Summertime Fun

Because of the wonderful people at the RMH, I got some tickets to Sea World. So I invited the extended family out for a trip to see the whales, dolphins, and sting rays. Oh, and penguins. And the rides.

Last Saturday, Diana and Goestov, Kevin, DJ, C., and S., and Darin and I went to explore Sea World. Yeah! Though we've been there many times, I can't say I've been there during the hot summer with a bunch of tourists. But, hey, what can you do?

We got there (with everyone else) just in time to see the first showing of the dolphin show thing. I don't remember what it was called, sorry. It had dolphins and people, with stranger people doing acrobats and such. Dressed up as birds. Hmm.

Waiting for the show to start!
Gus, Diana, S., DJ, and C.
We look semi-cool.

Darin and Kevin

Darin and Del

The dolphins! Can you see them?

I always get very excited whenever I see animals. I don't know why, but they just make me happy. And gitty with excitement. And I clap along with everyone else (and make Darin clap too). I guess it's just the beauty of it all.

After the show, we were all hungry so we went out to the car to eat lunch. We were planners! It turned out to be semi-hot, but easy to do and the food was good! We headed back inside to get to the roller coasters!

We hit Mantra (the new coaster) first after getting some snazzy fast-pass-type wrist bands (so worth the money...) and then followed C.'s advise and tried the water ride.

And we got w.e.t.

And it was wonderful!

Ended up going two times. Ha ha. I had Darin go in the front with me and we totally got submerged in water. Afterward, we went to see the other smaller aspects of the park (like the cute penguins and other fun sea life you can pet/watch/smell).

At penguin place, under water obviously.

And then for some crazy reason we decided it would be fun to go to the kids area and act like kids. We climbed up this giant net thing (see picture below) without realizing that there was no way down without going through the tubes.

Diana's in the hat, Kevin's in red, C. has the blue hat on....

S. through the tunnels.

It was pretty funny watching the six adults crawl or crab walk through those tunnels. Kids would just be hanging out in them... so not made for adults. But it was fun.

Silly S.

After more rides (the scary Kracken), we finally got to the good park - the killer whales. Or orcas. Or whatever. I love them. I'm always amazing by what the can do.

Group again - don't we look hotter?



Whales!



Watch out behind you!

And then there was Shamu. I read a lot about the various Shamu's in history (because I asked the question to Darin about whether this was the original Shamu) and it really is quite interesting. They have a fun Shamu clap that the crowd does.

Big Shamu. Needs to eat less fish.

Great show. Next time we'll sit in the splash zone and get wet. Nobody including myself really wanted to get wet again because we were for the most part dry!

And we did lots of other stuff too, I just didn't take pictures. Saw the walrus show, missed out on the bird show. Ate some popcorn, drank some beer (though not free), and went on Mantra again.

It was a great day and we were all exhausted by the time we went home.

Exhaustion = Happy Summertime Fun

Somebody's Birthday... and it's not Del

My friend Anupama's birthday was on last Sunday (the 26th) and to celebrate our good friend Kucku (and her former roommate) drove down from Gainsville for a birthday weekend. How's that for cool?

Friday we decided to meet at Downtown Disney to walk around and enjoy the sights. None of us had been there for quite some time, so it ended up being really fun. I find that we sometimes don't get to do the Orlando stuff because we've done it in the past and we're afraid of all the tourists. OR. Because we only really get down there when friends and family would come into town.

Anyway, ended up having a great time. The weather was really nice and the atmosphere was mellow. Anu got to pick where she wanted to go (she normally would make me do this, which I do with no problem whatsoever): Bongos.

I had previously been to this restaurant maybe two other times. (Isn't that stupid that I can't remember?) I do have pictures of my mom, Margie, Darin, and I there on one of their first Orlando visits... Anyways. The place was hit or miss. I tend to always get the same thing (chicken with yellow rice), so I'm always happy. Other people not so much.

Well thankfully the next time I go there I'll have some recommendations.

Good. Food. All. Around.

(And yes, I took pictures.)

Fried shredded beef. To die for.



Kucku got like the chicken special. So tasty. And juicy.



Anu go the fried rice.
(This picture was taken after she killed the cute plate setup.)

And I have to mention what good friends both Kucku and I were because we did not have the birthday crew people come to our table to sing and we did have Anupama order a mojito. Slam.

After dinner. We were stuffed!

After dinner we just walked around. Looked at people. Stopped by the Lego store (which was awesome as always, but packed). I looked for another Harry Potter key chain like the one I had in college maybe? or graduate school?, but there were only Star Wars key chains. It was a bit disappointing.

Outside. By a dinosaur.



Grr. Another dinosaur. But made of Legos!

We walked through a Disney store and were bombarded with tourists everywhere - had a hard time getting out of that place. Crazy. We found this princess pen we wanted Anu to get to use at work, but she wouldn't because it was too embarrassing. Sigh.

Then it was off to Ghirardelli. One of the main reasons for coming this far away to eat was to have dessert at this ice cream store. Plus, you get a free piece of chocolate for walking into their chocolate store. Good idea chocolate people.

And we got a carmel sundae. Anu and I did. Kucku doesn't like sweets. She's strange like that.

Dinosaur Del with sundae.

And it was fun. And good. And we celebrated in a nice way with Anupama with her turning a year older. And for all the exciting changes that will come her way this year.

Next time Jake will come too.

Cool Images

Was wondering around online and found this snazzy website:

www (dot) wordle (dot) com

Snazzy.

This was done when I added this particular blog - it seemed to be focusing on the current events compared to the whole blog. (I say this because there was no mention of Jake or Darin in the wordle which was strange.)

But cool!

Playlist at the Concert

While listening to the incredible concert at the Gorge, I would quickly text a note on my phone to remember which songs were played and it what order. I think I was driving my sister crazy (because of the uber bright screen my phone has), but I did it anyway.

Here was the list of songs.

1. Violet Hill
2. Clocks
3. In My Place
4. Yellow
5. Yes
6. Cemeteries Of London
7. 42
8. Fix You
9. Strawberry Swing
10. Where Do You Go
11. Oh Brother
12. Hardest Park
13. Viva la Vida
14. Lost!
15. Green Eyes
16. Billy Jean
17. Open Up Your Eyes
18. Lovers in Japan
19. Death and All His Friends
20. Scientist

I've tried to come up with the actual name for the song and not the name I made up, but it's hard to remember what I was thinking at the time and it's hard to do so without the music next to me (it's on my computer at home). Might change this... but you'll never know!

Our new favorite song to listen to is Strawberry Swing (from the newest album).

Thought I'd put the video up to share. Click here and enjoy.

Seattle Summer 2009: Day 5

Because of the positive thinker Dru, we headed to Lake Chelan to rent a boat and go boating. I was a bit cold (it was 75 there) and was thinking they were crazy to want to go a boat with the temperature so cold - and the water, a glacier lake, freezing. (Not literally).

I'm very glad we did because we all had a fantastic time.

Yea for Dru and Matt!

Cricket, our water dog

Me with my sweater. And jeans. And Cricket.

We tried to go around to a special area of the Lake, but the water was so choppy! We couldn't maneuver around the waves without getting everyone sea sick.

Yikes!

Decided to go back to where Dru and Matt had already gone before when camping. It was nice and had a picnic table.

Happy Cricket. She was getting food.

Mom and Dru on the beach. Not yet quite in the water.

Crick getting some water.

Dad getting some water.
Kidding.
He was getting Mom a log.

Why is it that wherever we go, my Mom collects things? In Missouri, it's the rocks. By the ocean, sea shells. Here it's water logs. Strange.

Group Photo:
Del, Matt, Mom, Dru, Dad, and Cricket.

From there, we drove around the lake a lot enjoying the beautiful houses and looking at the wineries. Matt liked to drive f.a.s.t. Somehow along the way my mom lost a flip flop. It was quite sad.

Then we decided (not me, them) to try swimming. Ha. Anchored the boat to a buoy and jumped in. Matt was the bravest. I was the most chicken.

Cricket even got in the water.

What can I say. I live in Florida. It's hot there. With hot water.

Dru and Mom in said water.

The swimming hole!

I took a lot of pictures on Dru's phone so I don't have many of my own. Oh well. Cricket about lost it when my Dad dove in and so I gently pushed her in. I'm mean. Deal with it.

I stayed on the boat to protect it from pirates. They were bad in these areas.

They only got to swim for a bit and then we had to return the boat. Boo.

And then the boat day was over. Sad. If Darin were there he would have picked me up and thrown me into the water. Thankfully nobody in my immediate family was that cruel and I survived. Warm. And dry.

Can wait to visit again!

Seattle Summer 2009: Day 4

After a long night listening to people being obtusely loud (can you be this?), we got up and drove north to Brewster, WA. Dru's friend Jim was living there for a couple of months and we were going to crash at his house. Her other friend, Matt, also came from Idaho. And then my parents and Cricket drove in as well.

It was a party!

We really didn't know where we were going and were kind of in the middle of nowhere - but with Dru's driving skills and some good directions, we got there.

Something worth mentioning were the hundreds and hundreds of acres of fruit growing at the side of the road. Cherries, pears, apples, potatoes, corn, raspberries, etc. It was amazing. Check it out.

At one of the many fruit stands

We got there and I took a nap. I guess Dru had problems because they kept shooting off an air rifle to keep the birds away from the cherry trees literally next door. We were told not to go anywhere near the cherries because they'd shoot you. Yikes.

Made dinner that night and ate and talked. And ate some more.

Dru, Jim, Cricket (looking for cat), and Matt

Jim (whose was house sitting/job sitting for a friend of his) was supposed to keep the flowers watered and such. Well, they weren't looking so good so my mom went around the deck to try to save them from a slow death of dehydration.

The evil cat. Both Mom and Cricket were afraid of her/him.

Mom, fixing the flowers.

We were all pretty tired so we crashed. Plus there was no television for us to watch. Plus Matt had to sleep on the couch.

Next up: Lake Chelan.

Seattle Summer 2009: Day 3

Saturday was the day of all days.

One of the main reasons I went to Seattle in the first place.

Cold.Play.

My sister had gotten tickets and was wanting me to fly there to see the concert.

At The Gorge.

Wow.

We drove from Seattle on Saturday morning - after I checked out the Farmers Market in my parent's town.

In their city! Simple and sweet.

My favorite - strawberry shortcake. Drool.

Cricky. (She might have gotten some shortcake.)

The drive was long. We went through beautiful tree-lined foresty areas to desert. High desert. And it was h.o.t. Like 116. Give or take a little.

Trees...

and then desert.
This was the same road.

But all was good. We were there. At the famous Gorge. Fantastic. We decided (or Dru coerced me) to try the camping out there so we wouldn't have to drive to a hotel that night. I decided to be the nice sister and comply. And it wasn't too bad. She had nice stuff and there were no bugs in the tent. Outside the tent, yes. But not inside. Or I couldn't see any at least.

In Tent!

Our setup. Remember it was hot. Shade was important.

Our bathrooms. Actually not bad. We were like the last group in the area.

At like 6:30 pm, we decided to go to get out seats. We walked for 20 minutes (I timed it) to get to the concert area and it was just as simple as you could get. Got a good spot on the hill and camped out. And just looked around.

This was what we saw.





The concert goers.



At sunset.

And the concert was fantastic. I have the play list written down and will blog about that at another time. I can't believe I was actually there. Hot damn!

Here were some videos I took. Don't mind the crazy loud Del voice in the background. I like to sing.

Beginning of Viva la Vida

Ohhhhh. At end of Viva la Vida.