While eating, some other pictures were taken. E was just being silly. And gross.
OK I was going to post pictures of it, but decided not to. E was goofing at the closet mirrors, making faces and such, and then suddenly was about to lick it. As I took pictures (because I'd been doing that already), we were both saying Nooooooo. Then he made a funny face at the mirror b/c he didn't get to lick it. Odd. But the pix were much too big in photobucket, and really grainy, and I just decided against it.
More pool/grounds views. Yes the pool was open. Yes Robert and I were beyond jealous. Yes we thought about just swimming and figuring out how to get dressed later on. Yes we had looked at airfare for Saturday, to see if it would somehow be OK to just dump the non-refundable tickets we had and buy new, and stay an extra night on points....no, it wasn't a good idea at all b/c the airfare was just too high. Sigh. When I planned this trip and bought the tickets, we figured he'd be working that Saturday, b/c that was his schedule. But when they announced the closure of the dept, later they decided that Friday would be The Last Day, so suddenly he was at loose ends until Tuesday when he was starting the new (current) job. It was a bummer we couldn't extend the stay, but it also would give him a nice long weekend after the vacation to rest.
It was around this time that I finally noticed, waaaaay back there, the other pool. Robert had been doing laundry Thursday night (AHA! That's when I had the time to pack!!!) which is tucked back there, and he'd actually been there before in Sept '07 when we stayed at the PPH and laundry had to be done, he totally knew about the pool but didn't know that I didn't know, so didn't think to tell me. Compartments. There are compartments in his head. Silly.
OK so then the Bell guy came up and took our stuff, and we left. Of course we went up to the 11th floor one more time...needed some coffee and we wanted to thank people. I put in a good word for Natalie, I turned in the comment card that I didn't want to leave in the room b/c it was about the housekeeper. The concierge lady at the desk read it and talked to me about it, and was sorry it had happened. Offered a box if we needed it, etc.
The sign outside the lounge is somewhere between the first no-flash pic and the second with-flash pic.
We were really taking it easy that day, and, all of a sudden, I'm realizing I left more out from the night before! Darnit!
So the night before we didn't just monorail home and sleep...I just mentioned that R did laundry and I packed, but I just remembered that we went into the
Lego store and E played at the tables where you build stuff. He had a lot of fun, understood that we weren't buying things, and left when it was time to go. It was wild.
Robert had promised him another short while in there for the morning, so while they stopped in Lego, I went on to World of Disney, because even though it was the last day I NEEDED those Crocs. I'd checked online, and couldn't find the Disney themed Crocs anywhere. And the only cheapie Athens I could find were in some green and orange that I wasn't attracted to, not even for $20 cheaper than at Disney.
So off I went that morning. It's a lot of fun in there when you don't have a little beast saying "I want" every 2 seconds! There's a post on mouseplanet about how you have to set things right from the beginning, they don't take it, etc etc etc...yeah, I didn't contribute. LIke I've mentioned, Robert and I grew up poor, and hate saying "no" just to say "no". We try to be reasonable about things, and we don't have unlimited funds, but he has been known to get a "yes" out of us when there had been "no" stated before. We've created the problem, but on the other hand, long before there were yesses after nos...there was a little boy workin' our nerves (as my friend from NJ would say), not understanding "no" when he should have.
Anyway, he's getting better now and we're glad, but it was still nice to be in there alloooooone.
I found the Crocs. They felt different and that's all I was going for.
R&E found me, there was some kerfluffle over whether or not we were going to get sunglasses for E...the ones he wanted were too big for his head, the ones that fit him he said hurt and he was quite vehement about it. So no sunglasses (he had hats to help with the sun...of course by Friday that wasn't around anymore!). I know I just said he was better, but he knew Robert wanted to buy him something and he insisted on making suggestions... We left WOD quickly...no extra souvenir for Eamon, and no true souvenir for me (R tells me the Crocs don't count).
I changed shoes, was happy to feel different, and we went to DCA!
First up, Muppets. Next Monsters.
We wanted to take some drawing classes again, but we managed to hit the same rotation as the other day, and no one wanted to work on Donald Duck or Pluto again.
So I took them to the Blue Sky Cellar. I hadn't seen those interactive video screens on the wall with the wine barrel decoration, but they sure did! I finally dragged them away to have lunch at WCT again.
I had noticed the AP Dining Pin signs up, and so we were shooting for one of those.
It turned out to be the same server that the divas WCT group had in March, and he either remembered me or pretended he did (I think he did, b/c he made a comment about the grilled cheese I'd ordered then), which again was nice.
R tried the veggie lasagna, which was good. I had the caprese sandwich, and E had the...yep, grilled cheese sandwich. All was good, though it was COLD. We were right next to the door, brr. I'd had to run to the First Aid station while we waited for the table, and I had bandaids on the tops of my feet (as did the woman who suggested the Athens...we both have wide feet so our feet rub where they shouldn't, but some bandaids to protect the skin while the bones of our feet feel better is a small price to pay!) and an ice pack for my ankle, so I was even colder than they were.
We opted to not use the AP discount (if we had, we would have needed to order something else and we were full...I was even taking half my sandwich away with me), and we got the dining pin (a Jungle Book theme).
Alas...that sparked problems, b/c E wanted it, but R wanted me to have it, and, well, we ended up at PT Fleas. Robert *really* wanted me to have it and was not going to let me gift it. PLus, he still wanted to get E something, and he wanted something as well.
We spent a nice long time in PT Flea's, where I found nothing (not true, I found about 20 things I wanted, along with a nice big tote bag with a protected spot to display pins...but it was all too $$ for my comfort), and each of them found a pin they wanted. Robert traded with the CM which he likes doing.
E didn't want to go to bug's land again, so we decided to wander. As we walked by the Food and Wine area in Sunshine Plaza, Robert noticed that it was a chef who was on a recently aired episode of Iron Chef. He called him Chef Jeff, but later he told me it was actually Chef Simon. Black hair, was doing something with raw food, or somewhat raw, I don't know. I don't understand their obsession with Iron Chef, especially since it's usually meat, but my guys LOVE watching it!
I wandered off, still in search of a souvenir, b/c the Crocs didn't count and R said the pin didn't either (since we didn't PAY for it). Okey dokey.
Nothing, nothing, big fat nothing...I wandered back, defeated. The chef was done, the people who had paid for the presentation were being served the food, it was time to head on out of the park.
Of course we stopped for lattes and a cookie (though no one touched the cookies for hours after that). Left through GCH.
Since we were well ahead of time, we used the last 2 tokens for the RC boats, and that was just as fun as before! Brilliant thing, those boats are.
E then ran around in the grass while Robert and I sat and stood, respectively.
I believe there were some low-energy lightsaber battles as well.
While wandering, we saw a wedding starting...we'd seen one the day before, but just as the bride would have walked past our view, some big kid stood in front of me and E and blocked it.
This time, however, we just saw the ahead-of-time pictures with the Cinderella carriage and the bride and groom and parents...just looked as we sloooowwwwllllly walked by... I remember not minding if strangers watched those before-wedding pictures as we took them...it bothered me that our GUESTS were stopping and watching, but then if my dad hadn't decided to wash the car before picking me up I wouldn't have been late for my own schedule, but I digress.
Eamon was very excited to see the bride; he really wants us to get married again so he can see me in a poofy dress. I'm happy to oblige, as soon as I'm happy with the ol' bod AND we can easily afford it.
We made our way to the actual lobby, where we retrieved bags. They didn't like how we did it; they wanted to just bring it over to the DL Express waiting area 15 minutes before the bus came. But I had rearranging to do. I felt a bit like a hick...oh well!
While waiting we met another mixed race couple (opposite of us again) with kids, who had just bought into BLT in March and were staying at DLH on incentive points. They had surprised their kids with the trip, telling them that they were going to see their grandparents...and the kids were disappointed that they weren't seeing their grandparents! Whoopsie! I'm sure the kids were going to get excited soon, but I felt bad for the parents. They were, however, looking forward to telling the grandparents that they were more exciting than Disneyland!
Last minute I went in to use the bathroom, and stopped at the giftshop on the way out. And there...I found...the same red sparkly mickey head earrings the nice woman at DCA opening was wearing...yay! I wanted them. Everything was with Robert and E.
I asked the CM to hold them. Not b/c they were rare or expensive (ha! 6 bucks), but because there would be no way R could find them quickly. I ran out, told him I'd found the earrings and they were behind the counter and could he go pay for them. He was happy I'd found something and ran off with E to do it. They came out just in time, we got to the bus, and had a nice ride to the airport.
Well...R and I did. E, however, fell asleep and was extremely cranky when we had to get off. Started crying and saying no, and that he hated that bus...all while trudging down the aisle. Poor dude.
We had SO much time, it was lovely! Robert asked a passing TSA agent about our plastic toy weapons, and she was iffy about it. We were allowed one free checked bag each, but we were very worried about things breaking in the "weapons" bag, so we checked two bags and decided to take our chances. The Alaska agent said we could come right back and check the third, if they wouldn't let it through.
And off we went!
We continue our perfectly lovely encounters with LAX TSA agents. After we went through and were waiting for our 18 million things to come off the belt, I could see she was stopped on the bag of food and toy weapons. I didn't get her attention, but while looking at her, I stated clearly "toys". She turned and smiled at me, and said that SHE could tell, but if we were catching another flight we might not get the items on... She let us through. She and I chatted for just a moment as she looked at the rest of our items on the belt, I liked her. I liked that she had the leeway to say "those are plastic and they've been to Disneyland, they are sunburned and wearing Crocs (LOL), and I will let this pass."
of course...while unpacking...I found that Robert had packed a bunch of small Tabasco packets from the Taqueria, and those were in that bag, and she didn' tsee them...so there's always sort of bad with the good, but the good so far has outweighed the bad with the TSA people there, and it was positive overall.
Got to the gate area, E was tired and started worrying about the plane and how it was going to stay up (oh man I'm so superstitious, don't start this now, little guy).... Got some water and some cashew into him, made him a sandwich (have I shown the packets of PB and jelly we bought to go in our carryons???) while we were in the gate area (rather than on the plane), made R a sandwich, I ate the rest of my caprese...had a nice calm time.
Soon enough the flight was boarding, we were off, the flight was fine (actually it wasn't, I hate the Alaska route from LAX, I won't do it anymore, it's too scary, I was actually crying (silently) during the flight b/c of the turbulence, and this was, of course, before the Air France flight the other day...I haven't had the same turbulence using Virgin or Southwest, I don't know why, but I'm just tired of being so frightened on Alaska going home...BUT we landed successfully and that's good), we got to the parking garage and were on our way home.
And on that note, good night!