The World of DragonVale

I downloaded an app called DragonVale onto my iPhone a while ago. The game required a lot of training in the beginning. Boring. So I deleted it. Then I found that the family was playing it. They begged me to play so that I could "gift" them some gems every day. Gems are rare and can speed things up in the game. It costs you nothing to gift them to friends. You just need to play.

How could I refuse? I started playing the game to give the family daily gems. While I was there, I completed the tutorials. Then I found the game to be very fun. You are free to make a lot of decisions. However you will want to maximize your gold, gems, and dragons. That will help you earn experience and level up.

You spend most of your time waiting for things to complete in the game. Gems speed activities up. But you have limited gems. The game is free. However they allow you to purchase items in the game for real money. Momoko was late like me to start the game. But her progress was suspiciously fast.

Little Kat figured out that Momoko was spending real money to speed up her progress. When he got some iTunes cash himself, Little Kat followed suit and paid to make his game accelerate. The makers of the game are happy with this. Kit Kat has been playing the game the longest. She did not use money to speed up her progress. She continues to be the top ranked player in the family. I am in last place.

Althought I love to level up in this game, the goal is the journey and not the destination. I want to have fun playing the game for a long time. If I rise up too fast, I will be done with the game too soon. I do have some plans to make a lot of gold in the game. It just takes a lot of time to set that stuff up.

Tree Attack

A large tree branch fell down in the back yard. It must have been due to some bad storms. The branch was huge. It almost looked like a tree itself. Luckily it was far away from the house. However it did not look good. It was propped up in the air by the branches on the big branch.

Kit Kat and I finally got around to dealing with it today. We decided to cut off some of the branches supporting it. That way it would come down to the ground and not be an eyesore. It was tough work. The branch was not dead wood. I cut through a major branch. Then Kit Kat did too.

I had to bring over the ladder to reach up to another big branch holding up the branch. I finished chopping the big branch. When I pulled away this branch I cut off, the whole big branch (tree) came falling down. Unfortunately it smashed into the ladder damaging it. Now this is a metal heavy duty ladder. The hinged metal that connects the two sides got bent. I tried to bend it back into place since this was a birthday gift to me. I guess it was a good thing it hit the ladder instead of me. This was a huge branch that fell down. Somehow we need to get rid of all these branches in the back yard.

Trip to Epcot

Today we headed to Epcot for some more Disney fun. The day started bad. Mamma Kat guided me with directions to drive to Epcot. However we got onto a toll road that needed exact change. We did not have any change. I had to run through the toll booth without paying.

We got to Epcot and took a twisty tram ride into the park. There was some good news at the front door. We got a discount because it was the second day we had gone to a park. We hurried up and got passes to 2 rides.

I chose my ride to be one that was not too crazy. It was a slow boat ride through a cave where they taught you about farming. The ride was mildly entertaining. Then we went to a ride that Kit Kat chose. We went back in time to learn about energy. Some cat at the end of my row got scared of the dinosaurs we met. He ran up the row to sit next to me, far away from the huge dinosaurs.

There was a free exhibit at Epcot. We got to taste all the drinks that Coca Cola serves around the world. Some of them tasted like ginger. Others tasted like a spicy Coke. And some were just nasty. We got little cups that we filled with soft drink dispensers ourselves.

The last stop was the gift shop. It was so crazy we had to leave before we got anything. Luckily we found another gift shop before we left. A lot of things were on sale there. I got a shirt. The kids got hats. Mamma Kat got some little globe. Tomorrow we hit Universal Studios. See you then.