Thursday

I (bill) stole megs iphone so i can do todays blog post for a change. We have now done all the parks and all of the premium attractions. But we still have a few days left here so we are just doing the best rides again. It gets really crowded after about 1 so we have been going early and then returning to the hotel to chill out. Last night we watched a piano show at our hotel that was a lot of fun. We are all still a little hoarse from singing and screaming with the show.Tonight we are going to see a jazz show in the "French quarter". The picture today is jess practicing for his drivers test on the Disney speedway. Tomorrow is new years and we will probably spend it at downtown Disney after going to an Irish restaurant.

Everest, Disney style

Spent a great day in park #4, Animal Kingdom. Think Northwest Trek meets San Diego zoo, then taken to Disney heights.

There was a great safari ride, and many animal exhibits (all real animals, not anamatronics). Then throw in some killer rides, such as a Dino thriller and Expedition Everest (kick ass roller coaster, pictured). Makes for a fun park.

We were there early - it was very cold in the morning, but we managed to go on all the headliner rides once or twice. By 2pm it was absolutely jammed, so we left. Luckily, it warmed up a bunch by then, so we spent time by the pool at our resort.

For dinner, we "left the property" and took a cab to Joes Crab Shack, where we chowed on seafood. DisneyWorld is freaky: when you stay on the property, it's like being on a cruise ship- you are totally isolated from anything outside...in fact, you forget there *is* anything outside. But just about 2 miles away is regular old strip malls, with food and sundries for a third the price of resort-land.

Brrrrrr

It's been cccccooooolllld in Orlando! Highs around 35-40. Yesterday we spent the day at Hollywood studios. Highlights were the Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster, and 3D Toy Story. A fun ride, but probably not worth the *3* hour wait time!!! We had fast passes, which made it perfect - just 5-10 min to get in.

Later in the evening we met Bill's aunt Sandy and Cousin Meghan in downtown Disney for dinner. It was great to see them and catch up.

Today we hit Magic Kingdom fairly early, when the crowds were lighter. We let the kids run around on their own, then met back in the early afternoon. By then the park was jam packed, so we hopped the monorail to Epcot, where we are now hanging out.

It's slowly warming up, it's up to about 50. Tomorrow is supposed to be near 60, yippee!

Arctic Blast!!

Freakish cold snap in orlando - 43, feels like 34 with windchill. Seriously.

We spent the day at Epcot, rode all the rides (test track, mission space were stand outs). But holy cow, we were cold. Had to buy extra sweatshirts (Disney branded, 40% markup) for everyone. Finally turned into Popsicles (nylandsicles??), and headed back to the resort. After a thoroughly mediocre meal in the cafeteria, we're hanging in the room, watching Disney movies (duh).

Christmas in the Magic Kingdom

We got a bit of a late start yesterday.... After a late flight we needed some sleep before hitting the parks. We planned to start with Epcot, but after waiting endlessly (ok, 15 minutes) for the right shuttle bus, we just decided to do the Magic Kingdom. The bus was packed, and slow. The park was equally packed, and slow.

Despite not getting there til noon, we managed to hit the haunted mansion, splash mountain, pirates, and space mountain. We also saw a Christmas show in front if the castle before we called it a day. Main street was festively decorated.

After a brief rest in our room, we took the boat down the river from our resort to downtown Disney for dinner.

Tolo

Another Dance for Jess and again it was a huge group. I helped drive to California Pizza Kitchen and then the dance.

Scouts at beach house

The boy scouts plan their own outings every year in November. They look at what they have done in the past and decide what they want to do again, or they come up with new ideas for campouts. We had planned to do this at Camp Delezenne but somehow they double booked us. Another troop also booked the camp lodge so we decided to go to Stretch Island instead of sharing with them. It worked out pretty good and the boys had fun planning, working on merit badges and playing a lot of board games. We started back on Sunday right when it started snowing.

Today, Jess got sent home early from school but Joe had to stay until the end because he was a "walker". School is cancelled for tomorrow but somehow I still have to go to work. I have a ton of meetings and my boss won't let me work from home because some people in our group "abused the privelege" a couple of years ago. Meg will probably work from home.

Another busy weekend

Friday night, we wanted to go to Gerrit's Washington State Admissions party but we also had to watch Jess' band play at an open mike at the church where they practice. They played Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. They did great although they need to get a better stage presence. The videos are on Facebook under their band page for their new name "Rush Fury".

Saturday, I finished some wine racks while Meg went to a funeral up near Bellingham. I took the kids to pizza in Seattle and then to El Corazon to see some bands. I felt a little old going to a rock club filled with college age bands and fans and the boys felt a little young to be at a rock club. But we all had fun and Jess got some ideas on how a band should act on stage.

Sunday, we finished pressing the last of our 2010 wine. We have 44 gallons now in carboys. We also have to get to bottling most of our 2009 wine. Meg is still working on a name and labels but we will get it done soon.

We then went to the Lobster Shop to have brunch to celebrate Grandma Gennys and Grandma Lois' birthdays. Great food and it was fun to have a crowd of 13 at a restaurant.

Next weekend, we are going on a boy scout annual planning campout where we plan the outings for all of next year. Jess and I are going but Joe wants to go to a friends birthday party instead. After that is Thanksgiving in Oly and then the rest of the weekend at the beach house.

San Francisco

Joe and I flew down to San Francisco last weekend. We got it in time on Friday night to check into our hotel and make it to Joe's Crab Shack. It was a pretty fun place with the bibs, dancing waiters, and a big seafood pot. The food wasn't perfect but we had a good time.
Saturday morning we got on the first ferry to Alcatraz. We enjoyed the audio tour and got back in time to have clam chowder in bread bowls at Fisherman's Wharf. We then went to the DeYoung museum and saw the Post Impressionist exhibit on loan from the D'Orsay museum in Paris. We saw a lot of famous paintings that you usually have to go to Europe to see. But we got pretty worn out and just went back to the hotel to crash for a bit. After relaxing we took a walk down Union street to go get some Pizza. It was a crazy night because all the bars were full with Giant fans watching the World Series and a lot of people were in costume because it was the night before Halloween.
Sunday morning we went to the Seahawks vs Raiders game. I wore my Seahawks jersey but I couldn't get Joe to wear any seahawks stuff because so many people warned him that he would get beat up. The crazy raider fans teased us a bit but we were never scared. There was only 35,000 people at the game and it was a little dissappointing in how lame the crowd was. The game was awful and the Seahawks got destroyed. After the game we went straight to the airport. Great trip even though the game was tough.

Wine weekend

Grapes were picked Friday morning at both vineyards where we are getting grapes from. The day started for me at 4 am as I drove the truck overand brought back 2500 lbs of grapes from Kestrel vineyards. 250 lbs of the Cab Franc belonged to us. We also got 400 lbs of Cab Sauv. from Destiny Ridge in Horse Heaven Hills. We crushed with the Boeing Wine Club and got our Grapes home by 7pm. We need to get last years wine bottled so we have room for this stuff in our carboys when it is done fermenting.

Saturday, we went to a wedding in Tacoma of one of my second cousins. One of the strangest weddings I have ever been to with the groom and family all preaching during the service. Not my type of wedding or even relationship but everyone seemed really happy so I am trying not to judge.

Sunday was a lazy day watching football and playing with wine. Excited to go to San Francisco next week with Joe....

Zombie Camporee

Last Weekend was the Boy Scout Zombie Camporee. Our troop competed in the events with about 40 other patrols to get the code in order to get the zombie virus antidote. After dinner on Saturday, the zombies(staff) attacked the humans and it was a 2 hour battle to see if the zombies with their fake bloody hands could touch the humans and infect them or if the humans could spray the right color antidote on the zombies. Lots of fun.

We can home in time to go to Henry's 8th birthday. It seems like we haven't seen family much lately so it was good to have some time at Nana's house.

Next Weekend our grapes should be ready for the big crush and the weekend after Joe and I will be going to San Francisco. Jess is talking about hosting a Halloween party.

Weekend

I spent all day Friday at the PTA Legislative Conference. We were debating and defining our priorities for lobbying for education for the next year. The best part was a short speech by Bill Gates Sr. who made a great case for Initiative 1098. I have a hard time believing that this initiative won't pass but there is a lot of mis-information going on out there right now.

Saturday was the Boy Scout Rummage Sale. We needed to get rid of some of the excess stuff from our Boy Scout storage sale so we tried a Rummage Sale. It was a lot of work and we only made about $100 and ended up just taking a truck load of stuff to Goodwill. I was so worn out and also fighting a fever so we just had take out Thai food and watched TV on Saturday night.

Sunday, I really wanted to go on a hike but it wasn't raining pretty steadily. So we decided to go to the Ape Caves by Mt. St. Helens. Well, Meg and I actually decided and the boys were forced to go... By the time we got there it wasn't raining except for in the cave. It was 43 degrees and really wet inside from the continual dripping. We hiked most of the lower cave and all the upper cave. It took us over 3 hours and was pretty strenuous. There is a lot of scrambling in the upper cave. Joe struggled with the big rocks but eventually got his momentum going and impressed us. Had dinner in Puyallup at the Powerhouse and we all were so worn out we went to bed early. I am still fighting a slight headache and fever...But I am not sick. Sorry, no pictures in the cave...

Homecoming

Homecoming Dance was tonight. 14 kids came to our house for a prefunc. Lots of awkward early High School fun. We ended up getting Jess a tux and he looked pretty good with his data Clarissa. More pics on flickr

catch up

I have been a bad blogger. Lots of things have happened lately and I still have pics on my camera. Maybe I can catch up quickly. Joe and I went to the fair. We had a Nelson family barbecue with lots of good pics. Meg and Bill Anniversary trip to Willamette wine country, Boy Scout overnight in the rain, Court of Honor, Joe's 11th birthday, etc... pictures coming soon....

Coming up it will be equally busy. The Wine crush is coming up soon and we need to bottle last years wine. Meg has been working hard at designing a new logo along with a new name for our winery. I should post some possibilities soon. Sunday is the Boeing Open House at the 737 factory. Jess has his homecoming dance coming up next week. He has had a lot of fun playing the trumpet and football games and there are still a few more home games coming up. Lots of Scout events also in October. Joe and I are going to watch the Seahawks in Oakland on Halloween.

Skeeter Pee

I made Skeeter Pee this summer. It is a lemon wine invented by some guy in Minnesota (www.skeeterpee.com). It is kind of like hard lemonade but it isn't malted like Mike's is. It is actually wine. It is hard to get to ferment because of the acidity so I need to use a "working" yeast from another batch of wine. I used my yeast slurry from my apricot wine. It tastes great and it hard to believe it is 9-10% alcohol until you have had a couple. It is powerful but really tastes great on a hot day when it is ice cold.

Yesterday Jess and I kayaked over to the old St. Charles Winery on Stretch Island to check out the Maritime Museum. They are selling everything to the Working Waterfront Museum in Tacoma so it is one of my last chances to see the First Winery in Washington. Harley Somers gave us a tour and I noticed all the old bottles in the back room. I wanted them bad and he sold me 8 cases of new bottles. 6 of the cases still had labels on them. They are definitely antiques because the winery closed in 1965. The bottles are small (4/5 of a pint) and there are 24 in a case. They look like whiskey pint flasks. There were 2 cases without labels and I bottled my Skeeter Pee in those today. It is perfect for Skeeter Pee. Need to have a party soon!! Too bad we are always busy.....

JoeyCol es diferente

In Mazatlan, the boys got to like the local cola TonyCol. It is a Mexican version of Vanilla Coke. We brought some Mexican vanilla home and planned to try to copy TonyCol. My version didn't quite work out. It was a little too sweet and I never really got it fizzy enough. But I am really proud of my JoeyCol label!! I will have to try again...

On the wine side, currently I have 5 gallons of nectarine wine fermenting. In bulk aging carboys, besides the zin, cab, syrah and merlot from last fall, I have 5 gallons of peach, 6 gallons of apricot, 2 gallons of strawberry, 4 gallons of bing cherry, 1 gallon of red plum, 1 gallon of mint wine, 1 gallon of blueberry. I also have 5 gallons of skeeter pee- a cross between hard lemonade and lemon wine. I just bottled 4 bottles of yellow rose petal wine and 5 bottles of carrot wine.

In the wine cellar we have blackberry, raspberry, cranberry, bartlett pear, crimson pear, sauvegnion blanc, pinot noir, blueberry, rhubarb, and a few other misc bottles. Meg is upset with all the fruit wine everywhere because she is worried we won't have room for her "real" wine. We have some drinking to do and will need some help...

Pictures from England

I finally got the best pics uploaded to flicker. Here they are http://www.flickr.com/photos/nylands4/collections/72157624701171699/

Tonight Jess is having a end of the summer party/ first week of high school party. I said 12 kids but I am worried the word has spread on facebook and Myspace and we might have 40....

Trip winds down

Last day in England. We spent a relaxing morning with my friend (from
high school) Char, and her lovely family. After waffles for breakfast
(yay.... welcome change from full British breakfast), we went to a
nearby village that was incredible cute and charming, with tumbling
old buildings, and a farmers market. Then we relaxed with a cold
beverage in a garden pub.

Then it was time to say goodbye, and Bill and I hit the road towards
the airport. We've stopped off in Windsor to have dinner before we
stay near the airport, before our early flight home tomorrow. We are
too late to go into castle, but we're eating at a Nepalese restaurant.

Visit with Char

Bildeston with char and family

Saturday started with a trip to the York castle museum. We then drove 4 hours south to spend a night with meg's old friend char and her family. Charlotte and Jonathan live in a cute little English village with their young kids lux and Hugo. Great to hang out with them and enjoy their hospitality.

York

We started the day in york with another full English breakfast at our
b&b with all the horse betters in town for the races. We have a hard
time understanding because of their thick accents.
We then left for a free 2 hour history walking tour of York. We are
getting to be quite the experts on English history.

The picture is a small lane called the Shambles, an old mideval street.

After a pub lunch, we decided to split up. Meg spent the afternoon
souvenir shopping, while I went to the horse races. The races were
strange because most people has suits or fancy dresses. The track was
huge (almost 2 miles) and the horses ran on grass. But the betting was
pretty similiar and I was able to pick 2 winners and come out ahead.
Meg and I met for dinner in town. We hopped around and had drinks and
appetizers at a couple of places before we ended up a mixed drinks
bar. We started talking to a local and before we knew it the table was
full of people who all wanted to talk to Americans. We had a great
time, and made new friends. I seem to remember inviting many people to
come visit us in Seattle :-)

This morning we are visiting the Castle Museum in York before heading
out, driving south to visit a friend.

Ironbridge Gorge, Chester, York

We spent the morning in the many museums of ironbridge gorge, learning
about the "beginning of the industrial revolution" .... This is where
they discovered a new way to refine iron to make cast iron, strong
enough for building uses (prior they only made iron for wrought iron
which is not as strong). They also made the first steam engine
locomotive here.

We headed north to the town of Chester (photo) - totally charming
town, old historic buildings, town wall, old church, castle. But we
didn't have too much time, because we had to make it to York.

York is an old walled city. We will explore more tomorrow, but we
walked around a bit tonight. It happens to be a big (horse) race
weekend, and the town is packed with drunk folks dressed up for the
races. Lots of ladies in heels and posh hats (and "fascinators"), guys
in suits. Tomorrow is the last day of races, we may go, or we may not.

Cotswolds and points north

We left Bath after breakfast, and headed north. We stopped at several
towns in the Cotswolds, walked around just to see them. Very quaint,
quiet, and lovely. Then drove farther north, got stuck in traffic near
Birmingham, and made our way to Ironbridge Gorge. Iron was invented
here on the 1770s, and the first real iron structure, a massive
bridge, is here. And, it's a very cute town. We had Thai food for
dinner (good green curry, worst pad thai ever!), and have settled into
a very nice (spacious, with bathroom) room above a local pub. Tomorrow
we'll visit some of the 11(!) museums inthis area, dedicated to iron,
pipes, and Victorian life. Then we'll head to York.

We walked ALL of Bath

A belated post for yesterday. We started the day with a mediocre
breakfast at our B&B, and then headed a few blocks into town. We had
about an hour and a half before our tour started, so we wandered
around. The Bath Abby is stunning, an example of "perpendicular gothic
architecture", pictured). Then we joined a fantastic free walking
tour. The host was knowledgable and funny, and the two hour tour sped
by, we learned tons of little tidbits about the city. After the tour,
we walked around some more and found some lunch. Then we cruised the
charming streets, browsing the shops.

Mid-afternoon came around, and we took a mellow cruise up the river;
of course, being married to "adventure Bill," we opted to walk back to
town on the charming 3-mile towpath along the canal. Which really was
pretty cool once we found it (we took a detour through some cow
fields, confused by all the British walking trails). The canal was
full of live-aboard and rental canal boats - the equivalant of a
caravan of RVs, I guess.

We reached town tired, parched, and starving, and landed at a Moroccan
restaurant for dinner and wine. Afterwards, Bill really wanted to do
Bizarre Bath, a comedy walking tour (of course!!). I complained and
whined about my tired feet, but Bill was persistent, and another glass
of wine persuaded me. The tour was funny and enjoyable. We finally got
back to our B&B 13 hours later, having walked almost that entire time.
Exhausted, but I feel like we made the most of our short time in Bath,
a lovely (and walkable) city!

Glastonbury, Wells, and Bath

We left bustling London this morning and picked up a rental car. Bill
has
mostly mastering the driving and is doing great, although it's tough
to drive on the left, sitting on the right side of the car, and drive
an unfamiar stick shift with the left hand, all on teeny tiny narrow
streets (lanes) with oncoming traffic. But so far, we've made it!

We first went to Glastonbury, where the hippies reign surpreme and
misticism is in full force. The ruins of the abby were pretty cool. We
also went to the nearby town of Wells that has an amazing cathedral.

We then made our way to Bath. On the way we detoured into deep
countryside (smallest lanes with deep hedgerows on either side) to a
cider maker whose family has been making hard cider for many
generations. We arrived in Bath in time for dinner followed by a tour
of the baths, pictured.

Full day today. Bill and I were up early, we jumped on the tube and
went down to the London Eye. The view is stunning, and it's amazing
how smooth the ride is. Then we walked up past parliament, big Ben,
and around Westminster Abby. Then we kept walking to the park around
Buckingham Palace. We just happened to catch the processional march of
soldiers in full regalia up the mall to the changing of the guards (we
didn't see too much of the changing, as there were like a billion
people milling around.

Sightseeing over, we got on our wedding party dude, and took the train
up to Harrow-on-the-hill, to a garden party. Very nicely done, great
and friendly folks.

Tomorrow we are off to Salisbury, Wells, and Bath.

Saturday in London with Davis's

We met Haley and Ross, JP, and Joel and Melissa for breakfast at a
great restaurant in the Burough market (very cool market!!). We had
lots of British treats like bubble & squeak, streaky bacon, grilled
tomatoes, and black pudding. After breakfast, Bill and Joel left to
meet Haley's father-in-law Ralph, who was taking them for pints and a
football match. Haley, Melissa, JP and I set off to walk the city.
Boy, did we walk.....millenium bridge, Covent garden, Leicester, Soho,
Oxford circus, and marylebone, then back to the Paddington for me, to
meet Bill. Very fun to see so many different neighborhoods, and I
definitely worked off my proper British breakfast! Tomorrow is the
wedding garden party. Oh yeah, I've given up the posh hat idea, after
talking to Haley and realizing the party will be quite casual (the
groom may wear jeans).

Long day of sightseeing and touring london. We saw the tower of
London, the tower bridge, the borough public market, and the Tate
modern art museum. There were a few rain storms but we managed to be
inside for most of them. After the Tate we met JP, Joel and Melissa at
their rented flat. It is great to see family on the other side of the
world. We are going to have a lot of fun the next couple of days. We
had Indian food with them tonight and tomorrow we wil meet them for
breakfast. Haley's father in law is taking Joel and I to a soccer game
and the girls are going shopping for their posh hats.

London!

Arrived safe and sound in London mid-day. Took the train into the
city, found our B&B, and then took off to explore. We started with a
double decker bus tour, as a way to get a city overview. Hopped off to
explore Trafalger square (and had a pint, see Bill picture). Walked
along the Thames, by The Globe theater, and then jumped on the Tube to
head back to see Harrods. Weather is grey, cool, and a bit drizzly,
just like home!!

Ocean Shores

Not a good weekend to go to the Ocean but we still had fun. We joined Paul and Kara and Ann and Ocean City State park. The rain came on Saturday but we were able to stay dry under tarp city. Jess and I did some bike rides to town between storms but other than that it was a lot of sitting under tarps. Sunday we stopped at the seafood store on the way home and made a great Sunday dinner of Oysters and Salmon.

Summer Camp

Joe's first Boy Scout Summer Camp this week was at Camp Pigott near Monroe and the old Camp Brinkley. Both boys had a lot of fun. Joe got at lot of advancements done as well as doing a lot of swimming, rifle shooting and just hanging out with the guys. I went Wednesday through Saturday and Meg spent the night on Friday. This picture is from our Troop 366 cheering section for the big relay race where our team came in 2nd- just missing out on first by 1 second. I couldn't convince the last kid to write on his belly so I had to be the last 6.

Beachhouse

Great weather last weekend for another trip to the beach. This time,Joe brought his friend from Scouts, Cody. Tom and Tammara were in town from Spokane with her niece from Nevada, Sierra. The 4 kids had a lot of fun together. My parents and grandma were also there. It was nice to here about my mom's Europe trip.
We didn't come out until late Friday after the Kiwanis Salmon bake at Steele Lake. The Scouts had to assist our Troop sponsor, the Kiwanis.
The boys started Scout Camp on Sunday but I won't be able to join them until Wednesday. I only have so much vacation.
I am still doing a lot of bike riding to work. 240 miles for the month of July.

Silverwood

Fun time this weekend at Silverwood theme park in Idaho. We met our friends the Traxels in Spokane and spent the whole day on Saturday at the water park and going on roller coasters. 6 boys with all of their names starting with "J" which made it a little confusing. Lots of fun and the boys want to make it an annual trip. I hope this works but I took of video of Joe, Jess, Jeremy and Max on the Corkscrew- the first modern roller coaster to go upside down.

New Bunny Record

I have been riding the interurban trail to work and I count rabbits in the morning. This week, the kids are away so I have been riding all the way into work instead of just from the park and ride. Tuesday I saw 47 rabbits and Wednesday 43. After work I have been riding to Seattle and eating happy hour food. Meg picks me up so I don't have to ride all the way home.

Jess is camping this week with Malik. Joe is going to an art camp in Tacoma and staying with Nana. We are going to Silverwood this weekend with the Traxels so we are leaving right after work on Friday and picking up the kids in Tacoma.

I didn't post but last weekend, we took 3 of Jess' band friends out to the beach and we had a great time playing in the water.

1 week until Boy Scout Summer camp and only 4 weeks before our trip to England.

4th of July at Beach house

Great Weekend of Fireworks at the beach house. Gerrit's family and Nana are still in Europe. Dennis was fishing in Canada, so we invited the Knutsons to come spend the weekend with us. Skyler Lamb also joined us. The weather wasn't that great but it was good enough for some boat play. Lots of great food and wine as usual. Jess spent the previous week at Boy Scout Leadership camp so we picked him up at Camp Delezenne on Saturday morning.

Blewett Pass

The boys went up to Blewett Pass with the Scouts for their annual Shooting Sports Weekend. I didn't go up until Saturday night after I took a day hike to Melakwa Lake on Saturday morning. I didn't actually make it to the lake because of too much snow but I saw some great waterfalls on the Denny Creek trail on the way up. I spent the night with the troop near Blewett Pass and in the morning I drove Jess to Camp Delezenne in Elma for a week of Scout Leadership camp. Joe went with Grammy Ann to Mukilteo for a week of full on Grammy Ann attention. Without any kids, Meg and I hope to get a lot of weeding and house clean up in as well as a lot of exercise. I plan to do a lot of bike riding although I broke a spoke this morning which will delay it a bit. Next weekend is 4th of July at the Beach House.... I think the Lambs are going although we still have room for others....

Lena Lake

Last weekend we were planning on going to the ocean for a Nyland backpack outing but we were a little afraid of the weather so we went to the other side of the Olympics so we could hide in the rain shadow. On Friday night we struggled to get through Tacoma traffic and stopped in Gig Harbor for some really good Indian Food at Gateway to India. We camped at the Hamma Hamma campground on Friday night. On Saturday we hiked up to Lower Lena lake and camped on the lake. It is about 3 miles and 1400 ft elevation game. Everyone did great. We never really got rained on but we didn't see much sunshine either.

45th Wedding Anniversary- Space Needle

My parents, Dennis and Linda Nyland, have been married 45 years so we celebrated at the Space Needle. We did the same thing for my grandparents, Lois and Fred Nyland, on their 40th wedding anniversary many years ago. It was a great time to get everyone together in a one of a kind location.