Just a silly little TR - Run Away!!

[cp'ersmom]

Sheesh, you go away for a few days to celebrate your eldest's college graduation and look at all the cookie recipes I missed! Ponzi, you may have to add links to them too.

We stayed in that hotel on our Honeymoon, 25 years ago. I remember we were sacked out after a long flight and all of a sudden the door bursts open and in walks another family. Talk about rude awakening!! It was a beautiful hotel, we loved our stay and even got to see Don Ho!

Welcome back Nebo! The Ponzi/Nebo hour is back for another season of fun and laughter!!!

Thanks for the mother's day wishes!! guess what I got!!!!!!

A speeding ticket. Nice start to my day.

Boy could I use a cookie right about now!

 

[nebo]

he he it's me Elle!!!!

to late i know everything!

Um, excuse me,,,,, who's this?

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Ponzi, your girls are so pretty! I'm sure they look just like Ruby

Thanks for your picture, you look just like I imagined!

ANd that hotel looks awesome, I may have to try it if I ever get out that way.

 

[nebo]

Uh, oh. Thanks for the heads up!



The professor,
and Mary Ann.
Here on Gilligan's Island!


Oh, and BTW. Definitely Mary Ann. Since it's always the next question after that song.

Yeah, how unfair was that? We had Ginger and Mary Ann, the girls had Thurston, the Professor, Gilligan and Skipper,,,,,man, they got the raw end of that deal.
We used to play a game, who would you rather,,,,,and then come up with two choices, and you had to pick one,,,, which led to such intelligent options like,,,,,Rodney Dangerfield or one of the little flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz.

I am so glad I found this report! I'm a huge fan of all the Nebo bantering and glad to see more of it here. I have to say there is sort of a vortex of breaking down the posts. I think it go could go on for infinity.

Gratuitous marketing: smart-butt comments welcome at my trip report. Click the link. Please?

hey, I forgot about Laura's report,,, I started it before we left, and she's a good storyteller too, and definately with a sarcastic trait so check it out when you have had enough of Ponzi.

so to speak.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Laura is the one who started this whole cookie thing
And yes, I agree, I already gave my approval to her report (not like that counts for much, but still)

 

[margymas]

Hey kroo - What a blessing! Congrats - and "well done", to your little pumpkin for mommy's day one she will always remember!

 

[nebo]

Ups and Downs (and ups and downs and ups and….)
downs and inside out, boy you're turning me inside out and upsided down!

“Uh, oh”, I think to myself. Time to pull out my trump card, my coup de grace, my ace in the hole.

I smile and say, “Hi! How you doing today?”

Ten years ago, cool,,, they don't remember Joey anymore.

The United lady starts pecking at her keyboard, deals out a few tarot cards, consults with her Ouija board, shakes her head while muttering arcane incantations and finally announces. “I can get you to Honolulu tonight… if I split you up.”
Uh uh, by now I'm already in a fetal position sucking my thumb.

Ummm… split up how? Can’t send the DDs off on their own… tempting as that sounds.

you were actually thinking they were going to make you send the youngun's on by themselves, weren't you? C'mon, admit it, weren't you?
geesh

“Two and two.” She says.
Okay. Let’s do it.

yep, I guess that's how you would split up 4 people.
can I say Geesh again?

Just a side note. While she was typing madly away and getting our new boarding passes set up, a young couple (guessing on their honeymoon?) stepped up to the next available counter and were told that they would have to overnight and would only get to Honolulu the next day. Looks like we got the last seats on the last plane for that day. I’ll never know for sure. But I really hope that Mr. Belligerent and Mr. & Mrs. Nasty didn’t even get out of Winnipeg that day.

Poor Lovey and Thurston.


Elle tugs on my sleeve and says, “Dad, now we can get my hairspray out of the garbage can and put it in your bag.”
Good idea! We had tossed it into a small out of the way garbage can with nothing else in it. Chances are it’ll still be in there all by itself.

Um, ok, yep, that's exactly where mymind would be centered on by that time,,,,""""OMG, THE HAIRSPRAY!!!""""

Ruby and Kay will be travelling from Winnipeg to Denver at 1:38pm arriving at 3pm. They would have 46 minutes to run and try to catch the 3:46pm flight to San Francisco. There they could relax for an hour and 45 minutes until the 7:15pm flight to Honolulu. I was worried that they might not make their connection in Denver. We talked about it and decided that if they missed it, Elle and I would continue on to Honolulu, get the rental car, check in at the Hotel and pick them up the next day. Elle and I? We were leaving Winnipeg at 12:19pm for Chicago where we had an hour and a half layover before our 4pm flight to San Francisco where we had 30 minutes to meet up with Ruby and Kay and jump on the flight to Honolulu.
Holy crap!

See? if you would have given me a call ahead of time, I'd have come over and helped entertain you and your daughter until boarding time, couple manhattans, slip ya a few vikes, some quick Disney horror stories,,,, and you daughter would never look at you without great respect in her eyes from that point on.

That last part always sounds so ominous. It’s like they’re going to take out a hit on the last team. Mind you that’s probably an even better incentive than $1 million.

From all the times you would say how tired you are when commenting on my reports, I keep picturing you as Rowan Atkinson from Rat Race, falling asleep from narcolepsy,,,in a companion restroom,,, at the shoeshine box wearing your Nike's....


I grab the bags, run them over to the bag eating machine again and send them packing. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

Try

Yes. I did it again. I sent the bags off before finding the hairspray and putting it in.

Ok, I'll send you some hairspray!

Leave me alone. It’s been a stressful day and it ain’t over yet!


Ruby and Kay head one way. Elle and I head off in the opposite direction. Ruby and Kay have no problems catching their connection in Denver and arrive in San Francisco with time enough for a nice meal.

Elle and I? Wellll….

Our flight out of Winnipeg is delayed by about 20 minutes or so. Not a problem since we have a 90 minute layover… but disconcerting when we only have a 30 minute layover in Frisco. It was an uneventful flight. Oh, I might’ve accidentally knocked over my glass of coke, but no damage was done. It completely missed me, other than a couple of drops.

Oh, sure. Elle’s pants got soaked, but that doesn’t really affect me, now does it?

As we’re flying into Chicago, I mention to Elle that this is where Nebo and Smidgy live(technically Carpentersville). I then say, “And there’s his house!” and Elle replies, “And there he is in the backyard!” and I reply, “I’m waving, but he’s not waving back… kinda rude.” And Elle replies, “You should write about that in your TR.” And I reply, “Okay, I will.”

And I did.

But you didn't finish.
We did see you coming in from the NW, it was about 2:15 on a United 357 Airbus. Being that you both were in the middle seat I had to stand on the lawn chair to see you inside, but I did wave,,,and just then a huge chunk of green ice came crashing down on the top of my Charbroil gas grill and scared the crap out of me so I went back inside instead. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?


We get off the plane in Chicago and start off in search of our next gate. Anyone here ever flown into or out of Chicago? It’s big. No wait, it’s BIG. We start walking. And walking. We go through some halls. Descend a few flights of stairs. Climb a few mountains. Traverse a few ravines. (Where is that gate?) Ford a few rivers. Rappel down a few cliffs. (Where the heck is that gate??) Bungee off a bridge. Get shot out of a cannon. (Where the %@$$# is that GATE????) And finally arrive at our gate. Okay. Time for lunch. We’re certainly not going to have time for that at our next stop. I mosey up to the gate keeper and politely enquire when boarding will begin as I wait for my pounding heart rate to settle down out of the imminent heart attack region.

It's stupid big, all that space and nothing to put in there.
Kind of like the balance lines in my checkbook,,, alll those extra spaces for extra digits, and,,,,,,,,

“We’ll be boarding in eight minutes.”

Are we back to the Eminen thing? Or have we moved on to Mickey Roarke now? Never mind, I don't know what I'm talking about either.

“Thank you very much.”… “Elle! QUICK! There’s a food cart right there, grab two yogurts!”

Wow, I misjudged you. Dead bacterium and cultures,,,, yeccchhhy. Youj're probably a wizard with formaldadyde and Petri dishes, and I don't mean Rob. So what do you set the Bunson Burner at for a Tombstone Pizza?

We get on the flight and are not sitting together. Elle’s in a middle seat a few rows up (she’s probably just as glad… no more coke tossed into her lap). I’m in the middle seat at the back. There was an elderly woman already settled in whom I didn’t want to bother, so I asked each of the other three people if they would mind switching seats so I could sit with my daughter. Especially since they were flying by themselves. Of course you know what these kind people all answered.

Nope.
Nope.
and Nope.

That's a shame, durn furreners using Chicago to change plans and then giving us a bad, unfriendly name.
I would have been happy to switch, and sit next to your daughter, either one.

I should’ve told ‘em about karma.

Well we alllll, shine, on,


We get to San Francisco right on time and we get lucky. Our gate is a stone’s throw from where we de-planed. Sweet! And there’s Ruby and Kay! Double sweet!

Yep, always handy to have a lot of stones ready and near a plane, makes me feell better. Is de-planing planes like what you do to shrimp? And if a plane crashes and you get all those little red lines running through it, is that from not de-planing it first? And can I stop soon?

Kay comes running towards us and launches herself into my arms.

uh oh


Nebo, when you read this you’re probably wincing in anticipation already. And yes, just like how your life flashes before you before your imminent demise, thoughts of me laid up with my back out flashed through my mind as Kay’s feet left the ground. Luckily, I was okay and we all were able to board in one piece.

From what I've just been going through, that is EXACTLY what I was expecting. And then I gthought that you were on the ball, and at the last moment you did the 'OL matador, "El Toro" , holding the fictitious blanket off to your side and at the last second jumped to the side, letting your daughter slam to the terminal concrete on her face, but you remaining unscathed!


Unfortunately, around this time Kay started to feel ill with a cold and when we were descending into Honolulu, her ears were really hurting. Wasn’t much I could do for her though. Poor thing was bothered by her ears for the next few days. I won’t mention it again, but she wasn’t feeling too great for the week we were there and it did have an affect on her as you’ll see.

Oh, that's too bad. And once again, wer are parralleling our lives and thoughts again.


Except the Tapas tower is probably the least desirable of the bunch. What I really wanted was the Rainbow tower. Right on the beach. Yup. That’s what I want. Not going to happen, of course, unless we pay a lot extra. And we just don’t have the funds. And then of course there’s the Ali’i tower. It’s the newest and most exclusive with its own check –in desk and private pool on the second floor. It’s where Obama stayed when he was in Hawaii last December. La dee da! That’s for the rich folk and rulers of countries.


Nebo has a little trick or two up his sleeve for getting nice rooms… so do I.

The check in girl taps on her keyboard for a while and asks if we’d like a King bed instead of the two beds we’ve booked?

Nope. Can’t. Got kids, so there’s four of us.

She taps some more then apologizes. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t get you an ocean front room. But I did get you a partial ocean view in the Ali’i tower.”


Jackpot!

I'm not sure what your little trick was,,, but that's great, sounds like a major upgrade!


Taken the next morning, here’s the view from our lanai (balcony). It’s a little skewed ‘cause I took a panorama shot (actually 10 shots stitched together) so the concrete on the left and right sides of the picture are the same piece and is in a straight line.

We grab our suitcases, head to our room, fall into our beds and pass out.

Total time awake: 25 hours.
Travel time: 21 hours
Being in Hawaii: Priceless

My friends dont call me Rainman for nothin!!! There was purpleblanket, DisneyBrat, her hubby and little girl, my sister, her hubby and 2 girls, Hooked on the Mouse, her hubby and 3 kiddies, you and your girls and me....17 in total!!!

Off to catch up on your newest post....tell Elle to stop by my TR....would love to chat with her!

And I'll bet you're an excellent driver, too!

Great chapter Ponzi, man, you just covered a TON of all the reasons I hate to fly, but you made it.
I definately believe that we could have a lot of fun spending a week or so at the same resort,,,, yep, lots of fun, and we'd need Buzz to be there as well, for recording purposes. Hmm, maybe not her, now that she likes you better.

 

[shan23877]

Great update Ponz!

Sorry you didn't make it to Pearl Harbor. One of my grandpa's friends spent some time there in December of '41. He said it's not a place he would visit over and over, so maybe you didn't miss much.

$100 breakfast? Were there characters? Sounds a lot like Disney!

What beautiful scenery! I love the self-portrait that you shared. I don't mean to be rude, but have you seen a doctor about the funny shape of you head? You're officially like the neighbor on Home Improvement.

Can't wait for the next update!

 

[cp'ersmom]

Ponzi!!! I knew you looked familiar! You were a star in a video game I played a few years ago!! Why didn't you tell us you were famous!?

 

[buzz1121]

I definately believe that we could have a lot of fun spending a week or so at the same resort,,,, yep, lots of fun, and we'd need Buzz to be there as well, for recording purposes. Hmm, maybe not her, now that she likes you better.
__________________

Aww, Nebo, you know I like you! You and Pkondz keep the DIS a fun place to be!

 

[Sandy Mouse]

So So sorry - don't shoot me for being awol for the past 10 days... It was the whole graduation, cooking and baking and decorating for the graduation party (and why the h--- was it my job to decorate, anyway), and then having multiple grandchildren over to watch movies and play on the slip n slide this weekend. We got the deed done. I'm totally exhausted.
Now I'm back and trying to catch up.

I have a killer triple chocolate cheesecake recipe with Grand Marnier. Chocolate and Grand Marnier = yummy.

Triple Chocolate? You now have my full attention.

 

[smidgy]

I'm here. really I am. sorry, the sucky thing about trying to s t r e t c h a trip out as long as possible is, when you get back you end up working a whole bunch of days in a row!! so we got back wed. night, and Iworked thursday and every day since, will have a day off a week from today, next sunday... but! I'm definitely reading and enjoying!!!

loved the views of oAHU!! BEAUTIFUL!!! and thanks for the macadamia nuts (yeah, nebo shares )

your shadow is really very creepy, though. thanks for the nightmares!!!

 

[orangecats2]

So not only did Nebo get a postcard with ponzi's real name.....he also got nuts!!!

Guess we know who's ponzi's favorite is.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I see Smidgy and what's his name is back. Was it the grump? From the Smidgy and the Grump. Alright, how could I forget Nebo's name.

Welcome back. How's the back? Have you been back long? When are you going back to WDW? Can't wait til Lady H and I get back. I'm backed up on reading. I'll have to go catch up and reply back later. We just got back from our weekend trip down to the Southern part of our state. Be back to reply more later.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the Dis moms out there

 

[laura74]

Ponzi, I think I remember that frog joke from my dad who also likes to tell groaners.

I see you like to have fun with Photoshop and your photo is hilarious. If you haven't already discovered the "You Suck at Photoshop", series I think you would enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/show?p=6OvxlAUP04A&tracker=show_av

The resort looks just beautiful! Looking forward to more tales...

Nebo, thanks for remembering to remember to visit my trip report and for giving the stamp of approval.

Marita, thanks again for your marketing efforts.

 

[nebo]

I'm still plodding along at the speed of TTA,,, i read 3 pages, then fall back two more, so If I mention something that somebody already has,,,tuff

[B
Yeah, but sometimes the Nebo sarcasm approach is called for too.

Sometimes what is?



I get the feeling you're referring to a character I should know... but I'm lost. They did invite a young lad up to the cockpit where he was asked if he was ever in a Turkish bath.
Roger!
"Huh?"

Ok, I'm gonna look extremely vein now, expecially since my original thought was wrong. Hold it,,, VAIN,,, yeah,, that's it, don't want to be de-veined in the middle of being de-planed.
Anyway, the entire Jeffrey thing had me flummoxed, I saw a Bill Cosby ref. but no, his brother was Russel,,,"with whom he slept with.
So, in my own little world of vanity and Nebo, I recalled a story of a little 4 year old boy running amok on our plane, and then once wiping his hands on a poor unsuspecting girl at a morning bus stop after he was eating an icecream bar.
He wiped his hands on her bare legs,,, then on the bus, he went for my legs/shorts, but I kept him at bay with the "GLARE". The only difference was,,,, this kid's name was Jimmy. So, feel free to slam me at will, but it made sense cuz Ponzi said he never read the old reports, so that fit.

Isn't it great how funny BC could be without attacking yoyu with swear words?

Actually, apparently it's tradition to play "The Halfway Game" on flights going to Hawaii. Everybody guesses the exact time that we'll be halfway there. The winner gets a prize. The winner was a young boy around 10 years old.

Halfway from where?
O'Hare? Winnepig? Last rest area?
Is there a little buoy floating on the surface you have to find that marks it? maybe a drive through McDonalds?

Fixed! Fixed! I demand a recount!

And then you get all the way to Oahu and find they left out the fries!
Smidgy would have that pilot turn the plane right around this instant and go back for them,,,," They are NOT getting away with it!" Think Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2.



Sarcasm noted... and appreciated.

Yes, very catchy, 3/4 time, Bflat, key of sarcasm


Yes. Elle. You do that.


And don't forget where your allowance comes from.

Just sayin'...

Disney Visa rewards cards?



No we didn't. I treated Hawaii like I treat Disney World
there were code browns on Waikiki Beach?


. There's too much to do and you can drive yourself nuts trying to do it all. House Without a Key was higher on my list... and we didn't do that either.

That might be a theme that comes up in the next chapter...

Actually, I can picture myself being totally intimidated on the first trip there,,, I'm so used to being in control now at Disney, in Hawaii I'd be running around trying to fit it all in one day,,, curious to see how you handle it.

So Marie (mmeb144) was first on the board with Frank Burns and Nancy (nrod) got the bonus points for knowing that Margaret repeated the phrase disdainfully.

Frank then replies, "Just making conversation."
and Margaret retorts, "Next time, do it with your mouth closed."


Love that line.

If I'm not mistaken, aren't Nebo and Smidgy due back today some time? Maybe we'll hear from them soon.

No, they're not due for a while yet.

Lady H is correct. We can watch this over and over. Heck I probably know every line by heart now.

Yes, Magic seems to know who I'm referring to. And to the rest of you who know who it is, don't tell Ponzi. I'll reveal it to him a little later on down the line. Give him a chance to figure it out. It's possible he may not have ever seen it, but I know very few people who haven't.

Ah, grasshopper. I see you have done your homework. For not knowing who Jeffrey is, you got the right comedian. What gave it away? Was it Lady H's hint: HIMSELF? That's the title of his DVD. Here is a youtube link so you can learn about Jeffrey. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs0cYJUqJys&list=FLzEkwWu1qDqfZm7ThKixibA&index=1&feature=plpp_video

 

[nebo]

Bring both! Maybe we can experiment with actually putting a little wine in the cookie batter. It might enhance the "bloom" of the cookies! Come on over, I'm up pretty late/early most nights!

The smell of cookies finally made it to Denver.....loving the report so far!

Here is my Missouri State Fair Blue Ribbon winning Chocolate Chip cookie recipe:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 c flour
1t baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 mini chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently mix in oats, coconut, and chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes depending on how done you want them.

*you can leave out the coconut if you are weird!

Jill in CO

I keep waiting and waiting for somebody to put the "wine in the coconut and drink it all down" ,,,,,

I absolutely did win a blue ribbon! Beat out all those grandma's that had been baking for 60 years when I was 17.

Jill in CO

Congrats Jill, I too have won a ribbon at a State Fair competition,,,, twice,,,, once for coming in 5th place,,, and once for coming in 3rd place,,,, out of 15 other kids! Geesh, I think Ponzi is just daring me to post that incredibly handsome shot of me playing the accordian again!

 

[pkondz]

lol, I hate it when I get a shadow in my pics, but this shadow worked out great! Good job, you handsome devil you!

I got that shadow 3 times before I was happy with it.

Wow, what an exhausting travel day Glad you all made it safe and sound and SCORE on the great room! Too bad about missing Pearl Harbour but sometimes the body just needs its rest.

It was a little tiring. And yes, sometimes you just gotta say "enough".

Great update! That resort place thingy you stayed at is huge!!! I'm guessing getting your exercise wasn't a problem here was it

Oh, I got exercise all right... but not at the hotel.

The convo between you and Ruby sounds like the one I have when my darling daughter has the camera....like you, I just keep my mouth shut and take the pictures when I have the camera and she takes the pictures of what she wants when she has it

That would work for us... but Ruby just won't take pictures.

Grat shot of the girls before breakfast....and what a great self portrait...you are very photogenic

Thanks!

I love the picture of you Pkondz!! Just perfect!!!

I managed to catch my best side.

I also like macadamia nuts....plain, chocolate covered, or in pancakes with pineapple sauce from Kona Cafe. Yummy!!!

Those are tasty little suckers, aren't they?

Great update! I've only been to Hawaii once, as a teenager, and we stayed at the same resort. It's fun seeing what it looks like now.

How cool is that, that you stayed at the same place... what? 5, 10 years or so ago?

Funny you look exactly as I pictured you!

Looking forward to more!

Most people picture me with more panache.

Great update!!! I only remember a few things about our trip when I was a teenager. One of them was an encounter with a celebrity. At the time that we went, Magnum PI was very popular and was filmed on Oahu. We were told that as we were driving around to look for trucks and or busses along the road at a certain house. If they were there, that meant that they
were filming that day. Well they were and we pulled over to see if we could catch a glimpseof anything. I now ( somewhere) have pics of me and my BFF with Tom
Selleck . He was super nice and came out to greet people who stopped. Great experience.

That is a really cool story! Were you one of the countless women with a crush on him?

You are quite the model. Is this trip report going to be like Home Improvement where we never see Wilson???

I am like the wind, you never know when I might pop up.

Can't wait to read more.

Thanks!

i got some pictures when we were driving!!!!!!!

Okay! Okay! Here are some of my favorites you took from the car...

 

[pkondz]

Ok, glad we are going forward in the alphabet, if Morty had his way, we were coming up to an EHminEn!

And then of course... Opie

Sheesh, you go away for a few days to celebrate your eldest's college graduation and look at all the cookie recipes I missed! Ponzi, you may have to add links to them too.

That's a great idea, I could've used it earlier today, too. And congrats on your eldest's graduation!

We stayed in that hotel on our Honeymoon, 25 years ago. I remember we were sacked out after a long flight and all of a sudden the door bursts open and in walks another family. Talk about rude awakening!! It was a beautiful hotel, we loved our stay and even got to see Don Ho!

We had a similar experience once. We were travelling from the North down to Winnipeg (yes there's a north of Winnipeg) and overnighted in a hotel that didn't allow dogs. We snuck our pup in anyway (don't tell anyone!) and in the middle of the night the fire alarm went off and the front desk clerk burst into our room looking for a fire. There was our dog standing in the middle of the bed.

Cool that you got to see Don Ho!

Thanks for the mother's day wishes!! guess what I got!!!!!!

A speeding ticket. Nice start to my day.

Boy could I use a cookie right about now!

Oh, no! That bites!

Ponzi, your girls are so pretty! I'm sure they look just like Ruby

Well they sure don't get their good looks from their father!

Thanks for your picture, you look just like I imagined!

Tall, dark and... dark?