The Banana Splits - Google Video

Last week's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me episode had a question about The Banana Splits, and boy did that bring back memories. I remember watching this show as a child and loving it. I still find myself singing the theme song in my head sometimes (it's very catchy!).

If you remember watching this when you were young, please let me know!

Halloween night, one of my family's favorite times of the year. We set out at 6 PM, as usual; we set out just as it gets dark so that we can all trick-or-treat together before Amanda heads back to the house to hand out candy. This year was different, however- there have been very few kids out so far, including our own! Emily and Alex went to about twenty houses, and then they declared they were done - we were home by 6:40! At 7:15 I convinced them to visit some other houses in the cul-de-sac (two), then at 7:30 or so Amanda convinced them to go out for a little longer; they probably hit 5-10 more. It's been a very light year for trick-or-treating, but at least our kids got "their fair share". :)

Happy Halloween!

You just can't get enough

Emily, Alex and I are partaking of one of the last weekends at American Adventures. They've decorated for Halloween. Some of the decorations are pretty scary! You wouldn't expect that at a park aimed at small children. Well, they make up for it by giving candy at each of the rides. That's what we need- more candy to add to the 5-10 pounds we got from our earlier endeavors.

But as you can guess, the kids love it.

Go LEMA!

Our team-building exercise was to build a "world class" organization. We flew through that and went on to make a world class architecture.

And oh, the Dreams we Have...

Zurg in Jail
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

We were at Magic Kingdom on the first da of the "Year of a Million Dreams". We had so much fun! Our touring plan (www.touringplans.com) worked very well here because Claire can ride all the rides in Fantasyland. Things went very smoothly till lunchtime; after lunch, all we did was Tom Sawyer Island (my first visit there _ever_) and shop. We went home for downtime in the afternoon, then returned to the park around 7 PM. We were only expecting to stay for two hours, but saw a sign saying "extra magic hours", which worked out great! Steve and Amanda got to ride "Pirates of the Carribean" (Shirl rode it earlier in the day) after the evening fireworks with only an eight minute wait. Sure, we didn't get home till after 11:00 AGAIN (even with the ride home the next day), but it was well worth it. All in all, visiting the Magic Kingdom last really topped off our great vacation.

Happy Anniversary

A Great Way to Celebrate
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

While our anniversary was Thursday night, we waited until Saturday night to celebrate. We went to Citirico's for dinner, dressing up like adults for a change (a rare thing for us indeed). They served us with customized menus; Mickey and Minnie adorned the top dressed in their wedding finery, with the title "Happy 10th Anniversary Steve and Amanda". And as you can see from the picture, our dessert was decorated just the same. While Amanda and I rarely live it up like this (it was the most expensive dinner we've ever had) it was well worth it. Ten Wonderful Years together and a whole lot more to go!

Breakfast at Mickey's

Greetings by Goofy
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

We had breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Goofy welcomed us with open arms. We met Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto, and Goofy, and received a nice anniversary cupcake. Lots of fun- perhaps the high point of our kids' visit!

Boo to You!

Boo to You!
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

Friday night was "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party". Despite being a "hard ticket event" (requiring extra cash), it was worth every penny! Emily and Alex trick-or-treated (the adults did too!) and scored more than 500 pieces of candy! In addition, Alex and Emily rode Dumbo, then Alex and my mom rode Dumbo while Emily and I rode the Carousel. Emily danced with Chip, Steve rode Space Mountain, we saw the fireworks ("Hallowishes"), and we saw the "Boo to You!" parade- TWICE. We watched it in Frontierland from a bad vantage point, then made our way toward the front gate only to be blocked by... the front of the parade! And the second time, we were in the front row! We didn't get home to 11:30 (with some very tired kids), but it was well worth it. Good thing the next day was a down day!

Tree of Life

Tree of Life
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

We spent Friday morning at Animal Kingdom. We did the Safari, which had to stop three times because animals were in the road. We saw lots of animals out and about- too bad my camera couldn't handle it! Most of the photos were blurry. After that we made our way to the Jungle Trek, and on the way ran into a "living vine"- a cast member dressed up as a vine, climbing lamp posts, entangling herself on railings, etc. After the Jungle Trek we saw the Festival of the Lion King then had lunch, after which we spent some time looking for Alex's lost sunglasses, then headed home for downtime to prepare for the Halloween Party.

Night Fountain at Epcot

Night Fountain at Epcot
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

Thursday was Epcot. Soarin' (in the Land Paviliton) was great- Emily and I rode it TWICE. The ride had technical difficulties the second time, while Amanda rode with us. Emily loved it. Living with the Land was very interesting and educational. Alex was scared of the dark parts but loved the greenhouse (we have lots of pictures). We even found two mickeys (I'm sure one of them qualified as "hidden"). Turtle Talk with Crush was also great- very interactive. And the fish in The Living Seas- Wow! Another hidden mickey, albeit a pretty easy one to spot. Took the boat across the lagoon, saw some characters, ate a Teppanyaki Lunch, saw the fountains, then went to the hotel for a break. (I highly recommend downtime during the hot part of the day.) When we returned, we parked at Boardwalk so we coudl come in and leave via the International Gateway. We rode Spaceship Earth, which everyone enjoyed, then had ice cream while we waited for Illuminations. I do believe this was the first fireworks show that Emily enjoyed! Unfortunately, Alex and especially Claire did not. Claire wigged during the fireworks. After that we made our way home with some very tired kids.

Greetings from Disney/MGM

Today was a great first day to our vacation. We checked into Saratoga Springs at 10 and were in the park by 11:30. We've seen lots of great shows and met a bunch of characters. I think Alex liked meeting the Green Power Ranger the most, and Emily liked Kim Possible. Steve *finally* rode the Tower of Terror- what a rush!

Albert Einstein Quotes

"Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man. . . . In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive."

Pump You Up!

Another Pump It Up birthday party. Kids sure do have a lot of energy! They can run without stopping for an hour and then eat sweet stuff. Oh, the humanity- and the metabolism.

A Labor (Day) of Love

Kids Love Superman
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

We met the Bunkers in Paducah, KY, for Labor Day this year. We visited the Paducah waterfront, went across the border to Metropolis, IL, to see the giant Superman statue and visit the old fort, spent time in a freezing cold pool, played video games, and last but not least, went to the Paducah Labor Day parade. Lots of fun for the weekend and good memories for us all.

And we scored five pounds (literally!) of candy at the parade!

And Claire Marches On...

Claire Stands in her Crib
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

In addition to a full crawl, Claire is pulling herself up now. She is rapidly progressing when it comes to mobility. Emily was that way - she walked at 11 months. Claire turned 9 months yesterday, so it could be "no time at all" before she's toddling.

(And boy is she cute!)

Claire Crawls

Claire Crawls
Originally uploaded by GalapagosFinch.

It's official - Claire crawls. She's still in the super-grumpy stage (kids get grumpy when they are in the process of learning things) but she can now coordinate her arms and legs to move around. It seems like slow motion when she does it, but I'm sure that will last all of three days before she'll be racing around the house. Time for us to put those gates back up!

LBDelicious

A friend's girlfriend is a very good cook, and also a communications major, which leads to an excellent blog about cooking and eating. If you are partial to either one, give her blog a skim.

A fairly taxing debate - Orlando Sentinel
Another FairTax rally. Some debate on how many people showed up, but it was still in the thousands.

I'm sad that the first person they talked to didn't get it. Yes, his income tax would go down, but he makes it sound like he wouldn't be paying taxes. Government can't exist without money; taxation is a "necessary evil".

One point they bring up is that the "real tax rate would end up being higher" than stated in the current bill. However, that would only occur

if Congress voted to increase the tax

. Well, or if they changed it before the bill in its present form was enacted. Either way, future changes require Congress to increase the tax rate, which would become a very public obstacle to them increasing their spending.

This story also points out that the FairTax rewards saving rather than spending. This means that people who take care of themselves (via saving for the future) will be taxed a "little less" than those who don't. Those who live beyond their means are the ones that are really screwed (they were screwed to begin with; this just speeds them to their coming crisis).

Transition still worries me, though. People need to understand the ramifications of the FairTax before it goes into affect lest mayhem ensue. And we can't have mayhem, now can we?

YouTube - Thanks Comcast

Clark Howard pointed out that YouTube has become a place for people to post videos/audios of their customer "no-service" experiences. This one is a Comcast technician who fell asleep while on hold. There's another one of AOL bullying someone who is attempting to cancel their account. If you have a bad story - publicize it!

Beach 2006 001

Emily and Alex in Sand
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.

We went to the beach last week and had lots of fun. See a slideshow
at Flickr