Capture The Moment - Maid of the Mist

I was asked to substitute in my daughter's 2nd grade class while her teacher went to Florida to celebrate her 5th anniversary.  I spent two days with the students and was asked to model some writing for a "Slice of Life" assignment where the students were asked to bring in a picture from an event in their life, then capture the essence of the experience in their writing. 

I chose a picture from our summer vacation when we went on the Maid of the Mist boat at Niagara Falls.  I had forgotten how much fun writing like this could be, and decided I would make myself write one capture the moment experience every month from the photos I have on my computer.  Here is my first installment, written in front of 2nd graders.

Me on the Maid of the Mist - Niagara Falls

It was a warm day as I waited in line to get onto the Maid of the Mist.  I was very excited to see the Horseshoe Falls up close.  When the man working at the front of the line told us we could get on, I rushed up the stairs to the top level of the boat.  I wanted to have a good spot to see the waterfall. 

I heard lots of giggles and nervous chatter as we waited for the boat to move.  Across the river happy, wet people waved at us as they came back form their trip to the Falls. 

The boat moved forward and I saw the Bridal Veil Falls and the hundreds (maybe thousands) of seagulls.  We got to the Horseshoe Falls and the boat swayed drunkenly in the churning river.  I couldn't hear my husband talking over the crashing water.  By the time we turned to go back, I was soaked!

What a ride!

Our Brush With Fame

There are a lot of stories out there about stars behaving badly. Pretty much anytime you turn on your computer or walk through the checkout line at the grocery store, you can read about someone cheating on their husband/ wife, getting arrested on a DUI, having sex with underage girls.

But our experience this summer with some TV stars was completely different. It was all positive and the young stars we met and got autographs from were absolutely wonderful and great examples to kids about how to live your life.

On the Disney cruise we were lucky enough to go on this summer there were several Disney TV stars on the boat with us. They came out at different organized activities and were the epitome of well behaved. The highlight was a concert given by Corbin Bleu, of High School Musical fame and the next day a meet and greet with the stars that included a Q & A session and a chance to get autographs and pictures with the stars.

Corbin Bleu came onstage on a very hot afternoon and was super cool. He talked about his family and how much fun he was having on the cruise. Then he sang several songs that everyone rocked out to. But the best part, THE BEST PART - my niece (my goddaughter, to be exact) and one of the biggest Corbin Bleu fans in Ohio, got pulled onto stage where Corbin sang her a song!!! It was truly a magical moment. I don't think her feet ever came back down onto the deck after that!

This is the video of Corbin pulling my 13 year old niece up on stage. Really cool and sweet! (He brings her onstage at about the 2:21 mark)



At the meet and greet session the staffers on the cruise passed out numbers for your order for autographs. We got there a little late and got in the second set of 250. (I think they had 500 numbers to pass out). My nieces were in the first set of 250.


The stars on our cruise were of course Corbin Bleu, Tiffany Thornton, Doug Brochu, and Brandon Mychal Smith, all from "Sonny With Chance", and Roshon Fegan from "Camp Rock". They were all really kind and engaging, talking to the kids as they came through. I encouraged my kids to say something to each of the stars, but I think Zoe might have been the only one to go through with it.


The Disney Cruise "handlers" were basically trying to run everyone through, barking out at the parents to take the picture "while they are signing the autograph!". The Disney stars figured this out and started encouraging the kids to step back by them while they signed the books and simultaneously looking up and smiling for the camera toting moms and dads. Corbin Bleu recognized my niece and talked to her for a few minutes. He asked her name and thanked her for coming on stage. She in turn thanked him for taking her on stage. And no matter how much barking the handlers did, my sister got a picture of her daughter with Corbin Bleu!

By the time my kids got up on stage for autographs, the handlers had settled down a bit and I had an easier time of getting pictures of my kids with the stars. Brandon Mychal Smith (Nico on SWAC) noticed that all my kids were related and pulled them all in for a single photo with him. Tiffany Thornton even got Ian to paste a big smile on his face when she told him, "Get over here, cutie!"


My kids were definitely thrilled with the experience. But the thing that capped it all off was on the last night of the cruise. Most of my family was in Studio Sea on Deck 4 singing or listening to others singing karaoke. Ian wanted a drink so I told him to go up to Deck 9 where the drinks are complimentary. When he came back several minutes later his face was filled with a smile and his body was jumping up and down. He made a beeline for me and said, "I was just in the elevator with Tiffany Thornton and Brandon Smith! And Tiffany is nothing like her character!" Brandon told Ian he liked his shirt and Tiffany asked him what he was drinking. Ian couldn't believe they talked to him! It made him feel pretty special. And the more I think about it the more I am impressed with these young people. They did not have to talk to him. But they did. With a few simple words they made my son's cruise experience extra special. And in turn, mine too.

Summer Vacation 2009 - Part One

On July 10, Brendan and I woke up at 4:00AM to get ready to leave on our much anticipated summer vacation. More than a year ago, my mom and dad proposed a grand plan for celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary which was a milestone they met in May of this year. They wanted to take their whole family (myself, my sister and two brothers, our spouses and all of our kids) on a 4-night Disney Cruise. There would be 21 of us in all (10 adults and 11 children). And that early Friday morning we showered, got dressed, packed a cooler with various snacks, drinks and lunch items and woke our three kids up to get in the minivan to embark on a 20 hour drive to Port Canaveral, Florida.


We had never taken a road trip of this magnitude with our kids before. We were excited and a little nervous and giddy with the prospect of trying to make it to Macon, Georgia at a decent hour so we could get a good night's sleep and turn around and get back in the van to end up in Port Canaveral before dinnertime on Saturday.

The kids were excited as well. They have made many trips to Ohio, which is usually a 6-7 hour drive depending on the number of stops and traffic. So we knew they could handle the time in the car well. And they did. We ate cereal out of plastic bowls on the way and watched DVD's on our DVD player and played the ABC game where you try and find all the letters of the alphabet in order from license plates or signs along the way. We made our way through Indianapolis and to the Sunny Side of Louisville (southern Indiana). We stopped at the Southern Indiana welcome center to use the bathroom and stretch our legs. Ian decided to start a collection of pamphlets from each state we were going through and tried to find the 120 foot tall baseball bat that graces the entrance of the Louisville Slugger museum. We never saw it (we went through Louisville) but saw the stadium for the minor league Louisville Bats.

I packed some surprises to give the kids as we travelled to make the trip a little less monotonous. There were orange Tic Tacs, a new book, a coloring book for the girls and playing cards for Ian, and toys for each one. These seemed to make the time go by quickly and before we knew it we were through Kentucky and into Tennessee. We stopped at a beautiful wooded rest stop in Tennessee and took advantage of some hills to climb and some pretty scenery to take some pictures. Being from the midwest, we were all awed by the beautiful mountains.


We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner (they have one at every exit on the highway from Illinois to Florida - that's no exaggeration!) and the kids gobbled up some pancakes and declared the CB syrup the best they'd ever tasted. (It came in a little personal syrup bottle that they kept.)

We pressed on past Atlanta and decided to call it a night somewhere near Macon, GA. We stopped at what we hoped would be a cheap hotel only to find every other traveller had the same idea. All they had left were rooms with a single king sized bed. Not going to work for us. There were two other hotels with a lot less car in the lot so we checked there. The first was too much money. the second, the Baymont Inn and Suites, was initially too much. When my husband balked at the cost, the proprietor said he'd give it to us for $69.99 and we said we'd take it. My kids have rarely stayed at a hotel, so they thought this place was THE BEST HOTEL EVER!!!!!!! There was a flat screen TV on the wall!!! and a fridge in the room!!!! and the chair was a pull out bed!!!! We got ourselves comfortably situated and spent the night well. (Did I mentioned the flat screen TV!!!!)

The next day we headed into Florida. The state welcome center was serving fresh, cold, FREE cups of orange and grapefruit juice. My kids thought this was heaven and that the juice was THE BEST EVER! (Are you getting the notion that my kids don't get out much?)


We made it to the Port Canaveral Radisson Inn where my whole family already was and checked in to an EVEN BETTER hotel. My kids changed into their bathing suits immediately and went swimming with their Michigan and Ohio cousins in a pool that had a waterfall that poured directly into the pool.


We all went to dinner at a Beef O'Brady's, where they treated us well. All the kids got a frisbee to take home after dinner. My parents sat with all 11 grandkids while the eight kids and kid-in-laws sat at the table one over. The kids all got Oreos in their kids meal, and my Dad joked that he wanted some. Zoe, my five year old, took it upon herself to tell the waitress that her Papa wanted cookies. He got them!

We spent the evening watching Wipeout with the nieces and nephews and generally just having fun with each other. The next morning, the real fun began!