Wild Africa Trek

Scott and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on November 2, 2010. We decided to give ourselves the gift of a one of a kind Walt Disn@y World Tour, The Wild Africa Trek. This tour was super special because we booked it for its opening day, January 16, 2011, at Disn@y's Anim@l Kingdom! A few years ago, before Shasha and Po, Scott and I enjoyed doing the Keys t@ the Kingdom tour, so we knew that this tour would fulfill our every expectation... and may I just say it did way more than that!
We began our tour by suiting up in our safety harnesses, and trying out the rope bridge that was more sturdy and less dangerous than the 2 that we would face on our trek through Africa.
Of course, I knew Scott would have no problem since as a firefighter he repels sown the sides of buildings and such...but me? Ahhh, it was a piece of cake! After crossing the practice bridge I knew I was ready to conquer Africa... and drink some hot cocoa with one of my true Disney inspirations, Joe Rodhe!
And yes, I heard it 500 times already. "Who is that?" Joe Rodhe is only THE man, THE Disn@y Imagineer who is responsible for bringing the Animal Kingd@m Park to reality. It is Joe Rodhe who brought Walt Disney's dream of having live animals in one of his parks to life!
May I just say that being on this tour with Joe Rodhe is an experience that I will never in my life forget!
So, back to the story here. Out into Harambe Village we trekked over the rough terrain and into the Pangani Forest. Our knowledgable guides told us about the Colobus Monkies and the gorillas before we left the mainpath and disapeared behind a gate and into the forest beyond where the average tourist can go!
After a short hike we it was necessary to use our safety equipment for the first time so that we could hover over the hippos seeing them closer than I have ever seen them before.
The hippos were an awesome sight and waving to the people on the Safari ride was pretty cool too!
We were all willing to spend the remainder of our 3 hour tour watching the hippos but the trek had to go on... and despite the fact the "new" bridge was destroyed recently (all part of the story)we just had to go across the old dangerous rope bridge so that we could dangle over the crocs before coming face to face with them. The rope bridges had more than a few boards missing
...but rest assured there was a net just below us to ensure our safety. Our now close friend, Mr. Rodhe, gave us one great piece of advice before crossing these bridges... "take your time and enjoy the spectacular views!" And that we did! It was so wonderful to stand on the wooden rungs of the rope bridge and stare out over the treetops as the safari vehicles crossed hundreds of feet below me.
And I mentioned the crocs already too, right? I mean you want a sight? a bit of a rush of adrenaline? We crossed that bridge right over the big ol' hungry crocodiles! OK, you are right. This is Disney. Those crocs weren't THAT hungry!
After enjoying the spectacular views from the bridges we reconnected our safety harnesses once again so that we could get a closer... yet safe... look at those crocs!
After crossing our last bit of forest area we finally broke through to enjoy a glimpse of the safari.
What a wonderful feeling to see that baobob tree pop out right in front of you while Tommy's play in what seems like an arms reach and giraffes wander in the distance.We were able to remove our safety equipment at this points as we boarded our group's personal safari vehicle.
This was... well, GREAT! Unlike the ride's vehicles we were able to pull off to the side at various points in our trip to observe a closer look at the animals. Surely, the animals were all out in full view to impress us (not Joe Rodhe! After riding in the back of our personal Kilimanjaro Safari vehicle getting up close looks at the animas on the wildlife preserve we arrived at our lunch destination! A beautiful covered african style pavillion in the middle of the safari with views of the giraffes, elephants, flamingos and gazelle.

A wonderful african inspired lunch was presented to us and we enjoyed a relaxing and leisurely lunch with one of the most spectacular views that you can imagine! Oh... and talk about dining with an imagineer???(for those of you who may not know... dining with an imagineer is another Disney experience that can be booked at the Hollywood Studios Park)
As for the lunch we dined on smoked meets, cheeses, date and nut bread, marinated fruits, yogurt with granola,and Jungle Juice.
It was yummy but who could concentrate on eating when animals were skirting the dining pavillion?

After a group photo we reboarded our privately chartered tour vehicle (hahaha, good touch, huh) and completed our safari past the cheetas, the lions, the white rhinos, and the warthogs!
After we exited the vehicle we strolled back through the tiny African Harambe village where we voted on which animal we wanted a portion of our tour dollars to go to. Scott and I voted for Big Cats.
This tour was amazing! I have said it before and I will say it again!
It was absolutely amazing! However, it will be very difficult for me to do this tour again:( Afterall, unless Imagineer Joe Rodhe is on the 10 am tour with me again... this experience will NEVER be matched! By the way... if you don't know who Joe Rodhe is... Google him! He is a man who makes Walt Disney proud! Oh... and by the way... Happy Anniversary to my best friend and husband, Scott! I am so lucky to have found not only my soul mate but my Disney soul mate as well!

Our best guess: 2019-02-03

Just for thought...
Our prediction for LID 2008-04-02
China has 674 days of dossiers to be processed before they get to your dossier. China currently processes about 5.2 days of dossiers each month.

Our best guess: 2019-02-03

Shasha would be 13 years old.
Po would be 10 years old.
Scott would be only days away from being 48.
And I would be 45.

I am just saying.

Po Turns TWO!

That's right... our little man turned TWO on Monday, January 17, 2011!!! We left for a visit to Florida with friends last Wednesday and we celebrated Po's birthday every single day! On Friday, the 14th, we spent the day at the Magic Kingd@m! Shasha and Po had their haircut at the Harm@ny Barber Shop. Po didn't have an appointment but when Shasha climbed up on the chair he yelled, "My too haircut, Peeze!" I asked if he could be fit into the schedule and they said of course. So up climbed Po into the barbershop chair for his shave! They gave him a Mickey and some stickers... and I have never seen him so happy! He just sat in that chair like... well, My Little Man!

Later in the afternoon we ate at The Cryst@l Palace with Pooh and friends! The lunch here is delicious... one of my favorite places to eat in Disn@y World. When I made the resrvation online I added that it was Po's 2nd birthday. Our table was drizzled with Mick@y head confetti and at the end of the meal our waiter brought Po out a birthday cupcake (and Shasha too).


We ended our night at the Tomorrowl@nd Noodle Terrace for the dessert party. This made Po's night perfect. I mean... come on... ALL DESSERTS! The child can down chocolate covered strawberries, rice krispie treats, creme brulee and brownies like there is no tomoorow! For almost an hour we devoured desserts and drank hot cocoa before we finally made our way up to the rail to watch the Wish@s fireworks! Fantastic day for the birthday boy for sure!


Of course, in our family we like to celebrate for a week! So Po's celebration din't stop there! He wore his Birthday button all weekend and got special attention everywhere we went! On Saturday went to get lunch and big ice cream sundaes and then headed off to Coc@a Beach for the afternoon!
Po now loves the beach and despite the cool water and temperatures Shasha and Po played most of the afternoon in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean! We also made sure that we could say hello to our favorite cruise ship, The Disn@y Magic before it pulled out of port for the week! It was a spectacular day filled with surf, sand and fun!

But did the celebration stop there???? No way! Sunday was a day of Nemo, Figment and a trip around the world! We had great weather for Epc@t! Po loved to watch the Chinese acrobats! Loved it! When they were done he was yelling for more, peez! We ate dinner at the China Pavillion and Po received some special attention from Mulan!
What a great few days and Po's birthday wasn't truly until tomorrow... the 17th!

On the 17th, Po enjoyed his favorite breakfast...Pancakes! Then we packed up and headed off to Downtown Disn@y for the morning in the pouring rain:( We shopped a bit and ate lunch and then headed back to the airport. Now that Po was 2 today, we had to purchase him his own airline ticket so this was his first time having his own seat! I don't think he was all that impressed... he couldn't see out the window and really wanted to be on my lap. Grammy and Dappy picked us up at the airport and off we went again out for dinner to celebrate Po's Birthday once again!
We returned back to our house for cake and icecream and present opening! I would say that Po sure had a great birthday!

Tears will Turn to Smiles

Our family has suffered a terrible loss this week. We lost our beloved sweet Yogi on Wednesday, January 5, 2011. This has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to deal with. My heart literally hurts and feels very empty inside. I cannot imagine how life can possibly go on without him under my feet while on the couch, or snuggling up close while sitting on the floor, or looking up at me while I eat with those beautiful big brown eyes just hoping that I leave him one bite from my plate. The past few days have been very difficult for me to get through and I expect many tears through the upcoming weeks as well. Somehow I saw him as immortal... and I suppose he always will be for me as he can't possibly ever be forgotten.


Here is his story...
Yogi was adopted by my brother,Shaun, in early October of 1997 from our local ASPC@. Shaun wanted a dog and my mom agreed as long as the dog was small,not wild and was adopted from a shelter. Seemed fair...right? So Shaun visited the local shelter and came down to 2 puppies... a small, VERY hyper Jack Russell, and a then 4 month old small and "lazy" Yogi dog who literally had to be taken out for a drag versus a walk. He was truly a dog who stopped to smell the flowers:) Well, of course you can see how we ended up our Yogi! (It was all part of the plan) And yes, YOGI(yup, just like the bear who is currently starring in his own movie) was his name at the shelter and we kept it. Yogi, a black lab/Spaniel mix, was the most loving and sweet puppy dog I have ever known! After a night or two in my brother's room crying at night Yogi was soon destined to be a kitchen sleeper. However, Scott and I, married just under a year at the time, still lived with my parents, Scott heard Yogi wimpering and retrieved him from his rug on the kitchen floor and brought him to sleep in our bed! And guess where he slept every single night since? Yes... you got it... right between Scott and I in bed(kinda tells why we have 2 adopted children right? LOL...not really)! We celebrated our 1st Anniversary with a 6 month old Yogi and just celebrated our 14th anniversary and the start of a brand new decade and the year 2011 with a 13 year 7 month old sweet as can be, big brown eyed Yogi Dog!


When we built and moved into our current home in July 1998, Yogi simply moved in with us! In September I returned to school and Yogi was sad to be alone in the new house without us, or my mom, dad and brother. What could parents do? Adopt a little sister for Yogi! And that is how Cindi Lou came to be our little girl. She is exactly the opposite of Yogi, a Brittany Spaniel mix who has always been VERY HYPER and literally can jump just as high as your head! By the way her namewas changed to Cindi since that is Yogi Bear's girlfriend. The Lou was added later when The Grin@h movie came out into theaters.
But that is another story:) Yogi was our baby. He is the puppy who taught me what love means. He did everything with us... and he watched as we brought two beautiful children into the house. He ever so slightly moved over and made room for them but reminded us often that "this was his house first!" He loved our kids as much as we do. He was their protector.

If I tickled Shasha too much and she squealed... he came running to check on her! If Po fell down, there was Yogi giving his "injury" a big wet sloppy kiss. Yogi was meant to be OUR dog... and we were all meant to be HIS family!


Yogi had the biggest brown eyes ever. You could look deep into them and know that he was so in love with you!
Yogi loved squeaky toys... he especially loved to rip them up into shreds and spread the stuffing all over the dark green carpet of our house!
Yogi loved the snow and he would enjoyed sitting in it until it covered his black fur. But he also loved to snowplow his nose through the deep snow and eat it and jump around in it and catch the flakes as they fell! He loved snow!
Yogi loved the sunshine best though. He would just sit outside and bask himself in the bright sunlight of the day! Sometimes we had to force him to come in and cool off and get a drink.

Yogi loved to eat vanilla ice cream... but REALLY loved Rit@'s vanilla custard!
If you dropped a piece of meat off your plate... kiss it good bye... becauseYogidowned it before it ever touched the floor!
Yogi loved to go bye-bye... car and truck rides were surely a favorite! He would, like most dogs, stick his head out the car window and let his ears flap away.
Yogi loved to go for walks, especially long walks that ended with him playing in the canal or river! He would splish splash in the water and be sure to plop down in the shallow water to cool off his belly.
Yogi loved sticks! Yup... sticks. He loved to just gnaw on a stick until it was a stick no more! He would break it into tiny pieces and go find himself a new stick.
Yogi was always on the look out for bunnies, squirrels and deer. And yes, he loved to chase them! Once a squirrel jumped right into his mouth from a garage roof. He swallowed it whole I think... I know gross! But hey, a memory is a memory! And my mom ate a ham sandwich for lunch that day and then swore she could no longer eat ham because of watching this event!
Yogi loved to wander around the yard aimlessly. He would walk around a simply smell the flowers and follow the scent of a deer or rabbit until it disappeared. We have a HUGE yard and at least one of Yogi's paws touched every single inch of our yard. You could always count on the fact that Yogi would be as far away from the door as possible and then take his good ol' time coming in when you called himYogi had a favorite tree to shade him from the summer sun and a tall grass to hide behind when he wanted some privacy. Once, I couldn't find him outside and was hysterical if course thinking the worst. He was fine... probably doggy laughing at me the whole time... There he was under his favorite tall grass in the nice cool hole that he dug himself to sit in:)

Most of all thoughYogi just loved to be a lazy Yogi dog! He simply loved to snuggle on the couch, in our bed or on the floor nice and close to those that he loved... with his head on a pillow or squeaky toy of course.


And that is my sweet Yogi. He has been our big baby for nearly 14 years. He greeted us at the door when we came home and wagged his tail to ensure us of his happiness. He freely gave puppy kisses and snuggled on my feet. I could always look into his big brown eyes and know that he was the happiest puppy ever and that he loved his family so very much. I am so very heartbroken that I needed to say goodbye. I can find comfort in the fact that he had a long,wonderful and very SPOILED life as our first baby. But that still does not stop this pain that I feel in my heart.

Rest in Peace my brown eyed friend. We will always love you and you will remain a part of our forever family for our memories will always live in our hearts. And I know that these tears will turn to smiles one day. Kisses and hugs to my puppy pumpkin. We love you Yogi and always will.

Happy new year... 2011!

Happy new year! Here is to 2011 and hopes that we can can remain strong, happy and healthy! Happy, happy new year! By the way... both kids stayed awake to greet the new year and are still dancing around and celebrating!

Scott and I talked...Yogi is having a difficult time getting around and needs help to get up. But his big brown eyes don't say, "i've given up."
He is eating and does not seem to be in pain or uncomfortable. And he is still giving kisses xoxoxoxo. We are hanging tight. We owe him that. We won't give up on him until he says so! Thanks for keeping me strong.

I'm not ready to let go

I just have to type the words. I have to figure out how to deal with this. We have been watching the health of our 13 year puppy, Yogi, deteriorate throughout the year. He is not doing well. He can walk but will not even stand up on his own. The only times he moved today were when I picked him up so that he could walk around a bit. I don't want to let go. I am not ready. I don't want to be unfair to him. I love him so very much. He was my first baby. He has always been the perfect puppy. I am just not ready to let go. I can't even sit and talk about it with the kids because I just fall apart. I'm just not ready! I love my Yogi!