So our last surprise for tonight was a pontoon boat trip out onto the Seven Seas Lagoon to watch the fireworks.  It was AWESOME!!!  Disney, in their infinite wisdom runs the 4th of July show on the 3rd and the 4th so we were out on the lake, just the five of us (well six when you include King Louie – our boat captain), and were inches away from being directly under the fireworks.  The trip started out a little rainy so the girls and I were under ponchos while Anita and Sue were in the back of the boat under the cover.  We tooled around the lake a bit and got to check out some of the other hotels on the property and then started back so we could stake out our spot for the show.  Louie made sure we were positioned right in front of Cinderella’s castle in the prime spot for the show.  Charlton Heston narrated the show and the fireworks were accompanied by some very traditional American songs with the big finish lighting up the sky to the finale of Sousa’s “Stars & Stripes Forever”.  No kidding – the best fireworks show I ever saw.  I also managed to get a few good shots so check out the show below.

The Princesses ready for the ride...

We had to cut Sydney off at this point...

Her royal highness Cheyenne

Swabbing the deck...

The big finish

The princesses were pleased

"King" Louie and Cheyenne driving the boat

So after months of planning and more than a few reworks by our AWESOME Disney specialist Debi (visit her at her website if you ever plan on making a visit to Disney World) we have finally arrived.  We even managed to keep the fact that Granny and Cheyenne (Sydney’s cousin) were joining us secret from Sydney all this time so when we ran into them in the airport she really didn’t know what to say.  If you know how chatty Syd can be you understand the significance of this statement.

Sydney & Cheyenne

Disney's Magic Express - airport to hotel non-stop!

So we all met up and then checked in the Magic Express for the ride over to the resort.  Two stops later we were at the Grand Floridian and being escorted to the front desk.  We checked in, dropped off our carry-ons, and then ran down to 1900 Park Fare for dinner.  We had forgotten that it was a character meal so when we walked in and were met by Cinderella’s Prince Charming it was a lot of fun.  We also got to meet the big C’s step mother and sisters and to with all due respect to their majesties the sisters really stole the show.  Since we forgot it was a character meal we weren’t prepared with our autograph books and had to run over to the hotel’s gift shop to pick one up but managed to get everybody’s John Hancock before dinner was over.

Cinderella & Prince Charming

The girl's & Prince Charming

Lady Tremaine

Anastasia

Drizella

Cinderella & the girls

We were also surprised by an after dinner treat for the girls.  Apparently by royal decree both of the girls were proclaimed actual princesses for the duration of our trip down here.  They were the envy of the dinning room!

The "Proclaim Her A Princess" package

Up close - a flower wand, signed & framed proclamation, pillow with tiara, charm bracelet, and glass slipper!

After dinner it was back to the room to unpack since our bags arrived from the airport a little after we did.  Cheyenne has been wonderful so far and even surprised Sydney with a special 4th of July outfit complete with Star Spangled Flip Flops she made herself!

4th of July here we come!

Star-Spangled Slippers!

The girls hit the pool with Granny for a few minutes and I’m typing away.  In a few more minutes we’re heading down to the marina to hop on our own personal tour of the Seven Seas’s Lagoon where we will catch tonight’s fireworks over the Magic Kingdom!  More pics below!

Driving in...

The Grand Floridian

Stopping to bang out a quick tune

The main lobby

So after a full day at the National Infantry Museum we drove out to historic Warm Springs, GA to have dinner at the Bullock House.  Its a bit of a local highlight around here and they are best known for their pulley-bones.  Pulley-bones are the tender parts of the chicken breast around the wish bone.  Since we hit it on Saturday night it was the weekly seafood buffet.  It was awesome – fried shrimp, clams, catfish, their world famous chicken, fried green tomatoes, home made corn bread, and tons of other stuff.  It was excellent.

Main entrance to the museum

Iron Mike leading the way

Us and Iron Mike

Anita, Sydney, Dad, Mom, & Iron Mike

Once you step inside though the scale of it all hits you.  The entrance hall has several avenues that can take you to different areas – the gift shop, the IMAX theater, or up ‘the last 100 yards’ which leads you to the main exhibits.  That’s where the real fun starts.  Inside the 100 yards there are actual military vehicles to include the WACO Army glider, a Huey helicopter, and the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.  All of the soldiers depicted in the museum are actual body casts of real soldiers from Ft. Benning and not mannequins.

After the ‘Last 100 Yards’ there are some mini exhibits about the Infantry Training Schools, Officer Candidate School, and Columbus, GA.  Then you head downstairs to the six main exhibits which display the role of the infantry from the founding of our nation through operations in Iraq & Afghanistan today.  It is really an amazing place with a level of detail that would rival the Smithsonian’s.  There were models, actual hardware, full uniforms (ours, our allies, and our enemies), walk through dioramas with sound, lighting, environmental effects, and so much more.  Take a look at some of the pictures below.

Gallery 4

Gallery 5

Gallery 6

This is the Soldier's Creed - I wrote this working for Task Force Soldier back in 2003/2004

The Davey Crockett - an infantry deployable nuclear weapon

What the display doesn't tell you is that the blast radius of the nuke is greater than the effective range of the weapon... bad juju Uncle Sam...

I actually visited Checkpoint Charlie when I was 6 - apparently I pointed at something and the soldier giving the tour slapped my hand down because the commies would take pictures and use them for propaganda purposes

Syd taking pics too

I think Ernie Pyle summed it up best.  ”I love the Infantry because they are the underdogs.  They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys.  They have no comforts, and the even learn to live without the necessities.  And in the end they are the guys that wars can’t be won without.”

The driving range from the club house porch

So the second day back in big C Dad signed all three of us (Dad, myself, and Mark – Meg’s husband) for a golf tournament out at Maple Ridge.  It was sponsored by the local AUSA chapter to benefit the Wounded Warrior program.  We were out pretty early to catch some breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and then hit the course.  Columbus can get a bit humid in the summer time and since we basically don’t go outside in Kuwait it was pretty damn hot.  It was a four person best ball tournament and since we only had three we got to share the fourth shot.  We made a pretty good team.  Dad had consistently good drives, Mark set us up from the fairway, and believe it or not I was actually shooting pretty well on the green.  We came in 5 over after 18 which as far as I’m concerned was pretty damn awesome.

The Maple Ridge club house

The 3 of us on the 15th hole...

We sat in KC for three extra hours because of this thing...

So we head off to the airport, get there, and get in line curbside to drop off the luggage.  So far so good.  We get up to the counter and apparently Anita’s Skymile status gets us free priority upgrades to our luggage.  Not only did we not have to pay for the bags we also got little tags which get them off the plane first – love it.  Things are moving pretty smoothly so far.  We wander down to Burger King and I pay the equivalent of a down payment on a house for three sausage biscuits but it’s the airport so I try not to have a heart attack.  Then its down to the gate.

We pass through security fairly easily.  Anita got pulled to the side because of the techno cast but that wasn’t that big of a deal.  The security folks wouldn’t let me give her her shoes which I thought was odd but hey, being bare foot for a few minutes or get labeled a terrorist – I was good holding on to the shoes for a minute.  So they dust Anita’s techno-cast for gun powder residue and eventually let her on through.  We sit down and wait for the cattle call.  We’re in the back of the bus on this flight so we’re in no real hurry to get on the plane.  Then they call us up to the gate.  I’m not sure why since we checked in online, already have our boarding passes, and are ready to go.  So I roll on up and hand over our boarding passes.  Then Anita’s status kicks in again and magically the nice lady behind the counter hands back new boarding passes – for FIRST CLASS!  That’s right, we rock.

So we’re on the plane rockin it up front and generally digging our new locale.  The flight is full so it takes some time to get everyone on-board.  Finally, everyone is on and the crew is doing the safety brief.  The captain gets on the PA and tells us that we’re almost ready to push back.  Then we don’t push back.  Then the crew disarms the doors.  Then the captain is back on the PA.  Apparently the ground equipment that starts the engine isn’t working so we’re not going anywhere.  An hour and three pieces of equipment later we’re still not going anywhere.  The line us all up and kick us off the plane.

We all line up to see about getting on the next flight.  Anita has the brilliant idea of calling the super secret dedicated phone number for Delta VIPs and they book us on the next available flight – eight hours later.  So at this point we’re calling home to let them know we’re going to be late and trying to decide whether or not to stay at the airport or to head back to the house.  As I’m on the phone talking to M&D’s answering machine they tell us that the engines are now started and we can re-board the plane.  Yeah – got to keep our first class seats!

The flight was fine and we arrived into Atlanta with no problem.  Got our luggage in no time and then found the shuttle down to Columbus.  So they roll on up and I’ve got the bags in the back when the driver asks where Syd’s car seat is.  Now she’s 7, over 4 ft tall, and I’m pretty sure she weighs enough to not need the seat but they won’t let her on without it.  So at this point I’m running through Hartsfield trying to find the “car seat swap room”.  Yeah, everyone knew where it was too.  I finally decide to talk to the Delta luggage people to see if they knew where it was.  The woman who was helping me said there was no such thing but that they had some they would lend to passengers who’s seats didn’t make it.  I said that that doesn’t cover me but without it I’ve got to cab it over to Wal-Mart to pick one up.  At this point she asks for my ticket stubs and here come the VIP status again!  Five minutes later I’ve got the car seat in my hand and am back out the door.

We catch the next bus down to Columbus and are having BBQ for dinner in no time!  I love being home!

Soon to be taking off ourselves...

Well almost – again.  We’re leaving the house in the next 15 to hit the road to the airport.  Back on the plane again I guess.  Heading off from KC to Atlanta.  Tried booking the shuttle down to Columbus last night but they wouldn’t take reservations ATL to CSG online.  So, anyways, we hit the ground in Hotlanta just after noon, hopefully will catch the 12:45 or 1:15 Groome down to Columbus and there we’ll be.

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave!

Yes folks we are back on US soil!!!  We landed more than an HOUR early, the flight crew on United was very helpful and overly accommodating to Sydney, the customs officers were polite and even conversational.  People waited in lines patiently, spoke to us in a friendly way, and asked if we needed any help!  This is the best place in the world – I LOVE being home!

We’re off to KC in a few more hours – just kicking back at the lounge for the moment and I’m gonna go find something that has biscuit and bacon in the title for breakfast!  One night in KC to drop off Anita and Sydney’s luggage and then its over to Atlanta tomorrow and then down to Columbus for dad’s 60th bday!

Us in about an hour...

Well almost.  For the first time in our 6+ year history in Kuwait all three of us have cleared customs together.  We are now waiting for the minutes to tick by so we can use our special B-class ‘you’re too cool for school’ pass to the front of the line at the gate.  Apparently United is going to let us jump in front of the rest of the contractor express since we’re just such good folks.  We should be heading that way in about 30 minutes.

I’ve texted everyone I know in the world who helped, called in favors, laid on the hands, or just prayed – it worked!  Like every other time I’ve tried to leave this has been a six month ordeal that would rival even a Spanish language soap opera but after calling in favors from a Kuwaiti Supreme Court Justice, the Deputy Minister of Interior, and the Chief of the Immigration Police we should be on our way home shortly.  So, if we didn’t call or text you it’s because you moved back home a few weeks ago and never emailed us your phone numbers – otherwise you should’ve heard the good news already.   But again – to everyone – thank you.  You too Jesus – thank you Jesus!

The Techno-cast

Well folks it was bound to happen.  Anita was picking Sydney up from school driving home and one of the (expletive deleted) idiot (expletive deleted) drivers over here was paying absolutely no attention and clipped the Death Star in the rear deflector shields.  We lost a small part of the rear quarter panel guard, Anita picked it up threw it in the back, yelled at the idiot who’s whole front end looked like a used Kleenex, and drove home – cops be damned!  It was totally idiot woman’s fault but Anita had the FOG Bunco Night thing tonight and didn’t have time to waste the next 72 hours of her life dealing with police reports.

Unfortunately, that’s not where are harrowing tale ends.  Seems the Death Star as indestructible as it is put a bit of a smack down on Anita as well.  While laying on the horn to attract idiot woman to the fact that she was barreling down a street towards her without even looking up it seems Anita sprained her wrist.  She was complaining of pain later in the afternoon so we stopped by the emergency room just to check it out.  The ER sent her to orthopedics.  She saw the specialist, got an x-ray, and then got the good news that nothing was broken but she had sprained her wrist.  We were fairly certain that the lightening like pain that pushing the elevator button caused pointed to at least a sprain but were relieved that there wasn’t a full blown break.

So the doc is telling her to take it easy, no marathon potato peeling sessions, cut back on the reeling in marlins while fishing, you know – generally just take it easy.  Then he dropped the other shoe.  Despite there being no break Anita was still going to need a cast.  As we’re getting on a plane next week for our annual pilgrimage to the US (God Bless America!) this could put a damper on things.  But wait – there’s more!  Good today only the hospital was dishing out the latest in orthosis immobilization technology – the REMOVABLE cast!  That’s right folks, Anita is one step closer to living my dream of being bionic – well, there’s no real performance enhancing gear in the cast but it is still uber-cool.  They use a cotton mess that is filled with a binary polymer that shapes exactly to the region that needs to be immobilized, is light weight, and was completely set in under 15 minutes.   Sydney was a bit put out that she didn’t get the techno-cast first but took solace in the fact that Anita’s was grey and she got the hot pink version (last year when she had her break – not today or anything).

Anita is fine now, ready to do serious damage to the next ninja who tries to hit the Death Star, and very happy that the cast can come off for baths, to scratch that hard to reach itch, etc.  Check out some of the pix below – please excuse the color/resolution – they were taken with my phone.

The OKM System - AKA Techno-cast

All the gear that went into making the Techno-cast what it is today

The doc and nurse adding in the polymer prior to fitting

Molding it to Anita's arm

Final trimming of the Techno-cast

The x-ray - they let us bring it home!