"You Told Me Vader Betrayed and Murdered My Father."

Well, the big news for all the Star Wars geeks (that includes me) is that LucasFilm is being sold to Disney, and that they plan on making six more Star Wars movies (one every two to three years), at least.

And I have to say... and I know this will sound like blasphemy to some, that I'm happy about that. Mostly because the Episodes 1-3 were so abysmal to mediocre. And honestly, if we can get some Avengers like action and campiness back into the Star Wars saga, I'm all for it.

The news was very timely, as X-man is suddenly very into Star Wars. We watched Episodes I, IV, V and VI together over the last few weeks. And we watched the movie the Clone Wars (Yuck). But he was very excited to hear the news from me this morning.

Less exciting was my call to Carle to get a referral for X-man's OT evaluation. I wasn't sold that the person on the other end of the line actually understood the wealth of what OT does. It's not just fine motor skills like "Hold your pencil this way." There's sensory processing and integration going on there that can affect learning in so many ways. So, there was a lot of the person on the other end typing and a lot of me just being silent wondering what in the hell she was putting down in the note to X-man's pediatrician.

Of course, this isn't the first time (or the last) that I'll have found the medical profession confusing. For example, my surgery bill from Christie.

I got an estimate a week after my surgery that my part of the bill would likely be around $1,900. Fine. Then I got the bill and it was over $4,000. What? Then I looked at my insurance claim online where I could line up all the items. There was a $3,904 charge for fixing my ligaments that the Christie bill said the insurance company hadn't paid their part of. But there on the computer screen the insurance company had it's 70% of the bill. So, I looked at what the insurance company said they paid and sent the remainder of the "patient responsibility" to Christie. I figured maybe the check and bill overlapped in the mail. But it was still annoying.

Today is the Storybook Parade at Carrie Busey. X-man is wearing a t-shirt about the story Swimmy by Leo Lionni that I mostly made but he told me where to put everything. (He's very bossy about his design concepts.) After school he goes to see the Mathman and then he can come home and veg until he gets dressed up in his Halloween costume and heads out to trick or treat. He's an astronaut this year. :-)

Life After the Mouse

We landed at Orlando Airport around 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday. We decided that Thanksgiving isn't going to be about food for us, so we picked up our rental car and ran over to the Swan Hotel. The Swan backs up to The Dolphin, The Boardwalk and the Yacht Club resorts, so there were a lot of choices for meals. 

We dumped our stuff and then headed to the Magic Kingdom and let X-man lead the way. And that's pretty much how we spent the day. We walked around the park and let him point to rides, wait in line and then grab a snack here and there. X-man has never been a big Winnie the Pooh fan, but he found that all these childhood favorites in the same area more than awesome. So he decided to skip the Pooh ride and instead, visit Mr. Sanderz' house. 

After riding my favorite ride (the Teacups, where the boys found my crazy giggling quite amusing) X-man and I went on the race cars. He was too short to drive according to the measuring pole at the front of the ride, but it looked like they weren't caring too much about who was driving when they got in the car. However, X-man is a bit of a rule follower, so when I offered it to him, he refused. But we had to stop and sit in the stands afterwards so he could practice being an announcer at the races. 

It was beautiful weather in Florida. It was in the 70s the whole time, but in the evening, a breeze would kick up and it got a bit chilly. On our way to pick up a sweatshirt for X-man, we stopped by Cinderella's castle all lit up in purple. The castle had all the Christmas lights on it, too.

Now wrapped up in a new Pluto fuzzy sweatshirt, we sat down on Main Street to watch the Electrical Parade. I had to tell X-man who 70 percent of the characters were (the major floats were for Pete's Dragon -- a movie he refuses to watch because of the Gogans -- as well as Alice in Wonderland and Pinnochio.) We also got a Mickey balloon for him. He was fascinated by the fact that it was a balloon inside a balloon. There was some whining over the fact that it wasn't an LED balloon. But he got over it -- quick. 

Here's Mickey on his train float. After the Electrical Parade, we got on the bus to go home and skipped the fireworks at 10 p.m. It was X-man's bedtime when the parade started (Central time), so he was totally wasted by the time the parade was over.

I'm really glad we didn't book a character breakfast or wait in line for the buffet at our hotel that has them  first come/first serve on the weekend. Because this was X-man's reaction to getting within 3 feet of one of the many green Toy Story guys hanging out in front of the Pixar part of Hollywood Studios. He didn't mind waving at them from a distance. But he did NOT want to get close to them. On Day 2, we spent the morning at Hollywood Studios doing Star Tours (Oh, the Loosey Giggle factor came into play here every time we jumped to light speed), watching the Jedi Training Academy (X would have been too scared of Darth Maul and Darth Vader to participate) and the Toy Story Mania ride (which is a newer better version than the Buzz one in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom. We also ate lunch at the Sci Fi Dine in (which was a giant movie screen playing old promos for 1950s science fiction films  and short cartoons like Tom and Jerry) in a darkened room for lunch before we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. We spent the afternoon there and then ate lunch at the Rain Forest Café. I had never been to one, and unless you need a lot of loud noises to drown out your child's crying, I'd skip it.

X-man really enjoyed the two park areas within the parks. The first is the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground (where it is impossible to keep an eye on your kids without getting on your hands and knees and going through it with them) in Hollywood Studios. It's a great way to run off any steam or whininess that has built up from waiting in line for things (which is not often a favorite past time of small children). The other free play area is a Dinosaur playground in the Animal Kingdom next to the Dinoland, USA kiddie ride section.

My favorite part of this trip was that X-man and MacTroll got some quality time, even if it was on a bus ride or at the dinner table. MacTroll's been on the road a lot, and I think having four days with no computers and TV in the middle of Disney was really very good for both of them.

X-man balked at the hour that we were going to wait for the Safari Ride in the Animal Kingdom, but they really got us through in 25 minutes! My favorite was watching this giraffe chow down on the low branches.

For breakfast on Saturday, we went to Cat Cora's restaurant on the Boardwalk. X-man got his Mickey shaped waffle. I got my fruit bowl and tea and MacTroll had an excellent breakfast skillet.

Saturday we headed over to Sea World after breakfast. X-man was very excited about getting wet at the dolphin and whale shows. It used to be... 20 years ago... that the shows were just educational bits about the animals with some background music. This dolphin show had -- um -- a plot with character development and trapeze artists. It was totally bizarre.

But X-man totally dug it. 

 Sea World doesn't have very many rides, but X-man really liked the boat ride. They got pretty wet. I took photos next to the area where other visitors could put quarters into spray guns and squirt the boat as it came by. I tried to soak them... my quarter didn't freaking work!

X-man wanted to sit as close as possible at the Killer Whale show. But as MacTroll and I sat there and read the history of whale trainer deaths at Sea World over the last 15 years, we were kind of happy to sit farther back. But we were still in the "Soak Zone." After the incident in 2010, the trainers no longer get in the water with the animals in the shows. The regular show is called "One Ocean" which MacTroll would describe as a pandering attempt at ecological education.

We could also imagine that the conversation about the decision on high to keep the trainers out of the water went something like this, "You're not allowed in the water with the animals during shows."
"What are we gonna do then?"
"You're gonna dance."

And yeah, if you're wondering, scientists doing the white man shuffle to bad music is totally the reason they invested so much in four giant moving movie screens. It draws most of the focus away from the trainers and onto the screens or to the animals.

 Yes, were this far back from the orcas, and X-man left soaked. They bring out the giant whale who flips up her tail and goes NUTS splashing people.

And since he was already wet from the Orca show, when we hit Shamu's kids area and X-man saw the water playground, we told him to go for it. I ran off for lunch and then when I returned, X-man was complaining that Sea World people told him he had to wear shoes on the other rides. Um, what? Of course you do... MacTroll just shrugged.

But then the boys went to play on the pirate ship.

This is the GIANT rope climb with all kinds of crazy tunnels and tire swings and awesomeness that X-man spent a full hour going through with and without MacTroll. Around it were a lot of kiddie rides, but X-man spent most of his time in the free play area. 

And underneath the rope climb is the seal the deal reason why Quigs will never want to go to Sea World... giant sandbox... :-)

After Sea World, we headed to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at Fresh A-Peel and visited the Babycakes Vegan bakery between the TREX café and the Lego Store. X-man got a new Lego set and built himself three mini figures before he went out to the work tables and made a car. He entered in a race and won! Then I walked him down to Once Upon a Toy and he built a Light Saber for himself.

X-man found out that MacTroll's mother is going to Disney next week with some of her other grand children. He asked if he could go back with them. We told him he had to go to school, but I told him he'd go back sometime. He asked when. I told him to talk to his Papa. :-)

On the Road to the Mouse

Tomorrow morning, the family and I are headed to Orlando to see Mickey Mouse. It's X-man's first trip to Disney World. When he was 3, we spent 4 hours at the California Adventure Park in California. It's a long weekend, but I have a feeling it will feel like a short vacation.

When we return there's only four more weeks before Winter break.

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and will put some up. :-)

Florida -- the Trial Run

On Oct. 1, I was supposed to run the Wine and Dine half marathon with a couple of my girlfriends. Since my foot is still broken, that obviously didn't happen. But I'd paid for my flight and my room and I was due for a little break from my life, so I went to Florida.

I've been to Florida several times before, and I've never been a big fan. But this was Disney, so I decided if I could put up with the people (I'm also not a big fan of large groups of people), I'd do okay. And I did.

It was the Magic Kingdom's 40th anniversary, and they're gearing up to open a New Fantasyland in 2012 that includes homes for all of the Disney Princesses (minus Cinderella, who still has a damn big castle). I didn't go on too many rides, but I did get to do the Toy Story ride (which is pretty much a large screen arcade game) because I ran into one of my student's parents at the front of Disney Hollywood Studios and she gave us her fast passes because the ride was broken, and her girls were wiped out.

We ate at the Prime Time Café in Hollywood Studios. I did learn that you should make reservations for meals about a month before you go down. I'm making them now for when we're down at Disney for Thanksgiving. I haven't told X-man that's where we're going. And rather than come home empty handed I stopped at the Kennedy Space Center shop in the airport and brought him home an astronaut's suit, so it wouldn't tip him off. I mean, he's not stupid. He's seen the photos of me at Disney. I'm just not sure that when I say we're going to Florida in November that it sinks in that we're going to see Buzz and Woody, because, let's face it, in this house, Mickey Mouse -- means nothing. But I now have an attack plan for our Thanksgiving vacation, and as long as everything goes right on our direct flight down from Bloomington, we'll be okay. :-) We're planning to be at Disney on Thursday and Friday and then to go to Sea World on Saturday. We fly home early on Sunday morning.

At school, things are going swimmingly. I got to be the stand-in director on Monday while my boss was out of town. I think it would have been more enjoyable if I also wasn't in my room at the same time. Our numbers were low, so it was okay for me to run around and make sure everyone else was okay from time to time, but I didn't want to abandon my teaching partner.

This week, X-man gets to spend the night at a friend's house while MacTroll and I take the train up to Chicago to see Carrie Fisher do her stand up "Wishful Drinking" routine. I'm rather excited about it. I've been a fan of Carrie's writing since I was 16, and lord knows I was a wannabe Princess Leia since the moment Empire came out.

Speaking of Star Wars! Disney revamped the film in the Star Tours ride at Hollywood Studios. Everything outside the film, was pretty much the same. But inside they had gotten rid of that Short Circuit-like robot and replaced him with a 3D movie with Threepio and R232, with some other Star Wars characters, which was nice. My favorite part of the whole ride was the jump to lightspeed. It was so cool, I was happy that they made us do it twice. :-)

And yes, I got a shirt that says, "Good, Bad, Fuzzy" with photos of Yoda, Darth Vader and Wicket at the end of the ride. It's not funny just because. It's funny because one of my favorite Han-isms is that he's fuzzy on all good/bad things. :-)

What Would You Do?

On Sept. 30th, I'll be on a flight to Florida. I am supposed to participate in the Disney Wine and Dine half marathon on Oct. 1. But I've got this injury. I have to call Disney tomorrow to finish my reservations. Since I have a non-refundable ticket and $250 into it, the least I'm getting is a vacation with my two other runner friends.

My plan right now, since I'm totally fine walking. Is to work on getting to a place where I try to run/walk 1/2 of it... and then totally walk the rest. I should be able to maintain less than the required 16-minute per mile pace that way. On the other hand, if I can't maintain it, I'll be picked up by the slow bus. 

I'm also thinking about seeing if I can come up with some kind of running shirt that has the slow moving vehicle triangle on it with a Tigger Tail and the word "Injured" across it. :-) 

The truth is that instead of treating it like a race, I've started to think of it as a fancy place to get in some physical activity, rather than pulling out completely.

Does that make sense?

You're Guess is as Good as Mine

On Oct. 1 at 10:30 p.m. I should be lining up in a gated corral with a couple thousand random people to do the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon. But I'm a little nervous. You see, I should be officially starting to train this weekend, but instead, I'm still gimping along.

The fascia pain has moved from the lower arch of my foot to the back of the heel and (yikes) a bit into the achilles and the calf muscle. I've stayed off of it running for the last week. And I've been barely breaking 5 miles in walk/run per week. Therefore, I made an appointment with the Sports Medicine big wig over at Carle for 11 a.m. on July 26. He'll do an X-ray and tell me what's up.

I have to tell you. I'm a bit scared. But we'll see. Maybe I'm just a big impatient whiner... but if he cancels my half marathon, I'm still freaking going to Disney for the weekend with my friends. I have a plane ticket and a hotel room... so, um, I'm there.

It's a Small World

MacTroll was reading a tourist guidebook last night in bed. It said that 52 percent of dwelling occupants in Paris are single people living alone. Mmm, I thought. Maybe that's why they're so grumpy, they're lonely. I decided that since all the wine, pastry and chocolate wasn't enough to get France in a good mood, I'd try something different. We'd go somewhere where people were paid to be the happiest people on Earth. That's right. Disneyland Paris. And you want to know something? It was the best idea I've ever had.

MacTroll looked into the tours offered through the hotel desk, and they were kind of expensive 98 Euros each to just go to one of the two Disney parks with a bus that would pick us up and drop us off at the hotel. But we'd have to be on the bus at 7 a.m. Mmmm, the park doesn't open until 10 a.m., so that was lame. Plus, it was expensive. But we were going to Disney so we knew we were in for using up some cash. Instead, we walked a half mile and picked up the train for under 7 Euros each. The Disney stop is the last stop on the train. You literally tumble out halfway between Disney Village (their Downtown Disney) and the two parks (Disneyland and Disney Studios). Of course, it was raining when we got there, and I was feeling cold, so we picked me up an extra sweatshirt (40 Euros) to wear under my rain coat and then we went off and stood in line for tickets.

A one-day park hopper was 68 Euros each. One park ticket was 52 Euros each. So we decided to bite the bullet and go for the hopper. I was already feeling happy about the decision when our train was full of kids with excitable giggles and parents laughing. It made me miss my kid, but I was so happy to be around other people with children. Finally, lightheartedness and humor.

Suddenly, in the ticket purchase line, this woman with two friends and their six kids, turns around and asks me if I speak French. I answer, "Non" honestly. I know enough not to starve. Turns out she knew as much English as I knew French. So we made a go of a discussion. She was a Disney pass holder and had a coupon that she was using for her two friends, but was good for up to four adults. Two one-day park hopper tickets for 15 Euros each and would we like to buy our tickets with them to use the coupon?

Hell, yes!

We were very grateful, and as far as Parisians go, she just totally proved that our experience in the city is probably entirely a city thing. My friend Robin loves everywhere else in France outside of Paris. She also likes to refer to Paris as "NYC with a baguette up it's butt." It's a fair assessment from our experience. But when you get into the land of the minivans (suburbs) something happened. People got more relaxed. They were enjoying their kids. And MacTroll's look of "I can't effing believe my wife brought me to Disney when we're in Paris" went away, and he became much more amiable and open to the idea.

MacTroll before the nice lady gave us 106 Euros back in our pocket... (This is his, "I can't believe I'm here" face.)

After the most awesome French woman in history gave us use of her coupon. (See a distinct difference?)

We were in Disney for the day, on a rainy day, for less than the cost of lunch.

Speaking of lunch. MacTroll also read last night that Paris has recently become the most expensive place to live in the world. It costs more than Tokyo, which if you think about really is mind boggling since when MacTroll was in Japan in 2005, he often had to eat his breakfast and lunch out of vending machines because his NYC level per diem wouldn't cover food at even a fast food place. Lunch at Disney at a Planet Hollywood at Disneyland Paris was much less than lunch in actual downtown Paris at a Bistro. It was insane. How Disney can be cheaper than anything makes no sense to me.

We went on a few rides. The Star Wars Tours was much more fun in French than in English, especially when the guys says, "May the Force Be With You." :-) We also went on the Aerosmith roller coaster, which was a long line, but made me scream and laugh, which MacTroll always love. Their teacups had been altered so they didn't really spin. I wondered if it was to prevent vomiting, but we did our best to keep the saucer turning faster than everyone else. Most of all, people from all over Europe were smiling and laughing. They were, admittedly, much happier when there were younger children around. Once we were in line for the grown up roller coaster, the happiness went away and there were more sullen faces, but hey, such is puberty, right?

We were there from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. When we were done, we picked X-man up a Disney Pixar long-sleeve t-shirt (12 Euros). (He's growing out of the one I got him in February 2008, which was an XS.) Then we got on the train and headed back to the city.

Now we're relaxing before we head out for our last dinner in Paris. Tomorrow, we get on the bus and head back to the airport before flying home to Chicago to see our boy, who apparently has a bit of a cold and a cough.

This whole week, I've enjoyed being child-free, but one thing was certain: Every time I looked at my husband, I felt like something was missing. Sometimes at home I wonder if I ever should have become a mother, particularly when I think I'm royally messing up. But after being here, I know it couldn't have happened any other way, and that we have exactly what we want.

Love you X-man. Can't wait to give you a big hug. And I'm so much happier in the middle of nowhere than I ever could be living in an urban mecca. It's okay to visit. But I adore my home.