Grandma Heinisch

Today would have been Jeanette's 81st birthday.  It is so hard to believe that the last time we celebrated with her was twelve years ago.  She was such an important part of lives and a great support to our family.  Because of that, I am not surprised that we miss her more and more each year.  

This week, I found a project that she created with Cal. It made me smile as soon as I saw it as I remember them working on it during the holiday season sixteen years just as if it was yesterday.  It was so nice to have this walk down memory lane, this week especially.  She may not have been in our children's lives long, but she definitely made a huge impression.  For that I will forever be grateful.  It has helped to mold them into the adults that they are today, and I know she would be extremely proud of them.

Favorite Spotify Day of the Year

Every year Spotify comes out with Spotify Wrapped which is a list of the members top songs, albums, podcasts, genres of music and more. It is by far my favorite listening day of the year.  Today’s 2025 Spotify Wrapped was by far the best that I could remember for me.  It was the first time that I felt the songs and artists reflected my music as in years past, Doug, Meg or Cameron used my Spotify more than I did either when we were traveling in the car or at home listening on the Google Home Mini.  

Although, I enjoyed finding out what we had listened to together previously, this year I could actually see what I had playing on my Spotify account. After looking at my list, I wasn’t surprised to find Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty dominate most categories and was thankful for my top 100 songs of the year so that I could spend the day listening to my favorites.  This year there were two new categories that made Spotify Wrapped even more fun.  The first was “my listening age” which ended up being 79 years old.  It seemed a little bit high, but I couldn’t argue with it as my top singers were all over the age of 75.  The second new category was the “music club” that I belonged to this year.  It accurately defined me even down to its mention of house plants.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading through my Spotify Wrapped this year, but the best part was hearing from all of the other members of our family with their top songs, artists, albums, etc.  Doug had the oldest listening age at 81, while Karen was the youngest at 36.  I was a little surprised to see Meg match my age because of all of the girlie pop that she listens to, but her love of older music must have dominated her list instead. I had only heard of one song on Brett’s list, but that was not surprising at all as most of the music he plays is from video games.  Spotify is definitely our family’s favorite streaming app, and today it more than proved why.

Good News

Doug and I met with a different type of neurologist this afternoon and felt really good about the appointment.  She started by asking a lot of questions about Doug's health history and the onset of his tremor.  We explained Doug's symptoms to her and talked about the stress that he was under at work and with a family member during the apex of the tremors.  The doctor took notes on the medications that Doug had tried, looked at his bloodwork and was extremely thorough in her physical examination of Doug's arm and movement.  

By the end of the appointment, I started to relax.  I have hated meeting with the neurologists about Doug's tremor.  They always seem to talk down to us, disregard anything that we have said and pushed medications that didn't help.  This was the first time that someone other than our family doctor listened to us, and although she couldn't specifically tell us why Doug was having tremors, she did say that his tremor was atypical and to her did not seem to be Parkinson's related.  That was great news, but the best part was knowing that she had a plan to help Doug without pushing harsh medication or intense treatment without more testing.  I was very glad to hear that.  

Let it Snow, Let it Snow . . .

While we were enjoying Thanksgiving weekend in Florida, the Midwest was being hit with a terrible snowstorm.  The first of our family to be impacted by the weather was Brett and Karen.  They had made plans to go to Grandma and Grandpa's to celebrate the holiday on Saturday and Sunday but had to cancel because of the snow.  My parents weren't disappointed as they could see how bad it was outside and wanted Brett and Karen to be safe.  The good part was that it gave Karen and Brett a relaxing weekend at home to catch up on housework after her parents visit and to rest.  The other good news was that Grandma and Grandpa had plenty of food in the house in anticipation of their visit and wouldn't need to leave until the weather was better.

Besides the cold at the Purdue game, the weather did not affect Cameron too much.  He had to time his drive from Fishers to Bloomington in between the snow falls, but overall, the snow was not as deep as it was in the northern part of the state.  Because the snow mostly fell on Saturday in the Chicago area, Cal and Maggie's flight was not affected on Sunday.  Cal did have to work from home on Monday, however, because there was at least six inches of snow on his car that morning.  Thankfully, he was able to get it cleared off and was back in the office today.  

Although I loved the picture that Brett and Karen sent, listening to everyone's issues with the storm this weekend made me appreciate living in Florida so much more.  It does get cold here and we do get more rain, but I would take our weather disturbances over theirs any day.  Even the hurricanes aren't as bad as I worried they would be when we moved, especially this year when had none. Overall, it has been a nice perk of relocating to Ocala.

On to the Big Ten Championship Game

While we were at Disney World this weekend, Cameron was with Cora's family at the IU vs Purdue football game in West LaFayette.  The Hoosiers needed to win the game to finish with an undefeated season and to earn a berth in the Big Ten championship game.  I was nervous about the game, but knew that there really wasn't a reason to be.  We had beaten the Boilermakers 66-0 last year and they hadn't improved much this year.  Thankfully, there was nothing to worry about as IU left the field with a 56-3 victory.  

I heard from Cameron at the end of the game and was very impressed that he, Cora and her parents stayed until the very end.  It wasn't the blowout that made me think that they would leave early or the fact that the starters were pulled late in the third quarter.  It was actually the weather that I thought would drive them out of the stadium in the fourth quarter.  It was the coldest game ever played at Ross-Ade Stadium.  Fortunately, they were dressed for it and the celebration on the field at the end of the game as the Hoosiers made football history was well worth a few hours in the cold.  

Saying Goodbye to a Wonderful Week

Since Cal and Maggie were busy until 1 p.m. today, Doug and I took advantage of our proximity to Magic Kingdom to spend the morning there.  We had a lot of fun looking at all of the Christmas decorations, riding Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean, eating lunch for the first time at Columbia House and doing a little bit of shopping before heading out.  While we were there, Meg and Nick had a first-time experience as well.  They got stuck on Dinosaur and had to evacuate.  Meg took some great video of the thrill ride with the lights on while walking to the exit.  

Cal and Maggie were at the Boardwalk pool when we arrived.  I wasn't sure that we would be able to get in to see them as the resorts had gotten extremely strict with visitors because of the holiday season.  Thankfully, it was no problem, and we enjoyed an afternoon in the sun by the pool.  The water was freezing, but that didn't stop them from trying out the slide and even Doug and I took a turn in the pool.  Between Disney and the Keys, I believe that I have been swimming more times this year than I have in the past ten.  

Meg and Nick joined us after they made it out of Dinosaur.  They told us all about their experience while the four of them got lunch from the corn dog cart.  I still couldn't believe it as we had never had to evacuate a ride in all of the times that we have visited Disney.  The good part was that besides the video, they also got a lightening lane for one of my favorites - Na'vi River Ride.  

The six of us stayed at the Boardwalk until after 4 p.m.  It reminded me of all of the reasons why this was our family's favorite resort.  I grabbed a holiday hot chocolate drink from their lobby before we left for Meg's and dinner at Gastro Pub.  Cal and Maggie had never eaten there.  They loved the food and the atmosphere as much as we did and I was glad that we were able to spend more time with them before their 9:00 p.m. flight. I was definitely sad when I dropped them off at the airport but didn't cry.  I was incredibly thankful for a wonder week with family and ready for some much needed rest before everyone came down for Christmas.  

Monorail, Monorail, Monorail

When Doug and I checked out of Port Orleans Riverside this morning, I was a little bit bummed. I loved that resort and thought maybe I made a mistake by changing to the Contemporary for tonight. Once we pulled into the deluxe resort, I was more than happy that we decided to switch. Not only was it the perfect spot for a tour of the monorail resorts this afternoon, but it was also beautifully decorated for the holidays. Our room was even ready which surprised both of us as it wasn’t even noon yet. I forgot how much I loved the Contemporary lobby, their restaurants and the Incredibles theme.

Since we weren’t meeting anyone until closer to 3 o’clock this afternoon, Doug and I used the extra time to relax. We had pushed ourselves pretty hard this week and it was nice just to take a breather. We found a quiet little spot at our resort to have a light lunch and watch the Ohio State vs Michigan football game.

After a relaxing lunch, Doug and I were definitely ready for a night out when Cal called to say that they would meet us outside of Magic Kingdom. That was the perfect spot for us as we could walk over from our resort. The Doyles wanted to go to Fort wilderness Lodge first to see their Christmas tree and gingerbread house. We had never been in the actual lodge since we had only stayed in the cabin area years ago with our own family. It was awesome. It reminded us a lot of great Wolf Lodge and the decorations were gorgeous. Mr. Doyle wanted to wait until the lounge open before we caught the boat back to the Contemporary. At first, I wasn’t sure it was worth a half hour wait, but once we tried the drinks and food there and felt the atmosphere, I realize that I was wrong. It was a lot of fun.

While we were all catching the boat to the Contemporary, Meg and Nick were arriving from their own hotel. Jack caught up with us there as well, and Nancy suggested that we try the DVC lounge at the top of the resort. Since we were not Disney vacation club members, we had never been there. It was by far one of our favorite spots of the weekend. It was decorated in a villains' theme and had a large alcove room for the nine of us. We tried small plates of pretzels and flatbread, which were excellent. Before we headed to the monorail for our next stop, we went out on the rooftop to see the Christmas lights at Magic Kingdom. They were beautiful.

For some reason, I mentioned that every time I took the monorail I got stuck, so of course we all got stuck. I didn’t mind because that gave me a chance to tell Doug how funny it was that someone on the escalator was singing the monorail song from The Simpsons. Meg always tells me every time we ride the monorail that we should sing “Monorail, Monorail, Monorail” from her favorite episode. To hear someone else do the same thing.

The monorail did finally start up again and our next stop was the Polynesian. They had just opened an outdoor bar where we could get food and drinks while watching the fireworks from Magic Kingdom. It was absolutely my favorite spot of the night. We had an awesome view, fantastic food, and so much fun talking about our favorite Disney moments. This definitely would be one of them. Once the fireworks were over, we made a quick stop at the Gand Floridian. It was nicely decorated too, but we didn't stay long as we were all tired and ready to head back to our hotels. 

Once Cal left with the Doyle family, Meg, Nick, Doug and I took the monorail back to the Contemporary. We grabbed a snack from the food court and hung out in the lounge there for an hour or so before they took an Uber back to their hotel. I was absolutely exhausted, but so incredibly happy that our day on the monorail had gone so well.