Sunday, April 14, 2024

Extended absence...note

 I had been missing....

WOW! There has been a long period of absence in my blogging. There are of course a multitude of reasons why, but primarily, I was without access to a computer or laptop for the last 2 years as my daughter had possession of my laptop and trying to blog on my phone was just one big pain in the a$$. I did make several attempts to continue despite the pictures moving and the tiny keyboard, but I finally gave up completely and simply forgot I even had this trip style of documentation at all.  When I did return to update, I found that I had lost most of my pictures somewhere. I have spent the last few months just trying to find most of them or tracking them from friends posts etc. It has been a full time job. I have nearly two years of documentation to catch up on and as I began to create some form of systematic timeline chronologically I decided it made more sense to just start here and move backward. So, here I am. A quick insert on where my life is now. Well, I spent the last two years traveling with an agency that assists individuals with disabilities on vacations, so I have been able to travel quite a bit. I have also been dealing with moving from our NY home to Florida. (This has been a much bigger task then I could have ever imagined, but I will not get into that today.) I had some issues with my trailer and the sale of such. I have also had some health issues that I have needed to concentrate on before our official move, and we still have not officially put the house on the market, despite paying rent to a place in Florida for over a year now. But, this is not a blog on my struggles its about the fun adventures that I try to have, so.

A page in my junk journal. 


For those readers who have been catching up. I just today entered my Hawaii trip from October of 2022. It took me nearly 5 days just to get that one completed. I have about 100 more logging adventures to catch up on. As much as I would like to spend time like that one  I simply will never get to a place of current date and time. I can barley remember what I had for breakfast yesterday and despite that some of my most amazing memories have been made traveling I can not recall all things. I do fortunately have a daily junk journal that I have continued to maintain and this does aide in my recall. So please enjoy and bare with me. I leave for Nashville again this week, so anticipate a Country overload. This will be three trips to Nashville over a period of 1 year and Nashville was the theme of the New Years Eve party I attended the 2023-2024 edition. 



Mckenzie Childs: Like being in Wonderland

Aurora NY
November 15, 2022

In the small town of Aurora NY is this amazing place called Makenzie Childs. Perhaps you have heard of it. I have done another blog on the place for their annual Barn sale, but this was the first time I had simply gone to their store. 


Now, I should inform you all that 99% of what is in this store is NOT in my personal budget. This is not to say, that I would not LOVE to acquire 99% of the items in this store because it is all beautiful, and there are people who make room in their budgets for these items, I am simply not one of them. 

Although incredibly tempted. 



Generally, you can tell a MC piece by the checkered pottery pieces that are hand painted uniquely on each piece. I do believe that QVC or one of those home shopping networks does sell these sets at what may be a much more reasonable way of affording them. I personally own only a salt and pepper shaker and a wine topper. None the less. It is fun to dream, to wish and to just simply take in all of these amazing pieces of art made for daily use at ones home. The whole place makes me think of Alice in wonderland....
I do not recall if this incredible doll house is for sale or not, but the detail is astonishing. 

How could I simply shrink down and move myself in? It is charming. Oh Alice, where is the wrong side of the mushroom or perhaps it is the cookies you ate?


Only a dream Alice, we are here....under a tree. A Makenzie Child's Christmas tree that is.

Look there....the white rabbit has been spotted. 
I doooo believe it is Tea TIME...and a very happy unbirthday to you.

I'm late Im late......


Alice did not meet up with a moose, but I am convinced that Lewis Carroll would have, had he seen this guy. 



These wine pouring monkeys could easily be named Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. 





The Queen of Hearts has been seen roaming around the area as both these two have lost their heads. "Off with their heads". 
Even the bathroom has a bit of wonder to it.

The grounds at MC continues to carry the enchanted charm of a story book.




There does not seem to be a hookah smoking caterpillar but this sheep looks mighty suspicious. 

This barn is so charming...I can almost in vision Alice's arms and legs popping out the windows. 
The bells on this garden gate are singing like the flowers all in a golden afternoon. 

What wonder. I simply enjoyed spending time in this magical place and feeling like little Miss Alice in her amazing wonderland adventure. TTFN









































 

Disney 2022

Disney 2022
November 3d-November 7th 2022

Again, I had the fortune to go to Disney World with Tulip Travel. I can't even tell you how many times I have had the blessing to attend these trips with this group. I have always loved Disney but never had the opportunity that being involved with this group has given me to adventure to these parks. This trip had a great group of guys and some now very dear friends I was traveling with. This trip was Chris, Annette, Val, Dory and Vicki. 
As usual, we all met at the office and flew to Orlando. I am getting so good at flying. (Although on our return trip the plane landed so hard it knocked the air masks out of the upper platform....my fears returned immediately.)
Travel days are always long and usually don't include anything but travel.

DAY 1: Magic Kingdom
Our first full day was at the Magic Kingdom. Here we all are being silly on the monorail. 










We caught some of the parade when we first got into the park and got a good glance of the characters.














We took a trip on the Jungle Cruise. I just love this ride. Its been a long standing ride within the park so I love going on these types of rides. 










We also enjoyed the Country Bears.








We enjoyed my absolute favorite ride The Haunted Mansion. 


Then we hit Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan

Not, my favorite, but a must at Magic Kingdom it's a small world. 

All these lovely singing dolls. It could be a nightmare for some people. 









We had dinner and as we were leaving we got to catch the fireworks. 


We had plans to ride the & Dawarfs runaway railroad, but the fireworks had started and this was a show we had not seen in a long time. So we enjoyed this. 




















Our last stop was a visit with Mickey Mouse. This is everyone's favorite part. 


Me, Annette, Chris, Mickey, Vicki and Val... I don't know where Dory was.

What a fun day. 

We took the boat back to the parking lot. Something a little different and a little less crazy then the monorail. 


DAY 2: Animal Kingdom
We headed off to Animal Kingdom today. 
The lovely tree of life.

I spotted these guys as we came in. 

We did the Its tough to be a bug


The animals in the tree trunk are so cool.


We walked through some of the animal paths.

















We enjoyed the Safari.





Then we made our way to Pandora where we enjoyed The River 



This area is so neat. I love this. 
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DAY 3: Downtown Disney/Disney Springs
On our last day we took a trip to Disney Springs. We were able to check out some of the speciality stores and enjoyed shopping.

Some sweet treats.

And a little dangerous treats.
Superheros 

and bowling. This place has it all. 








It was such a nice full trip. I was able to enjoy some Mickey waffles on my last day. YUM


TTFN