http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/ MiceChat is a Disney theme parks news blog, and discussion forum. We love Disney, so visit MiceChat to see the latest Disney park information and news! en Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:15:14 GMT vBulletin 60 http://micechat.com/forums/images/mc3/misc/rss.jpg http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/ http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/1141-back-magic.html Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:48:36 GMT My wife said it was a once in a lifetime trip, but it looks like we're gonna cheat and go a 2nd time!
Yup, we're planning another trip to WDW!
I couldn't be more excited. Our last trip, 4 years ago was a blast, and I've been longing to go back ever since.
This year, however, I decided to take a different focus.

We have 5 kids, at the time of our last trip, spanning from 10 to 26.
The oldest, has of course, moved out, and has a family of his own now.
And our 2nd oldest, even though he had moved out, was gracious enough to deliver my paper route (2nd job), for the week I was gone.
At the time, he was a 21 year old, unemployed, young gay man with nothing better to do. Plus, he wanted the money. So he used my truck, I paid him in advance for the gas that would be needed, and told him he could stay at our house the entire time, as it was closer to the route.
I called and checked on him daily, and overall, he did an excellent job.

Now, 4 years later, little has changed for him. He is now a 25 year old, unemployed young gay man.

Well, my wife and I decided it was time for him to experience something other than hanging out on 6th street and generally, not making the most of his youth.

My son's roommate, is also a young gay man. He won't tell us if they are romantically involved, but it doesn't matter. His roommate attends all our family functions as if he was family anyway.

We were sitting around talking about them needing to get away, and experience more of what life has to offer, when a thought popped in my head! Gay Days!

I have read all Fishbulbs trip reports forever, and love how he and Dusty always have such a great trip, so I figured, I should convince my son to take his roommate and go to Gay Days next year!

It would be perfect!
And then I started thinking....
You know, when we went, he stayed behind, and I didn't get that bonding experience, that I got with my younger 3 sons. The "first time to Disney" experience. So I told my wife....
We should go with them!

Lo and behold, she agreed!

Hooray!

So as I said way back at the begining, I am now in planning mode for next year.

I would welcome any advice anyone might have about making the Gay Days trip, both for my son, being a first timer, both at Disney, and at Gay Days, as well as my wife and I and our 3 younger sons, traveling in the support role with/for him.
We don't want him to feel restrained, or hesitant during the Gay Days festivities, but we don't want to appear that we are embarrased by him or the event, or anything either.

And I hope I can finally get together to meet everyone at a MiceChat meet while we are there! Dusty? Fishy? Anyone? :p ]]> Joe User 99 http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/1141-back-magic.html http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/1039-fancy-meeting-you-here.html Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:50:58 GMT Where the heck have I been!?!
It's been a month since my last login, and....gulp....6 months since my last blog?
Guess I am busier than I thought.
Well, just wanted to say I'm still alive, and a busy as ever.

I know I said I wasn't going to the reunion, but looks like that has changed. A couple of old friends messaged me on the reunion web page, and looks like we are gonna meet up.
Crossing my fingers it turns out well.

More later...gotta go play family taxi. ]]> Joe User 99 http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/1039-fancy-meeting-you-here.html http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/731-they-grow-up-so-fast.html Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:08:49 GMT Another busy weeked has come and gone.
Saturday, I put in another big gain in my exercise program. 1150 yards. Again, that's about 10 minutes for my swimming kids, but an hour for me. But it's progress! As long as I keep getting better, I'm happy. My wife is doing phenomenal! She put in 1800 yards! She is really working hard at it. She manages to go 5 days a week, while I am limited to 2. The rest of the day was spent recovering and relaxing.

Today is my grandaughter's 16th birthday. It seems like just yesterday she was having her quinceanera in Mexico. To celebrate, we went to the Oasis for dinner yesterday. Overall it was pretty good. It was not busy at all, so we were looking forward to a great view. We got put up by the building, with the view kinda blocked by the umbrellas of the tables out on the decks. When we asked about a table on the deck above, we were told there were too many of us, and that fire codes limited how many people could be on each deck. :(
Instead, they opened one of the lower decks for us, and we had a great view.
The food was pretty good. Nothing special, but some unique stylings. Overall, I enjoyed it.
My grandaughter was excited, and was taking pictures everywhere. Not only of the view, but of the fancy cars in the parking lot.

Afterwards we went back to the house for ice cream cake and the Cowboy game.

My wife was kind enough to use her fork full of ice cream cake to point out that I was "ruining all my hard work in the pool" because of the "sugary soda" I was drinking. :p

Just another day in paradise. ]]> Joe User 99 http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/731-they-grow-up-so-fast.html http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/701-sometimes-i-even-suprise-myself.html Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:20:17 GMT Ok, busy, BUSY weekend. With the forecast calling for us to get the edge of the hurricane, naturally my wife freaked out, and had me bring in... Ok, busy, BUSY weekend.

With the forecast calling for us to get the edge of the hurricane, naturally my wife freaked out, and had me bring in everything that wasn't bolted down inside. The BBQ pit, bicycles, all the plumerias, etc.

And of course, we didn't get anything, just a little wind, not even rain. Just my luck, so of course that meant I had to haul it all back outside Saturday. :(

So no rest for the wicked.

I am doing pretty good exercise wise. I don't have time to go to the pool as often as I'd like, but I am still going. Usually just Saturday and Sunday, but it's fun.

I put in 900 yards on Saturday, a personal best! Yeah, yeah, my kids being swimmers, could do 900 yards in about 8 minutes, but it took me a full hour. So what, at least I'm doing it. And I can tell I'm SLOWLY getting better. :yea:

Saturday night, the excitement continued. My 17 year old had agreed to DJ a party for the daughter of a friend of my wife. Problem is, he waited until the last second to tell anyone he had to work that night.
So rather than leave her friend in a lurch, I was voluntold to fill in. As DJ, for a 16 year old's b-day party. Yes, Me.
I must say, they really made me feel old. I had never heard half of the supposed "dance" music they wanted, but that's the majic of iTunes and a wireless internet connection.
And don't get me started on the "dancing". Call me old, but some of these kids were very close to "dancing" their way to pregneancy. Thank god my kids were at home.
But in the end, I got the greatest feeling of acomplishment. As my wife and I packed out the gear, the wispers of "THAT was the DJ? No WAY! You are $H!TTING ME!" brought a smile to my face.

Maybe from now on they'll think twice before passing judgement on the "old" person.

I guess I've got the best of both worlds.
I'm old enough to enjoy the shrieks of "Grandpa!" from the grandkids, but still young enough to show the teens how to spin a record. Record....no, flat and plastic, no not a cd....RECORD! Look it up!....stupid kids. :p ]]> Joe User 99 http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/701-sometimes-i-even-suprise-myself.html http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/660-when-i-think-back-all-crap-i-learned-high-school.html Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:55:55 GMT It's been 20 years. Man that's hard to believe. Feels like yesterday.

Being a military brat, we do reunions a bit different. See I graduated in Seoul Korea. So it's kinda hard to get back for a reunion. So we pick a stateside location and meet up.

But somethings changed. I guess it's me. It seems nobody in my class grew up. Yeah, there are some that settled down and had families, but most seem to be single and constantly partying.

Did I miss something? Is that really something to aspire to nowadays?
I mean I don't think anyone should settle before they are ready, but come on, have a goal other than getting drunk on Friday night!

I don't know. There is going to be a multi year reunion next summer, but I don't think I'll go. None of my friends ever show up.
Sure, I "know" almost everyone who attends, but none of them were ever really the friends I hung out with.

I did manage to find some of them on myspace, but I guess I am afraid of contacting them.

I'm not interested in competing for who turned out best, who is richest, who still has their hair, who got fat (ok, well I've always been fat, I just got fatter :p ).

As much as I'd love to sit and catch up with some of them, I guess I'm to scared it will ruin the memories of the way we were.

Sorry guys (and gals), call me chicken. I just love you too much. Maybe someday. ]]> Joe User 99 http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/660-when-i-think-back-all-crap-i-learned-high-school.html http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/640-man-do-i-feel-old.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:02:07 GMT Why do I feel this way? I'm only 37! Where did my youth (and body) go?

I gotta say, over the years, marriage, kids, grandkids, working 2 jobs, etc, it takes a toll on you. But at 37 I shouldn't feel this tired.
I'm just WAY out of shape.

Well, I'm tired of feeling tired. I made a personal resolution to get back into shape.

With my 3 youngest being swimmers, my wife and I decided to start swimming also.
Yes, I know how to swim...to stay afloat and survive. I'm talking about swimming as an exercise routine, the way competitive swimmers do, just not competitivly.

My 17 year old is certified out the kazoo.
Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED, Lifeguard, Instructor, etc, etc. So I offered to pay him if he would write us daily workouts, and personally instruct us once a week. Man is he a rough coach! :p

These workouts are killing me, and I haven't even made it to flip turns yet, much less any stroke other than freestyle.

I'm only up to an hour a day, and a slow one at that, but it's a start.

Last night I probably put back in as many calories as I burned off at the pool.
I think that's gonna be the hardest part. I don't think I'll have as hard a time with the exercise as cutting back on the food.
I love to cook, I love it when people love what I have cooked, and of course, I love to eat!

The grandkids stopped by so we BBQ'd some dogs and ribs, and made some Queso.

I gotta say I've got some of the cutest kids/grandkids you've ever seen. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.

Wish me luck! And next time you're at the pool, look before you shoot, that whale you are trying to harpoon might just be me! :p ]]> Joe User 99 http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/640-man-do-i-feel-old.html http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/633-time-start-making-most.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:02:28 GMT Man, has it really been over three years? I first stumbled upon MiceChat about three years ago, while planning my first family trip to WDW. Hard... Man, has it really been over three years?
I first stumbled upon MiceChat about three years ago, while planning my first family trip to WDW.

Hard to believe it's been two years since that trip. Feels like yesterday.

I felt so much at home here at MiceChat, while planning the trip, that I have never left. And joined Gold 2 years ago as a way to get even more out of the experience.
(This is the only online site that I have been willing to pay to support. *Thanks Dustysage, Fishbulb, and the entire MiceChat crew.)

But working 2 jobs, and keeping up with 5 kids and 5 grandkids has kind of limited my online life a bit.

So now, I have decided to start a long (LOOOONNG) term plan to take the entire family to one of the resorts. Kids and Grandkids. But since the youngest grandkid is only 1, that gives me a couple of years to save. (And I'll need that extra time for such a large group.)

In the mean time, I hope to broaden my MiceChat presence.

As I follow new threads every day, I have come to feel like some of you are close friends/family, without ever having met you. And I hope to use this site to allow you all to feel the same about me and my family, until the time when we can actually meet in person and share those feelings together. ]]> Joe User 99 http://micechat.com/forums/blogs/joe-user-99/633-time-start-making-most.html