Our Holidays...and Beyond!

After celebrating my favorite holiday in October and spending Thanksgiving with Eric's folks, we had a festive Christmas holiday celebration here in town.  My immediate family celebrated with us and then my mom's whole side piled in for a fun Christmas gathering!  Then our friends Rachel and Ollie came into town to celebrate the New Year with us.  We hit Universal, the Disney parks, some fabulous dining locations, and other various hot spots throughout town.  (Poor Eric had recently had hernia surgery, so if you're wondering why he's in a wheelchair in some pictures, it's because it was way faster to push him around than drag him around hobbling!)

Celebrating Rachel's birthday at Yachtsman Steakhouse

We surprised Rachel with a birthday cake!

Taking a ride on the monorail

Sisters enjoying some delicious Butterbeer

Rachel and Ollie at Universal

The Browns meeting a distant cousin, Doc Brown

Visiting Hogwarts

The girls taking a pit stop at Chili's

Another delicious dinner at Flying Fish Cafe

Wild ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Late dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Dining Room

After the holidays, we just went back to our normal routines and finally took town our Christmas decor last week.  Eric is still chuggin' along at work, enjoying his place on the Club Concierge Level at the Yacht and Beach Club. Resorts.  He gets to rub elbows with lots of VIPs, so he gets a kick out of the mood and bustle of it all.  Looking back, I personally had a very bustling holiday, gigging all over town, which was such a blessing.  I got to sing with the Shrine Choir, one of the most musically fulfilling groups in town, a few times for the Christmas season, including midnight mass and Christmas morning service.  Also, Seraphim, the new women's a capella group I sing with, premiered my newest piece, Winter Carol, at our gigs this season.  Other than that, I've been auditioning my butt off trying to live up to my New Year's resolution of becoming a full-time performer.  My other resolution was to relaunch my website, and that I think I have completed.  Check it out!

An Out of This World Day

Eric and I decided to take a little stay-cation to Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday. Neither of us had ever been, and he was particularly excited to see both shuttles simultaneously out on the launch pads for the very last time. It was a beautiful day, and there was lots to do, so we got busy early on. Exhibits we checked out were a display on early space travel, the Rocket Garden blossoming with historical vessels from missions past, and the Astronaut Encounter! No, the latter is not a ride; it's a really awesome and unique opportunity to meet a real live astronaut, hear him (or her, but we met a "he") speak on his missions and other accomplishments, ask him questions, and have a photo op! We met Astronaut John Blaha!

You can also reserve a special lunch with an astronaut, but since it was such an un-crowded day, I got to ask Astronaut Blaha a question myself during his Astronaut Encounter presentation. He was very down-to-earth (haha).

We also got to have a (kinda) close look at the shuttles on their respective launch pads ready for Monday's Atlantis launch (Endeavour is being prepared just in case).

Atlantis

We also got to see a Saturn V rocket up close, touch a real moon rock, get jiggled on the Shuttle Launch Experience, and see a spectacular Imax film, Magnificent Desolation, about the moon missions. It's a really fascinating and well done movie produced and narrated by lunatic Tom Hanks. Lots of celebrities voiced poignant quotes from the Apollo astronauts; I recognized Morgan Freeman, Matthew McConaghuey, Gary Sinise, and John Corbett, but the rest slipped through the cracks.

Overall, we had a very educational and cool day at KSC. We've been wanting to go for quite awhile, and it was definitely worth the wait. Loads more photos are waiting for you here!

Mini-Vacay at Universal

Universal Orlando sent Eric a free ticket in hopes that he would buy another one. It worked. Check out the evidence here!

Homer burped in my ear.

ICE! Update

ICE! at Gaylord Palms was really cool (haha). All volunteers from Give Kids the World qualify to purchase the special VIP charity preview tickets, so we headed to the attraction and exclusive VIP gathering.

The hotel in itself is beautiful, but we were so excited to see the ice sculptures that we decided to head straight through the resort and go back to visit later. We were met by a little party featuring the thickest, richest hot cocoa I've ever had (and hot cider, eggnog, and cappuccino for my thirsty husband).

Inside the attraction, we walked through a lovely foresty Winter Wonderland, the colorful Hall of Ornaments, the delicious Candy Land, Santa's special elfy hideout, a beautiful sparkling Nativity scene, and Santa's Magical Flight, featuring four frigid slides made entirely of ice, and finally Penguin Pointe.

We followed up the experience with more hot cocoa because it was--holy cow--NINE degrees inside! Good thing they provide the parkas!

Below is a sample of the amazing artwork we experienced. Follow this link for pretty pictures!

EDIT: Almost forgot about the video! Of course there's a video. :)