Happenings

So, for the few folks who still actually stop by here … Thanks! I've been buried deeply in a work project that I'm trying desperately to finish this week, and have had several family obligations, so blog time has been severely curtailed (obviously!). But I have had some fun recently to relate … The weekend of August 4th I hopped a plane to Southern California to join baby sister, Becky, in celebrating her Natal Day at the Del Mar Racetrack, as mentioned in the next post down. Immediately upon exiting the airport, Becky and I headed directly to Disneyland to partake of both the Magic Kingdom and the California Adventure. They finally shut off the rides at midnight, but no one even tried to shoo the visitors out of the shops, so we didn't end up leaving till about 12:30 am! I hadn't been to the California Adventure, as it was under construction when I moved north in 1997, but I adore the Soaring over California ride … perfect for those of us with no desire to ride roller coasters. Give me a virtual ride any day!! So we stumbled off to bed at 1am, and crawled out again Saturday morning to drive from Costa Mesa to Del Mar. Our ride was slowed by traffic here and there, but at least we didn't participate in any accidents, unlike SOME people I could mention! We arrived at Del Mar around Noon and nailed down our picnic space and pulled out the goodies to start munching and plotting our race picks. Much fun was had, several bottles of … um … Juice were consumed (that's our story, and we're sticking to it!), and nobody bet enough to lose big or win big on the races themselves. All that would have made for a special day, but I had an extra special event as part of the gathering as well. I had buzzed Fuzzybear Lioness before hopping the plane, and goaded her into joining the crazy gang for the day at the track. Yahooo!!! I got to meet another Castle Chick! I had apparently confused her on the location of the infield that we intended to stake out as our own, so once she arrived at the track and came through the infield tunnel, my cell phone rang. Since I had previously configured it with her phone number, helpfully tagged as "Fuzzybear Lioness", I knew who was calling immediately. She was near the exit from the tunnel, maybe 50 feet from me, but facing away. As we talked, I walked towards her and said "Turn around …" – and then I waved Hello … *grin* As all who have met her know already, she is a hoot to spend time with, and made friends very quickly with the rest of the party, including the youngsters in our group (who have been accompanying their Mom and Dad to the event each year since they were born!). We all had a great day, and had plenty of time to visit betwixt the races. At the end of the day, though, we were all ready to head for home. I finished the weekend off with some shopping at Downtown Disney, and a viewing of the new Disney/Pixar movie Cars. If you enjoy light-hearted animation – go see it! Even the insects were cars … bugs, of course … heh! Then it was home for a week of rest at work (Not!). I had some more adventures this weekend, but that will have to wait for another time. If you're looking for something interesting to read, make sure you check out the rest of the Denizens of Argghhh…