Disney!

July 12, 2009 By 1 Comment

Bob and I took a 3-day Mini-moon in Orlando, FL a couple weekends ago. When we landed at the airport and you could actually see the humidity! I forgot what that much humidity felt like. We got in after midnight so we picked up our nifty red Mustang rental car and went to the hotel.

Mustang

During our first full day there we went to Universal Studios. As soon as I entered through the gates my manager called my cell phone. She informed me that 20% of our employees were laid off, including her, but I was safe. I thought it was a shame to hear that news, but managed to suck it up in half a second to ride on the Incredible Hulk roller coaster.

Wuss

Universal had a lot of rides geared towards grown-ups, so we got to go on a lot of fun thrill rides there. We went on a Superman ride which happened to be semi-motion-simulated, which means I was very nauseous and did not enjoy it at all. I took about 20 minutes to recover in the air conditioned store area after that ride!

Partway through the day Bob got a call from someone offering him a nice new job. Although he loves his current job, the offer was too good to turn down, and counter-acted my dreary phone call from my manager.

We spent a full day at Universal Studios, slathered in SPF 85 sunscreen. At the end of the day, I enjoyed a margarita directly from Margaritaville. And it was strong.

Margartia

On day 2 we met up with our friends Anthony and Katie at Magic Kingdom, Disney. Bob and I got special pins to wear, indicating that we were on our honeymoon. The employees kept congradulating us. We went all over the park and I even managed to drag Bob on the Dumbo ride and It’s a Small World. The lines weren’t bad at all since we never had to wait more than 40 minutes.

Disney

Katie was determined to meet Pooh bear and that was actually the longest wait, but worth it to meet him and Tigger. It was hot in that line and we were thankful that the little girl behind us was using a spray bottle, so we were able to catch a cool mist from her once in a while. Bob dared her by saying “I bet you can’t spray me!”. Bob lost that bet, but in the end… did he really lose?

Poo Bear

Our last day started at Animal Kingdom where we only went on a few rides, then made our way to Hollywood studios. We spent a lot of time there to go on the Tower of Terror and the Rockin’ Rollercoaster (my two favourite rides).

Then we took a ferry over to Epcot and got dinner in Mexico. At that point we were all exhausted and didn’t want to walk around much more, so we sat around and watched “Cheesy bird”. He was running around with naco cheese on his feathers and looked silly.

Cheesy Bird

We caught a 2nd wind and went back to Hollywood studios for more thrill rides and we went with Anthony’s parents this time. His mom is a hoot and was screaming her head off. We convinced her that the Rockin’ Rollercoaster was a smooth ride with only 1 loop. Maybe we should have told her it goes 0-60 in 2 seconds flat and there were actually 3 loops.

Overall, we had a nice trip to Disney with our friends. I’m ready to plan my next vacation…just not in the middle of a humid summer season. Katie and Antz are already planning to come visit us in Colorado. Say… Octoberish?

Castle Monsters

Filed Under: Adventure, Friends, Fun, Outdoors, Travel

Great Sand Dunes

May 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bob’s friend told us about Great Sand Dunes National Park and suggested we camp there. The campground doesn’t accept reservations ahead of time. We had to just show up and had a free-for-all for finding an available site. A lot of the sites were small and not nearly large enough to fit out 16′x10′ tent (our friends fondly referred to our tent as “the palace”). We finally found one big enough for our tent and 2 other tents of our friends that joined us. Although, I’m pretty sure we actually found 3 sites and used them all.

Palace The view

The forecast was calling for rain and thunderstorms and for once the weatherman was correct. It would rain for a couple hours, then clear up long enough so we could start a fire to cook a meal. We made sure we got our fix of s’mores before the rain came back and smothered our fire. We also put peanut butter on our s’mores and it was a delicious twist.

Smores

We went to the dunes Saturday morning. The dunes are the tallest in North America and were more like a mountain range than plain ol’ dunes. In order to get to the dunes we had to cross a freezing cold stream. We took off our sneakers and socks and waded across to the dunes.

Water by the dunes

Climbing was incredibly difficult. We put in a lot of effort and received minimum progress because the sand absorbed most of our steps. Bob and I didn’t quite make it to the top (I blame Coda), but the views were still fantastic!

The dunes The dunes The dunes

That evening was very cold. The temperatue dipped down to around 40 degrees and when you combine that with the rain, it was downright bone chilling. After a few rounds of cards with our friends, I was ready for bed. I put on as many layers as there are in seven layer bean dip. Then I hibernated in my sleeping bag with Bob and Coda. Yes, Coda snuggled into the sleeping bag with Bob and I.

Coda was cold

We packed up a day early since there was a lot more rain to come. Luckily, the rain held off long enough that morning to let us pack our tent up. We stopped at Bishop castle on the way back home. This castle was built by a crazy guy that decided he wanted to build a castle with his own 2 hands. He spent 40 years collecting rocks from his property and building this castle. The steps were steep, the iron rails shook and I’m not entirely sure how stable it really was.

Castle

The castle’s owner is very anti-government. In fact, no “drunk taxpayers” were allowed on his property. He also decided that people don’t have to be 16 years old to drive. He thinks anybody of any age can drive because the constitution doesn’t say otherwise. At least his insanity comes out in the form of a creative castle!

Filed Under: Adventure, Friends, Fun, Outdoors, Pets

Walt Disney for our delayed honeymoon

May 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Jen and I finally decided to go ahead and take our little honeymoon at walt disney world. Our friends Antz and Katie will be there at the same time, so we have some friends to hang with.


View Disney Trip in a larger map

Filed Under: Family, Friends, Fun, Travel

Rockband

March 4, 2009 By 1 Comment

For those of you that have never heard of the game Rockband- it is the newest video game craze these days. Bob’s friend Carlos invited us to his house to indulge in a few beers and to attempt playing plastic instruments. The guitar and bass were stringless- just a handful of color-coded buttons and about 1/3 of the size of actual instruments. The drum kit was 4 circular pads and a kick drum, also color-coded.

We had a selection of songs to choose from by The Police, Alice in Chains and  Weezer- just to name a few. It is hard to describe the talent in the room, so it is best showed in the video below:

Look out, world! I feel a Grammy award coming on.


Rock Band Party from Bob Spryn on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Friends, Fun, Music

The Wedding

December 28, 2008 By 1 Comment

The big day snuck up fast and went by even faster. The day before the wedding we had a major snow storm but I braved the elements to pick up floral arrangements and run other pre-wedding errands. We had a nice rehearsal and BBQ dinner with friends that night thanks to the Spryns.

The day of the wedding I was up early to drop lots of things off at the golf club and get my make-up done and to do my hair. I called Bob at noon and he was still sleeping. All he had to do was brush his teeth and put on a tux.

The ceremony was great. Our friend Lindsay promised to sing at my wedding 8 years ago and held up her promise and sounded lovely. Bob’s good friend Pete played “In My Life” on guitar for the walk down the aisle and it couldn’t  have been more perfect. He had been working hard on the arrangement for quite some time and we were blown away by what he came up with. Dear Dave Matthews: If you ever can’t get a hold of Tim Reynolds to play alongside you, call Pete. Throughout the rest of the ceremony we had a gospel group called The Voices of Clouds perform. The group helped to liven things up. Our last special guest was our friend Brendan who performed an Irish blessing for us. Who better to do an Irish blessing than a 100% Irishman?

After the ceremony we had a horse-drawn sleigh waiting for us.  It was a perfect, snowy night for a sleigh ride. The horses name was Phil and he was a handsome fella. I wish we had more time to spend on the sleigh. We only took a short ride around the parking lot so we could get to the Frank’s house to see the fireworks!

The Frank Family decks their house out every year to raise money for cancer. When they found out Bob and I recommended folks stop by their house, they offered to set off fireworks for us. We took them up on their offer and they went above and beyond by helping people park cars, directing traffic, and having my little cousin countdown to a big lighting ceremony. If you get a chance, check out their home and donate some money to cancer research on their behalf. They are a great family in our community.

We got to the reception hall and I got to see all of our planning and decor come together. My Mom’s friend Nancy created the floral arrangements for us and they were stunning. I also got chair covers and sashes, which mom kept trying to talk me out of until she finally caved it. At the reception she told me the chair covers and sashes were worth the extra money. NEWS ALERT This means my mom admitted she was wrong and I was right about something. It had to be noted.

As a surprise to our sweet-tooth family we had an old-fashioned candy store setup like my Grandpa John used to do for all of the grandkids at the cottage for the 4th of July. By the time I got a chance to check it out, a good majority of the candy was gone. I’m pretty sure my family filled their candy bag and then shoved extras in their coat pockets. We should have frisked them as they left.

After making the rounds and saying hello to everyone, a surprisingly sober Bob demonstrated his moves on the dance floor. For anyone that missed Bob’s dancing skills “White Man’s Overbite” says it all. If you’re reading this my hubby, I think you looked like Fred Astaire.

I feel like I left so much out, but most people that read this blog were there, so you know what happened. To see pictures from the fabulous Rachel Gracie, please go to:

www.eventpix.com and type in Jennifer and Robert. The password is sprynwed

We will post many more pictures on our gallery (which is a little easier to use.)

Rachel is an amazing photographer in Rochester. She is so sweet and easy to work with and captured all of the details I was looking for throughout the day. She has a photojournalistic style and her pictures outside at night are my favourite. Her use of color at night is amazing. I highly recommend her to anyone. On top of being a great photographer, she had my proofs sent to me within four days.

A big thank you to our vendors and people that made our day extra special:

The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd and Rev. Robbins for allowing us to bring our dog, Rev. DeVuyst for assisting with the ceremony, Heberle Stables for the horse-drawn sleigh, Rachel Gracie for her photography skills, Nancy Wolcott for the lovely centerpieces, The Frank family for the fireworks display, The Voices of Clouds for the soulful music, Pierre at Turner Music Productions for keeping people dancing all night, and Meg Klem and Dave Tiberio at Webster Golf Club for easily accepting my special requests.

Lastly, a big thank you to my mom and dad for working hard to provide my dream wedding and for taking countless phone calls to change this or add that. After a busy week, we need a vacation. We need to go fishin’ instead of just a wishin’.

Filed Under: Family, Friends, Fun, Wedding
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