A new life; same as the old life?

Christmas is a coming and hi tech is the latest thing! Someone told me about this website and I thought it was too cool not to share, so if you think it's lame..bite me! I don't know how much of it is true, partially true or complete BS, but it is an interesting story. Apparently it all started in the 50s , when some store printed an error in their "Call Santa" hotline number, which took kids through to what was then CONAD, later NORAD. According to their website, they have been doing it ever since. Now I definitely don't believe all the stuff about using jets, satellites, etc, but there is no reason why some computer simulation isn't doing it. So I am going to call the number on Christmas Eve and see if anyone answers, right now it is just a machine.

and I am a blogger, it has been over a month since my last post! Seriously, where does the time go? September has been a super busy month, with the end of summer and everyone trying to squeeze in their events before the weather starts to turn. WARNING; monster post, lots of pix, grab a coffee/G&T! Every year, the rules are that everything opens up for summer on Memorial Day and closes on Labor Day (this year Sept 5th). With this in mind, I took a day off work in the middle of the week to do some stuff with the family, including a day trip to Six Flags Great America. Well I guess Labor Day came early in Gurnee, because the Wednesday that we went to Six Flags, August 31st, they were closed! WTF! Fortunately they were still open weekends and holidays, so we used our season passes to spend a couple of hours there on the Monday night of Labor Day. We even managed to get Addison onto one of the water rides, twice! Only a few pictures of the fun and games as it was a short evening. Wauke...

Just got back from the annual Jolly Boys Outing to Vegas. BTW anyone who wants to come any of these years is more than welcome. Obviously the details are sketchy because after all what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but here are a couple of the highlights. The most beautiful golf course we have ever played on; Wolf Creek Resort in Mesquite. 90 minutes from the city, but worth every minute of the drive out there. True desert golf, sand and rocks all around, advisories not to seek lost balls for fear of snakes! Johnny Bravo (Steve) and Rusty Bedsprings (Gordy) winning $200 a piece on the same penny slot machine one after the other. I shouldn't have stood up! The fabulous fountains of the Bellagio. I didn't know until recently that Steve Wynn actually built this property for Mirage until the sold out to MGM. If you have never seen these live, then you need to, they are incredible! Only in Vegas! A fully detailed Statue Of Liberty, made from Jelly Beans! Click here if you would...

Those amongst you who are Disney aficionados will recognize the post title. We recently returned from a long weekend in the Disney capital of the world, Orlando FL. My sister Kimberley has been a huge fan of Disney forever, but had never had the opportunity to visit, and so she decided to save her pennies and pounds, and hundreds and splash on a two week vacation in "The place where dreams come true" She emailed and mentioned this and we agreed to meet for a few days to catch up as it is only a short flight from Chicago, and we already had some accommodation that we needed to use (long story). So it was set, or so we thought! Closer to the date she emailed and they, she and her boyfriend at the time Scott, had decided that they would get married whilst they were in Orlando, as you do! The trip quickly turned into a wedding, with flower girl (Addison), witnesses (Lorraine & I), etc. We hung out for a few days together over the weekend, went to Animal Kingdom (met my brothe...

Some friends of ours decided to take a trip to the Big Apple, and asked us if we would like to coordinate a trip to meet up. We spent weeks going back and forth and eventually settled on a date around the April/May timeframe. Flights, hotels, vacation days, etc were booked. I have to say that I didn't remember NYC being so expensive, but then I always was coming from the UK. I was surprised though, that in this tough economy, hotels in Manhattan were still charging a minimum of $200 per night, plus $50 per day parking, and would not budge on the prices. So we started to look around and found a Super 8 just over the river in NJ, through the Lincoln tunnel. We got three nights for the price of one in Manhattan, and whilst not as convenient, or upscale, when you are only sleeping there, who cares?? But I am getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning. We decided, mostly because flights are inconvenient with a baby, and certainly you still have to have cabs, rent cars, ta...