A Christmas Carol - Morph Pictures

I finally got my pictures today from the Christmas Carol train car where we got to morph our faces into some of the characters' faces. They are so funny! Enjoy!

Belle's morph didn't work very well and looks quite creepy.


Victoria and then me as Belle. This reminds me of the Twilight Zone movie when the boy lives in a cartoon-like world and one of the characters didn't have a mouth. I hated seeing her.

Tiny Tim looks pretty creepy, too. It's like our faces weren't fat enough to fit in the morph picture. Plus, he has bug eyes.


Victoria as Tiny Tim. The second one is Tiny Tim with braces.


Me as Tiny Tim....creepy!


Victoria as Scrooge


Scrooge with braces. HA!


Me as Scrooge - Victoria said I made him look girly.


Victoria as Marley


Me as Marley

Mission Trip to Denver, CO - Part 2

I have to climb how many stairs straight up?

The smart adults...ahem...let the youth begin the ascent first. Here are the first of the youth beginning the climb.

I had to get a picture of them smiling down at us.


That's Victoria up there. Sorry she looks like a little speck.


Looking back from whence we came.


I took pictures of the first fall from the ground. It really was quite lovely.


Um....yeah....


Here goes...

Now, I have a serious fear of stairs. I always have. As a child, I wouldn't climb up or down stairs unless I was beside a wall, holding the handrail and holding my daddy's hand. I was scared they would collapse or I'd fall off of them. So, just looking at these stairs was an accomplishment. Once I took the first step, I never released the handrails, looked left or right or ahead. I only looked down as I made my way up each step. Needless to say, I don't have any pictures on the way up or down. But once I get to each destination, I have pictures.

I climbed up the first set of stairs, and the altitude really got to me. I couldn't catch my breath, and I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I've never experienced anything like it before. Once I got to the first platform, I was extremely dizzy, too. I had to rest there a few minutes. Thankfully, a few others (including some youth) were in the same boat. From the platform, I took some pictures.


Most of the youth had already climbed the second set of stairs and were going off exploring. You can barely make a few out crossing the little bridge up there.

I actually thought I had more pictures than that from the platform. I guess I was struggling too much, but I was determined to keep going. So, I began to climb the second set of stairs. My breathing was horrible, and I was so lightheaded, I was scared I was going to pass out. I had to stop every ten steps or so and try to catch my breath. I finally made it up the second set of stairs. I really thought I was going to faint, so I sat down. I didn't care that the bench was wet from the sprinkling rain. I didn't care how wet my jeans got. I HAD to sit down! The other adults finally made it up the stairs, too. Once we all felt a little better, we decided to head for the trails. I was ready for some flat walking. Plus, we knew that we could follow the trails to an elevator that would take us down so we didn't have to climb the stairs down.

More pictures...



And this picture shows how far we came. You see here just the second flight of stairs.

UP NEXT: Exploring the trails!

Mission Trip to Denver, CO - Part 1

I can't believe I haven't written about our Denver trip. We had a wonderful time on our mission trip to Denver. Our first stop was Colorado Springs. I had never been to Colorado before, and when I found out our church youth group was headed to Denver on a mission trip this summer, I knew I wanted to chaperone.

Our trip was June 19 - 26. We flew out of Austin at 7 p.m., on the 19th and arrived in Colorado Springs around 9:30, I think. It was a smooth flight. We rented four vans to take the youth all over the place, so we picked those up and headed to the hotel. It was a scary hotel. I had three girls in the room with me. (One was Victoria.) We ended up with one of the better rooms. Ours smelled musty, and I refused to take my shoes and socks off. Other rooms had doors that didn't lock, some were dirty & grimy and one wreaked of cat pee. Ok. It was nasty! Our youth director tried to get us out of there, but they would not refund our money, blah, blah, blah. So, we had to stay the night. In the morning, we got up for the continental breakfast. What a joke! When I got in there, the only thing in the little cabinet was a donut with a bite out of it. I am not kidding! Don't stay at the HoJo in Colorado Springs. I'm not sure of the address. Scary!

Needless to say, our youth minister got us out of there and into another hotel - the Crowne Plaza with a view of Pike's Peak. There was no comparison. It was GORGEOUS, and their breakfast was a hot buffet or you could order from the menu. Anyway, I digress.

On June 20, we went to Seven Falls. It is beautiful! The pictures don't do it justice.


The rock formation at the top is called George Washington's Profile. Can you see it? We saw this on the drive up to the Seven Falls parking lot. It was sprinkling a bit, hence the drops on the windshield.

Once we parked, I started taking pictures.



The little cabin on the right is the gift shop and a restaurant.


The ducks were so cute. There were also very large fish swimming in the water.


The rock is the granite that the sign talks about.

Up Next: I have to climb how many stairs straight up?

Best Videos on YouTube!

You have to watch these! These are so great!! I smiled the whole time I watched both of them. Enjoy!

(By the way, I notice that my larger pictures are being cut off a little. You can see the full picture if you click on it.) Disney is promoting their new Christmas movie, A Christmas Carol, with a train tour that started in LA and will finish in NYC. The movie opens November 6. I decided to surprise Victoria by going to San Antonio yesterday to see the train and thought you might like to see what was aboard, too.

We got up early yesterday morning and were out the door by 6:30 a.m., since San Antonio is 2 1/2 hours south of us. We made it to the San Antonio Amtrak station without any problems. Victoria saw a sign pointing to A Christmas Carol train tour, and I told her that's where we were going. It was very neat.

The tour opened at 9 a.m., and that is precisely when we got there. I had heard elsewhere that the lines could get really long, so I wanted to be there first thing. The first thing we saw was, of course, the beautiful train.


I would love to see that train speeding down the tracks. How cool would that be?

Next, we got a First Class Ticket that was punched with the number of tourists, that being two since there were two of us. We walked straight through the line....well, there was no line. Score! There were lovely Christmas carolers singing Jingles Bells as we walked by them. They were quite animated and had beautiful voices that blended really well. It made me wonder if these carolers tour with the train or if they are hired in each city.


We walked up to the entrance where I made Victoria pose next to a banner.


And, up the stairs we went.


The first railway car was filled with costumes from the movie and portraits of the characters.


Jim Carrey is playing Ebenezer Scrooge, Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present and Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.


Scrooge!


Scrooge's robe

Colin Firth is playing Nephew Fred. (For those of you who may not keep up with movies the way that I do, I'll tell a little about who they are. You should know who Jim Carrey is. Colin Firth is in my beloved Pride & Prejudice as Mr. Darcy. He is also the dad in What a Girl Wants.)


Gary Oldman is playing Bob Cratchit, Jacob Marley, and Tiny Time. (Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula and Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movies.)


Robin Wright Penn is playing Belle. (Buttercup in The Princess Bride and Jenny in Forrest Gump.)


Also in this car were First Edition books of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, songbooks, Christmas carols, etc. It was very neat to see.




We finished browsing this car and as we walked to the next car, we noticed mistletoe above the door. The details were great! The wallpaper was stunning.

As we entered the second car, we were told we couldn't take any pictures or video in this car because there were scenes from the movie and how they used the technology on tons of TV screens that lined the walls. It was fascinating to see how they created this animated people with real live actors' faces, actions, emotions, and quirks morphed into the animated character. Amazing, ya'll! Simply amazing!

After the first two cars, we moved on to the third car that had more TV screens, masks, and very neat miniature models of sets.


The detail in these maquettes is fantastic.


This is the construction of Big Ben which is seen as being built in the movie.


This is the model for the carriage hearse.


Fred's house.


This is Scrooge's office. The detail on the models was incredible.

We left this train car and moved on to the next one which showed more of how the technology worked.


There are little dots all over the actor's face, and Motion Capture Cameras catch every subtle movement. The actor's also have to wear these black suits that are hooked up to computers so the cameras catch the movements. The technology is really impressive.

We moved on to the next train car where there were computer screens set up everywhere. You scanned your ticket that you were given when boarding. A camera is set up to take your picture and then it morphs your face into one of the character's faces. Then, you can email your picture to yourself. Once I get the pictures, I'll be sure to post them. It was very neat.

The last train was set up really pretty. There was a "roaring fire" and a table set up with a Christmas feast.


We exited the train and moved over to the "theatre" where we got to see a 3D sneak-peek at the movie. Let me tell you, this is a movie you are not going to want to miss. The preview was wonderful! Victoria and I can't wait for it to come out.


The theatre is all inflatable. I thought it was pretty cool. The columns in front of it produced snow that floated around. It was a fun effect.

I am so glad we went. We both enjoyed it a lot. I think it is a fantastic marketing campaign. I'm glad we went when we did, too, because as we were leaving, we noticed a significant line, and we were glad we weren't standing in it. Plus, the Christmas carolers were gone. I don't blame them. This 100+ degree heat is a killer in shorts, not to mention Victorian-era clothing.

The tour took us about an hour to see the whole thing. I say go if you have the chance. You can see the tour schedule here: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/christmascaroltraintour. Click on Tour to see if there is a location near you!