Sea World

Today is Jennifer's birthday and the only thing she asked specifically was to spend the day in Sea World.

We bought our admission tickets in advance and I also paid for the all day eating ticket.  The all day eating ticket was $35 per person.  Figured that it wasn't a bad price and probably cheaper in the long run.

Since the park was across the street we just walked.  We ate breakfast at the coffee shop, just muffins and coffee since we would eat in the park.  It was very cloudy but wasn't bad when we walked.  Rain was called for today.  Got our tickets and eating tickets then we went to figure out what to see first.

While we were figuring out our map that is when it started to rain.  It rained all day long.  At least is was a warm rain.  We still had fun despite the rain.

This park is bigger than San Diego, has more shops and eating places, real restaurants.  The only ride we were interested in was the Penguin Encounter.  They don't have this one in San Diego.  We used our fast pass which was nice.  Got loaded into the little car then waited.  We had to get out, got another pass until they could fix the problem.

We wandered around some more, then decided to eat since we had paid for our dining stuff.  We were really hungry but ate anyway.  For her birthday dinner we wanted to go somewhere nice that served adult beverages.  The only one that fit this criteria was Shark Reef, naturally this was not a participating restaurant for the all day dining.  Went and made a reservation, they closed at 6:00 pm since the park closes at 7:00 pm.  Made our reservation at 4:30, that way we had enough time to make the Shamu Show at 6:00 pm.

We didn't really get our $35 worth of eating out of the deal, but we would have if not for Jennifer's special day.

The only shows we watched were the Shamu Show and the Dolphin Show and they are the same ones as we see in San Diego.

All in all we had a good time, got back to the condo then we went down to the pool to soak in the hot tub after a full day of walking.  That was nice.

Here are a few photos of our fun.

Florida Trip

Jennifer and I left for our girls trip to Orlando Florida this morning.  We planned this trip to coincide with her birthday.  We have plans to do the whole tourist thing, Sea World, Disney World and Wild Animal Kingdom Park.  That will take care of three days and then we will decide what to do with our remaining time.

Jennifer spent the night with us because we had to be at the Billings Airport by 6:00 am.  This time we are flying on United Airlines with a layover in Denver just under an hour.

Gary took us to the airport and it was very cold 5 below zero when we left.  Sunny Florida is looking good.  We got dropped off and made it through security without any problems.  Found our gate then we got a cinnamon roll and coffee for breakfast.

Our flight was on time, I was a bit worried with the short layover in Denver.  When we landed in Denver and got off the plane, we just had time to find our next gate and board the plane.  We got there in time.  Our flight to Orlando served food but you had to pay, we skipped this.  So much for thinking that we would get a small package of pretzels or something.  Not on United, all we got complementary was our soft drinks.  At least they gave you the option of keeping the whole can.

By the time we landed in Orlando we were starving.  The weather was cloudy and the forecast called for rain later in the night and on Saturday.

We arrived at our condo.  We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at Sea World which was right across the street from Sea World.  We were so tired and hungry that we got checked in.  We rented a studio condo as it took less points than a two bedroom.  It was just a glorified hotel room, had a small fridge, a micro wave and a bar sink.  So we ate out for meals.  All of our breakfasts were at the coffee shop where we had muffins and coffee pool side.  Very nice.

The rest of our day here was checking out what was available here.  We ate supper at the pool side bar and grill.  As luck would have it we hit happy hour.  We each had a drink then we shared chips with queso dip and a pizza.  It was all very good.

Since this resort is across the street from Sea World we stopped at the visitors desk, there we got a fast pass for rides at Sea World.  They were free for us.  We had bought our admission tickets in advance.

The rest of the day was just relaxing.  Have a busy day for tomorrow, Jennifer's birthday.

Here are some photos of our condo.

Dentist Appointment

Monday I had a dentist appointment for two fillings.  I had a cleaning two weeks ago and that was when I found out I had to have two fillings. 


My back took has a build up of enamel so that when she cleans back there her little instrument catches on it. The dentist will drill this off and of course need a filling for the hole.  My front tooth (which I thought was fine) needed one because it was a bit sensitive to her instrument.  Of course it was, those are instruments of torture.


Got my fillings, which really wasn't that bad.  At first thought Gary would be able to come with me but he had to work a full week, covering for the dairy guy who went on vacation.  Gary who retired last April, works two days a week and will cover vacations for the dairy and frozen guys.  It worked out because if Gary went with me I would have been able to do what I wanted to do.


I wanted to wash my car, but that didn't happen because of the snow in the forecast.  Will just drive around with a dirty car for a bit.  I didn't really buy anything for therapy, saving my money for the Florida trip.


I mostly walked around the mall and looked around all the stores.  I did walk about three laps around the mall.  I have a fitbit, which is a fitness tracker.  I am in a work week challenge with about 6 other people, so I wanted to get a lot of steps in.  It's amazing how many steps you get in just shopping.


I did make my way to Barnes & Noble for a coffee break and I use their wi-fi for computer work.  We are planning a motorcycle trip to Milwaukee in June.  I was searching for motels and rates.


It was a nice day, even though I walked around with a numb mouth all afternoon.  The best part is I didn't have to take any time off from work as it was President's Day, a holiday for me. 

Girl's Night

Last night I went to Billings with friends for a girl's night.  We went out to dinner and the saw the movie "Fifty Shades of Grey". I went with my friends Dulcie Bear Don't Walk and Nikki Weigand.  Dulcie's niece also joined us.

Dulcie and I read all the books and when we found out that the movie was going to be made months ago we talked about having a girl's night as our husbands told us No Way were they going to this movie.  It was fun.

I drove, we left after work and had our tickets for the 8:00 showing.  Dulcie had to go to Helena this week, so on  her way home she stopped at the theater and bought our advance tickets.

We went in my car, had to pick up Dulcie's niece at Rocky then we ate at Straw Hat Pizza.  It was by the theater so very convenient.  None of us had eaten there before so we decided to give it a try.  It was very good, we bought the special which was $38, we got a large pizza, an appetizer combo and 4 drinks.  We split it four ways which ended up being $9.50 each.  I paid first, gave the cashier $20 and she gave me $17.50 in change.  Being the honest person that I am, told her that she gave me too much change.  She had a hard time because her computer told her that I was supposed to get that much back.  No, I should only get $10.50 back.  The other's paid with exact change.  She had to call a manager over and they got it figured out.

We got to the movie in plenty of time, since I was full from dinner I just bought a medium coke and a box of chocolate covered raisins.  Couldn't eat all of it, but took it home because they cost a pretty penny.  It was $10 for the coke and candy.  Yikes!!!

The theater was filled with mostly women, there were a couple brave men who came to the movie.  We all enjoyed the movie and it was fun watching Dulcie's niece throughout the movie, she covered her eyes quite a bit.

She said that the book was required reading for one of her psychology classes, they were studying fetishes.

It was quite late by the time I got home after dropping everyone off. The movie would have been out sooner if they didn't show 20 minutes worth of previews.  Dragging a bit here at work.  It was a fun night.  We should have these girl's nights more often.

While I was at the movie, Gary went to our HOG Chapter's dinner ride.  Our chapter meets once a month for dinner just to get together. He got home before I did.

Meeteetse Visit

I went to Meeteetse over the weekend for a visit.  I had to bring stuff down to Mom anyway and with nice weather made for a good road trip.  It sure was an eventful one with no power at Grandma's house for three days.

The Grandma's lost power on Thursday night sometime and didn't get it back until Monday morning. The town of Meeteetse had power though.  The Grandma's were fine at the country house as Grandma has a propane heater and gas cook stove.  Mom took all the perishable food to her town house.  It also helped that the weather was warm, temperatures in the high 40's to low 50's and in the 30's at night.

We had a good time just visiting and it was nice.  Grandma was getting alot of phone calls from concerned friends.  It was funny, they would call Mom and Grandma would ask me what it was about.  I told her that people wanted to help Mom move her to the town house.  Grandma's very strong reply was I'm not moving!!!

Mom stayed in contact with the power company for updates.  Apparently 13 poles were knocked down due to high winds.  They had to get new poles from Casper, then the crews had difficulty with the weather and it was very muddy so had troubles with their heavy equipment.

It would have been too difficult moving her and she would not be comfortable at the town house.  Mom did say that if the temperatures were sub-freezing, Grandma would have been moved, but they were fine.  It was not bad at all.

Mom and I went to church Saturday evening, I met the new priest then we ate dinner afterwards.  I even got in on the church meeting.  I told the priest that I'm not a parishioner and that I couldn't make a decision on how to spend the church's money.  Anyway the priest wanted my opinion so I gave it.

While I was there, we celebrated Kevin's birthday.  With no power I wasn't able to post the photo of us until I got home to Hardin.

Celebrating Kevin's birthday

I stayed in the town house.  Couldn't connect to any internet, apparently Mom's neighbors made their internet connection secured.  It was nice to be unconnected for a couple days.

I came home Sunday afternoon.  It was a good visit and will have to go back after the Florida trip.