You’re my knight in shining armor, and I’d marry you all over again! *smooches*

While at Disney, we got to the Magic Kingdom twice. The first time was Thursday morning, when they had what’s called “early morning magic hours” or something — basically, if you are staying in a resort hotel, one park opens early every morning and one park stays open late. It rotates around and is always a different park. Thursday morning was Magic Kingdom, so we thought we’d dash over there and get our favorite rides in (well, my favorite rides… Tim is very patient with me!) before the crowds got thick.

So we hopped on Peter Pan, then the Haunted Mansion – where we LOVED the new additions to the line! – and Pirates of the Caribbean (the dog with the key still cracks me up, even after all these years). We talked about going on the Riverboat but they weren’t open yet, so we had a snack and then decided to go on Tom Sawyer’s Island, which I had not been on since my teen years and Tim had never been on. Then it was off to Epcot for lunch, followed by napping.

One thing I wanted to do while we were there was See Good Fireworks. I love me some fireworks – the booming, the pretty colors, the noise, the sparklies… basically pretty shit blowing up loudly…! It all just appeals to me. Love, love, love fireworks. I do love many things about Epcot, but I have to be honest that the Magic Kingdom fireworks are a whole lot better. We weren’t sure when we’d be able to fit them in, though. Turned out… Friday night. We hopped the monorail from Epcot and got to Magic Kingdom in time to get fabulous ”seats” for the 9 PM fireworks. We knew there was a parade at 8, and it turned out to be the Electrical Parade, which I had not seen since …. oh, maybe I was eight? Nine? Talk about your sparklies! We didn’t come specifically for the parade, though, and didn’t want to give up our great space for the fireworks. So we really only saw the tippy-top of the floats. That was fine, though, because if you look at my fireworks photos above, you can see that our patience paid off. Most excellent view, and most excellent beautiful (and bone-shaking) explosions!

It turned out, also, that Friday night was the late-night magic hours there, so we decided to stay late. We went and did the Haunted Mansion one more time (at night! Spooky!) and on our way out of the park, well… it turned out there was another run of the Electrical Parade. Thanks to stealth photo snapping, I was able to get some great shots of the parade as we were walking out. AND we beat the crowds and were able to get a bus right back to our hotel.

It was awesome.

Today is Tim’s mom’s birthday – isn’t she just as cute as a button?!

(You know I had to do this photo; I always have to do this photo. It’s my favorite!)

I put he and Aunt Gay on a plane a few hours ago, so I don’t know when he’ll see this, but… Happy Birthday, Unca Joe! You’re the coolest.

On Tim’s actual birthday, the 3rd, we got together with family for dinner – we’d opted to have his Brazilian feast on Sunday so that he’d have a longer stretch of time during the day to cook, a longer party time frame, and he wouldn’t have to stand at the stove for hours and hours after working all day.

So Aunt Gay and Uncle Joe had us all over for dinner, and I really do love it when our families get together. His parents are about the same age as my aunt and uncle, and so it’s really neat to hear them swap stories. Even though they all grew up in different parts of the country, they were exposed to many of the same things while growing up. And Tim’s dad and my uncle get on like a house on fire (they’re both incorrigible troublemakers, but too adorable to do anything but roll your eyes at). And of course everyone listens raptly when Rusty breaks out a story, as not only can he turn a phrase, but he’s got a great speaking voice – and is interesting and funny to boot.

Family = Good Times!

Flickr kind of loads these photos however it wants, so I’m afraid they’re not in time order.

1. Fried bananas
2. Yucca sticks & pepper/nut dip – the red & green bell pepper and Brazil nut dip was soooooooo good!
3. Bill and Linda (so glad to see Tim’s parents! They are lovely, genuine and good, and seeing them is always a joy.)
4. Jenn & JJ
5. Fried yucca sticks – more like… wedges, really, than sticks. And covered with sugar and a bit of salt? OM NOM NOM.
6. Linda & Barbara (I love seeing far-flung family together!)
7. Oh, delicious (Clockwise from upper right we have rice, crab mac&cheese (about all my still-rebelling stomach could handle that day), sauteed onions with collard greens, and (I probably won’t spell this right) fejoiuda.)
8. Sharon and Becca
9. group shot (I have many photos of the same people in the same room throughout the years, and it warms my heart.)
10. More food simmering on the stove – seriously, we had so much food we had to have a rematch a few days later, gave everyone leftovers both times, and *still* have food in the fridge!
11. Aunt Gay helping to cut fruit – much thanks to Aunt Gay and Sharon T. for their help in cutting all the mango and kiwi!
12. Group shot – it was also great to see Amy and Isaac, whom we hadn’t seen since Thanksgiving.
13. That sonic screwdriver came in handy! – After Tim got the first part of the coconut off, I couldn’t watch – he was hacking at it with a knife and I was sure he was going to lose a finger.
14. Snacks, Brazilian style – I could eat these little cheesy biscuits every day!

Oh, probably the funniest part of the night? Mariana showing up, WITH ARNE! He had driven down from Chattanooga - not just for my birthday, but that happened to coincide with a bunch of other things he wanted to do in Gainesville that week. I wish Emma could have come with him, but someone had to stay home and watch over the kitties. It was great to see everyone – thanks for coming! I know it’s belated of me to say so, but I really had a great time (and a lot of great food to eat, sweetie!).

It seems hard to believe I’m 41. When my dad was 41, he had a 13-year-old daughter. I can’t imagine having a daughter of any age, let alone one who was 13 and already giving me shit. When my dad was 41, he was having trouble with his food allergies, but didn’t yet know what they were – he thought it was heart trouble because of the general area of the body from which the pain was coming from. I have very similar food allergies, but know what they are, and as such have drastically changed my way of eating. When my dad was 41, he only had 20  years left to live, not that he knew it. I don’t know how much time I have (“you get what everyone gets; you get a lifetime”) but I try to live it as if it’s a combination of having all the time in the world, and trying to cram as much joy as I can into every day just in case.

But really, I’m having trouble believing I’m 41. I feel like I totally skipped over 40, last year was such a blur of not-so-much-fun. There are years that ask questions, and years that answer. What will this year bring?

I love my friends.

Oh, and hey! As a bonus, you can also see what they did for me a couple of years ago, too. Hee.

1. Group shot, 2. Rally ’round the food!, 3. Group shot, 4. Group shot, 5. And no-one is surprised, 6. Blowing out the candles, 7. Blowing out the candles, 8. Light that candle, Timmah!, 9. Boys and food, 10. Food, 11. Grill those steaks!, 12. Group shot, 13. Mmm, clean plate, 14. Group shot, 15. Group shot

Tim did some totally kick-ass steaks on the grill, and also some unbelievably tasty corn-on-the-cob. Everyone brought other things, too, and there was more food and drink than you could shake a stick at. Puppies were entertaining. Beer was consumed. Laughing was done. GOOD TIMES, Y’ALL.

(PS. Linda, we’re sorry we forgot to call you! We mentioned it while Tim was eating, and as soon as he was done eating he was going to call, and then we all got distracted by something shiny – but you were mentioned, and there in spirit!)