Vacation is What You Make of It

We “escaped” the first weekend in October to the Oregon Coast. It was grey and drizzly and required a sweatshirt to walk around outside. But it was heaven. JewelGeek, Critter and I hadn’t been away from the house on vacation since March. (And I think we went to the beach then, too, come to think of it…)

We shopped all the way down (gotta love outlet malls),

shopped at the beach (more outlet malls), and shopped coming home (Pirate Coffee, anyone? http://www.piratecoffeecompany.com/) Pirate Coffee in Depoe Bay, by the way, is a “must stop” on our beach trips. Not only do they have some of the most amazing coffee beans, the proprietors are a hilarious older couple, who know everyone and who share their love of life with everyone. They have a fabulous latte called the Spicy Wench – espresso, steamed milk, Oregon Chai, and buttered rum syrup (in the right proportions, of course).

Oh yeah, and we flew a pirate kite on Saturday evening, just after the sun went down. The wind picked up, but it was still warm, and we got the kite WAY up there. Critter actually let out the string all the way. We read the bag later, and discovered kite had at 50-foot string. Wow. It definitely looked spooky against the night sky. I can understand why the pirate flag on the horizon stuck fear into the hearts of sailors past. It is quite an ominous sight.

We also recommend Captain Dan’s Bakery in Taft (the southern tip of Lincoln City, http://www.newportnewstimes.com/articles/2008/05/28/business/business01.txt). This establishment is operated by another husband/wife duo who take their pirate theme with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The pastries are good, and they serve Pirate Coffee (of course!). But the BEST part is the talking parrot. It’s an animatronics’ bird, which they’ll tell you they purchased at Fred Meyer around Halloween a year or two ago. It looks pretty realistic with its plastic beak and talons and feathers made from a low-nap, synthetic cloth. It squawks, tilts its head, asks for crackers (a special plastic cracker it came with), and has a vocabulary of over 100 words. But you have to coax those words out. Over time. As it learns them.

While we were there, Critter got it to make a crunching sound (to simulate eating the cracker), and say “MMMMMMmmmmm.” Apparently, it had never done that before.

And it has a memory. When Captain Dan starts turning the lights out for the night, he turns each bank off in order. The bird starts going crazy, because it knows that it is the last thing to get turned off each night. He says it is very creepy.

To add to the animatronics creepiness, Captain Dan and First Mate Kathy told us a story of the Furby toy they bought one year after the Furby craze was over. They had an original Furby – and had kept it for two or three years. It knew all sorts of things, and could (mostly) hold its own in small talk. So they bought this new Furby and kept both toys in their office at the bakery. After a couple of days, the new toy could say everything the original toy could. They only thing they could figure out is that the old toy taught the new one everything it knew… (insert Twilight Zone music).

So for a few blissful days, we didn’t have the phone ring, or listen to anything remotely political, or do much of anything we didn’t want to. We ate great seafood (I personally think mussels in beer broth is pure genius), and picked up yummy salt water taffy to share with my coworkers. The only sad part was walking the bay front and discovering that the Cat House was closing its doors. Clearly cat toys are luxury this economy cannot support.

We had a marvelous time. I miss it already…

Tuesday's Menu

Last week was our trek down to Ashland to see some Shakespeare at OSF. After a short, two-day work week, my brain kicked into Long Weekend/Vacation mode. We filled the Tink Tank with suitcases, music, and munchies and hit the back roads to reach Eugene. At Canby, we stopped at the delightful Canby Pub and Grill for a quick dinner.

A really yummy menu and smiling wait staff greeted us. "Our soups for today are Bean and Bacon and Oktoberfest In Summer," she informed us.

"Oh?" I asked, a bit puzzled.

"Yes, it's sauerkraut and weenies." She took our soda order and departed.

I leaned into CrafterKat and murmured, "I think I finally figured out why they aren't serving clam chowder...."

Disneyland Top 10 (Top 3)

And the Top 3...

(read the previous entry first!)

3. PhotoPass – professional photographers stationed throughout both parks; digital photos “beamed” back to a central location; buy all the photos on CD for $50 (and they shoot as many as you want).

2. AstroBlasters – my favorite attraction/ride; cool effects, neato ray guns to keep you coming back time and time again; little green men to worship your sharp-shooting skills.

1. Character Meals – the BEST way to get autographs, take photos, and spend some “quality” time with the characters; all you can eat buffet; kid-friendly and/or health-conscious choices.

Disneyland Top 10

Just back from Disneyland, and still reeling from the crowds, the heat, and the overstimulation. But reviewing our 300+ photos, here are the highlights…

10. Pirates of the Caribbean attraction – the first (and last) ride we take every trip, and many times in between. Even with the “updates” to reflect the movies, it is still an entertaining, imaginative excursion.

9. Pin Trading – an excuse to purchase souvenirs, talk to strangers, and horde your treasure.

8. Fireworks – sentimental journey through the rides and attractions of Disneyland set to pyrotechnics [Um, SUPER cool].

7. Fantasmic – water, laser, music, character spectacle that gets cooler every time I see it.

6. Electrical Parade – still gives me goose bumps and makes me weep with joy.

5. Pirates on Tom Sawyer Island – well-acted, thematic use of the whole island.

4. Aladdin Musical Spectacular – live theatre, updated Genie jokes, and a serious “magic” factor.

(see next post for Top 3)

A Klamath Anniversary

Editor's Note: Part 4 of Wrapping Up Summer.

I asked Critter if she had any homework last week. She shook her head. "Not even a Summer Vacation story you had to write?"

"Well, I had to make a Vacation Web..." For those who don't have kids in school, this is the introduction kids have to making an outline. Think of a spiderweb, with the subject in the middle and everything else spiraling off of it.

"What did you include?"

"I just put me in the big circle and then Horse Camp 1, Horse Camp 2, Horse Camp 3..."

"You didn't include Seattle? Kahneeta? Klamath Falls?" She shook her head again. I guess a weekend with extended family doesn't compare with horses. It would have been in my Web.

In my mind, the best part of extended family gatherings are the stories that are told. Many stories we have heard time and again. Others are new and find their way into our daily vernacular. In July, over CrafterKat’s birthday weekend, the four of us (including Critter's friend) trekked down to Klamath Falls to celebrate the sixtieth wedding anniversary of her aunt and uncle. Their sons flew in from Arizona and Vermont; other relatives and friends drove in from Vancouver, Gold Beach, and Eugene.

Most family gatherings of this magnitude involve at least one game of Hearts around the dining room table. And food. Lots of food. And really good seafood from The Captain. Smoked salmon. Smoked tuna. Smoked cod…

And as you move between card games or the food or the outside croquet game, you hear stories. Lots of them.

Upon seeing cousin Desert Engineer for the first time, CrafterKat remarked: My goodness, you got old!
Desert Engineer’s brother walks up: You look…alive.

At the first game of Hearts played, I wrote down the names of each family member at the table on the score sheet: Chef Flip Flop, The Captain, Mr. GoGoGo…
Pig Dog: Write down ‘Pig Dog’ for me.
JewelGeek: What?
Pig Dog: Pig Dog. All men are pigs. All men are dogs. ‘Pig Dog.’
JewelGeek: Alriiiiight.

RenaissanceMan talking about his two boys: They’re always… “I’m bored (punch). I’m bored (punch). I’m bored (punch).”
Pig Dog: This is how I used to goad Desert Engineer. (gives a straight face and then grins). I used to be able to twitch just the bottom of my eyebrow which would send him into hysterics. I’m out of practice now.
RenaissanceMan: Jedi Racoon does this (raises both eyebrows up and down several times).

PigDog: The difference between New Yorkers and Vermontans is that New Yorkers have teeth.
CraftKat: You mean Vermontans have claws?
PigDog: No, I mean real teeth. Vermontans don’t have any. You’ll see them in the store or walking down the street, and their teeth will pop down, and they have to stop and put them back in…


Mama Doc: PigDog says Vermont is full of “Ag’in’ems.” That means they don’t know what’s happening with anything, but if you tell them about something you’re passionate about, they’re against it. Education? Too much money. Government? Corrupt.
PigDog: Dental care? Pass.
Mama Doc: That too!

Younger than DD (to DD): I may be old, but you’ll still be 10 years older than me!
The Captain: Yes, but there’s not a grey hair on her head. (pause) I make sure of that.
Younger Than DD : You?
DD: Oh yes, as soon as The Captain found out how expensive it was to have hair professionally colored…
The Captain: I decided that $8 box of color in the store didn’t look so bad anymore!
DD: And of course, I can’t reach it all, so he has to do it.
The Captain (nodding): Yup. Except, those gloves that they give you in the box are WAY too small…
Younger Than DD : I can’t believe you do DD’s hair…
Phoenix Photographer: Oh, yeah, Desert Engeineer was Chez Desert Engineer. He used to color my hair for years. (pause) He could wear those gloves, though.
Younger Than DD : Vancouver Railroader would never color my hair.
The Captain: So make an appointment at a hair salon, let him know how much it will cost, and let him decide.
Phoenix Photographer: Or we could go buy a box right now and Desert Engineer could do your hair.
Younger Than DD : I don’t know if I’m ready to part with the grey yet. My kids are still teenagers.

Chef Flip Flop: (sitting next to Mr. GoGoGo) Sigh.
Mr. GoGoGo: And what’s your story?
Chef Flip Flop: Oh, just taking a break from the Cousins.
Mr. GoGoGo: And what are they doing?
Chef Flip Flop: Talking. (pause) I don’t know what to say. They’re talking about the Mall and shopping. And I say, “Oh, uh, that sounds… fun…”
Mr. GoGoGo: You’re beginning to think you’re part of a different generation, aren’t you?
Chef Flip Flop: Yeah – certainly not with that younger crowd.
GoldenPoet: You’re not a city boy, either.
Chef Flip Flop: THAT’s for sure.

When we returned home even Critter's friend Annie May added her voice to our family storybook.

CrafterKat: PigDog was so funny with his Vermontisms.
JewelGeek: I loved it when he was talking about the dental care there.
CrafterKat: Yeah, counting teeth would have been like (pokes her tongue to one side of her mouth) ...One... (pokes her tongue to the other side)...Two... Wait, wait... (moves tongue back to the first spot)...One...
The girls spent the next five minutes counting their own teeth until conversation turned to our monthly cycles.
Critter: Can you imagine a guy having their period?
Annie May (in a small voice, imitating the poor opposite sex):...But what about my needs?

And so, we've adopted Counting Vermont Style and But what about my needs? into our family vernacular.

Postcards from Camp

Editors note: Part 3 of Wrapping Up Summer.

Last Spring CrafterKat researched several different overnight camps for Critter to attend. We had signed her up for a variety of day camps last year through the College of Arts and Crafts, the Zoo, and even a Harry Potter acting class. This year she told us she really wanted an overnight experience—it was easier to make friends if you were with them all day and all night. “So what kind of camp experience do you want to try?”

“Anything with horses,” she replied.

And so off she went to three different horse camps. Camp Westwind, located on Oregon’s coast, was a hit and rated a 4 out of 5 in one letter to Grandma. Camp Silver Creek—-which took place at Oregon’s 4H Center outside of Salem and not at all near Silver Creek Falls like we had originally thought—-was spent with horses. All day.

Admittedly I was a bit nervous dropping her off at this very secluded meadow with a dilapidated barn at one end. And the little cabins looked like they had seen more mosquitos than campers.



When we returned to pick up Critter, I handed her the camera so she could take photos of her last week. She snapped a memory of every horse but no campers. “We can go now.”

Critter rating: 3 out of 5

“But did you have fun?”

“Well, yeah, I guess. We went on lots of trail rides. And the last night we got to paint our horses.”

“Paint horses? Why?”

“Because it’s fun.”

Camp Collins was her last camp of the summer, more of a let’s-turn-you-into-a-young-leader-with-strong-moral-values camp than a strict horse camp. We drove past several farms in Clackamas County up to a tree-loving sanctuary where we were met by dozens of eager high school students, all determined to make this the most fabulous camp imaginable for metro city kids. They’d all ask Critter if she was enrolled in the Quester camp; Critter would shrug her shoulders and give an unenthusiastic “dunno” or “yeah” answer.

“You are going to have an Awesome Time,” each would answer with trademark enthusiasm.

After the, shall we say, rustic buildings appointed at Camp Not Silver Creek, we were amazed at the well-developed eating halls, first aid cottage, swimming pool, and camp housing.

Including Hobbit Houses.

Critter’s bunk was located in Treetop Village, part of three girl cabins that were built on stilts and surrounded by evergreens.

When we returned a week later (at our appointed pick up time for campers R through Z!--we said this place was incredible), she stood waiting for us wearing a t-shirt signed by every camper around her. If you squint you can see her standing there in the photo for the Treetop Village above.

With a bit of prompting, she led us away from the other campers and showed us her bunk and some of the sights of the campground. We made our way down a few dirt trails to a suspension bridge with a small fort on the far side. "On the first day we did a Challenge Course and we had to cross through the trees on these little boards on the other side of the bridge. It was so scary--I didn't do it. And there's a rock wall you can climb to reach the fort. I didn't do that either--I'm not stupid!"

We hugged her, gathered her luggage, and asked, “Did you have a good time?”

“I cried last night. I sooo have to come back here next year.”

At this point a blonde in similarly signatured t-shirt piped in, “Now remember, you have to come back next year to Week 8! Promise!” And hugged Critter hard.

My Favorite Summer Photo

Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of Wrapping Up Summer. To read Part 1, click here.

Early July we took a short vacation, past a glorious Mt. Hood, to Kahneeta in Eastern Oregon. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend--blue skies for miles and famous Indian fry bread to eat. If you ever want to tempt a gall bladder attack, just eat more than three-quarters of an Indian fry bread. And don't forget the huckleberry jam over the top. Sooooo gooood...

Most of Saturday was spent hanging out in the Warm Springs heated swimming pool--along with two thousand strangers. CrafterKat's scrapbooking friend brought her two kids that weekend so Critter had some playmates. I was even able to squeeze in a massage. Heaven.

Saturday night we signed up for the traditional Salmon Bake. So much good food and lots of dancing. Everyone in the family participates, especially the youngsters.




















And then we were invited to participate and join the family dancers.

But this was my favorite dancer. And my favorite photo of the whole summer.

Sleepless In Seattle

Editor's Note: Part 1 of Wrapping Up Summer--May 2006

Critter's first day of school is September 6 and I wonder if her English teacher is going to assign the obligatory Here's What I Did On My Summer Vacation essay. If so, Critter should have lots to talk about.

Her summer (well, technically CrafterKat and my summer) began with a trip to Seattle in May. We took a leisurely Amtrak train up on Friday and took the time to finalize our kitchen cabinet selection (we had a train booth with a table!). I was a bit nostalgic through Tacoma; I've not seen the Sound in so long and finally had my first glimpse of the new glass museum which Chuhuly helped build.

In Seattle we enjoyed a fabulous time at Pike's Street, eating freshly baked pumpkin cookies and drinking hand-squeezed lemonade, poking through eccentric crafter boothes, and goggling over the fresh flowers and homemade olive oils. We even found the filming locations for a few scenes from Sleepless in Seattle.

Here I am with the Pike Street Market mascot. Notice the bearded man in the orange coveralls in the background. He's about to toss a fish...

We then spent a good chunk of Saturday at the Seattle Aquarium. There are parts of the exhibit where you feel like you are a part of the ocean.

CrafterKat took some excellent photos of the octopus as it floated through his play area.

We were able to be a part of the undersea menagerie. I want to be a jellyfish when I grow up.

Critter practiced her grouper fish face. It works with an amazing array of sea life.

We returned home from Seattle with a box of pumpkin cookies, a case of olive oil, and great memories.

Raging Waterfountain

Critter came home from camp yesterday noon. CrafterKat and I had kept our fingers crossed; Critter did not want to leave home a week ago, even if it was a horse camp.

She emerged from the bus in a black hooded sweatshirt and searched for her bags. I gave her a sideways hug that she tolerates when in public. "Missed you," I told her softly to lessen the embarrasment factor.

"Wait... Wait." She ran over and hugged two or three girls and promised she send them e-mails. We packed the car trunk with her things and headed out to get some lunch.

"Did you learn any new camp songs?" I asked, turning around in the PCC parking lot. Critter proceeded to sing me a song about a frogs that are supposed to say la la la but don't, and then a catchy little number about shoveling ma-nuuuuuu-ure, complete with hand movements before we got out of the parking lot. A song about a horse named Random and a crab named Frampton who could climb trees brought us into Portland and in search of a luncheon spot.

"...and me and Kat--I mean 'Kat and I'--Kat is always correcting me and I told her 'you sound just like my Mom!'--and her name is just like CrafterKat's and spelled like hers, too, but we all called her Kat even though I called her 'Kat John' sometimes just to be different. She names all her stuff so like her computer is named Phoebe and she has a hamster and we got Indian names and hers is Serene Octopus and mine is Raging Waterfountain and can I go back to camp next year?"

Critter had a good time at camp.

Letters to Camp

Critter has been at her first summer camp this past week at the Oregon Coast. The YWCA has camps across the state; Critter has been participating in Camp Westwind's horse camp. Camps have changed quite a bit from when I went--you can now e-mail your child. As the Renaissance Man said, "Just call them Generation W--for Wired. Not to be confused with Weird."

Since so much has happened in a week, we'd thought we share our letters to her.

Jul 29, 2006

Hi! Wanted you to know that your horse poster and boots were big hits at yesterday's Western Round Up party at work. Lots of people looked at the poster, and one dad asked me what I was going to do with the boots after the party... My co-workers made a huge cartoon poster of a rodeo rider and bull, and cut out the faces of the rider and bull. That way people could stick their faces in the holes and we could take their picture! Had quite a few great shots there. All in all, it was a great party.

I'm making a little progress on organizing your closet. Have all drawers in the dresser emptied and a lot of "too small" items sorted out. I think I can get another small shell in the closet to store something on top of it, but I need to look around in the garage at my supplies. The Little Man & Doofie have been "helping" me - each time coming out of the closet with lots of dust bunnies all over their faces. So far, they are not particularly interested in the bins. Keep your fingers crossed!

We think of you a lot. Hope you are having a great time.

Love, CrafterKat and JewelGeek

Jul 30 2006

Hi again! Early bird up - as usual. The Little Man woke me up by scratching at our door. The food's in there! I'm thinking The Little Man is sounding more and more like Napoleon Dynamite as he approaches his teen years... "Gimme your tots...Gosh!"

Saw an ad last night for funnel cakes at IHOP. We're going to try them out for breakfast today. And over breakfast, we'll discuss kitchen paint color. We're still leaning towards green... but I PROMISE it will NOT be the same color as the house.

Talked to Mr. GoGoGo three times yesterday about all the "goings on" in the kitchen. Our contractor and his son did FINALLY get the sink, dishwasher, and dispoal all hooked up at about 8 pm last night. Quite an operation. Sink drain kept leaking. Took two hours to figure that one out. But that means... no more hand-washing dishes! Yay for everyone! And THANK YOU to you.

Better go get the newspaper and check out the ad before JewelGeek gets up. Thinking of you. CrafterKat

Jul 30 2006

Good morning Sweetie!

Had a funny dream this morning that we parents got to attend a few classes with you at camp. I was able to go to a class on making funny faces. So you and I were trying to match our instructor in sticking out our tongues, scrunching our forehead and crossing our eyes. I think I need more practice because I wasn't very good. You made some very good Grouper faces, though. Sigh.

The countertop people installed the new covering for our base cabinets. It's beautiful! The last step was to put a bead of silicon between the seams to connect the countertop and the backsplash together. Anyways, it had to sit and cure and that meant we had to keep the kitties locked up for another 24 hours. We just didn't want to have a gorgeous new countertop covered with the Little Man's tail hair and Doofie's whiskers. So, in the bedroom they stayed.

Our contractor might actually be able to install the new sink today.YIPPEEEEEE! He asked us to figure out where we wanted to put the shelves in the tall unit because he'll permenantly install those, too. CrafterKat and I had fun putting in the oatmeal container, a box of fettucine, the flour cannister and the last box of pink Peeps.

We went to two different stores on Thursday looking for the bulbs that go in the little hockey puck sized lights that sit inside the cabinets. You'd think that Home Depot would have them. Sigh. None that were the right size/wattage/material. We finally went back to the lighting store where we ordered the lights. They had them, but no box. So I carried seven of the little bulbs (not much larger than the Christmas lights) home in a paper coffee cup.

Hugs and Yucks, JewelGeek

Aug 1, 2006

Good morning Sweetie!

Been a busy few days for us here. We've been starting to smooth out the wall in the dining room so we can paint, and filling in the little divit holes in the ceiling left from the asbestos removal. Very dusty and sneezy around here. Wait... I'm getting pushed by kitties...

Hey, GirlMom, I love the new countertop 'cause I can sleep in front of the window and... (sniff) did you just eat something? Is it good? Can I have a bite? Just a small bite? I'm sure it's good for kitties... No? Well, I'll just go take a nap then.
The Little Man

Hi! I'm pretty and I like to explore the garage when no one is looking and then make sure that everyone knows that the suitcase downstairs in the hallway belongs to me! I'm missing my green mouse. Have you seen it? See you soon. Bring food.
Doofie

Hey. The dumb male cat just woke me up. You got a scritch for me? No? I'm going back to bed then.
Fuzzy Slug

Well, I guess that's it for this morning... Take care, Sweetie. See you soon!
JewelGeek

Aug 1, 2006

Hiya! We've been keeping busy working on getting the diningroom ready for painting. Sanded down the last bit of wall that had texture, added mud, waited for it to dry, sanded it, added mud, waited for it to dry, sanded... JewelGeek went around filling in holes in the ceiling in the diningroom. We should be ready to texture it later this week. We need to do the same for the livingroom -- no sense texturing one part of the room, cleaning up, then doing it again for another part. And we need to texture the ceilings before we paint - or else we'd get texture material all over our paint job!

We did settle on a paint color. We had two greens that we liked - but when we took the poster board outside, they were too close to the color of the house! So we nixed those. The three yellows we tried didn't work. But the "out of the box" color we selected on whim is REALLY awesome. Called Rum Spice -- you'll have to see it to believe it.Very piratey.

Also making some progress on your new closet organizer. Emptied the dresser out yesterday and put it on Craigslist for someone to pick up. In an hour, it was gone! Now I'm pondering what kind of table to use for the keyboard that looks nice and is the right height. Kittens are fascinated by the closet, but don't seem too interested in the bins. They keep poking around in there and coming out with hundreds of dust bunnies on their faces. Pretty efficient sweepers! Now if we could only get them interested in going under your bed...

Thinking of you. See you soon. CrafterKat

Aug 2 2006

Hey Sweetie!

Heard lots of songs on the radio the past few days that made me think of you. The most recent, coming home from buying shelf liners for the cupboards, was "If I had a million dollars". I love the line:

If I had a million dollars
I'd buy you a monkey
Haven't you always wanted a mon-keee?!

I know you get these notes after dinner-ish, so I thought I send you a quick bedtime story by Ogden Nash.

The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash

Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Now the name of the little black kitten was Ink,
And the little gray mouse, she called him Blink,
And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,
But the dragon was a coward,
and she called him Custard.

See you in a short, short while! Hugs and Yucks, JewelGeek

Busted!

CrafterKat and Critter flew to Medford at the end of Spring Break to see OSF's The Winter's Tale and a musical called Honkey Tonk Laundry.

I picked them up at the airport and brought them home, CrafterKat telling little snippets of adventures the whole way home. As I finished making dinner, the two of them unpacked their things, returning from their bedrooms to show me things they had brought home from vacation.

Critter brought in two coloring books, one on Midsummer Night's Dream while I was stirring up the Caesar salad. CrafterKat brought out a bag of scrapbooking goodies from Craft Warehouse.

I spooned up the pork loins from the slow cooker when Critter came back to the kitchen. "Hold out your hand and close your eyes," she told me.

I complied and was rewarded with one of my favorite Easter candies, Whopper Robin Eggs. Grinning, I gave her my thanks and added, "You must have found my stash."

She gave me a puzzled look, furrowing her brow. "These are from my travel bag. CrafterKat bought me some."

"Oh." I plopped the delicious morsel into my mouth and began cleaning up the spill from the slow cooker.

My words finally registered. "What did you say?"

"Nuffing," I managed around the sweet and lowered my head so she couldn't see my smirk.

"Wait." She ran to the kitchen entry way and yelled down the hall, "JewelGeek already bought some!"

Busted.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Since returning from vacation in November, we’ve had to remember that some things in the Rose City aren’t the same as they were in Disneyland (or Din-nee-nand as CrafterKat and I often call it).

1. Rockets don’t use the carpool lane.

2. Ask first before being photographed with a Sith Lord.
3. Buzz Lightyear will not ask for our assistance battling evil. I shouldn’t expect to see a score on my car dashboard when I get home from work.
4. I do not get to be chauffeured by Critter in the family car.
5. We will not be dining with royalty.
6. We can’t drive Mr. Toad’s car on the Sunset.
7. The Catapult of Doom should be used by only experienced Muppets.
8. Be careful of what you feed the Chipmunks.
9. Get a second opinion before having Minnie design your living room. Disney furniture isn’t as comfortable as it looks..
10. Watch where you walk. There may be a rhinoceros behind you.