Lunar Eclipse

Tonight was the last lunar eclipse until 2010 and we lucked out with fantastic weather for the event! We had pretty thick cloud cover until dark, and then it totally cleared up and had a great view of the stellar phenomenon. We took my telescope over to the Irey's and each got a chance to see a close-up of the moon, as well as Saturn. You could clearly see the rings of Saturn and at least one moon (checking a star chart, I'm 99% sure that it is Titan). Check out the Irey's blog for some more photos that she is going to post:

http://areyoufeelingireytoday.blogspot.com/


Check out my photo of the eclipse, taken with a regular pocket digital camera. That Saturn to the left of the moon.

New Carpet

Well, we finally have all of the new carpet in! The carpet was laid on Thursday and we spent the weekend trying to put all of the furniture back into place. We borrowed the Irey's canister vaccum cleaner, and collected a whole garbage sack full of loose carpet fibers. I heard it can take month to get them all. My Mom, Dad, sister and niece came up Saturday to watch Cole's basketball game and help us with the remodel. Dad and I had to shorten the length of 3 doors, because the carpet is so thick! Attached is a photo of the boys closet. I painted the inside of the closet and installed new shelving and new rod for the hangers. Jack wanted his clothes on the right. We will paint the boys room (we didn't have time to paint it while the old carpet was still in) and paint their bunk bed. Hopefully this will happen by the end of the week! More to come later.

Last Day at Disneyland

Well, it is was our last day at Disneyland and California Adventure. We didn't actually make it out of the hotel room today until about 11:30am. We were just a little wiped out and I moving a little slow with my head cold. We had lunch at Millie's and then headed for California Adventure. We did a little shopping first, where we finally saw Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and got a great family photo. From there we went and watched the Aladdin show, which we all loved. Although , Jack kept leaning over to mom saying "Fake"...."Fake"...."That's fake" at many of the props including the camels, horses, snakes, etc. Teresa whispered, "Do you see the flying carpet?" to which Jack replied, "Do you see the wires holding it up?". Cole and I then went and rode the Tower of Terror. We finally had to wait about 35 minutes in line to ride one of the rides. I can't believe that we went all week without anything more than a 5 minute wait for any of the rides. Of course, as we came out of the ride there was no line at all. Go figure. While Cole and I did that - Teresa, Kate and Jack took an animation class with one of the Disney illustrators. They all learned to draw Pooh Bear and did a fantastic job. From there we went over to Disneyland to the Star Wars Jedi Training. Cole and Jack got picked first and were up on the main stage during the show. They learned how to use a light sabre, and then got to battle Darth Vader himself! It may have been the highlight of the trip for Mom and Dad to get to watch that! The rest of the evening was spent looking around, shopping at the Disney stores and watching the Parade of Dreams. We were going to finish the night off with a ride on the Monorail, but it was down for repairs with no estimate finish time. By then it was about 8:30pm and we were all starved anyway. We had a great dinner at Millie's and headed to the hotel room to begin packing. It is about 11pm now, and we are still in the middle of packing up all our stuff for the morning. The shuttle is coming for us at 8:15am. We will see you all very shortly, and have tons of great photos to share. Thanks for sharing our Disney vacation with us!

That Incredible Family and those two characters in tights.

Jedi Cole fights the forces of evil!

Jedi Jack resists the Dark Side!

Those young Jedi grow up too fast.

Night shot of the castle.

Kate and Jack get ready to watch the parade. Where's Cole? You guessed it...getting something to eat!

The Parade of Dreams.

The final photo taken before we left Disneyland. A little sad, but we will be back!

Taggart's Last Day at the Magic Kingdom

Today was the Taggart's last day at Disneyland. Since they are staying at the Grand Californian Hotel, they were able to get into California Adventure a little early and started their day "Soarin' over California". While waiting to get in, we cruised through Downtown Disney and I got my first cup of coffee. At 10am we met the Taggarts over at the Grizzly River Run ride. Kevin and the kids all had their bathing suits on and rode the ride 3 times in a row. Even though they got a little wet, they missed getting soaked by the big gieser that really gets you wet. Then we headed for the pool at the Grand Californian. We had the pool all to ourselves, just like we have had no lines for rides all week long. We got changed at the Taggart's hotel room and while Kevin and Mary Kaye packed to leave, we took the kids to the Lego Store and Build-a-Bear store at Downtown Disney. Kate, Jack and Katie all got stuffed animals with their money while Jack T. and Cole bought the Star Wars Lego - Complete Trilogy Nintendo DS game (that should keep them occupied on the flight). After eating some Pizza for lunch, we then headed to Disneyland and rode some of our favorite rides with the Taggarts one last time. We even caught the comedy show at the western saloon while we enjoyed some ice cream. The Taggarts said goodbye around 6pm as they headed for the airport for their flight home. We ldecided to head back to the hotel, since I was feeling pretty sick with a head cold. Kate and Jack have been coughing and sneezing the last few day and it has hit me pretty hard now. We picked some McDonald's up for dinner at the hotel and the kids worked on homework while I crashed in bed. That's the firstime I have been to bed before 8pm in a couple of decades! Tomorrow is the last day so we have planned out some "must sees" to finish out this vacation. More later! - Rob

(sorry about the limited number of pictures today. I wasn't feeling that well, and it was a rushed day to fit in lots of rides before the Taggarts left.)

A beautiful day, and the pool all to ourselves!

Cooper, Angel, and Annika with their new parents.

No grey clouds over the Magic Kingdom today. The Rocketeer working hard making popcorn.Watching a show at the Saloon.