11:11 Again!

Naseem flew in to visit for a few days last week. My mom sold her house, so we drove up to Olympia so Nas could see the house a final time.  I asked my mom if we could separate my dad's ashes at the same visit. 

Something very cool happened when I brought the ashes into the kitchen to separate.

I took a photo of the label on the urn and then looked up at the clock on the microwave.

 

I know my dad was there with me at that time. 11:11 has become a very special number for me now.

 

Before Nas and I left to come back home, I cut some of the snapdragons my dad planted & loved. I dried them this week and they still look beautiful! I am just sad that his 'peekaboo' daisies were all spent and I was unable to get any of them.

 

 

Omid and Matty were just fishing on Tuesday of this past week. When they caught their limit and packed up to go, Omid looked at his watch: 11:11!  This was the first fishing trip since Matty was small that my dad didn't go on (physically). 11:11 for sure seals the deal for me that he was present spiritually.  

 

On Wednesday, I had a dream that I have to write down as I don't ever want to forget it. I dreamt that I walked into my kitchen and saw my dad sitting at the bar, talking with Omid and Matty. I knew that my dad had passed, but wanted to try and hug him anyway. I knew that my hug might go right through him as he was just an apparition. I tried it anyway and to my surprise, he was solid and physically there! I said, "Dad! You are really here!" He said, "I am really here!" He was wearing his usual Hawks Prairie Golf Course cap and a light blue 1/4 zip pullover I'd never seen before.  I told him all about Omid and Matty's fishing trip the day before. He replied, "I know! I was there."  It was such a gift to be able to touch him and talk with him. Even though I knew he had passed and in heaven in my dream...I woke up and was so grateful for the gift. I know in my heart my dad was communicating to let me know that he was indeed present for the fishing trip that has been a tradition for so many years. The last dream I had a few weeks ago, he was in my dream and had a cell phone but was unable to communicate.

 

Thanks for the visit dad! ♥ It meant so much!!

Disneyworld!!

Omid had to attend a conference at Disneyworld for work last week, so naturally, I had to go too! Nas flew up from Miami to visit the parks with me while Omid was working.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 6 a.m. flight!

We didn't see ONE alligator...and I'm okay with that!

Mickey Mouse Cappuccino!
We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort. It was beautiful and I highly recommend it.

Mouseketeers!

We had dinner at the Disney Springs shopping center and dessert at Sprinkles. They have a cupcake ATM!

Since Naseem loves Coca Cola so much, we stopped at the Coca Cola beverage bar at Disney Springs and tried their international menu ($8). It was mostly gross (to my tastebuds), but there were a few fun Coke flavors from around the world.

The next day, Omid headed off to his conference and Nas and I ventured over to Epcot. We saw Mary Poppins after just a few minutes at the park. She was very polite and proper!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Whenever I travel, I always wear something WSU (tshirt, jacket or visor). I didn't get one 'Go Cougs' on this trip. I did see a teenager wearing a WSU lanyard (in front of us in line for Mary Poppins). I was so excited, tapped her on the shoulder and said, "GO COUGS!" She gave me a weird look, and said, "My dad went there." Oh my gosh - I was sad that she never learned that when an excited fan says "Go Cougs!" to you, you are supposed to say that back! I can, however, rest easy knowing that both of our kids know that rule. #diehardcoug

Have you seen the new Beauty and the Beast movie yet? It's soooooo goooood!

The line to get a photo with Belle had a cap on it (we were to late too stand in line), so we headed over to Morocco and got our photo with Princess Jasmine instead!

After six visits to Disney parks, I finally got a photo with Donald Duck in Mexico (my favorite character!).
He kissed both Nas and I on the lips and made a big smooching sound while do so. We also got hugs!

Mickey Mouse waffles for breakfast!

The next morning, we zoomed over to Magic Kingdom and got there before it opened. Our mission was to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain before the wait times got too long.

We were so serious about our mission that on our way to BTMR, a Disney employee stopped us and said, "Excuse me ladies. You dropped something." Naseem and I both looked down to see what we dropped then looked back up at the man with strange looks, because we hadn't dropped anything. He said, "You dropped your smiles!" Then we burst out laughing, because, we had indeed dropped our smiles! We collected our smiles and made it to BMTR with no line. #success

No trip to Disney is complete without Dole Whips and icy cold pineapple juice!

After our exhausting day at Magic Kingdom, we met up with Omid again for dinner. We went to a delicious Cuban restaurant for dessert (again at Disney Springs) called Bongos. so Nas could get her churros. Churros are everywhere at Disneyland, but we couldn't find one churro stand at Magic Kingdom in FL.   The churros at Bongos were delicious and came with three dipping sauces: chocolate, raspeberry and condensed milk.

Not only could we not find churros at Magic Kingdom, but we couldn't find beignets! Again, that must be a Disneyland thing. We were very sad about that.  At least we found our Dole Whip. If that had been missing from the park, there would have been trouble!!

Nas had to leave to go to work on Wednesday evening, so we crammed Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom in to 4.5 hours. To do this, we only rode two rides at each park. Tower of Terror (the best!!!) and Rocking Rollercoaster at HS. I was SO happy to hear that Disney kept ToT at HS in Florida. The ride at California Adventure is the only one that will be changed to Guardians of the  Galaxy.

We received a free Fast Pass+ from one of our hotel employees, so used that to ride Rocking  Rollercoaster, then went back into the single rider line for another go. We ran back to ToT, then had to book it to Animal Kingdom.

Tree of Life

We were so excited to ride the Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom and it did not disappoint!. The last time we visited AK, it was being built. Definitely worth a Fast Pass+ (next time!)., We could only ride it once, as we had to wait about 55 minutes to ride it the first time. The next ride was the very cool Kilamanjaro Safaris. A 22 minute ride in a big truck seeing animals. I loved that! Then we walked through the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and saw this sad looking guy.

 

After that quick walk, we had to leave the park so Naseem could catch her flight back to Miami.

Quick selfie before her flight

Omid and I left the next day. But I did have time for one more Mickey cappuccino!

 

At the airport, we tried conch hush puppies. Very tasty! Conch tasted just like clams.

I spied this fun poster right outside the food court at the airport.

Our trip was so much fun and the only thing missing was Matty. He had to work. :(
 

European Adventure Part Three!

After our 1.5 days in Barcelona, we were up bright and early to catch a flight to Germany. Little did we know the German Airwings Airline was on strike and only 5 flights were leaving Barcelona. The lines at the airport were crazy long and we were lucky enough to be on one of the five flights out! Our friend, Daniel in  Germany was texting Omid and Edgar and keeping them posted on the strike.

We arrived in Stuttgart to Daniel and his sweet sign his daughters had made for us.

 

Daniel took us straight to the town of Heilbronn.

 

We learned that during WWII, the entire town was destroyed except for the city hall and the local church.  

Fun fact: Daniel and his wife Anne got  married in Heilbronn City Hall.

 

 After walking around the town of Heilbronn, Omid spotted a curry wurst restaurant. The last time Omid had curry wurst was 34 years ago when he was only 13 years old and waiting for his visa to enter the US. He was curious if the sausages still tasted the same. To his delight, they did!!! YAY curry wurst!

Toasting curry wurst, friends and making memories!! #prost

 

After our snack, we walked some more around Heilbronn, then went to a café to have a cappuccino in a giant bowl. Omid and I actually had milk coffee, and they were delicious too.  We sat in the sun, talked and people watched for quite some time. ☺

Daniel and I had planned a tentative itinerary of fun places to visit when he was in the US the week before. He knew I wanted to see castles! After our coffee, we were on to our first adventure in Weinbergs.

We stopped at Johannes Kirch which dates back to the year 1200.

The entire area is surrounded by vineyards.
This is the view from the parking lot. Pretty nice!

Vineyard peek-a-boo!

From the churchyard, it was a short walk up to the castle ruin: Burgruine Weibertreu.  Here is a quick synopsis on the legend of the Wives of Weibertreu:

When King Conrad III defeated the Duke of Welf (in the year 1140) and placed Weinsberg under siege, the wives of the besieged castle negotiated a surrender which granted them the right to leave with whatever they could carry on their shoulders. The king allowed them that much. Leaving everything else aside, each woman took her own husband on her shoulders and carried him out. When the king's people saw what was happening, many of them said that that was not what had been meant and wanted to put a stop to it. But the king laughed and accepted the women's clever trick. "A king" he said, "should always stand by his word."

 

 

This first castle ruin was just amazing. The views from 360* were of vineyards.

It was absolutely amazing and a great first adventure with Daniel.

 

AUDI has it's headquarters in Heilbronn. We stopped by the Audi Experience right before they closed (5 minutes!). We got see many beautiful cars.

 

Audi R8

 

 

After this we met other friends of Omid & Daniel and had dinner overlooking this same spectacular view.

First dinner in Germany!
Spaetzle, pork medallions with mushrooms, pesto ravioli and French fries. Yummy!