Another new first for a Disney trip this time around. Usually Kriss and I go to the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival alone. We’ve been with other adults in the past, friends and family, but it’s our one trip a year where we are able to get away without any kids because we plan it on a weekend that the oldest three are at their other parent’s houses and Kellie stayed with my grandparents. Unfortunately both of them passed away this year so we decided to take Kellie with us. We’ve also added another adult going with us, Kriss’ mom Linda. This year we are also meeting some of their family from Boston, Mandy, Donna, and Joe. Again with time constraints of work and kid sitting we planned the trip to be a Friday-Sunday trip.

We left Richmond Hill around 7:30AM and got to Disney before noon. Our room wasn’t ready which isn’t uncommon but usually they give you a card with a number to call and get your room number, but this is the first trip they offered to text the room number, pretty cool. Kriss, Kellie, and I went to EPCOT for a few hours while Nana, Mandy, Donna, and Joe went to Downtown Disney. We tried some of our past favorites like kefta from Morocco and sushi from China. I also got some gumbo from Louisiana which is similar to last year except no hot sauce. South Africa had a pretty good tenderloin with mango bbq sauce and sweet potato. We hit a few other booths before headed back to the room to meet up with the others and drop Kellie off so Kriss and I could go back for a few hours alone. We did get to see Off Kilter perform one set, hit a few more booths, and then went to meet up with everyone and go to Jellyrolls. Linda (Nana) kept Kellie while we went out.

Saturday was the big day for Food and Wine. We didn’t bother getting up for rope drop because we were only going to hit one park and there was just no need. We took Kellie to ride Figment, Nemo, and I grabbed some Fastpasses for Soarin’. We hit some more booths and tried some things we missed Friday and took the others to try the things we had liked from the day before. Standouts? By far the winner was the fisherman’s pie from Ireland. It’s basically a Shepherd’s Pie but with lobster and scallop. Other notable favorites were gumbo from Louisiana (although they did NOT have the little bottles of McIlhenny hot sauce to kick it up like last year,) pot stickers from China, the tenderloin mentioned above, Kriss’ kefta from Morocco, crab cakes from America, and I liked the tostada pollo from Mexico. There were a lot of things I wanted to try that I skipped thinking we would come back later but things didn’t work out but I really wanted t try some of the soups and stews and the shrimp ceviche.

There is something about Food and Wine this year that I really can’t put my finger on. We’ve been going every year since 2002 but this year just “felt” different. I don’t know what it was but the overall vibe was just different, in a good way. It was also noticeably brighter at night. Disney has added some lights on the backside of the lake, especially in France and between there and Morocco where it had been really dark in the past at night. One negative I would have to say is that I believe they have completely phased out the display samples of food at the booths. When we first started going you ordered and paid for your food right at the booth and there were samples of each country’s food on display under a clear cover so you could see what you were ordering. Now you order at a kiosk several feet to many yards away from the food so I found myself standing at some of he exits waiting to see what people ordered before getting in line to order.

We’ve also started making a habit of seeing at least one Off Kilter set. Kriss and I went Friday when it was just us and then went back again Saturday so the others could see them. Off Kilter is a Canadian band playing Celtic rock, complete with bagpipes and kilts, that plays on a stage between the Canada and England pavilions. They even play some 80’s tunes by some popular Canadians like Bryan Adams and Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO,) and you can even hear some Chuck Barris, Slade, or maybe even a jam version of Amazing Grace that’ll give you goosebumps in person. I don’t think I can hear Whiskey in the Jar enough either!

It’s starting to be a recurrent theme in my Disney posts but every time we go it seems that we see or do something different. This year it was sidewalk “drawings.” On Friday we came upon a cast member, dressed in the normal CM “janitor” attire in the Mexico pavilion with a broom in the middle of the walkway but something caught my eye on the ground, dark wet lines. As I started looking at it getting closer I realized it was a face he was “drawing” with a wet broom.

We stood there for a minute trying to guess what it was until it was apparent that it was Goofy. You can see the margarita booth in the background, this was right in front so you’ll know where to keep an eye out. Saturday we came across him again right in the middle of Showcase Plaza which is where you walk from the fountains towards the lake at World Showcase. This time he had a mop and bucket and was again drawing a familiar face.

So there it is. Nothing really special this trip other than getting to see some family that we don’t get to see often. We’ll be back again next year to see what else we can get in to.

Just over a year ago, the Disney Vacation Club announced that members staying using their points could access the internet from their room for free, and being able to telecommute, we’d always thought it would be nice to go spend a week or more at Disney and I work from the room and then enjoy Disney when I didn’t need to work. So finally this July we decided to try it before Kellie started back to school, just her Kriss, and I. Read more

So by now I’m sure most of you know we have this little celebration every March 17th in Savannah, Ga, called St Patrick’s Day. It’s only the 2nd largest parade in the US, but definitely the largest party afterward. It was on a Tuesday this year and the girls were out of school so we headed downtown with our neighbor Lonnie. We got there about 8:00 and headed to a Starbucks for a little warm up/wake up juice and get the kids a little bite to eat. It was still a little cool out and I had opted for shorts opting to deal with the cool for a little while in hopes of making it up on the back side with the predicted nice weather so getting inside out of the windy gray chill was good. Read more

Again we took a trip to beautiful Tybee Island for another parade, this time St Patrick’s day. Tybee held it’s parade on the Saturday before the big Savannah parade and we again had kids on hand and an extra one to boot in Courtney, Alyssa’s friend, so we loaded up and trekked to the island hoping for another fun day. It was gray and cooler this time, as opposed to the beautiful day we had in February for Mardi Gras, so we decided to get back off the beach breeze a little and stood on Tybrisa this time. Read more

This past weekend Tybee had it’s first Annual Mardi Gras parade and street party. We had all four kids this weekend so Kriss and I made plans to go down to the beach and check it out. The kids really love going to the beach and the weather was going to be nice. We got there early enough to get good parking and get down by the pier where a few vendors were set up selling beads, masks, drinks, etc. We had over an hour before the parade came so we walked up on the pier and then the kids wanted to go dig in the sand so we let them while we sat on the pier and enjoyed the sun.We ran in to several friends too. Read more

Alyssa was asked to be in the fashion show for Maurice’s at the Southern Women’s Show yesterday. She got to get out of school early and go to the Trade Center Friday and get dressed up/made up and walk the runway. She liked doing it and said she would do it again. Kriss also got to meet a bunch of people like Chef Joe Randall and saw lots of friends there. She has more pictures on her Facebook and at the Southeast411 Page

Yesterday Kellie went on her first kindergarten field trip and Kriss went along to help herd the kids. They went all the way to Georgia Southern in Statesboro and visited the Science Center and Planetarium. They got to learn about plants and do experiments with them, dinosaurs and play with their fossilized poop, and dig for fossils. The weather was supposed to be in the upper 60’s so they planned to eat outside but it ended up not getting anywhere near that warm so they were eating outside in the cold. I can’t believe there wasn’t somewhere they could have gone where it was warm, some kids didn’t have enough clothes even. Judging by the pictures it looks like they had a lot of fun though. They even had green shirts made up for it.

Marc has gotten in to a lot of activities over recent years, I don’t know how he even keeps up with them all and his school work sometimes, but one that he seems to really enjoy so far is acting in plays. He’s done a few plays for his school (last spring he was the lead role as the prince in The Prince and the Pea) and church. This Christmas he was in a short play at his local community theatre called The Elves Impersonator, you’ll get the name when you watch it. Dad and Lynn were going to Nashville and stopped in to see it on the way up and he filmed it.

A joke I have heard my whole life that continues today about Disney is how you wait in line for 60 minutes to ride a ride that’s all over in 60 seconds. Disney can’t hold a candle to Christmas. For weeks and months (maybe only days for a few husbands) we shop, and cook, and drive, and agonize over what to get our family and friends for Christmas. Then in the blink of an eye, three little Tasmanian devils tear through their packages like a tornado through a trailer park. The kids were all pleased with their gifts that Santa brought as well as what Kriss and I got them. I was advised that the two older girls were up at 3:00AM with the tree turned on as well as every light in the living room looking to see what Santa brought. He brought Erin and Kellie bicycles and Alyssa a Vera Bradley bag. I think Erin likes her bike most of all but Kellie really hasn’t ridden hers yet. Alyssa got a stack of books she is in to now, all the Wicked, Twilight, and other vampire craze that’s going around now. Read more

Every Christmas eve we spend the evening at my grandmother’s house having dinner and exchanging family gifts with her and mom. However many kids we have that year come along so we load up 5-6 of us in the car and drive to Windsor Forrest. We usually have some type of non-traditional Christmas meal like chicken from KFC and last year I made BBQ, this year was no exception with spaghetti although there was a ham since Kellie doesn’t eat pasta or noodles of any kind and Erin just prefers ham. It was a quieter year since there were fewer of us, only Kriss and I with the three girls along with mom and granny and the kids are all getting older. Cathy, Tommy, and Gabe couldn’t make it.

Afterward we exchanged gifts and the highlight was mom opening our family portraits we had done. This is the first year we’ve had Marc Jr available to get all 6 of us. The girls all got purses with money which they LOVED Kriss caught this photo at the best time when mom realized what she was opening. I wish it had been with a better camera but I don’t think we could have captured the moment if we had planned it.