August 2, 2009

Michael was determined to finish the duplex today. I think he got all but a couple things completed. He was there until 9:30 or so tonight. Most of the day he was there by himself this time. I'm so ready for him to be finished with it all. He's worked so hard all summer on it.

The kids and I decided to go to the Disney Train Tour this afternoon. We rode the Metro Link down to Union Station. Metro Link was pretty busy since there was a Cardinal's Game and Rock the River both going on today.

When we got to Union Station we had to wait in line for about an hour before getting on the train. It wasn't too bad because they had the train parked under the highway, so we were in the shade most of the time.

The train was cool. They had portraits of all the characters from Disney's A Christmas Carol. They also had costumes. What was really cool was the glass cases with original hand written items from Charles Dickens. There were also concept drawings of the different places in London where A Christmas Carol takes place. They had a room with miniatures of the buildings and then a room that was set up like the stage they used to film the movie. It's all white because they turned the actors in to 3D animation. Then, we were able to morph our faces into characters from the Movie. Michaela picked Belle, Caleb was Tiny Tim and I was George Marley's ghost. At the end was a room that looked like Fred's dining room.

When we got off the train we had to wait in line again. This time it was to see the sneak peek of the movie. It will be released on Nov. 6. There was no shade in this line so it was HOT. But, we only had to wait about 1/2 an hour there. The sneak peek was in an inflatable, air conditioned movie theater that held at least 100 people if not more. It was in 3D and was really kind of cool. I'm excited to see the movie.

When we were finished we got back on Metro Link and rode it a couple more stops. This way we only had to walk two blocks to get to Citygarden. Citygarden is awesome! We loved it there. It's really pretty with all the plants and the sculptures. There were tons of people there because the Cardinal game had let out (they lost *sniff). The kids played in the water some. We did not have towels or extra clothes so we couldn't get too wet. I did put my feet in the water. After standing for a couple hours and walking a couple blocks, the water felt really good. There was a street musician there, too. he was playing a trombone. We gave him a contribution.

Then, it was time to come home. So, we walked back to Metro Link and got there just in time for the train. We rode back to our van and then drove home. It was after 6:00 when we got home and we were all really hot, sweaty and tired. We all had to take showers tonight. We also ate just a simple supper of sandwiches and some fruit. It was a great day, though. I'm really glad we went. I just wish Michael could have gone with us.