Family BLOG

Muppet Presentation at Hollywood Studios

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:11:45 -0400

As Disney season passholders we got to attend (along with several hundred other passholders) a special presentation today at Hollywood Studios. The main speaker had compiled video clips documenting the history of the Muppets from Jim Henson's earliest TV projects in the 1950's up until the 1990's (shortly after Jim's death.) It was, as expected, very funny, informative and fascinating to see how a group of grown men and women took some Muppets (marionette-puppets) and fashioned a whole entertainment industry out of them.

Part of the presentation was given by David Goelz who is the puppeteer for Gonzo. He has been with the Muppet organization since the 1970's and has a long history with Jim Henson. Included in the audience was Jim's daughter, Heather, who gave a little insight as to what is was like growing up on the Muppets set (which I didn't know was in London.)

After the presentation there was a question and answer period and then a Muppet trivia contest. Some people in the audience were some real die-hard muppet fans asking detailed questions about the Muppets. I don't remember really watching the Muppets (the show started broadcasting on TV in 1976) and didn't even know if they were still around. (They are - not on TV, but in movies and merchandising.)

Through the majority of the trivia contest I sat there never raising my hand. Who knows all this stuff about the Muppets? Things like Gonzo's girlfriend's name, the names of the scientists in the lab, the first time the Muppets were on national TV, but I tell you - this audience knew it all. Then they asked the question, "Which guest actress that appeared on the Muppets had won a Tony and Oscar and an Emmy?" Would you believe I knew that one and nobody else did? Scored myself a limited edition Muppet 50th anniversary pin, which actually means something to me because we have become amateur pin traders since we have been frequenting Disney.

So now my visit was complete. But in true Disney fashion, they had one more surprise. As we left we got to take our picture with Gonzo and David Goelz. If I knew how to post that to our website I would, but I don't, so you'll just have to ask me to see it.

Carnival Cruise - Belize

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:05:39 -0400

On Tues. the Glory stopped in Belize for the day. There was no set plan that morning, I just wanted to explore and see what the city was like and find out more about it. First things first, we had to get off the ship. We waited in line for a tender that would take us the 5 miles to the port. This can take some time when you have 3,500 passengers plus various crew all wanting to get off, but eventually we got to the port.

The port was a dizzying array of all kinds of shops trying to sell us various memorabilia to drag home. Of course, we have no room for any of this stuff at home, so shopping was not my goal - I wanted to see houses and people and stuff. So we make it to the gates that let us out of this tourist shopping mecca and what do we find? The gate is literally blocked by dozens of Belizians who are trying to sell us more stuff, tours... we couldn't walk anywhere without all of them following us. It was a little weird having people follow us. Many of the women wanted to braid Kirsten's hair (yeah, where will they be when I have to pull all of the beads and junk out of her hair, huh?) So we kept telling them no. Finally, Dave said, "You know they are not going to leave us alone." So we agreed to let Willard drive us around Belize city in his van.

Willard was a nice man who had somewhat of a British accent. This makes sense since Belize (formally called British Honduras) was a British colony from 1862 to 1981. He showed us the Governors house and other colonial era buildings around Belize City. He also explained that all the bricks used in the foundations of those colonial buildings arrived in Belize as ballast from the ships that had come to take the mahogany harvested here back to England. Belize got the bricks, England got the mahogany.

Old Belize was our next stop. There Mark finally stopped whining since we let him go down the zip line. It was really high and really long. Mark says it was fun - but as I am not so much into heights, I wasn't going to join him. They had a man-made beach there but after the beautiful beach on Isle de' Pasion, it looked just so-so. I think you have to venture out of Belize City to see the really nice beaches.

We drove past St John's Cathedral (oldest church in Belize - built in 1812 out of those bricks again!), the Lighthouse monument at Fort George Point (donated to Belize by Baron Bliss of Portugal - he is entombed there) and the only manual swing bridge that is still in use today.

But along with the historical sights we also got to see some of the less than touristy spots. The poverty in Belize City was readily apparent by the ramshackle housing, open sewerage systems and number of people begging in the streets. One cute little boy came up for me and asked for a donation. I purposely carried no money with me because I was afraid it would get stolen, but I really wished I had something for him. Willard said it was a shame that whenever something nice was put in the city like benches or whatever, it always seemed to get stolen. He also noted that large sums of money had been given to Belize, but somehow, none of that ever seemed to be used to make the city better.

The traffic was terrible in the city - the streets were narrow and there didn't seem to be any traffic rules except "he who gets there first, goes". There were many people on bikes and we even saw one women on a bike with a child balanced on the crossbar. That wouldn't be so unusual except that the child looked to be no more that two years old. That certainly wouldn't be legal in the US - at least not without a child seat, safety harness, helmet, knee and elbow pads...but, I digress. There are exactly three traffic lights in the city which Willard explained didn't always work.

After our ride was over we spent a half hour or so talking to a former Californian who has made Belize his home. He also lamented how poorly things are run in the country. We could have spent even longer talking, but we had, by this time, bored the kids to tears so by 1:00 pm we were taking a tender back to the ship.

Oh yeah, I did buy a couple of touristy things in the shops at the port in Belize, but really, they were small! And you have to have something to remember the trip by, don't you?

Carnival Cruise -Port Canveral, At Sea, Cozumel.

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:26:05 -0400

On Sat. Jan 10, 2009 we left Port Canaveral, Fl on the Carnival Glory for a family cruise to the Western Carribean. Our stateroom had a king size bed, pull-out couch for Mark and a bunk bed for Kirsten. Many people may have thought it a tight squeeze, but after months of living in our RV it felt immediately like home to us. And the best part was the walk-out balcony! What amazing views we saw as we sat out there watching Florida disappear on that first day.

Sunday was spent at sea enjoying the good food, meeting new people and participating in shipboard activities. Dave and Kirsten entered the putting contest (the ball breaks towards the water) and Mark discovered his new avocation - riding elevators. He spent hours riding up and down the elevators meeting the other guests. He also spent time playing on the Wii, but quickly found out that he has more games at home.

On Monday we arrived at Cozumel. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great day for an excursion. We took an awesome speed boat ride to the Isle de' Pasion with our guide, Miguel (who spoke English) and the driver, Wilbur (who smiled a lot.) All of us got drenched with salt water as we did 360's and rode really fast towards the shore (slightly frightening.) Kirsten got salt water in her eyes and was really upset on the way out - she enjoyed the ride back much better (we didn't get as wet sitting in the front of the boat on the way back as we did in the way back on the way out.)

Once on the island we got to eat (a lot) and play in the ocean (which I must add was amazingly blue.) There was this water trampoline (picture a really huge inner tube with a trampoline in the middle and a rope ladder dangling off the side, all of which is just floating offshore) that was determined to not let me up. Wow! I really do not have very strong arms and I couldn't pull myself up. Mark tried to help me up, but I was afraid I would end up pulling both of us over. I finally realized that there was going to be some pain involved and that I was going to have to wrap my legs around that thing to get up. I did it, but boy am I glad there is no video footage of this embarrassing moment. Also note, a water trampoline is really hard to bounce on since the entire thing sinks when you jump on it. I kept landing on my knees. My kids confirmed that it is not like a real trampoline. Does that excuse my gracelessness?

Also on the island was a Segway and a miniature ATV, both of which Kirsten got to ride. They also had an organized balloon toss game that I think was rigged because Dave and I lost on the very first toss. I am pleased to say that he is the one that got splatttered and not me. Hey, maybe I am stronger that I think? Nah, must have been a defective balloon. Everyone else seemed to make it a few more rounds than we did. Kirsten and Mark were a team and they made it pretty far. They lost on the behind the back tossing round.

We arrived back at the Glory that afternoon sandy, salty and tired. I really did appreciate that someone else had been making dinner while we were gone - and even better yet- they did the dishes! I could get used to this.

Blue Springs State Park

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:07:27 -0400

It was a beautiful day yesterday (75 degrees and sunny - just like most days here!) so we decided to take a ride up to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, Florida. I had called the park and they said there were 122 mantees sighted in the morning, so off we went. It was about an hour and fifteen minute ride, which was pretty quick considering I-4 almost always has traffic jams, but it was all clear today.

When we first got there Dave, Kirsten and I went straight to the first water lookout to see if we could spot the manatees. We didn't see any. But we did see some large gar fish and lots of little schools of fish, and Kirsten saw tadpoles. Mark refused to look and sat on the grass moping. (This trip wasn't his idea - he wanted to stay home and play on the wii.)

So next we walked along the boardwalk nature trail that leads up to the spring. I was struck by just how beautiful it all is. The live oak trees make a lovely canopy and with all the Spanish moss hanging from them, it feels like you are walking through the jungle. The spring itself is crystal clear and produces millions of gallons of water a day. It is over 110 feet deep, but it sure doesn't look it. It is striking that there is no vegetation growing anywhere along this tributary. We learned that is because of the low oxygen content in the water. But the constant 72 degree water temperature makes this an excellent hang-out for the manatee.

We next went to listen to the ranger program. Mark was told he had to listen or we would assign him a manatee book to read for school. He can now recite some manatee facts - to the chagrin of his sister, who wants to be the bearer of all knowledge.

So again we went looking for the manatee. This time we walked down the boardwalk that leads to the St. Johns River. First we saw an alligator and a LOT more fish. But then, there they were. At first we saw only one swimming up towards the spring, but then we looked across the tributary and there were another 5 or 6 of them. I say five or six because at first I thought one of them was an alligator, but I was wrong. Since these animals weigh over a thousand pounds (some as much as 2,000 pounds) I thought they would look huge, but they didn't. I think because the water was so clear that they were probably down deeper than they appeared and that made them look smaller. They also were careful to stay on the other side of the river away from the people, probably since the water was deeper on that side.

There was one mother manatee we saw with her baby next to her floating around, but mostly they just sort of lay down under the water. They have to leave the spring to find food each day (up to 10% of their body weight means they might have to eat 200 pounds of vegetation) and when they come back they save all their energy for tomorrow by doing absolutely nothing. There was one manatee that did roll over about a half dozen times, and that was fun to watch. We believe he was trying to get the fish off that were eating the algae off his back. But after he found out that that was useless, he just went back to sleep with all of his friends.

A large plantation-style house that was built in the 1880's by the Thursby's still stands on the property, but unfortunately it was closed. I can just imagine sitting here on my large front porch along the river in the peace and quiet (before all the thousands of tourists) watching all the birds and animals. It would have been wonderful - well, except maybe for the alligators. Just a little taste of a quieter, slower lifestyle. Who knows, maybe I would have been bored?

All-in-all we saw probably a dozen manatee and learned a little bit more about them as well as enjoying the natural surroundings. We saw a beautiful part of Florida that doesn't involve bright-flashing marquees, massive crowds and frustrating traffic jams. I would say our day away from Kissimmee was a day well spent!

Space Shuttle Endeavor Launch

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:28:07 -0400

On Friday night, November 14, 2008 we were sitting around the dinner table in Orange Grove Campground (Kissimmee, FL), when we got a phone call from my sister-in-law, Karen, telling us that the space shuttle Endeavor (Mission STS - 126) was set to launch at 7:55 pm. We had seen a day-time launch from this campground back in March of this year but because we are a little far from Cape Canaveral we hadn't seen much, but we figured we would stand outside and see if we could catch a glimpse of something this time.

When we went outside we saw a small group of people gathered around anticipating the same launch. One gentleman even had his outside TV on the side of his rig set to the televised coverage of the launch so we could watch and listen to the countdown. The launch went off as scheduled and we all scoured the sky looking for any sign of the shuttle and after about 30 seconds we still had seen nothing. Oh well, maybe it was shot off at a different angle or there was too much cloud cover. I hated to miss it because it was the last scheduled night time launch of a space program that does not seem to have too much future. I really was hoping the kids would be able to see it - in the same way that my parents wanted me to remember the first lunar landing (Appollo 11 back in 1969 - OK, at the time when they woke me up to watch it I didn't appreciate it, but I do now.)

Suddenly, at the top of the tree line, we saw this amazing ball of fire! It was phenominal, especially since we knew how far away it was, we could only imagine how big that plume of flames must be up close. About three minutes into the flight we saw them jettison the two solid rocket boosters. At that point the shuttle was traveling at a speed of 6,000 MPH, though to us it looked like it was only slowly inching away. It gradually disappeared into the atmosphere and within nine minutes of takeoff, the Endeavor was safely in orbit.

It would have been nice to have some pictures, but like all other things that look so wonderful to the naked eye, I am afraid that any picture we would take would not do it justice. Hopefully, the memory will stay with the kids for awhile, as do my memories of watching Aldrin and Armstrong walk on the moon a LONG, LONG time ago!