. I rode up and took a look, and it is pretty nice. It is the biggest deer he has ever taken.

Here are a couple of photos. Be warned, they are of a dead deer.

Gotta get ready for work.

Later

Finally got to hunt.....

2008-11-14T17:56:00.003-05:00

Well today was the first opportunity that I have had this year to make it to the woods to hunt. Deer season started on October 1st, but this was the first day that I had the free time to get out. Some of you may not agree with hunting. That is cool. For me it may be more about the peacefulness of it that it is the actual hunt. It has been a couple of years since I have harvested a deer. And that one was because some jackass hunter shot the thing and did not bother to track it. So long story short it was more of a mercy killing.

Anyway here are a few pics from my stand this morning.

These were taken with my phone, so they are not the greatest quality.

Anyway, this is what I will be doing with my weekend. Rain or shine.

Later

Disney Land & Sea Vacation

2008-11-05T14:32:00.032-05:00

Let me just start off by saying that the vacation was much needed and wonderful. It was nice to get away with the family for approximately 10 days and enjoy the pleasure of not having to think about anything except having fun. We were also joined on this trip by Gibby and his family. Due to the different ways that we like to enjoy the Disney parks, we did not see much of each other during the trip. We saw more of each other during the cruise.

So here goes.

We started our vacation on Friday October 25, 2008 by heading to Enterprise Rental Car in Clarksville and picking up a GMC Envoy. I was not too sure how that thing would do on gas since it is a larger SUV. It did wonderful. I think I only spent somewhere around $175 round trip in fuel. It was then back to the house to load all of our luggage. I was happy to have the extra room of the bigger vehicle. Around 7:00 pm that evening we hit the road. I had borrowed Double D's GPS for this trip and it said that it would take around 12 hours for the trip. That is about what I figured, since I have made this drive numerous times in the past. The drive was going smoothly until somewhere between Atlanta and Macon. There must have been one hell of an accident, because it shut traffic down in all lanes. We got to sit there for about an hour. Once traffic started moving all of the lanes went at one time. After that the drive was smooth. We ended up getting to our resort around 9:00 am.

Once we arrived at the resort we immediatley got checked into the hotel. Unfortunately our room was not ready when we got there. Not a big deal . We went ahead and checked into the cruise line as well. That way when we got to the cruise terminal all we had to do was wait to board the ship. After getting everything checked in we headed back the Envoy so that Autumn and Jade could change. They had traveled comfortably and needed to change for the parks. Once that was complete it was off to Animal Kingdom.

When we got to Amimal Kingdom we immediately headed for Expedition Everest, since it is one of our favorite rides. The wait was not too bad. We grabbed fast passes and then jumped in the stand by line.

After riding that a couple of times it was time for some food. We decided to eat at Restaurantasaurus. Basically burgers and fries. Nothing too exciting, but good. Then it was off to check out the rest of the park. We hit the safari ride, where we saw plenty of animals including a baby giraffe and a baby elephant. We then walked through the animal exibits where they have gorillas.

After spending most of the afternoon there it was time to head to our room. The room was nice, but not much different that any other room they offer unless you are staying in a suite.

After getting everything situated in the room we headed to Wispering Canyon for dinner. It is located in the Wilderness Lodge. The food is served family style and consists of ribs, chicken, and pulled pork. Not thinking I forgot to take any pictures of the food there. I guess I was just too hungry. After dinner we decided that we would head to Downtown Disney for awile. Those plans changed when I fell asleep while riding one of the busses and banged my head on the window. I had been awake for about 30 hours at that point. We made the decision at that point to head back to the resort for the evening.

Sunday morning we started out at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Once we were let into the park we immediately headed to Toy Story Mania. That ride is just awesome. It is a little like the Buzz Lightyear ride in the Magic Kingdom, but it is what Disney calls 4-D. We grabbed fast passes and headed for the standby line. It only took us a little over 25 minutes to get onto the ride the first time. Our fast passes were for around 1:00 pm, so we headed over to the Great Movie Ride, which is one of Jade's favorite rides. After that we decided to head over to Beaches & Cream for some lunch. Burgers and ice cream, enough said. After lunch we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom.

There we saw the Philharmagic Show, which is a 3-D show. We then hit the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribean, and Buzz Lightyear.

After riding all of that it was back to Hollywood Studios. Once there we rode the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster. After that we headed for the Fantasmic Show. If you have not seen this show it is a must. After watching the show we decided to head back to the resort for the evening.

Monday started out at the Magic Kingdom. We pretty much rode most of the rides that we had rode on the other days in this park. We had lunch in Cinderella's Castle. This was the first time we had eaten there. The food was good.

After that it was off to Epcot. There we hit Mission Space. We then walked over to the World Showcase and met up with Gibby and his family. We rode the ride in Norway and then had some School Bread, Yummy!!

After that it was off to Test Track and then back to the resort for the evening. Here are a couple of pics around the resort during the evening.

Tuesday started off with heading to Epcot. Once we arrived we headed to Soarin' to grab some fast passes. While waiting to ride Soarin' we checked out Turtle Talk with Crush, Mission Space, and the Finding Nemo ride. After that it was lunch at Coral Reef. Awesome food, great atmosphere.

After lunch we headed back to the World Showcase to have some goodies from the Food & Wine Festival booths that were set up. Plenty of taste treats. I also had to try the Gran Marnier Slush. It was tasty, but not worth $9.

After that it was off to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We had a good time there except that the temperature had dropped and we were freezing! One of the main reasons to head to this event is to see the parade, which was not a let down.

After spending the evening there it was time to head back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Wednesday was our last day at the parks, so we made the most of it. We started off our day by heading to Hollywood Studios. There we hit Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, Rockin' Rollercoaster, and of course Grant had to have a turkey leg.

Then it was off to the Animal Kingdom and Expedition Everest! After riding Everest a couple of times we hit the Bugs Life Show. Then it was time for lunch at Boma, located in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Boma is an African inspired buffet. Great food at a hefty price. We then finished off our day with a trip to Downtown Disney, where we were able to check out the new T-Rex Restaurant. Pretty cool, but a lot like Rain Forrest Cafe.

After spending the evening at Downtown Disney it was time to head back to the resort and start getting things ready to head to the boat. After getting all things packed it was time to get some sleep.

Thursday started off kind of early. I guess we were just ready to go. We ended up waking up around 8:00 am and were on the road a little after 10:00. It took us about an hour to get to Port Canaveral. Once there we just had to get through customs and then wait to board the ship. While waiting to board, Grant and I walked out to look at the boat and we saw 3 manatees swimming near the boat. It was kind of neat to actually see some in the wild.

After about an hour we were able to board the ship. Once on board we were headed for a huge lunch buffet. They had just about anything anyone would want to eat.

After lunch it was up to the top of the boat for the cast off party. Around 5:00 pm we were under way. Then we headed to our room to get ready for the Golden Mickey's show. It is like an awards show for Disney movies and characters. The show was pretty good. After that we had about an hour to look through the on board shops. Then it was off to dinner. Our first night we had dinner at Animator's Palate, which is the restaurant that changes from black and white to color.

After dinner headed back to the room to change. Then we just explored the boat. Lots to see.

Friday started with us arriving in Nassau. I was not excited about going to Nassau at all. Just the thought of being hounded by people wanting my money is annoying to me. But since I was there I felt like I had to at least see it. So we had breakfast with Gibby and his family and then headed off of the ship. Once off of the ship it was a barrage of people wanting to take me on a tour or braid one of the girls hair. Once we got past that it was all about the shopping. More for the girls that us. While we were waiting outside one of the shops Grant was swinging on a light pole. He swung around to another pole and touched it at the same time. This was a mistake, since it shocked the crap out of him. So my advice to anyone who would get off of the boat in Nassau is DO NOT TOUCH THE LIGHT POLES!! We walked around for awhile and saw the Straw Market and Senoir Frogs. Then we decided to take a water taxi to Paradise Island and see the Atlantis Hotel. This was the best part of Nassau. I wish they would find a way to dock the boat over on Paradise Island and not Nassau.

I am not quite sure how we did it, but we managed to get into some of the areas of the Atlantis hotel that are for guest who are staying there. We were able to walk through a shark tunnel and see some of the aquarium. That place is sweet. After that we decided to head back to the ship so that the kids to Trick or Treat on the ship since it was Halloween.

We got back on the ship around 3:00 pm. We got to relax for awhile before heading to the Toy Story play. It pretty much stuck to the movie.

After that it was time for dinner at Parrot Cay. Good food. It was Pirate night and Halloween, so there plenty of people dressed up. There were four people on the boat dressed like ghosts from the Haunted Mansion. There costumes look like they worked for the cruise line. Have a look.

After dinner we headed to the top deck for the Pirates in the Caribbean Party. Good times were had by all.

Saturday started off with us arriving on Castaway Cay, which is Disney's private island. All I can say is that this place is so awesome that when we did finally get back on the boat that day we booked another cruise for 2010. I decided to run the 5k on the island to start my day. It was not too bad, since I had not run in about 8 days. After the run I headed back to the ship for a shower and breakfast. After breakfast it was off to the island for some beach time and site seeing. I will let a few pictures tell the story.

After a day in the sun it was time to head back to the ship for our final night on board. That night we saw the Disney Dreams Show and had dinner at Tritons. Both were excellent. Grant decided at dinner that he was going to try the escargot. That may have been one of the funniest things that happened on the trip. After dinner we did a little shopping and then headed back to the room to get everything packed for the trip home.

The morning came and we were in Port Canaveral again. We got up, got dressed, grabbed some breakfast, and hit the road. It took us about 13 1/2 hours to get home. Not a bad drive.

And that was the trip. Sorry it took so long to get this posted. All I can say is that if you ever get the chance to take a trip like this is to do it. It was a blast.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

See ya.

And We're Back!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-03T15:04:00.004-05:00

Vacation was awesome. Had a complete blast. It will take me a couple of days to get a trip report together, so please hang in there. It is coming.

I did run the 5k on Castaway Cay. There were 11 people who ran it and I finished 3rd, not counting Jay the Pub Master, who was the leader. That guy is nuts. He has ran 7 marathons and two 100 milers. I finished the run in 24:42.92. Not bad since I had not run in about 10 days and had eaten like a hog.

Back to getting everything unpacked.

Yeti Out!!!!!!!!!!

A Few Pics From the New Camera

2008-10-23T14:01:00.006-04:00

Here are a few pics from the new camera. Enjoy.

One More Day!

2008-10-23T12:22:00.002-04:00

It is almost here! We only have a little over 1 day before we head south for a little over 10 days. This has been almost a year in the planning and I can not believe that it is that close. I don't know if it has been wanting to get this week over with or just being ready to go, but I have slept like crap all week. I have been waking up around 11:30 am almost everyday. I try to go back to sleep, but it does not always work out.

Tonight will be the first time I have worked 3rd shift in quite some time. I normally go in early on Thursday night so that I can get out of there early and basically have a 3 day weekend. It works out nicely. But since we will be driving all night Friday night, I need to sleep most of the day Friday.

Once I get up on Friday, Gibby and I will head to Enterprise and pick up the cars. After that it is get everything loaded, wait for the kids to get home, grab a bite to eat, and then hit the road for approximately 12 hours. We hope to pull into our hotel around 8:00 am on Saturday morning. I don't see that being a problem.

I tried my hand at mobile blogging last Saturday from my iPhone, but it did not work. So, I will just have to post a trip report with pics when I get home. I will probably have to break it up into a couple of post not to bore everyone, but we will see.

Can't wait for today to get over with so that tomorrow can begin.

So until next time......

Yeti Out!!!!

New Toy

2008-10-21T18:21:00.002-04:00

Well I finally did it. I went out and bought myself a new camera.

I have been wanting one of these for quite some time. I was hoping that I would be able to get one before the Disney Land & Sea vacation. Things fell into place. I am sure that it will take some time for me to figure this thing out, but I will do the best I can. So hopefully there will be some awesome pictures of the upcoming trip.

I will post some of the first pics once the battery gets charged.

See ya.....

It just wouldn't be Sunday without a run...

2008-10-19T06:22:00.002-04:00

It is about 6:15 am on Sunday and I am just about to head out the door to meet Double D for a run. He emailed me yesterday and had mapped out a 4 mile loop near his house. We will see how it goes the first time around and may try to do 8 miles. The temp this morning is in the mid 40's, so that should make things a little more interesting.

If we make the 8 mile loop, that will be the farthest that I have gone in years. So wish us luck.

Gotta run....

One More Week!!!!!

2008-10-17T07:14:00.002-04:00

Good morning all.

Well, in just about one week I will be getting ready to head off on my Walt Disney World Land & Sea vacation. I can not wait. This thing has been almost an entire year in the planning and financing. It should be one great and much needed vacation. I have been working my ass off this week to have as much extra spending money as possible for this trip. I would rather have too much and return with some than see something that I have to have and not have the funds to buy it.

I am still running just about every night with Chris. We may start adding in some long runs during the week now that both of our schedules have freed up some. We will see. The goal for me is to get be able to run the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon without dying or walking. I am not sure which one I would consider worse.

Hopefully this week will not drag. I am sure that it will though.

Well I am off to bed.

So until next time.....

Yeti Out!!!!

Mini Marathon Training Update

2008-10-12T08:50:00.002-04:00

Good Morning!

Well, I have resumed my weekend long runs. I woke up around 6:00 am this morning. I then checked email to make sure that I would not be leaving any of my fellow Yetis out if they were up for a run. After a quick bite to eat I was out the door.

I chose to head over to the house I grew up in, which is one of my longer training routes. Today I added a little to the run making it a total of 7.25 miles. I managed to finish the run in 1:01:10 which was about an 8:40 mile. I am cool with that. I will begin to lengthen these runs over the next couple of months with my goal being around 15 miles. That way the mini won't feel so bad.

Here is the route that I took:

7.25 Mile Run
Find more Runs in Jeffersonville, Indiana
So until next time.....

Yeti Out!!!!

Harvest Homecoming Fast 5K

2008-10-11T10:07:00.002-04:00

Today Chris, Gibby, and I ran the Harvest Homecoming Fast 5K. This was my third 5K in three weeks. I ended up waking up around 4:30 am this morning after getting to bed around 1:00 am. The life of a 3rd shifter! I tried to go back to sleep with no luck. I got up, got dressed, and grabbed a small bite to eat. I did not want to eat anything too heavy, like a No Way Jose!

I then left the house around 7:40 am to go pick up Gibby. Got to his house around 7:45 am and picked him up. I took about 15 minutes to get to the site of the run, which was on our home court. We run in that area just about every night that we work. Chris pulled in right behind us. We then walked inside and got registered. After sitting around for about 30 minutes we walked outside. Glad that I did, since I had put on a base layer and it needed to come off. It was warmer than I thought.

We were then informed that due to some road construction that what I thought was the course had been changed. Not a big deal since I did not expect to be the leader. The women were given a 3 minute head start anyway. Not sure why, but who cares. After the 3 minute wait for the women we were off. For whatever reason I shot out like a bat out of hell. I quickly realized my mistake and settled into a better pace with Chris. I thought that the race went pretty good. I ended up setting a new PR of 23:16. Chris came in just over 24 and Gibby just over 35. We all received one of the 100 finisher medals!

After the race was over we headed home. The rest of my day will be filled with a band competition. I am not sure when my next official 5k will be, but I am probably going to run one on Disney's Castaway Cay when we are there in a couple of weeks.

So until next time.....

Yeti Out!

Day of the Buddy Run

2008-10-05T02:15:00.011-04:00

Saturday was the day of the Down Syndrome of Louisville Buddy Run 5k. The day started off early and ended late for me. It began with Chris picking me up a little before 8:00 am to head over to the Louisville waterfront, the site of the best PR we have ever posted. Once we arrived we ran into DD and Sam. This would be Sam's first 5k ever. We then made our way to the registration table to gather our bib numbers and get signed in. For whatever reason they did not have our info. No big deal, they just had us fill out a registration form, handed us our bib and shirt and we were off.

Scotty Z joined the pack and we passed the time with having Sam pose for pics with Tweety Bird and U of L Cheerleaders. You can tell by the pics that Sam must have hated this.

After awhile we lined up for the start of the 5k. For whatever reason DD thought that he should be in front of Chris and I. Who was he kidding? As the race started Chris took off like they were giving away Cheerleaders to the winner. We hit the first mile under 7 minutes. This pace was insane! We made the turn at the halfway point at just over 12 minutes, still maintaining our pace. We passed DD, Sam, and Scotty Z on the way back.

We ended up finishing up the run around 24:30. That time seemed a little long, since we were killing it. Chris talked with a runner who was near us and she said that the course had to be longer than a 5k. I think that I agree. Chris and I then waited near the finish line to cheer on our fellow runners. DD was the first of our crew to cross just over 27 minutes. He was then followed by Sam and then Scotty Z.

Sam crossing the finish line.

Scotty Z crossing the finish line.

After everyone finished the run I grabbed a couple of bottles of water and gave Gibby a call, who was bringing Autumn over for the Buddy Walk. We then made our way over to the walk registration table and met up with them. It was then off on the walk. It was a nice event which had plenty of great sponsors, including Papa Johns, Krispy Kreme, Sonic, and Fuse energy drink. I felt obligated to try all of their products as not to hurt their feelings.

After the walk we hung out with DD and his family for awhile before Autumn and I had to go. We were off to Columbus East High School to watch Jade, our daughter, perform in the District marching band competition. We had a little bit of time to kill before the competition, so we headed to the outlet mall to see if we could find any good deals. We found a few. I bought some long sleeve dry fit clothing at the Reebok outlet. It is in Chris's favorite color for night running, Black!!! We then made our way to the band competition, where the Jeff High Band took gold!

Once the competition finished up we were on our way home. It took us a little over an hour to get home. We stopped by the house for a few minutes and then headed to the high school to pick up Jade.

We then decided to end the evening by hanging out by the fire pit and enjoying some hot dogs and marshmallows. I think that it finished up the day quite nicely.

I think the next run for some of the Yeti Crew will be next weekend. Not sure who all will be able to make it, but I plan on being there.

So until next time......

Yeti Out!!!!

Expedition Everest Challenge Recap

2008-09-30T14:11:00.024-04:00

Let me start off by saying that if you didn't go you just don't know. This was one of the best trips I have ever taken. I could not have asked for a better group of friends to experience this event with.

We got things started off around 8:45 pm with Gibby picking me up. We then headed over to kidnap Chris. The kidnapping was painless and we were on our way. The ride to Orlando went pretty well. We made the trip in just a little over 13 hours, which had us arriving in the Orlando area around 10:15 am. Due to a GPS programming error on either mine or Chris' part we got to see the downtown area of Orlando before KG reprogrammed the thing and got us on the right track to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We arrived at the lodge a little before 11:00 am and checked in. Our room was ready so we unloaded the car and headed for the room. The room was very nice. Here is a pic of the room and the view of the pool from our balcony on the 4th floor.

We then decided it was time to head to the parks. We started off by making our way to Epcot to pick up our 1 day park hopper tickets from will call. Unfortunately for me, trying to travel light, I did not bring my photo id. This meant that I had to make my way all of the way back to the hotel to get it. So Chris and Kevin headed to the Magic Kingdom and I headed back to the resort, not before remembering to get the safe key from Chris in order to get my wallet. That would have sucked to make it all the way back and not have the safe key. It took me about an hour to make the trip to the hotel and meet my Yeti's at the Magic Kingdom.

Once I met back up with them we hit the rides. We rode Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and the Buzz Lightyear Ride. We then headed over to Hollywood Studios.

Our main goal when getting to Hollywood Studios was to ride Disney's newest ride Toy Story Mania. I had read on several message boards online that the wait times were terrible for this and that the fast passes were always gone early. The fast passes were gone, but we only had to wait about 45 minutes to ride. Which I don't think was too bad for a brand new ride. There was plenty to see inside the waiting area.

One of the coolest parts of the waiting area was the talking Mr. Potato Head. That thing was awesome. It was very interactive. It would talk to people in line and ask them questions.

We then made it onto the ride, which was worth every second of the wait. It is a 4D attraction, which means that you ride the thing with 3D glasses on. It was made up of several different shooting gallery games, a lot like the Buzz Lightyear ride, but way better. I can see why the wait is so long and the fast passes are always gone early. I can't wait to get back in 24 days and ride that thing again. After riding that we headed over to the Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. We were able to ride Tower of Terror twice and Rock n Roller Coaster once.

We then left Hollywood Studios and headed to Epcot for Extra Magic Hours. Which meant that they were open until midnight!! Once in Epcot we rode Soarin, the Nemo ride, Mission Space, and Test Track. I had never ridden Test Track at night, so that was pretty cool. We then grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Saturday started off with us heading to Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. This was my first time there. It is a huge complex. We were there for our package pickup and course talk. There were also some photo ops.

After the packet pickup we parked the car at Animal Kingdom in order have a change of clothes and some after race beverages. We then decided to head to Downtown Disney and do a little souvenir shopping for the families. We also ate lunch at Earl of Sandwich, another place that I had never eaten but will definitely return to on the next trip. We then decided that due to time constraints that we would opt to skip Epcot and give the 3 1 day tickets away on the DIS boards. That way they would not go to waste and karma would be good to us. We then headed over to Beaches and Cream for a pre-race dessert. I had the awesome No Way Jose! See pic below.

After that it was back to the resort for about an hour of relaxation before heading to the challenge. We then jumped a bus, which was parked right outside of the resort and only for those participating in the challenge.

Once to the challenge area we got in line for some photo ops. Then it was off to our wave start points. Chris was in wave 1 and we were in wave number 2. He just dropped back into our wave so that we could run as Team Sweaty Yeti. The race was awesome.

We ended up finishing the entire event in 1:02:17, which was a decent time since we had to get two different passports with clues. That meant that we had to find 8 clues instead of 4. Once we crossed the finish line and handed our passports off for verification we were headed to the car and then back to the after party. The only rides open that I had any interest in were Expedition Everest, which we rode 8 times and Dinosaur, which we rode twice. We had a lot of fun doing crazy things in the ride photos. We made sure that anyone who rode near us knew that they had just rode with the Yetis.

We ended up closing the park down at around midnight. We then walked to the car and headed back to the resort for some much needed sleep.

Sunday morning came early. We ended up getting on the road around 7:30 am. After about 12 1/2 hours on the road we finally arrived home just before 8:00 pm.

And that ends our journey.

So until next time.....

Yeti Out!!!!!!!

Today is the day!!!!!

2008-09-25T08:45:00.002-04:00

Well it is finally here. Chris, KG, and I are heading to Disney World in approximately 12 hours to participate in the Expedition Everest Challenge on Saturday. This trip has been in the works since early February. It seemed like such a long time away when we first booked it. Now it is here.

We will be driving. So hopefully we don't end up running out of gas in Nashville or Atlanta. I don't think that we will, but wish us luck anyway. We plan on getting to Disney around 9 or 10 am on Friday and then enjoying a day of park hopping. We will probably end our day with closing down Epcot. We will begin Saturday morning in Epcot, participate in the event around 7, and then finish up the day in the Animal Kingdom for the after party. Should be a blast. I will be sure to take lots of pics for blog updates when we return.

For those of you who can't go, here is just a little taste of one of the rides we will be enjoying.

So until next time....

Yeti Out!

Felt Like Tina After A Round With Ike....

2008-09-20T04:13:00.004-04:00

I know it has been awhile since my last post. All I can say is that life has a way of getting in the way. I am not saying that is a bad thing, but it does take up a lot of time. So let me recap...

Since the last time I posted not too much had happened until this past week. The training for the Expedition Everest 5K has went excellent. We leave this coming Thursday and head to Disney!!! Last Sunday started out quite nicely. Chris and Double D showed up at the house for a Sunday morning 5 mile run. The run went well with a finishing time right around 52 minutes. We let Double D set the pace, since he has not been training for 6 months. This was also Chris's first run of that distance. While we were running we had noticed that it was a little more windy than usual. Not windy enough for us to see what we would be in for later in the day though. After the run we hung out and talked for awhile before Chris and Double D had to make their way home.

Sunday was also my 17th wedding anniversary. Autumn had been sick on Friday and Saturday but said that she was feeling better on Sunday. So I wanted to go out for lunch to celebrate our anniversary. We decided to head to Cheddar's, which is one of my favorite restaurants. By this time the winds had picked up significantly. So, we put our name on the list and waited. While we were waiting the power at the restaurant went out. The hostess then walked to the front doors and locked them, so no more people could enter. The power was only out for maybe 10 minutes. Not long after the power came back on we were seated. No sooner than the appetizers hit the table the power was out again. Our waiter came over and said that it was going to be a few before he would be able to put our order in, which was fine since I had a plate of chips and salsa in front of me. After probably 15 minute he came back and gave us the option of waiting or leaving without owing a thing. We chose to leave, which turned out to be a good thing since they were without power for 4 days.

We then decided we would head home, since just about everywhere we passed was without power. Along the way home we noticed numerous trees blown down or broken and plenty of roofs and siding missing on homes. As we pulled onto our street I was hopeful that we did not have any damage to the house. I was wrong. We have some roof damage. I was able to get it secured for now, but am waiting on the insurance adjuster to take a look at it. The power was out at the house. Luckily the weather had turned a little cooler, so opening the windows kept the house comfortable. While I was on the roof securing the damage I received a voice mail from one of the managers at work who gave me the great news (sarcasm) that we would be closed that night. Oh well, just meant I did not need to take a nap. I then made phone calls to Chris and Gibby, my fellow Yeti's, to make sure that they were aware.

After sitting around the house for awhile longer we decided to take a ride around the area and look at the damage and find somewhere to eat. Lots of trees and homes were damaged in Jeff, Clarksville, and New Albany. We ended up heading to a Pizza Hut in New Albany, which was the least crowded of every place that we saw and were there for almost 2 hours. As we headed back home we were hoping that we would have power, but we did not.

We were without power for almost 4 days! Our power came back on at 1:22 pm on Wednesday. I know this because the fan in our bedroom woke me. I don't think I have ever been happier to be woken that early in the day. After 4 days with no electricity all of the food in the fridge was gone. We had been surviving on PB&J and fast food, and cold showers. The kids were out of school for the entire week, which had to suck for them being stuck home with no power. Luckily we were able to charge gameboy's and ipod's with the car chargers, so this gave them some relief.

Things seem to be back to normal now. Although my parents still do not have power. They live out past Charlestown in an area with not too many homes, so it may be awhile for them. I talked to my brother who lives near Cincinnatti and he has damage to his home, but never lost power.

I do want to say thanks to Chris, Kevin, and Double D for all of the "Do you need anything?" and "If you need to shower or wash clothes or anything the house is available". It makes it nice to have a group of friends that you know you can count on. So, Thank You.

On a happier note, we are only days away from the Everest Challenge!!! It is going to be a great trip and I can't wait to go. I will definately blog and post pics once we return for all of you who are not able to go.

So until next time.....

Yeti Out!

Taking the weekend off

2008-08-30T06:42:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the weekend. It seems like it has been a long time coming. Not sure why, but this week felt like it went on forever. I guess because a lot seemed to happen. Let me recap.

The week started off promising, or so I thought. For those of you who know me, and if you are reading this I assume that you do, you know that I have worked my ass off over the past 12 weeks trying to be the Biggest Loser. Unfortunately I am not. I still managed to drop 39 pounds in that time and am very happy for that. It started out being about the money and turned into what will hopefully be a lifestyle. I have regained my love of running and don't plan on stopping any time soon.

After that the week just continued along the same path as always. Work, sleep, work, repeat. There were also all of the chauffeur duties that have come up with the kids being in activities with school, which is a great thing, just a time killer. As the week started to draw to a close, we were informed at work that we would be forced to take Monday night off as well as Sunday night. Not a big shock, but it sucks to be forced to take days off. So I decided not to bitch too much about this one and just enjoy an extra long weekend. This just means that next week will be much more leisurely than most. Works for me!

Yesterday was my wife's birthday, so we spent the day just doing whatever she wanted. We headed over to the Oxmoor area and did some shopping. We both are in need of new clothes for our upcoming Disney Land and Sea vacation in October and now is a great time to buy since all of the stores are getting all of there winter stuff out. Yes it is 90 degrees today and I just said winter. Anyway there are deals to be had. We also ate at a Red Robin restaurant. I had seen the commercials, but did not know where one was. Now I know. The food was pretty good but kinda pricey for burgers. But now I can say I have eaten there. Not sure if I will be back, but who knows.

Not sure what the rest of the weekend will hold. All I know is that it will be relaxing. After this weekend it will be back to running everyday. I think that I am ready for the Everest 5k, but my goal is to do the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon next year. So that is a whole other amount of training.

So until next time.....

Yeti Out!

23 minutes, seriously?

2008-08-23T13:29:00.008-04:00

The title pretty much says it all. Today Chris, Double D, KG, and myself headed over to Slugger Field for the 1st annual Shirley Stufflebeam Memorial Race Against ALS 5k. Chris, Double D, and myself chose to bike over. KG had to drive, since he had a soccer coaches meeting shortly after the run.

The ride over was a pretty good warm up and fairly leisurely. As we crossed the Ohio on the 2nd Street bridge we were greeted by KG. Once we made it to Slugger Field we met up once again with KG and placed our helmets and backpacks in his mobile locker. We then locked up the bikes and made our way to the packet pick up tables. There were plenty of bagels, bananas, and power bars to be had prior to the race. Chris and I chose to try out the power bars, which actually looked like molded vomit. They were decent. More taffy like than I expected. We then made our way to the starting line for the run.

It took awhile for the run to get started. I guess that could be expected since this was the first annual run. They finally got things underway and we were off. Double D hung with Chris and I for about the first quarter of a mile then we gradually pulled away. We started out at a faster pace than I like to run but soon settled in on what I assumed was my normal pace, or close enough to it to be comfortable.

As we ran along near the river we could smell the wonderful aromas of dead fish and cat food. Made for a pleasant run. The course was pretty flat with only one small hill, which was not much worse than the hill that we run almost every night. As Chris and I made our way through the course and back towards Slugger Field we spotted the finish line. At that point we decided that this was the time to pass our target, which we had been keeping in our sites the whole way. We were able to pass him with not too much more effort, but as we did we saw the clock near the finish line. To both of our amazement the thing read just over 23 minutes. That is when we turned it on. Chris ended up finishing in front of me with a time of 23:36 I think, and mine was 23:42. Not sure on the exact times just yet, since they won't be posted until tomorrow night. I will change those if needed. I did not have what it took to catch Chris as we took off. As we sat at the finish line in disbelief we watched for Double D and KG. Double D finished with a time just over 27 and KG finished just over 29. I think that everyone finished in within the times that they had set for themselves. Great times by everyone!

After the run we headed to the site of the awards ceremony, where there were still plenty of bagels and fruit. We ate our fill and relaxed. After awhile Papa Johns Pizza was brought in. None of us were too interested in it. We pretty much knew going in to this one there would not be any awards won by any of us, since they were only giving out awards to the top finisher in each age group and ours was 30 - 39. Still had a great time. After KG departed we hung out for a bit, then decided it was time to head home. The ride home was decent except for the hills near Walnut Ridge Cemetery. Those things are pretty brutal, but the shortest route to the house.

That will more than likely be the last run before the Disney trip. We may run the Chicken Chase, which is a 4 mile run. Not sure on that one yet. We still need to find out more info. So as far as I am concerned the next run will be the Everest Challenge. Chris and I had said that if we did it in 25 minutes we would be happy. Well I guess we should be happy. I think we will easily accomplish that.

So until next time.....

Yeti out!

To The Bikes!

2008-08-17T12:33:00.007-04:00

Hello faithful reader(s). As usual this weekend included a bike ride with my fellow Yeti's Chris and KG. Along for the ride were Double D and Scotty Z.

Double D and I left my house around 6:30 am and headed to meet KG. After a short ride over the tracks and through the woods we met up with Chris and Scotty Z.

For the first time since we have been doing the Saturday morning rides, we had absolutely no idea of where we wanted to go. Luckily for us KG had been looking online for possible routes. He had thought that it would be cool to head out to Utica and then along Utica Pike, the site of Double D's first wreck, towards the Falls of the Ohio. So that is what we did.

We made our way to Utica without a hitch. Chris and Double D said that they needed to stop and remove a layer, since they had bundled up for the morning ride. So we decided to stop near the entrance to the Quary Bluff Townhome entrance. We then thought that we would be able to get to Quary bluff from there. After doing some looking around we decided that there was no way to get there from where we were at. We then decided to head back out to Utica Pike and follow it until it ended at the Army Ammo Plant. Along the way Double D decided that he needed to leave his mark on the ground. Not sure if it was the wind from the crazy driver in the Caddy that kept flying past us or if Bambi just did not have his legs yet. But he went down again. I think that we may have to keep him off of that road.

We followed the road all of the way until it ended at a gate. We could have probably made our way either under or around the gate, but we did not think pushing our luck in a military institution would be the smartest thing to do. So we stopped for a moment to decide what to do next. KG told Chris that he wanted to take the famed Trek for a spin to see what all of the hype was about. He did and he loved it. Chris spent a few moments eating and clowning around.

After the short break we decided to head toward the Falls of the Ohio. Along the way we lost Double D once due to his chain coming off, or so he says. I think he may have went down again, but who knows. KG also had a chain malfunction, that required Scotty Z's assistance. As we headed towards the Falls we decided that due to time constraints we should probably head towards the house. The ride home was uneventful.

As far as Sunday goes, it started out with my usual morning run. I ran 6 miles in 51:45. Not bad. Chris, KG, Double D, and I will be running a 5k next weekend near Slugger Field. We plan to bike over and then run the race. Should be a good time. This may be the last official 5k that we run before the Expedition Everest Challege next month, but you never know. So until next time...

Yeti out!

The Weekend

2008-08-10T11:11:00.004-04:00

The weekend started out the same as it has for the past couple of weeks. Chris and I had already planned to take our Saturday morning bike ride. Only this time we were graced with the presence of Double D, who joined us last week, and KG, who was making his first appearance on the weekend ride.

I was hoping that we would be able to peddle out to the old army ammo plant and gain access to what would possibly be miles of newly paved roads, since they have been converting it over to an industrial park. Unfortunately, I was wrong. So, we decided to improvise. We decided to peddle out towards Charlestown and then head along 403 towards Sellersburg.

Once in Sellersburg we headed towards Clarksville. Along the way we had the idea to head towards Covered Bridge Golf Course. Luckily we came to our senses and chose not to head that way. We then headed into Clarksville along 131. At the end of 131 we decided to head towards Old Clarksville, which meant that we got to bike across a walking bridge. After that we realized that it was getting about time to head back since Double D and Chris had planned on being home around 10 am. All in all it was a good ride. I always look forward to the weekend and the rides with good friends.

As for Sunday, I have decided to make that my long distance run day. I had planned a route that would take me from my house to the house I grew up in, which is about 6.8 miles. I set out this morning and completed that route. I would say that it took a little over an hour. I had planned to time it, but forgot. Maybe next time. Below is a map of our bike ride for all those interested, and those not.

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/in/jeffersonville/274782668154"&amp;gt;28 Mile Loop through Charlestown, Sellersburg, and Clarksville&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/in/jeffersonville"&amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Jeffersonville, Indiana&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;
Until next time,
Yeti out!

Bike ride to work

2008-08-05T18:44:00.002-04:00

Well, we finally did it. Chris and I decided that since he would be able to go into work early a couple of days this week that we would make this the week to ride to work. All thing went well. I realized rather quickly that carrying a back pack meant that I would have a very sweaty back. So I immediately changed into my running shirt so I would have a dry shirt when I got to work.

It took us about 40 minutes, which is the same as when we did a test ride a couple of weeks ago. We decided to take a different route home that had less hills. I think that we actually got home faster than we got to work.

Unfortunately the weather is calling for rain, so I will not be riding today. I don't want to get stuck in a storm. So hopefully tomorrow. That way I can try out my new helmet, which arrived today.

Yeti out!

Yeti to Yeti 6 miler

2008-08-03T08:59:00.002-04:00

Not sure if it was insanity or guilt, but when I woke up this morning around 5:30 am I immediately thought that I needed to go run. As I set out I wondered if I had it in me, and yes that is what she said, to make it to Chris's house and back. So I ran to Chris's house, which is approximately 2.5 miles from my house touched his mailbox and headed back. As I got closer to my neighborhood I felt pretty good and decided to try and make it to the stop sign at the end of Kevin's street, which would add another mile to my run.

Well, I did it! As far as the guilt part, I had a couple of pieces of pizza from my son's birthday party last night.

So, you make the call.

Yeti out!

The Weekly Saturday Ride

2008-08-02T11:19:00.004-04:00

The day started off pretty good. Double D showed up at the house around 6:15 am. We then unloaded his new Schwinn out of the rear of the "Rondizovous". We then set out to meet Chris at the credit union.

Chris showed up and we set off. Today we were going to take a ride to Slugger Field in order to determine just how long it would take to get there, since we are planning on riding to a 5k that starts and ends there later this month. The ride to Slugger Field was pretty uneventful. It took us about 35 minutes to get there. We had to cross the Ohio River via the Second Street bridge, which has bike share lanes. All went well. After reaching our destination we just kind of winged it. We headed to the Cherokee triangle area. It is a nice area to do some peddling. We then decided we would head back across the river.

Once back in our home state we decided to ride along the river towards Utica, which is a small town along the river. Along the way Chris showed us the house that he grew up in, which was kind of cool since it was right on the water.

After leaving Chris's homestead we continued our way towards Utica. This is where things got interesting. As we were riding Double D had sped up. Upon doing this his foot came off of the pedal and he began to lean. As all of this was happening a truck was passing us. Double D's front tire hit my back tire, and all I can say is Mountain Bike 1, Rode Bike 0. Double D went down! Chris was behind Double D and saw the whole thing happen. I see the guy in the truck hit his brakes and start to back up. He gets to me and it completely freaked out thinking that he had caused Double D to go down. I told him that it was not his fault, but he still seemed shook up as he drove away. Double D scraped his knee, his elbow, and his hand. But like a trooper he got back on the bike. He had to get back right back off and put his chain back on, but after that we were on our way. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.

Chris had the oportunity to borrow a very nice Trek mountian bike from his brother in law. That thing is sweet. I was able to take it for a quick spin while we were stopped for Double D to plant a fence post. Trek bikes will make you hate any bike that you have been on before.

All in all we traveled approximatley 27 miles. Not bad for our second ride. Here is a map of the ride.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/in/jeffersonville/620881353"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Credit Union to Slugger Field/ Cherokee Triangle/Utica and back 27 Miles&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/in/jeffersonville"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Jeffersonville, Indiana&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
Anyway, that was todays adventure. We plan on making this a regular ride, so you never know what will happen.

Yeti out!

Saturday's 5k

2008-07-27T00:42:00.005-04:00

The run went better than expected. Let me start off by telling you how the day started. I ended up waking around 4:30 am this morning. After lying in bed for awhile attempting to go back to sleep I decided that it just was not going to happen. So I got up and had a small breakfast. At about 6:30 Chris showed up at the house, right on time I may add, and we made our way to Shawnee Park for the 5k. As we exited the car we were immediately welcomed with the great smell of bacon. After taking a moment to enjoy the aroma we made our way to the registration location. After signing in and receiving our numbers I was amazed at the amount of people running before the thing even started. I mean it's only a 5k. Not a whole lot of warm up needed in my opinion, but I am not a marathon runner.

Before the race started we positioned ourselves at the back of the pack. As we were standing at the back waiting for the run to start we both picked out "targets" that we thought we could finish in front of for our goals. Mine was a lady probably in her 60's and Chris's looked like John Ratzenberger from Cheers. As we started our run we quickly passed our targets. As we passed them we set new goals. Those goals were also met. The final "targets" were a bit harder to acquire, but we did it. As we rounded the final turn and headed for the finish we gave it all that we had. To our amazement we finished the run in just over 25 minutes. Which is much faster than any time we have ran so far.

We then made our way to the breakfast tent. As we entered the tent we happened to notice a lot of trophies sitting on a table. As we looked over the trophies began to wonder how many people were in our age group. We then actually thought that there was a possibility that we would get an award. As we sat there and watched them had out awards it came to our age group. In my amazement my name was called as the third place finisher in my age group. Who would have thought that? I do have to mention that there were only 6 people in our age group and the person who finished 2nd was an entire minute ahead of us.

So that is how the morning went. I am very happy and amazed at the times that we ran in. It is very promising for the run in October. We will also be running another 5k in about a month.

The Black Crowes show was great. I will try to post about it soon. Could not have been a better weekend.

Weekend Adventures

2008-07-25T20:02:00.002-04:00

Well it's Friday and already the weekend appears to be shaping up quite nicely. In the morning I am running my first official 5k in approximately 10 years with my good friend Chris. I don't look for this to be too challenging for either of us, since we have been training our butts off for the Everest 5k in September. We currently run anywhere from 2 to 3 miles every night. After the run we will be enjoying, hopefully, a home cooked breakfast. No telling what that means, but hey, it comes with the price of admission.

As far as the rest of the weekend goes. I received a call from a friend tonight who informed me that he had 4 FREE tickets to Saturday nights Black Crowes show. So I quickly got on the phone and called a couple of friends, Chris being one of them, and we are good to go. I really can't think of a better way to wrap up a weekend than with a free show from a damn good band. Can you?

Hopefully cameras will be allowed and I will be able to get some pics to post along with a review of the show. Not that I think anyone except the people that I am with will read this, but you never know.

So wish me luck on the 5k and have a good weekend. Even if it can't be as fun as mine.

Getting things started

2008-07-18T03:39:00.000-04:00

First let me introduce myself. My name is Brian and I am an avid fan of the Disney World Theme Parks in Orlando, Florida. I have made several trips with my family over the past 10 years and every time I leave I can't wait to plan the next trip. We are currently planning a land and sea trip for October of this year. This will be the first cruise for all of us, so I hope that we enjoy it.

I am also planning a small trip with a couple of friends in September to do the Inaugural Expedition Everest 5K. We have been training for the past 3 to 4 months. Should be a great guys weekend.

I guess that is enough for now and my first attempt at blogging. I will try to update this when I can with training updates as well as pics of the family.