The Road goes ever On and On...

Our Ten-Day Adventure continued bright and early on Wednesday morning, when we sprinted to the Dublin tram station only to have the tram run late and drop us at the bus station as our bus of choice was lumbering away... that is pretty much the story of our lives during ten-day. So we indulged ourselves in a brief we-hate-transportation spaz-out session, and then moved on to hail a taxi to take us to our ferry. Only a little bit lighter in the purse, we made it to the ferry port in plenty of time and settled down in the luxurious cruise-liner-esque "Jonathan Swift" ferry for a couple hours.

As we sailed away we all mourned the leaving of tranquil green Ireland. We clambered up to the top deck of the stately vessel to revel in the rough beating of the chill autumnal wind that carried the scent of the sea towards us. We were all laughing and probably looked really ridiculous... who else would be so amused with wind? My hair band got torn off and danced away on the wind, leaving me behind in favor of the Emerald Isle's chilly bay. I feel like I left more than just my hairband behind in Ireland... a little bit of my heart belongs there too, with the serene countryside and the friendly locals.

After a swift jaunt on the ferry we arrived in Holyhead, Wales. We caught a train to Liverpool and spent the next few hours surveying the hilly countryside and rocky beaches of Wales... gorgeous!!! Also we passed through the town with the longest name in the world. CRAZY!!! Someday I want to learn Welsh, but I have a feeling it will take quite a while ;-D

When we arrived in Liverpool, home of the Beatles, we rushed to our Magical Mystery Tour... this was the part we were most concerned about making, with the time crunch and all. In some sort of convoluted twist of fate, we made it with time to spare and no need to run. It figures. Marie met up with us for the tour and joined us for the ensuing leg of our journey... 10-Day England. She and Peter definitely had the greatest appreciation for Liverpool and the Magical Mystery Tour. After the tour we settled into our hostel. Peter discovered a broken down piano and banged out the most beautiful improvisation I have ever experienced... such a tune is not merely heard, but experienced with your whole self... the music just draws you in and spits you out in a state of bliss. ;-D Heather also discovered a really cool book on the book exchange shelf called "The Shack." We spent the evening curled up with the book and our journals while Peter, Anna, and Marie headed out to a special Beatles pub.

The next morning Peter went on another tour (this time he made it into John Lennon's bathroom), Marie did some shopping, and the rest of us ran for a bus to Stratford-upon-Avon. We made it in time to get to the Courtyard Theater to check for tickets to that night's opening performance of Twelfth Night. There were still tickets available for a pretty good price. Woohoo!!! So we got to see the Royal Shakespeare Company put on Twelfth Night in Shakespeare's birthplace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was soooooooo good! I think Heather's favorite part (judging by the degree of her almost-silent laughter) was when Malvolio came on in his yellow stockings. It was more funny to see her cracking up than the actual act was!

That evening we spent the night in a nice hostel (the only hostel) in Stratford-upon-Avon. In the morning we woke up to an amazing breakfast and some confusion (again) over the bus schedule. Too bad for us it wasn't a holiday... buses have weird and confusing schedules that are all against us! This made us miss our bus of choice to Oxford, so we toodled around Stratford for a while... we discovered Shakespeare's birthplace (Peter asked about it: "What is that shabby looking place across the street?") and some yummy ice cream.

After spending some time wandering around we finally set off for Oxford. It was a beautiful crisp fall day and Oxford fit right into the color scheme. After checking into our hostel we set off for Mass at St. Aloysius, where Tolkien used to attend Mass. It was so beautiful, both the church and the service... simple yet magnificent. It also made me really happy when they used the altar rail for communion. Peter made sure to touch every pew, just in case Tolkien had touched them. Then we headed over to The Eagle & Child, the pub the Inklings (Tolkien, Lewis, and others) met at regularly. We had dinner and it was delicious and not too expensive!!! N.B. If you ever go to the Eagle & Child, look in the guest book for our entry on 16. October 2009.

The next day we explored the literary sights of Oxford. We started out with Wolvercote Cemetery, where Tolkien and his wife were buried. Their headstone said "Beren and Luthien" under their names... which prompted a brief recap of the Beren and Luthien story for Heather and myself, who had not read the story before. We sang "Into the West" and watered the flowers. It was a more moving experience than any of us had anticipated. Then we headed over to Tolkien's house, which is privately owned by some random person, who kindly let us take a picture by the front door. All the while Peter had been making his Hobbit book a second-degree relic by touching it to Tolkien's grave and his front door.

Then we headed off to Magdalen College, where Lewis taught and where Addison's Walk is located. This path through the college grounds was the site for many a long chat between Tolkien and Lewis, and one particular conversation that led to Lewis' conversion. Tolkien wrote a poem about the event, called "Mythopoeia," which I read aloud. "I would that I might with the minstrels sing, and stir the unseen with a throbbing stream..." It was an amazing experience! Then we lightened the mood a bit with our discovery of a phone booth tucked away in one of the Harry Potter-ish halls... all five of us girls crammed into it while Peter posed pushing the door shut for a hilarious photo shoot! We got a lot of funny glances from the people passing by ;-)

After that we did a little scouting and discovered Narnia... first we found C.S. Lewis' house (this was all under the careful guidance of Peter, who scouted out locations and directions, despite adversity from GoogleMaps and the free internet), beside which was a little path leading off into the woods, glowing with the fiery hues of autumn. The leaves crunched under our feet as we tramped through the woods and around the large pond that inspired the Narnia series. It was quite the surreal experience, and the brisk fall day was perfect for it!

To our chagrin we had run out of time to visit the burial site of C.S. Lewis, and we headed off to St. Aloysius again for Vigil Mass. On the way we ran across a street with the laughter-inducing name of Toot Hill Butts... I really wonder what the street-naming people were thinking. Afterwards we went to the Eagle & Child again for one last meal in merry old England. We celebrated Anna's birthday (we tried to surprise her, but it didn't really work) with some chocolate cake and a golden scarf and some hearty English meat pies. Heather's bear, Smokey, overdosed a little on the cider ;-D He recovered well though; he has a quick-recovering constitution ;-)

After dinner we ran for the bus again, and thus followed a string of amazingly coincidental well-wrought circumstances that contrived to get us to the airport on time for once!!! We spent the night snuggling up to British tile, which was a bit more welcoming than the Belgian tile had been, and woke up early to go through security and get on our way back to Gaming. As we were scurrying down the hallway to our flight gate, Peter (in conjunction with Bruce, the paper traveling buddy we never saw) decided to redecorate the airport with his ... ahem... undergarments. He said the gray walls just needed a little white to brighten them up ;-D

Everything worked out and after 10 days with 5 or 6 people and 47 modes of transportation, we made it home!!!! ALLELUIA!!! ALLELUIA!!! ALLELUIA!!!

(check back later for pictures... it might take a few days to compile pictures from everyone, at which point I will actually post the best of them)

Look! It's a train! It's a bus! It's an airplane! It's one of the 20 modes of transportation we've used in the past 4 days!!! (a.k.a. IRELAND)

10-day started off at 3:30 am in the Kartause, rummaging around the room getting ready. Heather, Anna and I made our way down to the lobby after checking to make sure Clare was awake and on her way. We got down to the lobby... no Peter. We waited for a couple minutes, but he still didn't show up, so Anna ran over to 4 Trakt. She came running back and a few minutes later Peter's roommate Ignas came tearing over. He reported that Peter was on his way and could anyone fit his hammered dulcimer in their bag? No luck in that department... Ryanair's baggage restrictions didn't coincide with Peter's musical aspirations, unfortunately. We all started getting worried about making it for our 4:44 train. Us girls started walking and a few minutes later Peter and Ignas ran up. (Ignas was heading to Vienna) They must have booked it from the Kartause, because it took a while to catch their breath! The walk to the station was longer than I remembered and we ended up running the last bit while Ignas held the train up! Finally we made it and had a little while to relax, hanging our heads out the windows and panting like dogs.

As the morning wore on and we switched trains several times we started getting worried about making our last train connection that might get us to the airport in time for our flight. The Austrian trains were running a bit behind and the wait was absolutely agonizing. When we arrived in Munich about 10 minutes late we sprinted to the platform, just to be affronted by the sight of an empty rail trailing off into the distance. No train. Crushed, we wandered around looking for other options to get to the airport on time. Taxis were too expensive and buses wouldn't get us there on time. Finally we had to concede: it was impossible to make our flight. Peter suggested that we look for a friendly whale, but alas, there weren't any handy whales wandering around Munich. So instead we headed to a casino across the street... don't worry, we didn't lose too much money. ;-D Just a few euros to the computers. After freaking out a bit we searched around and decided to book a new flight out of Brussels and use our Eurails to get there. Some Ryanair official and his family is probably basking in the Caribbean sunshine, funded by the three flights we each bought just to get out to Ireland. Trust me, Ryanair has now earned our eternal ire and disdain. "Cheap" my foot!

So we hopped on a few trains to get to Charleroi in Brussels. They had a really cool train station! It was all space-agey and reminded us of a bunker from Star Wars. We also had some yummy kebabs for dinner. Delish! Then we headed over to the airport and bedded down for the night. Heather built a fort behind a bench with all of our umbrellas. We all scrunched up and cuddled with the airport floor for the night. Round about 3 am our snuggle-session was disrupted by a rowdy airport janitor who was riding a miniature street-sweeper around, cleaning the dirty floor. He got about 3 inches from Peter's foot before he stopped and turned around. Anna and I gave up on sleep around 4:30 and headed over to a little stand where we got a cup of hot cocoa, a little carton of orange juice, and the most delicious croissant I have EVER had! It was probably so good because of our proximity to France. We woke everyone up a little later and made our way through security. Our flight was a delightful opportunity to sleep that I availed myself of with great aplomb. It was probably the most appreciated hour and a half of sleep that I've experienced in my life. When we finally arrived in Dublin we rushed off the plane and Peter kissed the ground. At long last Ireland welcomed us with open arms!

We headed into the airport and sat down in a cafe to sketch out our plan of action. As we were looking around for bus and train schedules to Limerick a spritely older man in uniform came over and told us we need not read every sign in the place. He then proceeded to give us a map of Dublin and explained how to get the least expensive bus tickets. Soon we were off into Dublin on a double-decker bus, headed for the train that would get us to Limerick where we would meet Simon, a friend of a friend of Heather's.

The train ride was thrilling... never before had grass looked so green or sheep so fluffy and sheepy. We arrived in Limerick and spent some time chilling at a corner sandwich shop with huge mugs of Irish tea and plates of toasted sandwiches. At an internet cafe across the street we discovered that Anna's ninja skills were definitely still effective in Ireland... she disappeared for about five minutes and finally wandered back after we'd nearly had several heart attacks, with no AED in sight for resuscitation purposes! This was only one of the many "where's Anna?" moments we've had this trip. It keeps us all on our toes, that's for sure! We called Simon, who told us to take a train to Adare and meet him there. We had some time to kill before the bus, so we tramped off in the direction of a promising spire not too far in the distance. When we got there we found we had discovered St. John's Catholic church, where a wedding was just about to begin. The little boys in their Irish tweed suits were so cute!!!

Upon arrival in Adare, a charming little town outside of Limerick, we found a beautiful little park, where Anna had fun mudsliding, and we sighted another wedding party. Simon came over and introduced himself and told us he'd be in Aunty Lena's Pub watching the football game and we'd head back to his family's home after the game. Then we visited the grocery store and retrieved some provisions for our dinner, which we ate in the park by the little Irish stream. My sparkling Tipperary apple juice was divine, as Heather might say. ;-) We finished up and sauntered over to the local 800 year-old church for Mass... it was just a few centuries older than our country!!! It was so beautiful! The homily was great, the pews were crowded even on a Saturday night, and the church itself was stunning. Anna was so happy she hugged the pillars! Oh Anna, how you brighten our days! ;-D

After Mass we went over to Aunty Lena's. We met Simon's wonderful parents, tried our first Guinness (Heather and I didn't like it, but at least we tried the real thing), and cheered for Ireland in the "football" match, a qualifying round for the Soccer world cup. Ireland and Italy went at it with gusto and finished in a draw after the most exciting last few seconds ever!!! Who would have thunk that Italy would score in the last 20 seconds?

Then Simon and his parents took us home with them. Peter, in the shotgun seat on the left side of the car, said he wished he had something round to hold onto so he could at least pretend he could steer! When we arrived at their lovely abode we met Mr. Patch, the Playboy Dog of Patrick's Well. Apparently he has quite the multitudinous progeny scattered throughout the region ;-D Simon's mother showed us to our charming rooms and turned down the sheets and offered us hot tea and homegrown apples. Despite our weariness we stayed up chatting with this dynamic lady well into the night. When we went to our beds I'm pretty sure all of us thought it was an experience to rival the Beatific Vision... never before had a real bed in a real house been SO good!!! We awoke in the morning at our leisure and had a huge and scrumdiddlyumptious breakfast put on by our favorite Irish lady! She made us eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, brown bread, black pudding, and tea and we ate it all with gusto. Mm, mm, good! After that satisfying culinary experience they drove us back to the Limerick train station, where we quickly discovered to our dismay that there are not very many trains on Sunday and that we had left out Travel Ireland book at our host's house. A quick call solved that though, as they picked up the book and drove it right back to us!

A little later we boarded the train to Ennis, where we spent several delightful unplanned hours waiting for a connecting bus to Doolin. We discovered an ancient Franciscan Friary and had a hilarious time gallivanting around the ruins and taking funny pictures after the kind museum-keeper showed us around personally. (I'll add pictures to this post later) After that we got some dinner and then sat outside a little cafe sipping hot chocolate and playing Pennsylvania Rummy. Then off we went back to the bus station to catch a ride to Doolin.

On the bus we made the acquaintance of a couple who was heading out to Doolin on something of an annual trip. They gave us tips about the best pub and routes to the Cliffs of Moher, and when they found out we hadn't booked a hostel yet they offered to let us crash on their hotel floor if nothing worked out for us! EVERYONE in Ireland has really been a living embodiment of hospitality!!! What wonderful people!

The bus dropped us off at Paddy's Doolin Hostel, where we spent that night, and the next one too. It was only a short jaunt to O'Connor's, the most renowned traditional pub in Ireland! We had a good time there, and Heather and I finally discovered a type of alcohol that we actually liked... Bulmer's Tipperary Cider (hard apple cider). I think the only reason we liked it is because it didn't taste like alcohol. ;-) The girls headed back to the hostel around 11, but Peter stayed around. He ended up singing with the band and entered a stage of such bliss that he completely missed the hostel when he was walking back... no wonder he returned so late!

The next day (Monday) we headed off to the Cliffs of Moher for our next grand adventure... and grand it was. We followed little pasture trails through flocks of sheep and small herds of cows and even some horses. We found some cool ruins of Irish farm houses and sat on a rocky bluff hanging out over the sea, where we ate lunch and Peter read Yeats aloud. Clare got her first sight of the ocean EVER!!! I got shocked by an electric fence... no one else felt it at all, but my arm definitely shot up against my will. Then we reached a spot where the trail got really close to the edge of the 200-foot high cliff edge... where a tiny rock jutted out over the edge and Heather went out on it first, Peter did some pushups and a Han Solo impression, and Anna did her ninja pose. Clare and I wisely abstained from that experience... After that our encounter with the shimmering serene waves of emerald grass ended and our fight with deep mud began. By the end Anna's shoe had been engulfed in the mud and rescued by Heather, I had gotten stuck knee-deep in much and narrowly escaped over a barbed-wire fence with my shoes intact, and Clare had nearly faceplanted in the mud and was coated from the waist down in cow-pasture mud. After our 7-mile trek through the wonderful land of non-touristy cliff country we were overjoyed to find a road! At this point my shoes were not wearable so I took them off. Peter told me that I had hobbit feet and Heather gave me her shoes to wear while we walked to the Tourist Center to call a taxi. Tony the Taxi driver picked us up in his snazzy silver Mercedes van and drove us back to Doolin, where we showered off the muck and did a little shopping.

That evening we went to dinner at Fitzgerald's, where we bonded as a family and discussed everyone's love lives. Then we went back to O'Connor's, for an amazing night of music! Pretty much the most famous flautist in Ireland was there with a number of other fantastic artists.... Peter and I sang "Farewell to Liverpool" to the bodhran accompaniment of Christy Barry, Clare and Anna wowed everyone with their Irish dancing skills, and Heather proved a great camera artist, as her bagpipes wouldn't fit in her backpack for the flight over. The couple we had met on the bus was there and we all chatted together and had a marvelous time. Us girls stayed till the pub closed, and Peter stayed later to hang out with the musicians.

The next morning we packed up our bags and said goodbye to Doolin after a breakfast of tea and chocolate chip cookies... our host's alarm didn't go off and he didn't have time to bake scones ;-) We spent the day making out way to Dublin and then doing a little exploring. We found Dony's statue (see Florence post) along the river and tomorrow we'll head off to merry old England. I'll post on that later... in the meantime check out Heather's blog (spurenaustria.blogspot.com) for a more complete narration!

I'm off into the wild green yonder...

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I am heading off on a grand adventure in Ireland and England for the next ten days... Heather, Anna, Peter, Clare and I will be having a good old time gallivanting around the Emerald Isle, hopefully seeing the Cliffs of Moher, the Shrine of Knock, and a whole bunch of rolling green countryside! Then we will hop on a ferry to Wales and scurry on over to Liverpool for a Beatles tour, where Marie will join us. Then on to celebrate Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon, Tolkien and Lewis in Oxford, and end up seeing some of the sights of merry old London-town. We might need a break after the break, but I expect it to be fully worth it! Since we're leaving at the ungodly hour round abouts four am tomorrow, I should be off to bed about now... tally ho!

Videos

Up to now I have been very remiss in posting videos... now that will change! You can now experience my time in Austria live and in color! Okay, not quite "live." A warning: my camera doesn't pick up sound very well, so when people are loud it gets scratchy. Sorry about that!


The Karaoke Bus: Return from Poland Tour
David sang a moving rendition of "Can you Feel the Love Tonight" from the Lion King. After singing it through once he sang it again at the bus driver's request.



We all sang a song from The Little Mermaid. Peter really got into it ;-)




Sorry this one is sideways... I hope you don't get a crick in your neck! This is the famous Trumpeter of Krakow, heralding in the 11 o'clock hour!



This is from our day trip to Munich... the famous Glockenspiel. Sorry it's sideways again... :-/




We met some Maltese youths on the train on the way back from Florence... by the end of the 12 hours all barriers were down...



Early on a bunch of us went up to the waterfall. It started raining on the way back and we had a glorious time singing and skipping and listening to Dan-jokes.


And that's it on the videos for now. I hope they bring you some viewing pleasure ;-D

Divine Mercy in my Soul

This is the Divine Mercy Basilica. It is very modern and spaceship-y on the outside and it has a rather spartan interior. Perhaps the stark white, barren interior is what our over-stimulated generation needs to focus on the Eucharist, but I had hoped for a little more classical beauty.

Anna and I outside the Basilica

I'm not quite sure what this means, but it was written above the entrance to the chapel St. Faustyna prayed and SAW JESUS!!!! There were even relics of her!!!

Sr. Gaudia gave a wonderful talk on St. Faustina and Divine Mercy. I thought her name was so appropriate; she just radiated joy! (gaudia is Latin for joy ;-) She told us lots of wonderful things, below are some of the gems: Whenever Sr. Faustina left the chapel after Mass, a few minutes after everyone else and walking with proper erect posture, the others would say "Look at her, a 'queen' walks there." and she would respond, "Yes, I am a queen. The royal blood flows through my veins." Later Sr. Gaudia was telling us that the basilica was built on the potato fields that St. Faustina used to plant. She recounted a story about an older sister who looked at the basilica and said, "only a saint can paint potatoes and a basilica is grown." Did you know that St. Faustina was 1.58 meters tall, had strawberry-blonde hair, and lots of freckles? Plus a bit of a temper... goes to show what God can do with the most ordinary of people.

The message of God's limitless mercy and love was so comforting after Auschwitz. As we walked through Auschwitz and Birkenau on Friday I was battling against the oppressive feeling of depression that blanketed the camp. There -had- to be something good here! God can bring good out of anything, but what good was there at Auschwitz, where children were killed because they were "worthless" and women were shorn of their hair to make socks for the Nazis? Our discussions and reading in Philosophy of the Human Person brought some intellectual sense to it... some of the poor souls in the concentration camps became stronger, nobler individuals after the test of Auschwitz... but when I saw the piles of confiscated shoes, and the names and faces of those who died lining an entire hallway, and walked through the cremation chambers the nobility of those few seemed insignificant in the face of such evil. We often say that reprehensible actions are animalistic, but this was worse .... this was barbaric. How could humanity sink to such depths?

Then we visited the convent chapel and the basilica of Divine Mercy. We saw the windows of the kitchen where St. Faustina saw Jesus. We saw the little garden she worked in, where Jesus appeared. We saw the gate where He appeared to her in the guise of a young man looking for some food. We prayed the Chaplet in the Hour of Mercy in front of the monstrance in which the Body of Christ resided during the countless times He appeared to her during adoration. We kissed her bones! We learned about the suffering, the joy, and the sheer humanity of St. Faustina. She had freckles and a temper and a longing to love God in a radical way that had never been done before. Through her the message of the ocean of God's infinite mercy that is there for the taking if only we ask for it was spread. And it occurred to me, in a manner that was more real than any similar thoughts on the matter I've had before were, that this mercy is for everyone. Even the Nazis and Capos. Especially them.

God's mercy is not just a plus that's nice to have if you think about it. It is completely necessary for our salvation. With God's grace humanity can be raised to such heights as are unimaginable even in our wildest dreams. Good people, ordinary people, and even straight-out nasty people can become wondrous testaments to the undying mercy of our Creator if only we let Him work in our lives. The potential of a human soul to shine in glorious splendor cannot be destroyed by even the most putrid doings of mankind. Neither the Nazi nor the terrorist nor the killers of the innocent are beyond the reach of His all-encompassing mercy.

Jesus, I entrust myself to You. Take my small acts, be they kind or despicable, and shape them into something that will magnify your glory forever. Jezu ufam tobie!

The Pilgrim's House, Krakow, Wadowice and the Karaoke Bus

After the deeply tiring day at Auschwitz and the preceding night on a bus, we were all thrilled to arrive at the Pilgrim's House, where the beds were comfy, the food much more plentiful than Fr. Ron led us to believe, and the companionship incomparable.

Most of my roommates for the weekend... Lara, Katy, Anna and Audrey. I love you guys!!!

We are all crazy and I love us!!!!!!!

After all that craziness Heather sat down with the Scarlet Pimpernel for a relaxing read.

She was making funny faces behind the book ;-P

This is the outside of the church at the Pilgrim's House. JPII used to come here... a papal throne for him was set apart in the church.

Anna and I were bus buddies for the weekend! We had a great time!

One of the proliferate accordion players on the streets of Krakow.

The Cathedral of Krakow, the church of JPII while he was the archbishop of Krakow, as seen from the path below.

Part of the Cathedral.

The sun peeks out from behind the church.

JPII we love you!

According to local legend, as long as this whalebone, mammoth leg, and rhino leg hang before the doors of the Cathedral Krakow will be safe.

Our Lady looks down on her children in the streets of Krakow.

This image of Cardinal Wojtyla as a younger man hung outside his residence.

Ryan with Tiny Ryan.

Our tour guide "locked" Andrew to the wall of the church in the corner in the main market square... this is where criminals were placed back in the day.

Do you see the glint of the trumpet in the window? The trumpeter of Krakow plays to each point of the compass on the hour every hour, every day in tribute to the Trumpeter who saved the city with his song of warning. The song is cut off in the middle in tribute to his sudden death too.

Sunset Roses. Heather gave one each to Anna and me. <3 Later we gave her a sunflower ;-D

Blue Roses... I'm not sure if I actually liked them or if they were just fascinating oddities.

Do you see the street sign? Apparently this means that the cars will only stop if you stand on one foot and lean back with your arms flung out. Thanks for explaining guys. ;-D

Heather really liked this water pump in the square.

The musical wood whistle duo amused me on the bus... some others didn't appreciate their musical talents though. Why ever not, I wonder?

After the morning in Krakow we piled onto the buses again and headed to the Divine Mercy Shrine. That needs a post all to itself, so I'll skip to Sunday now... we stopped in Wadowice, JPII's hometown.

His HOME!!!

I love you Heather!!!

JPII's actual garments!!! I don't think I was supposed to take pictures, so sshh!! They also had his skis and ski gear and his baby cradle and a bunch of pictures.

This is the parish church he went to as a child.

Jezu ufam tobie!

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us!
This is the image before which Karol Wojtyla received the call to his vocation.

The Holy Family.

And now on to more mundane matters... the bus ride home. Or as I like to call it, the Karaoke Bus.

David wowed us all with a heartrending rendition of the Lion King.

The sun was beautiful!

Getting into the music...

The Beautiful Sunset!!!!!

Lauren ;-D

Joan singing along rather sedately and contentedly. Love you!

Lauren and Grace getting excited for Beauty and the Beast.

WE'RE HALFWAY THERE... WO-OAH! LIVIN' ON PRAYER!!!!

Hurray for arriving home almost three hours ahead of schedule!