Just some more celebrity photos I FINALLY got around to posting.  There is Carson (from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) with Rachel.  Also the comedian Dane Cook with Rachel (I got to meet him too!).  And Hawk from SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (season 3 I think it was) and Rachel.  And comedian Hal Sparks (Queer as Folk and the voice of Tek in Tek and the power of Ju Ju (kids show)) with me and then with Rachel.  He is AMAZING by the way.  **HILARIOUS** show (Dane Cook is great, but I laughed even more at Hal's show---love him!).  And me with Richard Hatch from the original and current Battlestar Galactica.  Met him at the Star Trek convention, in Vegas (2008) really nice guy!  And an old photo (from Jan 2001) with Aaron Stecker.  He used to play football for the Tampa Bay Bucs and now plays for the New Orleans Saints.  He was originally drafted by the Chicago Bears but never played for them, unfortunately. 

 

Thought I would share these.  Tampa (and Orlando/UCF) is actually a great place to meet/greet celebrities believe it or not.

See the photos added to the photo album.  We attended the Pirate and Princess Party this past weekend.  We didn't get to the Capt Jack Meet & Greet (actually didn't see a place for one) but we did get to meet up with Snow White!!  We got her autograph on her doll (when we walked up she said "Oh my, that's my doll."  She was so cute.  The doll is signed "With a song and a smile.  Love, Snow White".   We got to see the parade (photos of that later) and the fireworks (no photos of that).  We also went to the Crystal Palace and got a 'meet & greet' with Tigger and Piglet (photos of that later too).

Once again (and again) we were off to Disney.  We went there in December 2007 to see the castle decorated for Christmas (see photo in photo album, so pretty!).  It was just Rachel, Alex, and I.  It was so very busy there that it almost wasn't worth going.  We didn't get to go on much but did get to see the Spectro Magic parade (posting those pictures on Photobucket).  But we can always go back...which we did last week (Jan 08).  This time it was Nicole and her boyfriend, Alex, and I.  This time we went to Epcot and Disney MGM Studios (just recently renamed to Disney HOLLYWOOD Studios...go figure!).

 

In December we stayed at the All Star MUSIC hotel and this last time we stayed at the Boardwalk Villas (that place was HORRIBLE...never recommend them to anyone).  Again, still busy oddly enough, but at least we got to go on the newly renovated Spaceship Earth (the 'golf ball' at Epcot). 

 

And, of course, we have plans to go to Disney again in Feb...this time to go to the Pirates & Princess party!  Staying at Coronado Springs this time.

Finally got around to adding the photos from WICKED that we saw in Chicago in Oct 07.  We just happened to take the wrong trolley while shopping and Rachel saw the posters and wanted to get out and take pictures of them.  When we got out we realized we were right down the street from the theatre so Rachel insisted on checking it out.  She had promised to get a t-shirt for a friend so we thought we would check it out and see if we could get into the store to buy anything.  When we got there we just thought we would see if they just happen to have tickets to the show that afternoon.  Turns out they did!  We got 'limited view' seats but they were so close to the stage it really didn't matter.  We had to go shopping to get a different set of clothes to wear to the show (we were in our Cubs t-shirts for the playoff game that afternoon!).  The show was amazing, of course.  We did end up being alittle late to the Cubs playoff game (beginning of 2nd inning) but it didn't matter--they were already losing.  At least Wicked was good that day!  Enjoy the photos.

Well, at least the Cubs clinched the National League Central Division....too bad they didn't come to play baseball in the playoffs.  The game was ok and the fans were FEDUP (aka, EVIL).  Not a game for kids (or those who have a low tolerance for swear words!).

 

ANYWAY, received the best Chicago Souvenir EVER....see the photos of the card we received while in Chicago.

My playoff tickets arrived in the mail today.  WHOO HOO!!!!  Going to the cubs playoffs this Saturday in Chicago!  GO CUBBIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

We made a reservation for the Akerhaus Banquet Hall in the Norway part of EPCOT.  We attended the character lunch that included the Disney Princesses so we could HOPEFULLY see Snow White.  They rotate characters so you're never 100% sure who you will see.  Well, of course Snow White (nor Mulan, the only other one I wanted to see) were there.  But we DID track down Snow White...at Magic Kingdom in the Dreams Do Come True Show.  Check out the photos and comments about the pictures in my photo album! 

Just a quick update and some quick upload of photos.....well, the evening at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) was ALMOST a wash out!  It rained (HARD) until about 10pm and after that it still sprinkled off and on.  FINALLY around 10pm they did the halloween fireworks then around 10:30pm they did the halloween parade and then around 11pm they did the Villains Mix & Mingle.  So we got to see everything we came for (the queen of hearts in particular).  We are going to Epcot and MK (we DIDN'T get to ride Haunted Mansion last night!) today.  More photos laters on!  I'm posting the entire MNSSHP photos on photobucket since this account has a limit.  I'll send the link when I figure it out!!!

Just thought I'd post some 'old' photos that I found on the computer.  These are ACTUAL PHOTOS (the one that impresses me the most is the one taken in London....it's my favorite photo ever).  Just thought I'd share some amazing scenes of Europe.  Though I am also going to add the CBS soap stars photos afterwards so it won't be the most recent/active photo set but make sure to check it out!   AND I also found some photos that I took from Althorp.  This is the family home of the Spencers.  Diana lived there for awhile and there is now a memorial for her on their grounds.  Plus she is actually buried there out on a little 'island'.

Rachel's best friend, Joey, was involved in a very serious car accident last week (Thursday, May 17th).  The car he was driving (see photo) hit another car head on while he was driving on the local highway (I-75).  The other car that he hit had spun out (for an unknown reason) and was facing on-coming traffic, Joey didn't see him and hit him head-on doing 70 miles an hour.  Here is a link to the local news article about it: http://www.abcactionnews.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=1466@wfts.dayport.com

 

Joey was wearing his seat belt, the other guy wasn't (the other driver died at the scene).  Joey will be ok....eventually.

Great review of Prince's 3121 show in Vegas (April 2007); from my friend Mya Bocca.  Check out her myspace web site at: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=23523566&blogID=256944581&MyToken=e23b9c9b-b095-42d9-8e2d-a7d1d11c43ff  (or just go to http://www.myspace.com/myabocca and select "My 3121 Las Vegas experience".  Some great photos too (which I'm trying to steal/borrow from her and put on this site!).

Well, we're back from Vegas!  We all made it back ok.  Some of us are more tired than the others but we all made it back in one piece and ON TIME!!!!  Alex has some photos to take with him to school tomorrow (he's too tired to go today).  When I asked him what he thought of Vegas he said it was AWESOME.  I totally agree.

 

Here's an overview of what all we did when (sorry I didn't get to update as we went along):

 

THURSDAY= Nellis AFB (saw the Thunderbirds and other airplanes that are stationed there).

 

FRIDAY (AM)= Timeshare sales pitch (we got the hotel so cheap since we agreed to see one of Hilton's timeshare sales pitches, it was actually FUN...actually our sales person was really nice and once he realized that we never take vacations and with all of our changes going on this year (retirement, college, etc) he realized that it didn't make any sense for us to get it.  What a change!!  So worth the time and the Hilton Grand Vacation Club itself was AMAZING).

 

FRIDAY= Prince concert (since it actually started at midnight, was more like Saturday event!).

 

SATURDAY (PM, Rachel/Michelle)= Thunder From Down Under (Rachel and I went to see them, can't really say much because as they say "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"....but just ask Rachel about the 'butt in the face' and that should give you some idea!).  ;-)

 

SATURDAY (PM, Robert/Nicole/Alex)= Tour of the strip at night (went to watch the Volcano at The Mirage and the pirate show/Sirens of TI at Treasure Island).

 

SUNDAY= Shopping! (went to M&M World, CocaCola World, and also Gameworks--kids had the most fun there).

 

MONDAY= Timeshare sales pitch #2 (we had to switch hotels since our package deal was only until Sunday so we moved to Circus Circus hotel and then heard the Westgate Resort sales pitch, MUCH HARDER sales pressure but we still said "NO!".  Westgate is part owner of the new Planet Hollywood Hotel/Resort that is being built where the Aladdin hotel is/was.  If we had the CASH it would be worth it but to pay 17.99% interest on it and finance it for 10 years--NO WAY!  We got $200 in casino money which Robert won $125 in REAL money within a few minutes!!!!!)

 

MONDAY (PM)= Planet Hollywood (went to planet hollywood in Ceasars for dinner....wasn't that great but it was FREE due to going to the timeshare sales pitch #2! :).

 

TUESDAY= Flew back

 

I will start uploading photos tonight. 

Well, we all made it in one piece.  Thankfully none of our flights originated in Chicago...the rest of the people traveling to/through Chicago were SOL.  All of our flights were pretty much on time.  Rachel and I even lucked out on one flight where there were 3 seats so we should have had someone sitting next to us but they were't there (probably didn't make it from Chicago!).  Even finally got to see DREAMGIRLS on the in-flight movie.

 

We're not impressed with Dallas Forth Worth airport.  Talk about confusing and BORING.  We got there right around 9pm and everything was CLOSING.  I don't think even Tampa airport resturants and shops close that early.  The only interesting thing there was a IPOD vending machine.

 

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott hotel Wednesday evening (more like Thursday morning by the time we got there).  It wasn't too bad, it was SOUTH of the airport and that area looks totally new.  In complete contrast to Vegas, there was NOTHING open when we got there except for a 24 hour diner across the street.  I went to bed, everyone else ate. 

 

We got up this morning (Thursday) and went up to Nellis AFB.  We stopped by the Thunderbirds museum which made Alex very happy.  The girls were amazed by the mountains that surround Vegas.  Something totally new to them (they can't remember the mountains in Germany...too young).  We bought discounted tickets to the wax museum at the Ventian, Nicole can't wait to go there.

 

We just checked in to the hotel that we will be staying in until Sunday, the Hilton Grand Vacations Club (on the strip).  NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The girls acted like they had never seen indoor plumbing before and were running from room to room checking it out and screaming.  It's a 2 bedroom suite.  The master bedroom has  a king bed with it's own bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and separate glassed-in shower.  The center unit has a sofa bed a large HD tv with Bose DVD/speaker system.  Also in the center unit is a dinning table and a full kitchen (full size fridge, dish washer, stove/oven, microwave, toaster, etc) and a small washer/dryer.  The 2nd bedroom/unit has a king bed with it's own (smaller) kitchenette (microwave, mini-fridge, and toaster).  The pool outside is BEAUTIFUL (w/waterfalls), not that big though.  I'll try and take pictures when I get the chance.  We have an SD chip in the camera but haven't figured how to off load them on to the computer (the computer at home has the SD slot but not this laptop).  Oh, and obviously the room has internet access (free wireless!).  Yeah, I could live here!

 

Well, just trying to rest up and figure out what all we are going to do for the rest of the time we are here.  Have to prep myself for the Prince concert/show tomorrow (aka, take a major NAP in the afternoon.....oooh, I miss the good old days when I could just stay up for 24 hours+ straight).

 

Believe it or not.....haven't even gambled yet!  ;-P

 

More updates later.

Getting ready for our family trip to Vegas.  We're flying on 2 separate flights so it will be interesting to see which one of us get there first.  One flight is going via Dallas the other flight is going via LAX (yikes!).  Hardest part so far is waiting for work to be over.  While in Vegas we plan on going to Nellis AFB (Thunderbirds won't be there though), Thunder from Down Under (Rachel and I only--of course!), checking out the hotels on the strip, and seeing PRINCE at his 3121 club at the Rio!!!!  I'll try and update our adventures as we go.