X-Ray Eyes Anyone?

Ugh!! I finally got the chance to get this damn foot x-rayed. I waited an hour and 45 minutes. What a pain in the tail! I still don't know what's wrong with it. I won't get to see the doctor till Thursday. I'm not sure if I'll make it that long. Of course, The Knight has been teasing me. He's been telling me for the last 3 weeks to get it looked at. I knew I needed to but it was only hurting when I stood on it for any length of time. I didn't have any problems with walking. Well, these last two days have been absolute torture. I swear if I had a gallon of whiskey and a saw it would probably be gone by now. The Step-Queen thinks it could be a stress fracture. I hope it's nothing more serious. Either way I'm crossing my fingers for some seriously good drugs to take the edge off the pain. I can promise two Aleve do not do the trick. When of my online buddies laughed and said I need to think up a better story about what happened. See, this all started way back at the beginning of the month when I was at Westfest. I swear for the life of me I can't think what I did except for a lot of walking. How pathetic is that? Maybe I stumbled on my way back from the Lost Bar the first night and I don't remember. It could be, I was so exhausted that night I could have met Julia Roberts and not remembered. Well, I've got to suffer through two more days. God help me, please!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, another Mother's Day has come and gone. I never quite understood this particular day. To me it's just another greeting card holiday. Maybe it's because there's never been a "Dad" around to help The Heir and Spare do all the things kids like to do for their mother's on this day. I was never a big fan of breakfast in bed. Mainly because I'm always served to much food then the tray can hold and I always end up spilling it all over myself and my bed. The perfect Mother's Day for me would be a few hours of peace and quiet to read some magazines and think of nothing. Hmm, that's how I like to spend my birthday too. Anyway, today The Knight surprised me by coming over on his way to his own mother's with flowers for me. It was so unexpected and so sweet. I spent most of the morning lying in my bed drifting in and out of sleep. It was such a beautiful morning and the breeze was so cool blowing in the windows. It was bliss. In the afternoon we ran some errands and visited some family. Then, The Knight took the girls and I go-karting. It was a lot of fun. We went to the same track The Knight and I used to go to as teenagers. The last time I ever went go-karting was with The Knight back in high school. I forgot how much fun it was. The Heir and Spare had a blast. We were sure The Spare was going to get thrown out. She kept bumping people and putting them into the wall. In the beginning I think she was a little terrified and couldn't really control herself. By the end though, it was obvious she was trying to channel her inner Tony Stewart. It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the day. It's nice to have someone to do things with just like a real family. I look forward to many more afternoons like this one.

The Aftermath

It's so hard to get back in the groove of reality when you've come back from a vacation. After spending days doing your own thing and living by your own schedule, coming back to the demands of every day life can be crushing. I find myself very restless and uncomfortable. I need something different. I need something to change. I can't put my finger on what it is that makes me feel like I'm ready to jump out of my skin. Is it the stress of living in my parent's castle? Is it the overwhelming sense of failure when I think of how I've spent the last 10 years of my life? Could it be the changes that I've seen in The Heir and Spare since we moved back into the castle that I've tried so desperately hard to leave? Or is it the 10th anniversary of my husband's death that is suddenly looming just around the corner? What do I have to show for the last 10 years? Not much that I can be proud of. I think that is what bothers me the most. A vacation gives you the opportunity to wipe away all that bothers you and live a life that is carefree. For a brief time I don't have a care in the world. It's a wonderful feeling. The only time I feel that way is in the arms of my Knight. I think what I want most of all is to be in those arms every night. I don't know when that will happen and that is the most frustrating thing of all.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Well, Westfest 2009 is over. It was such fun. I met so many amazing people. I know we'll be great friends for a long time. I'm looking forward to next year and the fun we'll have again. This experience was even better than I thought it would be. But, now I'm ready to go home. I've missed The Knight so terribly that my heart aches to see him again. I dread the long flight back but knowing that he'll be at the airport waiting for me will make it all bearable. Of course I'm looking forward to seeing The Heir and Spare again. They're my children and I miss them. It will be fun to compare Disneyland and Walt Disney World with them. They're Disney junkies like me and will enjoy hearing about all that I saw and did. I look forward to the day that the five of us can enjoy a Disney vacation together. For now, I'll plug into my iPod and listen to the playlist I put together of songs that remind me of how much I love this man and close my eyes and picture seeing him again. When you have the joy of being loved by someone it's so hard to be far away even for a short period of time. All I want right now is to be in his arms again. I love The Knight and can't spend one more minute away from him.

The Merriment Continues!

Today was California Adventure day at Westfest. We started it off at Keegan's meet at the Monster's Inc ride around 10. That's such a cute one. I love Baby Boo. We had lunch at the Pacific Wharf. The next big meet was the Toy Story Smackdown sponsored by one of my other fave podcasts, Magic Never Ends. It was so much fun. I learned a few secrets from my new friend The Esquire. I only hope I remember them the next time The Heir, Spare and I get down to Walt Disney World. After that it was time for the meet I had been waiting for, the Cali Screamin' meet. I've been waiting to ride this roller coaster. I was not disappointed. It was so much fun. I loved it so much that I jumped at the chance to ride it again when we realized there were some left over Fastpasses. Well, little did I know I was in for another first. I had my very first ride evacuation. Right before the launch the ride shut down. We sat in that hot sun for a while. I kept thanking God that the ride didn't shut down when we were already up in one of the loops. I can guarantee I would have died from terror. I made the mistake of tweeting my ride evac excitement. When I finally got off I was giving the DF ears. The DF ears are given to someone when they do something particularly fanatic-ish. There were two pairs of ears going around. Luckily, I only got stuck with them for a little while. Poor Keegan had them surgically attached to his head for most of the trip. I opted out of the Tower of Tower meet and went to see the Aladdin stage show with Earl and the Bleepin' Wife instead. That was such a great show. Very well done. My foot is still killing me for some reason so I headed back to the hotel to relax a bit. I was bummed that I didn't get back into DCA in time for the meet at the Corn Dog Castle. I love corn dogs.

Westfest Begins!

Well, today was the first official day of Westfest 2009. We kicked everything off with a big meet up at the Plaza Gardens. Lots of new faces and making plans with old ones. I got to take a ride on Mr. Toad with my friend Mel (aka the Bleepin' Wife). I miss Toad. It was so great to get the chance to do it again. Mel and I took a spin on the carousel while the rest of the group rode the Tea Cups. The next big meet was "Traveling Like Indy". We all rode the Indiana Jones ride which is so much better than Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom. It was amazing. I couldn't belive it's the exact same ride track as Dinosaur. I rode with the Teenage Disney Geek who gave me the entire Dinosaur ride spiel to prove it was the same.  Afterwards we headed over for lunch at the Rancho del Zocalo. I'm telling you that place is delicious. The manager had a whole section roped off for us. Trapped on Vacation podcast sponsored the "Goat Goat Goat" meet at Big Thunder Mountain. We took up three whole trains. It was very cool. This is the meet that defines Westfest in my opinion. Afterwards I headed back to the hotel for a little rest. For some reason my left foot has been hurting. I watched the Kentucky Derby (I hope we get a Triple Crown this year) and then headed back in for the next event. We all gathered at the Castle Forecourt for a big group picture at 5. Seeing all these people gathered together puts into perspective how amazing this has all been. Now, I've been waiting for the chance to try the infamous In-n-Out Burger. Well, after the photo a bunch of us "cool" kids left the park and headed to In-n-Out. Man, was that a lot of fun. There were 17 of us. Some had been there before, some of hadn't. I loved it. I even managed to get a bunch of paper hats for us all. The out of towners had our picture taken outside after we were done. So cool! The evening ended with another late night at the Hearthstone Lounge at the Grand Californian. It got crazy at the end when Dr. Party showed up.

Another Busy Day

Today was my first full day in the parks. I've been rooming with a bunch of really great girls. On the boards they're known as raedahlin and 4mice+1. The third is a friend of 4mice's, she doesn't have a screen name that I know of, I won't use her real name to protect her identity. Raedahlin and I hit the Finding Nemo sub ride and the Matterhorn this morning. They were really great attractions. We met up with some others from our group and rode Alice in Wonderland and It's a Small World. I really like how they incorporated the various movie characters into the countries their stories took place in. They did it in a nice way that blended well with the original characters of the attraction. I would love to see Magic Kingdom's Small World updated in the same way. We had a great lunch at the Rancho del Zocalo. I had the enchiladas. They were delicious. I got to ride Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean. The extra scenes they have are really neat. A little while later a bunch of us rode it again. Right at the first drop we got stuck. Our boat was a little heavy. Eventually, they had to send a castmember out to help push us over the drop. It was hilarious. We ended up getting stuck again at the top of the second drop but we managed to shake ourselves loose without any help. I don't think I've had so much fun on Pirates before. Later in the evening, we all gathered for the 2nd Annual Rabble Rouser Meet in California Adventure. It was a great time of hanging out. We headed over to Soarin' afterwards. There's some dispute over how many people we actually had on the ride but it was possibly as many as 65. What a great time!! We ended the night with the "Remember Dreams Come True" fireworks. They were awesome! I love Wishes at Magic Kingdom but "Remember Dreams Come True" gives them a real run for their money. Tomorrow Westfest officially begins. If the official events are as much fun as the pre-show has been it's going to be a really awesome time!!