A little more recap...

I completely forgot a whole section of the day after the 1/2 marathon. This was probably the most relaxing part of the day too.  After the race we met up with our Brother and Sister-n-Law, my brother-n-law as well as our cousin, Vicki, that lives down in the area and her lovely daughter, Lexi.  After eLiz and I had gone back to our rooms and showered and changed we again met everyone in Downtown Disney and were also joined by the newlyweds, David and Julie. We all went to the Storyteller Cafe at the Grand Californian.  This is a great place to eat, except for the fact that many Disney characters are always in attendance and like to come and "talk" to everyone.

I, personally, do not care for this but have yet to learn the lessons that apparently some of my family members have already learned:
1)  Don't make eye contact.  You can pretend to be in a deep conversation with someone or 'study' the menu but you then risk not paying attention to what is going around you and find out that those people that say they love you are also getting characters to come over to you behind your back.

2)  Another great tactic is to sit in a spot that would make it virtually impossible for the characters to come near you.  You can be an instigator and be the one to make the eye contact and hand gestures that can bring even the creepiest characters over to your table.

3)  Be the only person with a camera out and use it.  This also makes you immune to the character invasion and puts you in position of great power, not only over the characters but also over what pictures to take to forever keep the memories of these great moments alive.