Monday - Day 376

Day 376...

We are back at the beginning of yet another week. 

And our Monday started as most of our Mondays do with a trip to our supermarket of choice to collect the weekly grocery shop. After we returned home and packed it all away we decided to go out for a walk in the sunshine. 

It was rather blustery and cool to start with but by the time we headed home the clouds had disappeared and it had turned really rather warm. We bumped into a friend who was sat enjoying the sunshine with a coffee and a friend and it was lovely to stop for five minutes and pass the time of day.

After a spot of lunch Simon set to designing a small part for his R2D2 build as he needed a piece to act as a hinge for one of the door panels. Once designed he was then able to set it printing while we popped out to see my dad.

We had picked a few things up for him with our shopping and needed to drop those round as well as some ironing that I'd done for him.

Once home again I was determined to enjoy the sunshine and spent a few minutes sat outside with a coffee. Although this did mean that I could see all the new weeds that had appeared since I'd weeded last week which meant the next hour or so was spent getting rid of said weeds. Although this did mean I got to have a chat with a neighbour as we attempted to put the world to rights! I also tweaked some of my outdoor lights as a few of the individual lights were no longer working so I was able to double up the string so that it's no longer quite so noticeable.

Well it turned out Simon has been chatting with his barber today and has managed to secure an appointment for a haircut...before me!! How very dare he?! Although to be fair his hair is probably in more need of a cut than mine as he is back to wearing a hat to keep it under control. I will have to wait until three weeks after Simon to get mine cut, although it is my colour that really needs doing as I am in danger of being almost my natural colour...and the grey that goes with it!! 

Simon has made great progress with the finishing touches to his R2D2 build and was able to sort the hinge problem he was having with one of the door panels. He has a few magnets to put in place to make sure things are absolutely secure and after touching up the paint in a few places we are now ready to make it look all dirty, which I think will be Friday's job when we are next off work.

Man and his droid!!

Talk has turned to what Simon's next project is going to be...there has been talk of a BB8 build but then DJ R-3X (affectionately called DJ Rex) was mentioned. This droid character appears in the Star Tours ride in Disney parks and also in Oga's Cantina in Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. When Simon mentioned that it could house an MP3 player to play all my favourite music I was sold on the idea!!

Today marked the day when some of England's restrictions began to ease. A day when out of the 1600 plus deaths that we have every day only 23 were 'COVID deaths' and yet we are still in one of the most severe lockdowns and one of the slowest releases from lockdown. We have states in the US like Texas who removed all restrictions and have seen their figures go down. We have countries like Sweden who chose to follow the standard World Health Organisation's pandemic guidelines (as of 2019) and have faired no worse than the UK for deaths but have in fact enjoyed their freedoms and have a strong economy. We need normal back, and freedoms back, but I fear they are still a long way off.

Take care.
xx

WDW Summer 2013 - Day 9

So here we are at Day 9 of our last Disney vacation...we have had a busy and varied trip so far so what was in store for us on Day 9.

Well it was up and straight out heading to Disney's Hollywood Studios and a strategic start to the day!  We headed straight over to Toy Story Mania where we obtained fastpasses for later in the day but then also got to ride it as the queue was an OK sort of wait time - we have a rule that around 45 minutes is an acceptable maximum wait time.  Have to say I love this ride, it's always a good giggle and especially as we pair up against each other so it's either kids versus parents or girls against the boys and whilst I don't often win I do pretty good!

Afterwards we headed to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster...well I say we...I actually mean that Simon and the kids rode it whilst I waited patiently for them.  I'm not a lover of fast scary roller coasters so I'm more than happy to sit a ride out while the rest of the family get flung about!  This was Molly's first time on this ride and she loved it!

Me waiting patiently

Post Rock n Roller Coaster!

We then decided that a late breakfast/early snack was needed so we headed over to Writers Stop for coffee and a pastry...

Pastry of the enormous size!

...before heading over to Star Tours for a couple or three rides, because the queues were soooo long!!!!

Look how busy it is...not!!

It was then time to ride Toy Story Mania using our fastpasses followed by our first time on 'The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow'.  We had never bothered with the previous attraction here, Journey into Narnia, as it had never really appealed but we thought as this was brand new we would give it a go.  Well we must have been less than 3 minutes into the show when the lights went out...initially we thought it was part of the show but when we could see cast members coming to our rescue with flash lights we realised something had gone wrong.  This was then confirmed when the special effects projection screen came up with the infamous 'blue screen of death'...quite comforting to know that Disney have the same problems as you and I.  So having been escorted out of the ride down a very dark passageway we decided to pay a visit to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream which is one of my must do attractions as I love looking at the history of Disney and at all the models representing recent Disney expansions.  But as we walked through it became apparent that not everything was working as it should...we then heard that there had been a power outage of only a few seconds across the park that had caused all sorts of havoc!  Only glad we weren't stuck on a roller coaster when it happened!!!

Following lunch at ABC Commissary we caught some of the Monsters University live show before sitting down to enjoy Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage.

The 'boys' getting all techy waiting for Beauty & The Beast

It had been a few years since we'd last seen the show but I love the movie.  I remember seeing the movie at the cinema when it first came out and being blown away, especially by the then new and exciting computer aided animation technology (remember this was way back in 1991). So seeing the live stage show had been on my 'to do' list for this vacation, and I wasn't disappointed, it was as magical as ever. Where else in the world can you see Broadway class performances as part of your vacation?!!

We now decided to head over to Epcot...

Leaving the Studios

 ...and we went by boat!  A nice leisurely trip over to the World Showcase entrance to Epcot although our first stop was to walk over to Future World and Club Cool for some thirst quenching, refreshing and free drinks...and yes Simon drank the Beverley again!  It was then over to Spaceship Earth as it had been closed for refurbishment during the earlier part of our vacation and this was our first chance to ride it, although we weren't really aware of any specific changes, but it's still one of our favourite attractions.

And then as the sun began to set we made our way over to World Showcase, stopping for a bite to eat in Mexico at La Cantina de San Angel, another favourite stop for counter service food.  And as we made our way around the World Showcase I indulged in one of my favourites...

Frozen Margarita time

Whilst I sipped my way along the kids decided to have another Phineas and Ferb: Agent P's World Showcase Adventure this time in Norway.

Playing Phineas & Ferb

And as we were in Norway I got chance to complete another one of my 'To Do' items for this vacation - try 'School Bread' from Kringla Bakeri og Kafe...and oh my was it yummy!!!  Sweet cardomom bun, vanilla cream custard and coconut...mmmm!!! Thankfully the kids weren't overly impressed so at least I know for future reference that I can order this and have it to myself without anyone saying 'mum, can I have a bite please' - why do kids always want to eat their parents food?!

Norway - School Bread

Full of sweet goodness and margarita we decided to call it a night and headed 'home', and rather than catch the monorail we decided to travel by bus, this was the view across a near empty parking lot..

End of the day

Turns out the bus was a good choice as there had been some problems with the monorail which was causing all sorts of fun and games.  Suffice to say we got back to the Wilderness Lodge had an evening feast of chips and popcorn and headed for the land of nod.