Orlando, Florida

Well, it has been a week since we left on our vacation. We've had a lot of fun so far. On our first day, Kev and I went to the Kennedy Space Center where we took a tour of the compound. The next space shuttle launch is currently scheduled for this coming Sunday, so the space shuttle Discovery was already on the launch pad waiting to be shot into space. We saw the original Saturn V rocket, and even toured the International Space Station Processing Center.

On Saturday and Sunday, we went to Daytona Beach, Florida and spent the days wondering around the Daytona International Speedway. We did the Daytona 500 Experience where we got to see the winning car of last year's Daytona 500 race and got to ride in a NASCAR simulator (where some lady hit me in the nose with the lap bar). After the Experience, we walked through the Midway where we got to walk through the sponsor and driver trailers. Kevin bought a few Jeff Gordon things and I bought some Mark Martin stuff for my step-dad. We also both each of our fathers a Daytona 500 shirt. After lunch, we ended up getting $130 tickets to the Nationwide Daytona 300 race for $20 a piece and went to that race. Watching my first NASCAR race was quite an experience. You never realize just how fast those cars go by until you are standing in the front row as the drive by. On Sunday, we watched the superbowl of NASCAR races, the Daytona 500. Kevin and I arrive really early. We bought fan zone passes and were able to go down to the in field and watch the pre-race car inspections. We also got to watch Keith Urban preform a pre-race concert. We even got to sign the checkered finish-line! Unfortunately, the race was cut short by 46 laps by rain and NASCAR officials decided to end the race.

On Monday, we took Kevin's Aunt Becky's advice and took the day off to scout out the various theme parks we were going to. On Tuesday, we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. It is just like Disneyland, but in minature. On Wednesday, we went to the Aminal Kingdom where we went on an African safari and rode the Mt. Everest Expedition. We saw alot of animals we would not see any where else. Yesterday, we spent the day at Epcot. We rode the Test Track, Mission Space (which really messed us up), Soarin' and the Nemo ride. When we got out of the Nemo ride, it was pouring rain. We decided to run back to our locker and get our rain pounchos. (Bad idea, we were soaked by the time we got to the locker.) After it finished raining, we decided we needed to go back to the hotel and change out of our wet clothes. After we took a short nap and changed, we went back to the park.

Today, we are taking another day off. We are both exhausted. We are going to relax and go to the Wide World of Sports to watch the Altanta Braves practice for spring training and hopefully find some mexican food for dinner.

We still have one more Disney park to go to and the Universal Studios and Sea World. And we have a little more than a week to go before we head home. I'll keep posting as the time goes by.

Leaving on a jet plane....

Well, vacation time has finally arrived. Kevin and I leave for Orlando tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. The original reason we are going so soon after our last vacation is because Aunt Becky and Uncle Mike got us tickets to watch the Daytona 500 with them. Well, you know me and Kevin....we don't like quickie vacations, so we are spreading this one out to two weeks.

In that time we plan to see the following sites:
1. the Kennedy Space Center
2. All four Disney World Parks and World of Baseball
3. Sea World
4. Universal Studios
5. Miami
6. Ft. Lauderdale
7. the Everglades
8. Tampa Bay...and, like we'd forget!
9. Baseball Spring Training Complexes!

We are both really looking forward to this trip. Keep checking back as we will be posting updates and pictures while we are gone.

See you all real soon!

A funny thing happened on the way to the laundry room!

I spent most of Saturday evening working on my needle knitting. I had took apart what I had started in my class because I had made it too big, so I started a new one. Well, after Kevin left for work that night, I decided to take a shower and start a load of laundry and maybe watch a movie as I worked on my knitting.

Everything was going great....until I dragged my laundry hamper into the living room. I noticed a long piece of fabric lying on the floor. I thought it was the cat toy, so I bent down to pick it up. As I got closer to the fabric, I realized that it wasn't the cat's toy at all. It was my yarn!

One of the kids had pulled the knitted needle off the couch and into the kitchen, leaving a trail of yarn all of the living room, dinning room and kitchen. I ended up spending the rest of the night untangling all of the knots out of the yarn and making a yarn ball to keep it untangled.

We are not sure which kid it was, but Kevin and I have an idea that it was Penny. Guess I learned my lesson!

(Now, if I had only been smart enough to take a picture of the mess before I picked it up!)

How to send a care package to some one you miss:

Step One: go out and buy a 9x9x9 shipping box to put things in. You need the box first so that you can buy things that will fit into it.

Step Two: run by See's Candy and buy a sample size box and a one pound box of chocolate (the heart shaped one fits this box perfectly. *You buy two so that she will be more willing to share the chocolate with the people that have no idea what See's Candy is*

Step Three: You make a nice scarf from chenile yarn in her favorite color.

You realize that the box is still too empty so you follow steps four and five.

Step Four: run to craft store and buy pretty yarn that you think she can make something beautiful out of.

Step Five: While waiting in a long line, you find a cute pair of St. Patty's Day socks you think she might like and spot a bag of Pixi Stix that bring back memories of junior high and decide to grab those too.

Step Six: Put all finds in 9x9x9 box, seal, address and run to post office to mail.

When the package is complete....it should look like this:

From California, With Love!

I can knit!!!

I'm so excited! I took a knitting class last night at JoAnn's Craft Store and had a good time. When I first started to knit, I was using the Knifty Knitter looms and was making scarfs. After the class, I can now use the needles and make what ever I want.

Next craft to master....quilting! But that's a little ways down the road.

Scarfs, Scarfs and more Scarfs!

One day, while I was out shopping with my mom at the local craft store, I told her that I wanted to learn how to knit.

Fast Foward a few weeks to Christmas Eve....Kevin and I had gone over to see my mom and step-dad for Christmas and to exchange gifts before they left for the Vegas vacation. When I opened my gifts, I started to laugh because she had gotten me some knitting looms and yarn.

My first attempt at knitting didn't quite come out because I didn't really know what I was doing and is now falling apart. I used a regular multi colored pastel blue and purple yarn.

After the first one, I discovered chenile yarn at JoAnn's....nice and soft! I thought it would make a really nice scarf as I was actually getting pretty cold here in California. Here is the start of one that I made....

By this time I was hooked and in two weekend, I had made five scarfs.... Midnight Blue, Black, Periwinkle Blue, Hunter Green and an Ameythist print...

Each of these scarfs take almost two skeins to make and are hand-washable. I made the midnight blue one for my best friend Becca and a black for her mom, the green one for my bestest best friend Karen, and periwinkle blue on for me and the ameythist print for a friend of Kevin's. These are the adult versions.

When my friend's son, Dreu, saw the scarfs, he wanted me to make him one, which I did. I made the adult version a little thinner for a child to wear.

I ended up making two of them....one for Dreu (which he loved when I gave it to him) and one for my niece, Rhiannon.

I've been a busy little girl....now if I could just learn to use my knitting needles!

Too Funny Not to Post....

The Deaf Bookkeeper

A mafia Godfather finds out that his bookkeeper has cheated him out of ten million bucks. His bookkeeper is deaf. That was the reason he got the job in the in the first place. It was assumed that a deaf bookkeeper would not hear anything that he might have to testify about in court.

When the Godfather goes to confront the bookkeeper about his missing ten million, he brings along his attorney, who knows sign language.

The Godfather tells the lawyer, "Ask him where the ten million bucks he embezzled from me it."

The attorney, using sign language, asks the bookkeeper where the money is.

The bookkeeper sign back: "I don;t know what you are talking about."

The attorney tells the Godfather: "He says he doesn't know what you're talking about."

The Godfather pulls out a pistol, puts it to the bookkeeper's temple and says, "Ask him again!"

The attorney signs to the bookkeeper: "He'll kill you if you don't tell him!"

The bookkeeper signs back: "OK! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo's backyard in Queens!"

The Godfather asks the attorney: "Well, what'd he say?"

The attorney replies....."He says you don't have the balls to pull the trigger."