CCIntrigue...aka Gwen

Cool!

Gabe and his team received their championship rings at an awards ceremony Monday night.  Here's a pic of the head coach's ring -- copied from Jostens - CCS Twitter feed. Can't wait to see Gabe's in person.

Hey, Judy!  I'm in!

Wow.  I was just curious about Pandora before I saw your pictures.  Now I'm really excited to see it!

Great pictures of the suite!  Thanks for sharing them.  I'd love to be able to tour it again.

41 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Good point about motion sickness.

I sometimes feel a bit queasy after Star Tours.  And definitely feel it after Mission Space.  Some of the Universal rides get me a bit- like Spiderman and Transformers.  I've never had an issue with Soarin'.  I think it's because all of the images are in synch with the motion of the ride vehicle.  I think that's the same thing that is happening with FOP.

Of course, I so far have only ridden Flight of Passage once, but I felt zero queasiness.  None at all.  Nobody in our group felt it, and for what it's worth, Twin #1's friend said there haven't been many motion sickness complaints at all.

That is a fun fact. I have some pavement photos coming up. I did not notice the noodle imprints, but I will definitely be looking for them next time. LOL.

TCD

I'll be watching comments on this too.  I have to shut my eyes a couple of times on Star Tours and several times on Soarin'.  Will definitely not ride the intense side of Mission Space again.  Watching the Avatar movie almost sent me into panic attacks.  Can't handle the sharp drops.

Now I need to Google the ride photos!

Gabe received his seventh D1 offer today.  The first few offers were from small D1 schools, but as time goes on the schools keep getting larger and more well known.  My daughter is telling me not to publicize where his offers are coming from because the schools don't like that.  Once he commits, I can tell you.  This past weekend was another good tourney for Gabe scouting-wise.

I'll be glad when this is all over.  I know some of you have been through this process (like Yvonne and Mary Ann).  But this is something most of us don't go through.  I can tell you -- this is a difficult process for the family.  Imagine 20-30 schools hounding the parents and the prospective student each and every day.  They want to wine and dine you, but it's all on your own money until you narrow it down to 5 schools.  The NCAA only allows 5 official visits.  

Meanwhile you have to consider your child's welfare.  What coaching team will meet your child's needs and not just exploit him or her for their athletic power?  What does your child hope to major in, and what school will further his career goals? What schools will support his/her beliefs, and what schools will seek to tear down his/her beliefs?  The questions go on and on.  

Gabe's father was also highly recruited.  JJ and his parents committed early to a school that wasn't a good fit for him (a very well-known school that you've all heard of) because they were so tired of the recruiting process.  The coach ridiculed and reprimanded JJ because he chose to attend church on Sunday mornings instead of attending team practice. JJ ended up transferring to a west coast school at the end of his freshman year and eventually played in an NBA summer league before having to quit due to a hip injury. Lessons learned.  We want the best for Gabe.

Wow!  Awesome upgrade!

This TR is flying by much too quickly!  Where are the pictures of Mrs. TCD?  Did I miss them?

19 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

What is that giant silver thing on the counter under the microwave?  A coffee maker?  Why such a big one?

I was wondering the same thing.

Love all your early-morning Fort pictures!  Seeing Rocky at the Fort makes me miss Kassie even more.  

Yvonne, at Jessica's age that is excellent!  Heck, for most adults that would be excellent.  Yes, she should keep challenging herself.

Meanwhile Gabe had a great weekend.  30 college scouts came to see him at his travel tournament.  His team lost his bracket in double overtime to Gabe's high school team! Meanwhile two more D1 schools have made offers, with another planning to offer.  Three well-known Ivy League schools have contacted him, but they don't offer scholarships. Don't even understand why they are calling.  

His official signing date is in November, but he can commit any time before that.  His parents hope to edit down his list by midsummer so they can go on their official five visits before making a final decision.  And Gabe would prefer to commit to a mid-level D1 school where he can be the star than commit to a high-level D1 school where he would spend a few years sitting on the bench.  So who knows where he will end up.   

18 hours ago, keith_h said:

The ones we've had in the premium sights were four sided square tables and I would guess 4 ft for the table top itself. 

I agree too.  Haven't been able to find a 72" square vinyl tablecloth.  The best idea I've come up with so far is to use a 72" square vinyl shower curtain.

Rain here has been really bad too.  We live up the hill from a creek.  It's usually 5 feet across.  Today it's a couple hundred feet wide.  The dog park near us has a 5' chain link fence around it.  Today we can only see the top of the fence sticking out of the water.  The Yadkin River is also at flood stage.  Thankfully we live about 5 miles from the river.

Glad to see more rockers back on the porch!

Congratulations!  Looking forward to your pictures!

Still reading along, but I can't comment because I'm clueless about all this Star Wars stuff.

Wild guess -- Tom Sawyer Island?

I vote for Le Cellier!  Their filet is amazing.  And they also have a great charcuterie plate.

I'm in too!

32 minutes ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

We're the opposite, we prefer the buses BECAUSE of the ECV. That thing is just so darn heavy that disassembling and loading in and out of the truck is a major pain. We much prefer to drive the ECV through the Fort and board the bus or boat. It may take more time, but lots less work.

With the big ECV that Rick has, I totally understand.  Mine is much lighter and is easy to break down/reassemble.  The battery is the only heavy part.

Until a few years ago we traveled to MK via boat and to the other parks by bus.  And then I had to use an ECV at the parks.  Now We still take the boat to MK but drive to the other parks.  Two trips ago we waited for 1.5 hours for a bus to EPCOT that had an available spot for an ECV.  Now I'm a convert to driving to the other parks.  We can leave our site and within 15 minutes arrive at the other parks.  It's just so much easier.

Bragging on grandson #2 ... Austin, who is brilliant.  He's the high schooler who's taking college courses.  He just got back his first SAT scores.  1510 out of a possible 1600!  And he scored 770 out of 800 on math!

We took our kids to the Strasburg Railroad when they were young too.  We all really enjoyed it.