Happy Halloween

For the first time in our twenty years of living in the Country Cove neighborhood there were no Heinisch children among the trick or treaters tonight.  Cam went to a party at Samuel's and Meg went trick or treating with Jackie in Goshen.  Thus, there were no pictures on the front porch to share or Heinisch children home watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" while swapping candy with their friends at the end of the night.

It didn't really make me sad, but it definitely felt strangely quiet in our house tonight.  Doug didn't even make it home for trick or treating this evening as he worked late.  For awhile I wasn't even sure that we would have anybody stop by as it was pretty slow until about 6:20 or so.  My parents did come up in case I needed to leave and pick up Cameron.  I was glad that they stayed, so someone else could enjoy all of the costumes coming to our door.  The most popular costume of the night seemed to be a giant blow up dinosaur.  It was neat to look at, but I think that it would have been hard to walk  around in while wearing it.

Even though the day was quiet and the night started slow, it was a nice Halloween.  Doug, Cam and Meg all made it home safe and sound.  I did not give out all of the candy, so there was some left for everyone.  Mom had brought up a gift for them to enjoy as well.  I finished the evening by watching one of my favorite scary movies - Vincent Price's Wax Museum.  It was the perfect Halloween movie for me - not too scary or violent.

Indiana Soccer Coaches Association High School All-Academic Award

Tonight was the fall awards ceremony at Bethany.  Doug went to support Meg and was proud to announce that she was given the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association High School All-Academic Award.  She was one of only two members on her team to be chosen for this honor and we were both happy for her.  Sports have been an important part of Meg's high school career, but her main focus has always been her education.  She worked hard to earn this award and we couldn't be more proud.  It was a great way to end her soccer career, honoring her high achieving ability as a student athlete.

Basketball Postponed

There was a girl's scrimmage tonight for Bethany basketball, but Meg wasn't allowed to play.  In fact because she missed the Fall Break practices she won't be eligible to participate in a game until November 9th.  I don't quite agree with the philosophy of it as I believe that Fall Break practices  should not ever be mandatory, but Meg didn't seem to mind.  Thus, we have no problem with her waiting to play.  It will give her time to practice and to learn their new defense.  She really enjoys her teammates and coaches, so being a part of the team was important to her for more reasons than just playing basketball.  We definitely support that.

The nice part about her sitting out tonight was that it freed up an evening for us.  I was able to finish putting away all of the laundry, luggage and souvenirs from Walt Disney World.  Cam had practice after school and then went to the scrimmage.  Just like Meg he enjoys his coach and teammates a lot this year.  Tonight he was happy to report that practice was a lot of fun, even though he and Joey lost a bet to Troy and had to run a down and back.  I guess they won't doubt Coach's three point shot again.

A Day of Rest

Thankfully, Doug slept on the flight home last night, so he was well rested for the drive home.  I was thankful as I did not want to stay in a hotel.   We arrived back in Syracuse at 2:30 a.m. more than ready for bed.  We did unload before turning in, but by 3 a.m. everyone was asleep.  In fact Cam and Meg were still asleep when Doug checked on them at one this afternoon.

The rest of the day was a quiet one here.  Cam tried out a new video game.  Meg did homework and then met Jackie for dinner.  My parents stopped by to see everyone for a little while.  We had gifts for them as well.  I had hoped to get a lot of the unpacking done, but I was just too tired.  When I saw my FitBit report for the week, I could understand why.  It felt great to know how much we had walked, but it definitely answered why my legs were sore today.

One Great Week

Today was our last day at Disney World.  I was sad to see it come, but it had been a fantastic week.  This morning we finished packing our suitcase and carry-ons, so that we could drop them off at baggage services before we left for Animal Kingdom.  It was the last park that Doug had not visited and one of his favorites.  Today we focused on the rides that we hadn't yet had a turn on including the Na'vi River Journey, Dinosaur and Kilimanjaro Safari ride.  We also walked through the African gorilla trails and Asian animal trek which I really enjoyed.  Doug and Cam finished the morning with Kali River Rapids ride.  Meg and I didn't want to get soaked.  In the end they stayed fairly dry compared to previous times.

We spent the afternoon at EPCOT once again enjoying lunch and touring the countries.  Meg wanted to ride The Gran Fiesta Tour one last time.  It had a line, but we were able to get on without a problem.  The weather was cooler today than we had earlier in the week, but we didn't mind.  It was quite a bit warmer than the weather we would return to this evening.  While we were walking through EPCOT, Cam kept us updated on the college football scores.  He stayed up last night to watch IU lose to Minnesota.  It was a typical IU game.  They got down in the first half, rallied to tie it and then fumbled with a minute and a half left to lose in the fourth quarter.  He wasn't too disappointed, but said that he was ready for IU basketball to start.  While we were in the countries we also finished our search for Remi on the Ratatouille map to win a Figment koozie.   It wasn't much of a prize, but it was fun searching for all of them.

Doug and Cam headed to the lounge around 4 p.m. while I went with Meg to get a chocolate shake.  The guys met up with a zealous Penn State fan and enjoyed watching the Iowa v PSU game with her.  We all had dinner in the lounge again before catching the Magical Express for our 9:05 flight.  The trip was an easy one to the airport.  I was pleased that our flight was on time since we were the last one of the day.  It was packed, but we found seats together.  The flight was bumpy, but that didn't surprise me as it tends to be when we travel north.  We all slept and watched videos for the majority of the flight, sad to be leaving, but thankful for a safe trip home.

 

Be Our Guest

This morning we were all up early for our morning at Magic Kingdom.  Extra Magic hours were from 8 to 9 and we wanted to be there when the rope dropped.  We thought we'd have to take the Minnie van to do so, but got extremely lucky when the bus pulled up just as we were walking out of the hotel.  Our morning was a fun one complete with The Seven Dwarf Mine ride, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear and more.  We had saved the Tomorrowland Transit Authority for Doug and enjoyed that today.  Normally, we have him go through Laugh Floor with us as well, but we had such success on Wednesday night with Meg and I making the big screen and Cameron having his joke read that we decided to pass on it today.

I had made reservations several months ago for Be Our Guest.  We had never been there for breakfast and I really wanted to try it.  I enjoyed the atmosphere of the Beast's castle as always.  The food was delicious and I got some great pictures of all of us together.  Cam and Meg decided to stay at the park for the Muppet America presentation.  It was as funny as we remembered.  Afterward Doug and Cam caught the monorails to EPCOT and Meg and I did some shopping on Main Street before joining them.

Our afternoon was once again spent touring the countries and riding our favorite rides.  We had run into the Barbers at Magic Kingdom.  They had reservations at ESPN Zone at 5 and Meg wanted to stop in and see them as the restaurant was located on the Boardwalk.  While she was visiting with them I went back to the hotel and started packing.  I was sad to think that we had to leave tomorrow, but we will definitely have a lot of memories to take back with us.

We ate dinner in the lounge.  I was glad that Meg joined us there as well.  It was spaghetti and meatball night and it was delicious.  After dinner we split up.  Doug headed to EPCOT and Cam, Meg and I went to Hollywood Studios to get a seat for Fantasmic.  We were there forty-five minutes early, but needed to be so in order to get a seat.  We filled our time by playing Trivia Crack and doing the wave.  The only down part was the Disney pop music that kept playing.

The show was great.  I didn't remember all of it, so I was glad that we decided to see it.  Afterward we met Doug on the Boardwalk.  The magician's were out in full force, so we stopped to watch their shows.  Cam even got to be part of a card trick.  He then decided to play the "Flip a Lobster" carnival game.  Last year he had terrible luck, but this year he was able to put one in a pot and won a penguin. We ended our last night by enjoying desserts in the lounge.  Everything was wonderful and we could hear the Illuminations fireworks starting as we headed to our room.

 

Doug's Vacation

Doug arrived just after midnight last night, but was up with us at 7:30 to spend the morning at Hollywood Studios.  I wasn't worried about him getting up, but Meg and I weren't sure we would make it.  Cameron really wanted to take Doug on Slinky Dog Dash and fortunately, we all were there once again before rope drop.  The wait was a little bit longer than Monday, but Doug liked it as much as we did.  We then took him on the Alien Saucers before our turn on Toy Story Mania.  Meg was the big winner today.  We then spent several more hours in the park completing our morning with Rock N Roller Coaster, Star Tours and Twilight Tower of Terror.  I was nervous to ride on the Tower, but it was one of my favorite today.  Instead of falling straight down, it was more like a yo-yo, which did not scare me half as much.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at EPCOT.  This was what Doug was most looking forward too.  Cam and I could fill him in on all of the delicious food that we had already tried.  Doug had also done some research on the way down to find the best food and drink stops.  We walked through all of the countries trying different foods.  Once we had had our fill we decided to take a ride on Soarin', Figment and Spaceship Earth.  Cam and Doug then went through the single rider line on Test Track while Meg and I rode Nemo.  The line for that was actually longer than theirs as the clams for Nemo had stopped working for awhile.  We met them afterward and traveled back to the Boardwalk through Canada.

Meg and I did some shopping while Doug and Cam went swimming.  It was the perfect day for it as it was close to 90 degrees this afternoon.  Meg and I didn't find a lot while shopping so we planned on hitting the Emporium tomorrow at Magic Kingdom.  We had a delicious dinner in the lounge complete with pork brisket before walking back to EPCOT.  Meg and I decided to wait in the Frozen ride line while Doug and Cam toured the countries again.  We all met up for Illuminations afterward. We had heard that it was going to be replaced in 2019, so we definitely wanted to see it one more time.  We ended our evening in the lounge once again enjoying the desserts that were offered.  We had talked about hanging out on the Boardwalk, but decided against it as we wanted to get up early for Magic Kingdom's extra magic hours.  Thus, we called it an early night, happy from our busy day.