Puppy Torture - Christmas Style

Recently we purchased a set of Christmas dog booties to use in a Christmas card photo. While staying with my parents over the Christmas holidays, we decided to let the dogs test out the booties. First up is Brody, my brother's dog. Then Maya and then Annie.

Annie & Maya are ready for Christmas

A couple of puppy videos

A couple of months ago, Evan and Tammy brought over Ned to meet our girls. Ned is a little bit nutty, and has a seemingly infinite amount of energy. He and Annie got along very well. Here's a brief video of them playing together.



Not seen in this video are the numerous instances of Ned trying to hump Annie. Also not seen in this video is Maya's complete dislike for Ned.

If you're interested in seeing something Maya does like, here's a video from Thanksgiving at my parents' house. My dad was shelling pecans and Maya tried to help.

More Progress on Decorations

We worked hard today putting up more Christmas decorations. We did the tree, some decorations on the island, and the outside lights.

New Dining Room Light

We installed a new chandelier in the dining room today.

Starting to Decorate

We started decorating for Christmas this weekend. We just have so many things now that I can't wait until after Thanksgiving. I put out our Jim Shore Christmas collection on the mantle. Also you'll notice a new (actually very old) clock on the mantle. It was a wedding gift to Paw Paw Ralph's parents - over 100 years old and now beautifully restored.

Double Tonga Toast

Breakfast on our last day at Kona Cafe.

Chocolate "Moose"

Tonight we had dinner at Le Cellier and Brad got the Chocolate Moose for dessert.

Waiting for ToT

Got here for rope drop but it's crowded today. Our FP for Toy Story is not till 11:00. We rode Rock'n Rollercoaster after getting our fast passes.

Dinner at Sanaa

We went to Animal Kingdom today and ate at Sanaa for the first time. I got the Tandoori Chicken and Brad got the slow cooked chicken & lamb. It was excellent. Then we went to MK and caught the Main Street Electrical Parade & Wishes. The park was open till midnight and we left just after the 2nd parade passed on Main Street.

Halloween Party Time

I got a candy corn ears headband! (you can't see it too well because my arms are not long enough for proper zoom out)

Dinner at Artist Point

Halibut & salad

Dinner at Cap'n Jack's

We split the clam chowder, salad & crab cakes. Yummy!

Afternoon Snack @ Universal Studios

Enjoying our last day at Universal. Heading to Animal Kingdom Lodge tonight.

Visit to Hogwarts

We have been sorted into the Gryffindor house!

So far having a great time. We did all the HP attractions first since that part was open to resort guests 1 hour early. The weather is beautiful and the crowds are not bad. The "express" line is awesome. We have done just about everything we wanted to do in this park. Just sitting down for lunch at Mythos restaurant now.

Labor Day Weekend Activities

Happy Labor Day weekend! (and Happy Birthday to me!)
Brad got me a cookie cake for my birthday. And we hung up his bike in the garage while the puppies watched. I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Brad's New Car

Brad got a new car today! A Nissan Altima, 2010. The color is Tuscan Red, interior is charcoal leather. Now he just needs to give it a name...

Cobb Salad

Lunch at the Brown Derby today.

Walking the puppies at "Swan Lake"

We just got back from walking the pups. One of our favorite spots to take them is along the waterway that connects Commonwealth to Knightsbridge, near the pool and clubhouse. There's a resident swan that we always see, and it is beautiful.

My iPhone 4 Buying Experience

I officially got my iPhone 4 at 7:57 AM this morning (that is the time on my receipt). I also got Brad's (his came at 8:02). I left work at 5:30 AM and got in a (long) line at the Apple store at First Colony Mall at 5:57 AM. After standing in the drizzling rain for 30 minutes, they split our line into 2: one for reservations and one for not. Luckily the reservation line was much shorter. I got to move up to the covered area. I estimate about 30 people were ahead of me in the reservation line. Just before 7, the entire Apple store crew came running past the line, cheering and inciting cheers from the line too. A bit after 7 we finally started moving. Once I made it through the mall entrance, Chick Fil A was there handing out free breakfast. I had a chicken biscuit and tater tots and an ice cold bottle of water. It was very nice. They were taking about 10-20 people from the reservation line for every 1 in stand by, so those people were pretty upset. Many of them had been there since Wednesday afternoon. When I got close to the front, an employee verified mine & Brad's reservations and before long I had our new phones!

I went home, dropped the phones with Brad for setup, and went to sleep (although it took me a while to actually fall asleep).

I heard from Bobby (we were communicating via text while waiting in line- he was at the Woodlands Apple store). He had to wait 5 hours for his & Annelle's phones! So I should consider my experience a big success!

Now I just need to get a case. I don't like my iPhone being 'naked'.

Last Disney Meal

Today was our last day. We showed up at the Disneyland gates for rope drop. Today was a "magic morning" early day for resort guests. We rode Space Mountain (we were in the front row of the first rocket!), then we rode the Matterhorn, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Buzz Lightyear. Brad's gun worked this time so I had no chance of winning. We did all of that in 50 minutes from park opening. Finally we tried to ride Indiana Jones but it broke down right as we were about to get on! I was at the gate -- so close!

By that time it was 8:30 and time for our last Disney meal - breakfast at Carnation Cafe. We both had the Cinnamon Roll French Toast (pictured). It was very yummy.

Right now we are on our way to the LAX airport via the Disneyland Express bus. It was a great trip and we definitely want to come back soon!

Dinner at Napa Rose

We had a very nice dinner at Napa Rose tonight. I had the halibut and Brad had the salmon. We also shared a truffle mac and cheese. For dessert I had strawberry sorbet and he had chocolate chunk ice cream. They decorated our plates!

Ice Cream Time

Enjoying ice cream on Main Street USA!

Disneyland Day 3

Today we went to DCA in the morning. We were at the "rope drop" and went straight to Toy Story Mania. A picture of our scores is attached - Brad was blue.

Next we did the Silly Symphoni Swings which was better than I expected. Then it was on to Mullholland Madness (kiddie coaster) and California Screamin. It was pretty hot today, so we were prepared to ride Grizzly River Run and get wet. Well, we got soaked. Even when we got back to the room at 3, my clothes were still damp. We also caught the Aladdin show, which was really good, and did the Disney Animation attraction here.

After eating lunch at the Taste Pilots Grill (burgers), we road Soarin again and had my favorite seats - top row, middle. We went back to the room next and went swimming.

For dinner, we ate at Blue Bayou. We both had the gumbo, which was good. I had crab cakes and Brad had the filet mignon. (pictures of each included)

Tonight was our Fantasmic premium seating/dessert party. The seatswere great and it was nice not to have to scout out a spot an hour plus in advance. But, the dessert was no where near as good as theWishes dessert party, and the price was pretty high. But you're paying for the seats more than the dessert part.

After Fantasmic, we watched the fireworks from our seats. Then we did a few things in Fantasyland. (Dumbo!! Carousel!!)

As I type this, Brad has already fallen asleep. Oh yea, and they are doing a World of Color show (must be a private viewing because I asked about soft openings for the public and was told it will not happen). We can hear it from our balcony but the trees block the view. If we were on the 4th or 5th floor we would probably have had a perfect view.

I am pooped so that's all for today!

Breakfast at White Water Snacks

We had breakfast at the hotel's counter service restaurant today. I had the Mickey Waffles and Brad had the breakfast burrito. We both thought it was yummy!

Right now we are waiting at the California Adventure entrance at our hotel. It opens in 30 minutes and there are already 30 people in front of us.

Disneyland Day 2 - Part Two

We decided to check out some of the attractions at Disney's California Adventure this evening. We rode the Monsters Inc. dark ride, saw Muppet Vision 3D, and did Tower of Terror. Then we tried to use our Soarin FP, but thd ride broke down and closed right as we were about to get on. They gave us a special fast pass that was good for any one ride in the park (today only), but it excluded Toy Story Mania.

After that we went to dinner at Storytellers Cafe and they had both a buffet and a regular menu to pick from. We were starving, and the buffet looked good so we chose that. It turned out being good, but not the best Disney buffet by far.

After dinner we explored the Paradise Pier section. We rode Mickeys Fun Wheel, which has a very slow moving line but it was pretty fun - we chose to ride in a swinging gondola, and it moved pretty fast. Next we did the big coaster, California Screamin, and that was really good and it was only a 10 minute wait! The Toy Story line was still really long so we headed back to Soarin to try again. We used our special fast pass and got to ride.

Next we decided to head back over to Disneyland to catch the fireworks. We had some time to kill so we rode the Matterhorn again and then found a spot to watch the fireworks. Disneyland sets up the designated walkways and viewing areas much better than WDW. We waited for about 20 minutes, and watched the show. It was good- Tinkerbell's part is much more elaborate and Dumbo comes out too! We had to learn our lesson though, because our viewing spot was severely hindered by a big tree which blocked most of the big fireworks. So we have 2 more nights to do that better. After the fireworks it was a real crowd mess, so we decided to just find a snack and take it easy.

That's all for now! Sorry for the lack of picture this time. It's hard to remember to take a few with my iPhone since I'm always using the Canon. Tomorrow we are doing California Adventure at opening, and I'll get a few pictures to upload.

Sent from my iPhone

Disneyland Day 2 - Part One

Today was another great day in Disneyland. We decided to take advantage of the "Magic Morning" early entry. We got up at 6am and ate a quick breakfast in the room. By 6:45, we were at the turnstile line, and first in our line!

I got some awesome pictures of Sleeping Beauty castle and main street with no crowds. We rode A LOT!!

Here's the full list (in order):

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Peter Pan's Flight
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Finding Nemo Submarines
Space Mountain
Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters
Star Tours
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Pinnochio's Daring Journey
Storybook Land Canal Boats
Alice In Wonderland
Mad Tea Party
Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin
Small World
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tiki Birds
Captain EO
Space Mountain (FP)
Indiana Jones (FP)

Here's a picture of Brad as we were waiting to ride Snow White.

We had lunch at Carnation Cafe on Main Street. The seating was all outdoors, which works well here because the weather is so nice. I had the Smoked Turkey sandwich (on pretzel bread) with fruit, and Brad had the Cafe Steak Melt with potato salad. It was very good! But then again, we were very hungry due to all the morning activity.

Right now we're back at our room, resting up for tonight's activities. I'll post an update when we get back tonight! Hope everyone is enjoying the pictures and trip report!

Disneyland Day 1

Today was our very first time to visit Disneyland Resort. It was a very long day!

It all started at about 3:15am (central) when my alarm woke me. We left the house at 5am to get to the airport for our 7am flight, nonstop to LAX. Our flight was on time and we even reached the gate 10 minutes early. We landed in Los Angeles at 8:25 (pacific). By 9:30, we were already checking in at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel. Our room would not be ready until about 4pm, so we checked our bags with bell services and walked right over to Disneyland park. We were amazed at how close everything is here. Our hotel has an entry point right in the middle of Downtown Disney, and it's less than 5 minutes to make it to Disneyland.

By 10am, we had made it inside. The crowds were still pretty light, so we were able to see several attractions. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean (much better than at WDW), then the Haunted Mansion (different than WDW but comparable), and Winnie the Pooh (not as good as WDW according to Brad because you don't get to "bounce with Tigger"). Then we took a break for lunch. We ate at the Golden Horseshoe, and saw a performance by Billy Hill & The Hillbillies. It was great! By now it was just before noon. We tried to get FP's for Space Mountain but it was closed, and the Matterhorn line was really long. So we headed back over to get FP's for Big Thunder and use our FP's for Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is very similar to the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom (you're in a vehicle, taking quick turns and bouncing around). I liked it, but I think the story in Dinosaur is much better. Next we rode the train around the whole park, to kill time before our Big Thunder FP's. Finally we rode Thunder Mountain and it was very similar to WDW's version. We then headed back to the hotel to rest and explore, hoping that our room would be ready early (no such luck there).

We checked out the pool, the stores, the restaurants, and the lobby. Then we walked through Downtown Disney and got some Haagen Dazs ice cream. Finally our room was ready and we had just enough time to unpack and get ready for dinner.

We headed back to DL for our dinner reservations at Cafe Orleans at 6:00 pm. (Remember, I've been up since 1:15am pacific time!) So we were getting pretty tired. But we could not skip a meal! We had the pomme frittes for an appetizer (first picture). Then we shared a blackened chicken salad (2nd pic) and a gumbo crepe (3rd pic). And we could not pass up the Mickey shaped beignets (last pic). Everything was great! After dinner we used our Splash Mountain fast pass and then rode the Jungle Cruise. By this time we were REALLY tired, so we headed back to the room (it was about 8:45 when we got back).

So that's all! It's 10:10 pm, I've been up for about 21 hours, and I still had the energy to share this story! I'll try to give a full report tomorrow too!

I'm Somebody

I was mentioned (and pictured!) in the Houston Chronicle today. You can read the article here. One of our HR people at work decided to make some humorous recruiting videos based on the PC vs Mac ads that have been around for a few years. I play the Mac equivalent, which mostly means I play straight man to John, who practically does a vaudeville routine in suffering.

You can see the videos at our recruiting site dreamjobshouston.com.

New kitchen table

Our new kitchen table arrived today. It's from Dillards. It was setup
with the leaf and all 8 chairs, but I think we will keep it without
the leaf and 6 chairs most of the time. The leaf stores within the
table.

Epcot Day

Today we're at Epcot. Right now we are waiting to ride Test Track. We
just rode Soarin' and Tina Fey was on our flight! In fact she caused
us to be bumped to the second row. My mom arrived today and we have
been making our way around the park.