Christmas Into the Popcorn

Mom, Dad, and Bà arrived late on the 24th, and of course, Dad wanted to go to sleep immediately.  We opened a few presents and drove by two well-lit neighborhoods before picking up Thal.  There was too much hustle and bustle for it to feel like much of a Christmas Eve, and the next morning was no better.  George made a batch of Alton Brown's waffles, while I gave four haircuts.  Thal and I prepared a big pot of mulled wine, a gelato base, and six large chocolate bars while Mom and Bà prepped the annual Christmas springrolls.  Before too long, we picked up Lien (Tins) and Bill from the airport, fired up the grill, and had a feast.  After the second annual Christmas committee presentations, the singers gathered around the piano and called Grandma Volkert, reliant on the hope that nobody can hear anything over a telephone line.  To our horror, we later found out that Bill had made a video of the call.  Then he posted it to the internet.  As nighttime settled, Mom and Bà stayed home with Drakeson while everybody else saw "Into the Woods."  Tins and I had to work extra hard to keep the folks up for wine and homemade brandy eggnog gelato.

Merry Christmas!

December 26th felt more like Christmas.  It started with lavender scones infused with extra culinary lavender and lavender honey.  George took Thal to Austin Homebrew, and Dad and Bill ran a million miles at Town Lake.  Warren came into town with the pootees, and after much ado, everybody eventually ended up at Hopdoddy.  The little ones ran around the Galindo playground, while the elders started a jigsaw puzzle and napped.  George, Thal, and BLT went to the Hops & Grain Brewery Tour before Zach Theatre's "This Wonderful Life," and somewhere in the midst, they went out to dinner twice.  The older crowd and I very sensibly enjoyed leftovers, made a little progress on the puzzle, and caught the light show at Mozart's on the water.  To each, his own.

"You wish to have the curse reversed?  I'll need a certain potion first."

"Go to the woods and bring me back

One: the gelato as white as milk,

Two: the wine as red as blood,

Three: the beer as yellow as corn,

Four: the rumcake as pure as gold!"

On the second day of puzzling, my true love gave to me, the picture sealed and hung so prettily.

George and Thal brewed an IPA in the morning, and then the boys and Mom went to the Jester King brewery tour.  Bà, Tins, and I made four stuffed salmon lasagnes, which took just as long as one might guess.  It was great to have some sister time, and we started the impossibly charming 1978 BBC production of "She Loves Me."  After dinner, the youngsters went to Austin Beer Garden Brewing while I took the folks and Bà to Zach Theatre's "A Christmas Carol."  If this sounds like a lot of drinking, I might take this opportunity to note that there was a second pot of bubbly mulled wine, and the fridge was stocked with plenty of beer, including two different home brews.

"Into the woods without regret,
The choice is made, the task is set."

"Into the woods to get my wish,

I don't care how, the time is now."

Thal had to leave early in the morning.  A lot of things happened on Dec 28, but perhaps the most significant was the discovery that Bà had been consistently overdosing on Nyquil.

Nyquil

(28th, cont.) Both in-house physicians were seriously, and understandably, concerned.  After a visit to the zoo, it was a comfortable afternoon filled with red wine chocolate cake and card games.  Dinner was at the not-very-Hawaiian Hula Hut, and the evening ended with a cold but snuggly light show at Mozart's.

"Bring me these before the chime of midnight in three days' time.
And you shall have, I guarantee, a child as perfect as child can be."

In this moment, a great power cast a spell on Cô Tins;

She would cherish her nephew from this day forward.

See?

Dec 29th was my parents' anniversary and the grand finale of the entire trip.  We spent the morning at the ever lovely Mollberg Piano Restoration and had a terrific lunch at the Redbud Cafe.  It was our last day together, so Tins and I made rum cake pops and chocolate tofu silk pie.  The evening started with another drive out of town to the Salt Lick and a walk around the Wimberley Holiday Trail of Lights.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.

Bà

Mom

It's the last midnight, so goodbye all.

That brings us to today, which was more about packing and recovering than anything else.  BLT left early in the morning.  The rest of us piled into the front room and watched "The Muppet Christmas Carol," and then it was off the the airport with Bà and the parents.  Even though there was so much to do, it went by quickly for me.  Drakeson was pretty heartbroken, and I felt myself feeling that way too.  'Til next time.

Train Whistle

Outtake for the better one at the bottom of this post

Cranberries

For the past 20 years, I've made cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and done it the same way every time.  This year, as George was helping me stir, he said,
"Can I tell you something that will embarrass you a little?"
"Sure."
"You make the holidays special."
Well.  If that wasn't an inspiration to write a quick blog post on cranberry sauce, I don't know what would be.  Besides, what if somebody wanted to make my cranberry sauce, but hated talking to me on the phone?  Such an event would give this post a real purpose.

Disclaimer: I do not have an exceptionally well lit kitchen and the mastery of photography necessary to attempt some Pinterest-like post.  I just used my phone, blurred the edges in iphoto a little, and hoped for the best.  Motherhood makes underachievers of many.

You will need:
2 bags of cranberries
2 cups fresh orange juice (8 - 10 oranges)
2 cups of sugar

Directions:
1)  Wash your produce.
2)  Either juice 2 cups of orange juice or make somebody else do it.  That's the hardest part.
3)  Put 2 bags of cranberries, 2 cups of orange juice, and 2 cups of sugar on medium high heat.
4)  Put in a bunch of zest if you like orange oil.  I use a ton.
5)  Stir occasionally.
You will hear the cranberries pop and see the orange juice foam up, and it will be really fun:

6)  Keep at it.  The orange will disappear and you'll be left with pretty pink bubbles.

7)  Once the bubbles disappear, pour into a serving dish and let cool.

8)  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  It's nearly impossible to mess up.

Owie

We found Drakeson's knight costume for $2.99.

It sounds like a good deal.  But the decision also meant that I would lose my head and buy a $30 dress, get George a large and cumbersome dragon hat for $17 (where are we going to keep that all year?), and obsess over making Drakeson's sword match his costume for 2 days.  Every time the spray paint would clump or stick, I would live in some sort of state of mild panic until it was dry enough to sand and I could just pretend that the "disaster hadn't happened."  Eventually I ran out of paint, and that was when the project was done.  George says I put too much pressure on myself.

Anyway, the sword was a gift from the Healy clan, and I just happened to have had the sand paper, grey paint, masking tape, electric tape, stickers, stamps, permanent ink pad, and 2 stretchy velcro ipod arm bands on hand.  For some reason, the black bungee cord and clamp just sort of showed up on our front door yesterday afternoon.  I think the mailman dropped it.

There isn't much more to say, except that if some day Drakeson wonders whether or not I love him, I hope he stumbles across this post and concludes that either I love him, or I have an obsessive personality.  It's an inclusive or, but meant to be interpreted as an exclusive one.  Who ever said I didn't have a terrific sense of humor?

Owie

Full Costume

Shiny Jewels

$33

Fish II

Angel and Greg came from the South of France to the States for Angelo's wedding.  I've known Angel for the past 26 years, so we were thrilled to plan a visit in Austin from Tuesday to Friday.  We spent the mornings at Mr. Will's Singalong, the Thinkery, the Zilker Nature & Science Center, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Stacy Pool, Deep Eddy Pool, and Barton Springs.  Restaurants of note were Hopdoddy, Chuy's, and Gourdough's.  The afternoons were spent napping, and the evenings were with Ms. Cathy.

Here's the Ms. Cathy part.  She's so awesome.

(Here's a link to Water Dragon I if you missed it)

Disney World

Thursday, 24 Jul 14:  Magic Kingdom
Money can buy happiness.  George, Drakeson, and I met my mom at Disney World on Wednesday night.  I've been there before and it was okay, but typically my idea of a good time is a lot less crowded, a lot less expensive, and a lot less commercial.  Normally it can't get better than a refreshing swim and a bowl of phở, but suddenly there I was, brainwashed in Orlando, flooded with the unlimited supply of dopamine my brain has been subject to for the last two years, and loving every moment of it.  Disney World is incredible.
It's a Small World was overwhelming.  I was nearly in tears watching Drakeson point and smile at all the beautiful figures and backgrounds.  (What's my problem?)  The Haunted Mansion is a favorite of George's, complete with projected ballroom dancers and hitchhiking ghosts.  I adored seeing my favorite childhood character in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which finished just in time for the Country Bear Jamboree.  Flying over London in Peter Pan's Flight scared Drakeson a little bit, but he had no trouble riding his very own horse at the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel.  Despite the fact that George made us ill at the Mad Tea Party, we still flew on Dumbo the Flying Elephant before making the biggest mistake of the day.  Trying to ride the Journey of the Little Mermaid, we accidentally got in a sweltering and stagnant line for Meet Ariel at Her Grotto.  Yes.  We waited and sweated like mad to meet a princess nobody wanted to see.  Distressed by the 3D effects, Drakeson broke his special glasses during Mickey's PhilharMagic, but we loved the show and used the time to recover from the grotto.  Still feeling regrets, we returned to the area and actually rode Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid before attending Enchanted Tales with Belle.  We met Belle, who's more of Drakeson's type than Ariel.  Belle said Drakeson's eyes were so beautiful and blue, "just like Beast's."  Everybody was exhausted, but we ended the afternoon by riding around the Walt Disney World Railroad before naptime.
We returned for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but because Drakeson was too little, Mom and I alternated with George.  Together again, we saw the show Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, drove on the Tomorrowland Speedway, and shot targets in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.  Drakeson had to be 32 inches for the Speedway, and he's currently 32.5.  When George tried to straighten their car, Drakeson replied with an emphatic, "No, no, no, no, no!"  He's a madman.  Dinner was seafood at Narcoossee's, accompanied by plenty of alcohol and the 10:00 Wishes Nighttime Spectacular Fireworks.  Everything was picture perfect.

Beginning of the Day

Three of us aren't suffocating.

Prince Charming

Dumbo

Dumbo

Ariel

Seven Dwarfs

Seven Dwarfs

Friday, 25 Jul 14:  Typhoon Lagoon, Epcot

2014 is the year I have chosen to join the rest of the human race and enjoy fireworks.  In the morning, Mom, Drakeson, and I visited Typhoon Lagoon while George went to some presentations for his conference.  We were limited to the wave pool Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool, the lazy river Castaway Creek, and the family raft ride Gangplank Falls, but we had no trouble wearing ourselves out.  Our favorite spot was the wave pool, which is where my most vivid memories from the family trip in '95 come from.  Drakeson and I got repeatedly submerged by the incoming waves, which was pretty wild.  Before naptime, we explored the pool areas of our resort, which are collectively known as Stormalong Bay.  They're very fancy.

Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, which isn't really the best name.  Still, the place has a lot to offer, and it was only a 10 minute walk from the resort.  We started with a ride through the aquarium, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, and then took a 45-minute ride hosted by Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye called Ellen's Energy Adventure.  We split up for the no baby ride of the day, Soarin', and returned together on the boat ride Maelstrom.  Next was a 3D sci-fi show starring Michael Jackson named Captain EO, and it was the worst thing I have ever seen.  It's worse than Grease 2.  We rode the ride in the famous giant white ball, Spaceship Earth and tried a bunch of free soda samples from around the world at Club Cool.  Dinner was sushi at Tokyo Dining, and we ate our hearts out.  The timing worked out perfectly for us to catch the IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth Fireworks, which is when I officially converted.  It's really hard to see breathtaking fireworks shows on two consecutive evenings and not convert.  I still hate weddings.

Lagoon

 Bà

Mama

 Like Mama Like Son

In Line for Spaceship Earth

Saturday, 26 Jul 14:  Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios
While George attended his conference, my Mom and I returned to the Magic Kingdom, because the castle is pretty.  Or as my Mom said when comparing it to other places, "It's just more magical."  Drakeson loved the The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, but not as much as the Pirates of the Caribbean.  Actually, we all loved Pirates, and as there was no wait, we rode it 3 times in a row.  We were just finishing the Jungle Cruise when George called "just to say hi."  It was a strange call with specific questions about our location, and he suddenly surprised us at the Magic Kingdom!  Reunited, we explored the Tom Sawyer Island before naptime, and took the monorails to Epcot for another visit at the soda station Club Cool.  Refreshing.
Hollywood Studios feels quaint, and it specializes in shows, water effects, and fire displays.  Mom and I rode Star Tours - The Adventures Continue, while Drakeson enthusiastically watched Jedi Training Academy.  Once we were together again, we saw Muppet Vision 3D, rode The Great Movie Ride, shot targets in Toy Story Midway Mania!, and attended a little musical called Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  George pointed out that Ariel was flat, and after I asked him why anybody would care, it became apparent that he was talking about pitch.  We picked up another show in The Magic of Disney Animation before another musical Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage.  Nobody in that production was noticeably flat in either sense of the word, and Gaston truly had "biceps to spare."  Anybody could see that all the way from the back of the bleachers.  Before an exquisite dinner at The Hollywood Brown Derby, we took turns on the thrill ride of the day: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  We hardly had any time in the beautiful museum Walt Disney: One Man's Dream before rushing to the spectacular show Fantasmic!  It was truly breathtaking.  I don't know about fantastic and orgasmic, which is what the title suggests to me, but certainly breathtaking.  There's an enormous ring of fire on the water, a bunch of media projected on water screens, in addition to stunts, fireworks, fountains, fancy lighting, etc.  If Mary Poppins were there, she would have had to tell me "We are not a codfish" the whole time.  As if that wasn't enough entertainment, we stayed for the Frozen Fireworks Spectacular.  What a day.

Aladdin 

Aladdin

 Bell on the Island

 Oh, So Delicious

Where's Bà?  There's Bà!

I'm on a Boat (I'm on a Boat) I'm on a Boat (I'm on a Boat)

Sunday, 27 Jul 14:  Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom
It was our last day at the parks, and we had George all to ourselves.  I thought he needed to be at a conference, but I didn't question a thing.  We started with an early morning swim at the resort, and spent the rest of the morning back at Hollywood Studios.  The first ride, the Studio Backlot Tour, included a tour, 2 stunt demonstrations, and an exhibit of some very famous movie costumes.  My favorite in the exhibit were the marionettes created for the yodelling scene in "The Sound of Music."  We barely had time to sail with a drunken Johnny Depp in The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow before the big stunt show, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!  My mom had never had a turkey leg before, so we split one and played around in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure.  We did a little shopping and headed home for a desperately needed nap.  Four days of this stuff gets exhausting!
Animal Kingdom is Disney's newest park, and in addition to a feel of "the latest and greatest," it includes a wildlife preserve.  We split up to ride Primeval Whirl and DINOSAUR while Drakeson took about 6 turns on TriceraTop Spin.  He loved it.  We all took the Kilimanjaro Safaris, where a knowledgeable guide pointed out elephants, hippos, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, ostriches, and crocodiles among many others.  The animals were beautiful, the landscape was lush, and everything was very easy to see.  The cast of Finding Nemo - The Musical were very talented singing puppeteers who were strung up with wires to "swim" all over the stage.  The final roller coaster of the day, Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, was headed towards closing for the evening, and the wait time disappeared.  George and Mom took the first shift, and then George and I took a turn.  While we were out, my mom seized the opportunity to spoil Drakeson and bought him an adorable stuffed Yeti which Drakeson promptly named, "Ow."  It doesn't really look like an owl, but that's okay.  Mom and I made a last minute decision to take the ride one more time, and the fellas headed to the live musical, Festival of the Lion King.  Mom and I couldn't make it in by the time we finished the ride, but I hear Drakeson danced like no one was watching.  We took a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and dined like royalty at Jiko - The Cooking Place.  In addition to my octopus and scallops, I ordered a water, a strawberry lemonade, and a beer.  We stopped by Hollywood Studios and caught another showing of Frozen Fireworks Spectacular on our way home.  That's four nights of fireworks.  I was moved every time, almost like a real human being.

Slidin' with Bà

Escapin'

Choo-Choo Bus

Whirl

TriceraTops

Safari!

Rhino

Can you find the 2 lions?

Monday, 28 Jul 14:  Yacht Club Resort
Sadly, we only had until noon before the busses came to take us to the airport.  We were ready for a swim the moment Stormalong Bay opened.  In a brave, or possibly very stupid move, we put Drakeson down the Stormalong Bay slide, which goes through a waterfall and travels briskly over 150 feet.  He only cried for 2 seconds, so then we threw him down again.  As if that wasn't weird enough parenting, I breastfed him all over the lazy river for two full rotations.  The four of us walked to the BoardWalk for a decadent brunch at Kouzzina, and then it was all over.  What an experience.  Because my memoirs are always kind of dry and written only for an imaginary future version of myself who is presumably interested in remembering what happened in my life, I'll close with a chapter from the sentimental writer in the family.

Guest Writer:  George Miner

So much fun was had and so many wonderful memories were made.  Not to mention, all of the glorious dinners that we shared. We should be physically exhausted by all of the running around in 90+F humid weather, but strangely, there's an abundance of energy as we head home.  My thoughts as to why are based in the happiness I still feel.  My mind is filled with visions of my family smiling and laughing and playing and holding each other.  Drakeson's beaming, happy face was almost too much for me at times.  My tears were frequently fighting their way to get out as he pointed and danced at all of the thousands of different wonders presented to him.  And every night, my family's faces were lit up from the dazzling fireworks just before we all held onto one another in bed.  

If I had to say anything negative about the experience, it would be that I rode some of the rides alone due to certain height requirements and a little boy who just isn't tall enough yet.  The rides were fascinating, but I was almost in a panic to get off at the end so I could run through the exit and get to my family.  On the flip side, it was wonderful getting a little one-on-one with Drakeson while Momma and Ba were galavanting around.  We made out like bandits riding the TriceraTop Spin ride over and over again.  

There were so many wonders I wish that I could share with all my loved ones, but the most fascinating of them all was the discovery of Lan's video game side.  Her face during any ride where a competition was occurring was so serious that it was comical.  Who would have thought that deep down inside Lan was a hardcore gamer just waiting to get a higher score than her husband?  Additionally, I think the restaurants are all breathing a sigh of relief that Lan is leaving because they were at risk of running out of seafood (5 out of her 5 fancy meals!).  

Lastly, Ba defies all accumulated knowledge regarding the expected activity-level of grandmas at Disney World.  She wasn't just keeping up with us, she literally ran circles around us a few times.  I was also more frightened by some of the roller-coasters than she was. Seriously, how old is she?  

What a wonderful life we have.  I'm so glad that even though we're leaving the rides, musicals, and fireworks behind, our nights will still end the same.  I love our family.

Where's Besos? 

Peekaboo!