Fun, Food, and Flies?

So...

Ryan and I celebrated our 11th anniversary yesterday. I managed to pawn kids off on 3 different families (thank you very much Hartwigs, Honeycutts, and Garcias) and Ryan and I had the better part of 24 hours without kiddos! We didn't speak for a while, I think we were enjoying the silence!

Thanks to our friend, Tom Hartwig (thank you Tommy!), who works at Animal Kingdom, we spent a few hours there. He met us at the front gate and got us into the park (NO CHARGE!!!! YEAH!) Then he took us over to the park's coolest ride: Expedition Everest and got us on the ride skipping the line! It's a great ride...front facing, backwards, in the dark...very neat! We rode it again for good measure, then we decided to go see the Finding Nemo musical show, after which we left the park.

We ate dinner at Charley's Steakhouse. Now, Charley's is a somewhat overrated dining experience IMHO. It was the 3rd time I have eaten at this restaurant. The first was nice, the second was disasterous, and the third (and probably last) I'd have to classify as comical. We had an overexuberant server from Barcelona. When he realized we weren't tourists, I think he started courting us to be regulars...see above...not gonna happen. I was eating my salad when I noticed a fly. No big deal, flies happen. Only when I tried to shoo this one off, he couldn't fly. He was a non-flying fly, a young fly...and pretty soon, he was an on-his-back, dead, non-flying fly. Bummer...I wonder what killed him...it wasn't me...was it my salad? We called "Uncle Lou" over and he whisked the salad away and before I could turn my head, a manager was at my side apologizing. And offering me another salad...uh no? I ordered the beefsteak tomatoes...served with onions and bleu cheese. The tomatoes were great, I left the other stuff. "Uncle Lou" asked if I didn't like his cheese...Ryan told him it was a little moldy. I thought it was funny...Uncle Lou, not so much. I've never had a speedier meal at Charley's.

Anyway, a super big thanks to Christine and Jorge, who took on Katie, Cassidy and Lily for the night, to Shelly and Tom Hartwig for taking Erin and getting us into Disney, and to Wendy and Barry Honeycutt, who had Ali over for the night!!! You guys are the best friends a couple with 5 kids could ever have!!!! Thanks for helping us out!

And to Ryan, my best friend, and the greatest husband a girl could ever want! Thanks to you for 11 wonderful years and for giving me the best daughters a mom could ever ask for! I knew from the moment I spotted you that you were a great guy. Those classroom massages certainly helped your reputation! I'm just glad that you came back into my life when you did and we became the family that I adore! You are truly the best! I love you with all my heart! Wanna play me?