Mid-Summer Fun and Folly

Last week was arts fest, the closing day of the first 3 week session of Arts for Youth. Another wonderful time - Shara was thrilled to have the lead role as Freckleface Strawberry in the play of the same name. We don't have so much artwork to put away this year because everything was performing - acting, singing, etc. Here are highlights.



The first performance is from Shara's class
And I don't know what other ones she's in, but here are all the videos so far:
https://www.youtube.com/user/duckgreene/videos

After ArtsFest, Shara and I got packed up and went to Aunt Jill & Uncle Andy's for a weekend celebration of Bubbe's birthday. We had a great time  - Friday night we settled in and Shara had no trouble going to sleep in Samantha's bed. I hung out with Jill and chatted and finally went to sleep around midnight'ish. The next morning we picked up Bubbe to go to Syracuse where Pastabilities is located. Bubbe saw it on Diners Drive-ins and Dives and wanted to go for her birthday, so we did. We had so much fun and also made a stop at Wegmans to finish our tour. Once back home, Jill, Shara & I went for a walk to the Country Drive-In for ice cream. It was quite a walk - always worse when I can't tell how far we have to go, but it was fun. Then for the way back home, Uncle Andy dropped us off at the street just after the busy one we didn't want to talk on. Then another late night! Brunch was scheduled for the next morning at Cracker Barrel. Papa wanted to take us all out for breakfast and another lovely time with family. It really makes a difference spending the extra night. Normally we just breeze in and out but this was much more relaxing.

Monday was the start of the 2nd AFY session. It's going very well and again, Shara's most interested in the performing arts. The past few nights we've been staying cool by going in the pool and tonight Alan joined us for family night. Shara wanted to jump in and so she did! She started gradually by sliding off the side, then jumping holding my hands, then my fingers, then 1 finger, then just in. Then she was having a ball jumping in and going underwater. It was a lot of fun swimming around with her and playing underwater games. She and Alan also made salt & vinegar potato chips before dinner. They're done in the microwave. Shara had seen the recipe online a while ago and finally made them tonight. They had fun and the chips were really good!

2014 Disney Vacation - Day 3

This was the day we were waiting for - the AFY performance! But before then, we had other parks to take on. We had reservations at the Kilimanjaro Safaris® for about 10 AM. We also had to get Shara's props and clothes ready for the performance and did a great job getting it all together. We started by getting a pretzel for Alan and Shara had a bite or so. FastPass worked great and we got right on the bus and out to see the animals.

They were quite amazing and our guide was also wonderful. His name was Billy and he seemed to be doing more than just playing the role of the laid back guide. He seemed to really enjoy sharing the animals and talking about them with us. We saw; Black Rhinos, Cheetahs laying in the shade, Crocodiles, Elephants - one was carrying a big mouthful of hay to a shady area, Flamingos, Giraffes - 2 kinds; reticulated and Masai, Hippopotamus in the water, a sunning Lioness, Warthogs, Wildebeest, Zebras, and an Ostrich that came right up to the truck and gave us all the funniest look! We also got a look at a pile of Ostrich eggs. There were other animals too and one that was our drivers favorite but I can't remember the name. The cool thing were the animal's horns, which were long and twisty, but the animal didn't ever need to drink water its entire life!

After the safari we had brunch at the Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery. Shara & I each had a breakfast wrap; scrambled eggs, goat cheese and spinach. They were really hot and really good. Shara ate about 1/2 but I managed to finish most of mine, though it was really big. Alan continued on the sweet road and had a caramel brownie and finished Shara's wrap.

On to the Kali River Rapids! We had another fastpass and got there close to 11:30 AM. We still had to stand in line but only about 15 minutes or so. We did get soaked! It was so much fun but too short! We would have all been happy to go again. Shara and I were in the front so didn't see anything that was coming at us. Lots of fun and Shara's favorite thing in the Animal Kingdom.

I thought we'd next go to the Finding Nemo musical but Shara had no interest so we wandered a bit towards our next fastpass - the Festival of the Lion King. The show was at 1 PM and we were told to get there between 12:30 and 12:50. We easily could have gotten there much closer to 1 PM and not have to wait as long, but live and learn. The show was good. Shara said, "it was pretty cool". Alan liked the monkeys the best. I liked the singing but it didn't have the magic it had for me the first time I saw it. The show ended and we ran over to Asia because Shara wanted to see what she thought was a Kimono. It turned out to be an expensive nightgown but we did need to look for a shirt for Auntie Chrissy so ran around to a couple of places and did find a good one. I got the same but in blue.

Then it was time to get back to the car and on to Port Orleans and the French Quarter to meet up with the rest of the AFY kids and get Shara on the bus to Downtown Disney for the performance!

The parents were meeting the kids after the show at Cirque du Soleil but until then, we were without Shara. We got a couple of drinks and looked in a shop or two then headed to the stage. The kids did a great job! Here is one of the videos:


It took a while for Shara to reappear after her performance but when she did, she was wired! They gave all the kids special cast member bags and they also get to keep the cool AFY Disney t-shirt. We took way to long to get pretzels at the Wentzels but they were good and we were hungry. We walked to the Lego store at the other side of Downtown Disney and thought about seeking shelter because it looked like a storm was coming. We then went to the Disney store and Shara looked for a shirt. We had to get moving because we had 7:15 dinner reservations at Sanaa. We had to call and say we'd be late because it took us forever to walk back to our car and then there was a backup leaving the area. But we got there and while we waited, go to view more giraffes and ostriches and other really cool animals. I didn't think there'd be so many to view, but there were!

Dinner was good. We split the Indian-style Bread Service - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, with Cucumber Raita, Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle, and Tamarind Chutney. Shara got the Butter Chicken and Beef Short Ribs combo, served with rice. Alan had Chicken Vindaloo and Spicy Durban Shrimp served with rice and I had the Paneer Tikka and Seasonal Vegetable Wat (ratatouille) with the 5-grain pilaf. It was good but not awesome. It was very nice to sit down and be waited on and the service was great!

Since this was our last day/night in the parks, it was our last chance to go to Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios. Alan wanted no part of it - he was far too tired, but Shara and I ventured out and had a terrific time. We parked pretty close and while we were going in, saw the Frozen fireworks spectacular. We hopped on the tram and the person running it questioned if we meant to get on it or missed our stop, since it was so late, I assume, walked right in and over to the amphitheater. We got perfect seats and only had about a 15 minute wait before the show started. Shara loved it! 100 thumbs up! So glad we didn't miss it. On our way out we decided to see if there was a shirt for her to buy and she did find a cool one in one of the stores. It's an extra small adult shirt but the adult designs are so neat and she'll be able to wear it for a while. It does have "Walt Disney World 2014" on it so it's also a souvenir. Another very full, fun day!

2014 Disney Vacation - Day 2

It's hard to remember the days but the second day was Wednesday. We went to Hollywood Studios in the morning and then Epcot in the afternoon. We got a fairly early start because time was short - packing 2 parks in one day. We wanted to join in the Frozen revelries and got to the park in time to get a couple of bagels at Starring Rolls and find a spot for the 11 am welcome parade. Alan found a spot for us and Shara & I went for the bagel run. We managed to get the bagels, cream cheese them, and find Alan in time for the parade to start. It was cute - they had snow made from soap foam coming down and the stars on their floats. Loud music, dancing and costumes that must have been pretty hot for the dancers on a very hot day like this one. After the parade and a cute comedy skit and sing-along with Olaf and the princesses, it was off to Beauty and the Beast. Shara enjoyed it but didn't seem blown away. We also went to the Little Mermaid, which wasn't quite as good as we remembered. The mic on Ariel needed to be turned up and it really seemed shorted that we remembered. Shara did love the Great Hollywood Movie Ride. I was happy about that because it introduced her to several of the classics and she even knew some of them already. Her favorite part was when our driver switched places with one of the live actors in a scene and she also liked the fire.

We ended up not seeing that much but did get a couple of cups of ice water for Alan to make good on his ALS ice bucket challenge. He did it outside the park, in front of Olaf, which was cute - Alan got frozen with Frozen.

Post by Alan Yabroudy.

We took the Friendship Boat to Epcot and left the car at Hollywood Studios. While waiting for the boat, we saw two kinds of turtles in the water, many fish (poisson, as the young French speaking boy noted), and ducks (one even pooped a lot!). We got a nice tour of some of the resorts - Swan & Dolphin, Boardwalk, a couple others. and a break from walking. It was quite a hot day - very humid, and we made good use of the Olaf fan.

Studying the map - on the boat

We got to Epcot via the back entrance near the International Gateway. Of course we were all turned around, but figured out we were in the UK pretty quickly. Shara decided not to do the Phineaus & Ferb scavenger hunt so we went to France to, what else, eat! The place was so busy we decided to get a bite at Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie. Alan had a turkey BLT, Shara had the Creme Brulee and I had a Salad Nicoise. I was planning on having ice cream and needed to have something healthy before all that sugar. The salad was good but we could only find a stand up table. There were several birds flying around and I believe they were nesting at the top of the walls near the dining area. A couple of feathers floated down. Bubbe would have loved it (sarcasm)! Alan & Shara went outside and sat at a table but I decided to finish inside, since it was still really hot out. After the salad, I did go into L'Artisan des Glace. As others have mentioned in various food blogs, it was a very difficult decision to make. I settled on the White Chocolate Coconut in a waffle cone, but the Salted Caramel, Profiterole, and all the other flavors, sounded equally delicious. I don't think there was a bad choice and I enjoyed the cone all the way to Future World.

We had fast passes for Soarin', The Seas w/ Nemo & Friends, and Mission Space. The first was Soarin' and it was phenomenal. I thought it was going to be a simulator that made us feel like we were hang gliding, where we'd lay in an aparatus, stomach down. It wasn't anything like that. We were strapped into chairs, in rows of about 10. There was a huge, emersive screen that started a movie that made it feel we were flying over California. It also had some smells, like oranges when going over an orange grove being harvested, but the main thing was the video and the moving of the chairs we were sitting in. It was really neat. The Nemo ride was not. It was pretty lame, actually, but it didn't take too much time out of the day. Our last fast pass for the day was at Mission SPACE. We had to decide if we wanted to go on the Orange or Green level. We opted for Green (tame) and Shara & I felt it was good enough for us. Alan wanted more so he went on the Orange one after. He said there wasn't much difference between the two. While Alan went on the Mission SPACE orange ride, Shara & I went to find something else to do. We ended up going in Spaceship Earth - the big sphere. She loved it - viewing the history was cool and having the ride customize our future vacation was even cooler. On our trip, Shara will have an android along to play games with her, such as chess, and we'll get to fly in personal flying cars. She also liked riding in the dark car.

We had 8:40 dinner reservations at Tokyo Sushi and were hoping to get seats close to the window so we could see IllumiNations in comfort. We didn't get seats by the window but we did get to see the fireworks and hear the music. Shara's getting pretty jaded by now with the fireworks so it wasn't as spectacular as her sushi. While waiting for dinner, we did try the shaved ice - I got the rainbow - tangerine, melon and strawberry. As recommended by others, I got the sweet milk but we all agreed it wasn't very good. I seemed to be the only one who liked the flavors so was the one to eat most of it. Dinner was good. Alan got a spicy roll, salmon w/ truffle oil and he raved about it. Shara really liked it too. Alan also got an order of the  tempura calamari with a spicy sauce. Shara had miso soup, a rainbow roll and we split edamame for the table. I had a salad w/ ginger dressing and this combo roll - 2 spicy rolls with lots of tempura flakes. Everything was good. The place was very loud but they did pipe in the music for Illuminations, which was cool. We skipped dessert, already had it, and made our way through the closed park to find a bus to take us back to Hollywood Studios and our car. The park's a really neat place to be when it's mostly empty and rather dark. Thank you Alan for driving us back to the resort so we could crash after yet another busy day!

Very tired, waiting for the bus to Hollywood Studios

ArtsFest 2014

Shara's last day of camp ended with a great set of performances for us to enjoy.

Merade and the Giant Peach - adaptation of James and the Giant Peach - cast photo

Let it Go (from Frozen), "Not so Frozen", Grandma got run over by a Reindeer

Harriet the whiner & More from ArtsFest 2013, Session 2

Shara made a fantastic narrator

View all the videos and artwork

AFY ArtsFest '13

Yesterday we enjoyed a day at ArtsFest, celebrating the wonderful talents of the AFY children. Shara performed a couple of times in the big review - one singing another drama, and we got to go into all of her classes. In her music class we took a number of videos available at:

https://plus.google.com/photos/116319541735911965313/albums/5902666477249747137?authkey=CIPb59H-1I65Bg

parade

I am at A.F.Y. after care right now. I am going to be in the 4th of  July parade tomorrow. The theme is 50s. Isn't that cool? Would anyone like to try beating that? (If you would like to, do it in the comments.)

Cleaned off the pool table

In preparing for Thanksgiving, which is what it took to do this, we finally put away Shara's art projects from her summer at Arts for Youth. We still need to frame some, but for now, here are some of the photos I took.

Arts Fest Session 2 - 2012

link to YouTube Video

• Take Me Out To The Ballgame - Dance 
• Tiki Dance - Dance
• Slurping Beauty - Drama
• Baseball Medley - Music
• Yoga story - partial

Aladdin Jr.

Had an evening at the theater seeing Aladdin Jr. from AF Teens. They did a great job - amazing actually when you consider they only had 2 1/2 weeks of rehearsal. Shara loved it too. She was so excited to go but when I asked her if she was picturing herself on stage, she said, "no". I was very touched seeing how thrilled everyone was - audience and talent, to be at the performance. There was no charge for tickets and I really appreciated that. I assumed there was a fee and when I heard there wasn't, I realized how special it makes the camp. Unlike a dance class that charges quite a bit for the recital tickets, the motive here is from the perspective of a not for profit. By not charging, younger children can come and be children. I didn't mind so much when they acted up. There isn't a limit to the number of people a family can afford to bring, so if the grandparents want to come, the money isn't an issue. We even saw people without kids there. People who just wanted to support the community. And I think it's important for young children to get exposed to a taste of the theater.

It's also more than instilling a love to learn, such as a dance school teaches how to dance. I feel the camp wants to create children who have the confidence to create and express themselves. They have several opportunities to make choices of what they want to do and how to do it. The dance team creates their own dance and costumes. When Shara was in video, the kids came up with the plot of the movie. It's great and I am so happy for Shara that she's gained so much confidence by going to AFY. She's also learned to get good, you have to practice and learn. People are born with talent, but so much of it is learned technique too. It seems as though she's picked that up this year.

She is already planning for next year though. She wants to do dance team. They get to do step-dancing. The other day when I picked her up she looked ready for a recital - for a workshop they did hair and makeup for dance - she looked beautiful. I took a picture, but it didn't come out very well.

We also had some good dinners this week. Shara's been wanting a taco shell form she saw for sale on TV. You can bake it in the oven so it's healthier. Rather than buy another thing, we used a bowl to form the shells and baked them. Worked great and it was fun to have Shara help make dinner.

ArtsFest!

Still waiting to post the videos from the first session of Arts for Youth. Shara had a wonderful time and concentrated on fine arts because she wants to get better. Nothing wrong with that! Here is some of her work - sorry I didn't get everything formatted properly.