Catching up with January and February 2024

 Fred and I finally received our Service Missionary name tags. We can wear them to church meetings and events. We wore them for the first time On Feb 11. 

We took this picture of us that morning.

Fred and I have attended a number of theater performances at Grandview High School. 

This evening was a Murder Mystery with Dessert. 

The tables that we sat at were actually on the stage. You can see the stage setting.

It was really funny and so good. 

In January we went to the National Western Stock Show Rodeo. Brian gets tickets from work for all of us. That day was cloudy/sunny so I wore my sunglasses in the car, but forgot to bring my regular glasses with me when we left the car. I had to wear sunglasses the whole time. It was dumb.

Shannon invited us to come along on their vacation to Universal Studios in Orlando.

We shared a VRBO with them. The unit was just right for the six of us. Each of us had our own rental car so we could be independent of each other when we wanted to.

This is Day 1

There are two parks in Orlando. Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We started in Islands of Adventure. The weather was perfect as you can see.

Shannon's family got there earlier than us. We met up with them at the Flight of the Hippogriff.

A mild roller coaster. Fred and I steered away from anything too wild. He gets motion sickness and I'm afraid of jarring my neck/back. Aging sucks!

The scenery was amazing. You are in the Harry Potter Movie.

This is the wand shop Ollivanders. They select someone from the group to find them their wand. They demonstrate different "tricks". It was a good show.

The second day we all went to Universal Studios. We met up with Shannon's family for lunch at a pizza place that was actually very good. While we waited for Brian and the kids to meet up with us we sat across the street from this store. 

We walked to Diagon Alley for more Harry Potter stuff. Again scenes and buildings were amazing. 

Here is the fire breathing dragon that actually does breath out fire about every 10 minutes, I think. 

Fred and I had tickets for the Kennedy Space Center for two days. A person needs at least two days.

The weather wasn't great. Rain and pretty cool. We managed thanks to our impressive raincoats that Fred brought for us. They were needed. Too bad my shoes and socks got wet so my feet were cold the whole time.

I didn't take too many pictures. Fred is the space enthusiast so I just wanted to take pictures of him in front of some of the displays. It was a very impressive place. 

This is our second day at Kennedy Space Center. I decided to be smart and put my feet in plastic bags. I don't know why they didn't work to keep my feet dry. I think it was worse the second day.

On Monday we returned to Universal Studios. We spent two days in each park. Rotating each day.

This is where we ate. The Leaky Cauldron. We ordered Fish & Chips. It was pretty good. 

Our little table hidden in a back corner. I'm glad we didn't have to sit at the long tables surrounded by a bunch of people. We got peopled out with the crowds each day.

On Tuesday we had plenty of time to drive out to the Orlando Temple. A very beautiful temple. 

I loved this scene because of the stark contrast of colors. The amazing blue sky, whiteness of the temple and the rich green of the palm trees.

We pretty much walked around the grounds and then sat down on a bench to just hang out. 

We had a really good time. We definitely got tired out each day. All the walking and working through the crowds of people everywhere. I'm so glad Shannon invited us. We would have never chosen to go to Orlando. Sharing the VRBO and meeting up with Shannon's family each day was really so very nice.