I am writing this blog in the car driving back to our hotel, I've gotta make the most of sitting still for longer than 5 mins!!!!
This morning was a real struggle, for me and the kids, oh I could not open my eyes and they were all bloodshot, lol. We all dragged our sorry butts out of bed and headed downstairs for brekky, this hotel has complimentary brekky every morning, which makes the strat to our day just that little bit cheaper! We arrive at Universal studios right on opening, we had decided to go straight back into islands of adventure to do some of the rides we missed last time and revisit some of our favorites! Jurassic park was first then back to Harry potter, the kids went back on the Hippogriff and kalah I and I went back on the forbidden journey, scared the bejeebers out of me again but geez it's a great ride! While the kids re rode the Hippogriff I went to fetch some butter beer (such tourists). Then we headed into dr Seuss land, the kids favorite! Though my big girl had her big big girl britches on today and she took of with Glenn to attempt the hulk roller coaster!!! By the time we met up with them they had ridden it twice!!!! Now it's time to head to Universal and see what we can get up to in there! ( or should I say which child we can frighten!)First up was shrek 4d, Hahahaha so funny, the seats moved , dragon sneezed and we got covered in water (thank god!) but I won't spoil it too much for any of you who may get to enjoy this ride in the future. From there we made our way to twister, a simulation of a real twister, Glenn stayed with lexi it was very noisy and we got a bit wet but other than that ahhh I could take it or leave it. Then it was off to the mummy! Glenn was riding solo on this one, if u haven't worked out by now at I don't do roller coasters then NEWSFLASH Clair doesn't do roller coasters!!!! The kids and I sat in the shade, another scorcher today, Glenn being a single rider could jump straight to the front of the line, waiting waiting , far out the ride must b packed!!! About 15 mins later he comes out, calls us over to the other side of the road where he was waiting, it turns out he was gone for so long because he was stuck on the ride!!! Very close to the end but on his side of the car was a sheer 2 story drop! They offered him a fast pass but one wasn't really going to do us much good really! Onwards and upwards we go, I to kiddy town E.T was the next ride, pretty cool, a slow moving hanging style ride, u are in bikes (of course) trying to get E.T back home safely, very dark and lots of effects, nearly buckled kai (surprise surprise!) but a good ride all in all. Then we come to the climax of our day!!!! The Simpsons ride!!!! OMG (yep there's those words again!)now a simulated roller coaster IS my thing, cause I can close my eyes!!! Wow this ride has to be one of my favourites, if not THE favorite! A must do no matter how long u gotta wait if u ever visit universal studios! Woody wood peckers roller coaster was our last ride, and yes I say ours because after 2 rides I was dragged on by the kids! And guess what????? I survived, who knew? Lol, I guess though when 4 yr olds are riding it then it can't be too scary, STILL it's a coaster and I'm taking it!!!! The kids finished our universal day with a play in woody wood peckers playground and we were off! Oh no not home, come on peeps you should know us better than that by now!!!!! We went back to Islands of Adventure for one last hoorah! Kalahni and Glenn ride the hulk, AGAIN, and then low and behold but who decides they want a turn, noooooo not me, or kai (don't be silly!) CHARLI!!!!! So off they go, crazy wally's if you ask me! She loved it, go charli grace!!!!! Then It's off to our reason for coming back, the river rapid ride. At the last minute we had a scratching, nooooo not me, GLENN, precious didn't want to get wet :( so that leaves me to take the kids on it, oh goodness heaven help them! Hahahahahha ah laugh and laugh we did, get soaked, we did that too! Came off walking like we'd pooped ourselves, lol. Home James! Pweeease, I'm berry berry uncomfortable, "told u so" grumbles precious! Lexi has a meltdown cause she's wet, ah im pretty sure I told u u would get wet child!!!!! Of course as we are leaving we can't go past e hulk without one last ride!!! So Glenn racks up 6 rides, kalahni 5 and charli 2 , woohooo go team! Ok so now we actually leave the park! The trip home was interering, well I wasn't gping to wear wet pants home was I? So down they came, its ok I only pulled the bum part down, the front bum was covered! Geez what do you think I am?????? ;) so home we arrive, with no embarrassing exposures, shower then....... Yep u guessed it out we go, well the family's gotta eat! But not before a quick spot of shopping! A new bag must be purchased, oh yes it does! Then we get shoes more shoes, Glenn some clothes, me nothing :( zilch zero zip! What the???? No probes there's always tomorrow ;) mwahahahaha!! Dinner at 10pm (this is becoming a habit!) and now we are driving back to our hotel, mind you we are all so tired we are delirious!!! Cracking up at the silliest things, I've been booted to the back seat and Glenn and charli are attempting to drive us home, turn right Glenn, so he goes left!!!!! Arghhhhh remind me how old you are again please!???
So tomorrow is our last day on dry land and we plan to spend it shopping and maybe an afternoon visit to blizzard beach! Yeeha!
Till next time
Cheers
Clair xx
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
September 27th, 28th & 29th
Hello!!! I know I know I've gotten behind, again! But the last 3 days have been massive and I just didn't have a chance to write. Ut that's behind us now, I'm sitting here in our new abode in downtown Kissimmee, Orlando, sitting by the pool @ 9:30pm writing while Glenn and the kids have a splash. Still very warm even at this hr of the day!
TUESDAY
Today we went to Disneys Animal Kingdom! Our main reason for visiting was to do the African safari tour and let me tell you it didn't disappoint! Gerrod and Pam did their own thing today so Janet and Peter squished into our car and we spent a wonderful day together. So the African safari was amazing,we fast passed this ride, mind you it's the only ride so far we have fast passed! It's quite a popular ride and it was so hot we couldn't be bothered waiting in the qeue! You travel in jeeps across the "serengeti" and the animals are just roaming around minding their own business, it was such an amazing experience! We saw giraffes and elephants rhino's American crocs antelope wilder beast gazelles cheetahs hippo's a wart hog flamingo's ostrich's etc etc, we just missed the zebras and the lions, but that's ok it was fantastic to see what we did! Our driver was a bit crazy, all part of the show I guess? Lol. We took a little walk around the rest of the park, saw some naked mole rats, ewwwwwww those thi gs are gross!!!! Then Glenn and the new found daring Peter, tackled everest! Not the real one of course, the roller coaster kind! Omg , now I know I've said that alot in these blogs, but this one was something else, and that's just from what I could see! Janet and I and the kids stood in the blaring sun waiting waiting, camera in hand to catch some action shots, watching ride after after ride come zooming out of the mountain side, and the screams, deafening! Next thing you know Glenn is standing beside me, what the??? Yeh I missed them, oops, but they loved it, it went forwards backwards upside down straight down straight up etc etc, vomit!!!!! But u know my saying, whatever floats your boat, it certainly doesn't float mine!!!!!! Pretty much after that little adventure, and possibly a bot of heat stroke we decide to head off and shoot over to Disneys Blizzard Beach water park. By the time we got there, hired towels and a couple of lockers, we had about 2.5 hrs to play! We jump in the tube ride first to take a look around the park, you the ones that gently float you down the river, only this one you could get on and off wherever you liked so that was kinda like pur little motorway! We got off at twin slide ride that had 2 person tube. Janet and I sat the first ride out to watch them come out the bottom, they were mostly open slides thank goodness, as kai has a real thing for enclosed spaces now, thanks to space mountain!!! Lexi, our little dare devil, as you will discover further down the blog, loved it!!!! So Janet and I joined them on the second run. Now I am a little hesitant with anything I don't know much about so although it's just a water slide my heart was still pounding rather quickly! Kalahni decides she wants to take me down, sooooo on we get 3,2,1 off we go. Straight away there's a drop, I scream, kalahni laughs, up around the corner and whoosh down another drop, K A L A H N I!!!!! As I try to stick my feet against the walls, like that's gonna help! The drops stop we go whooshing down, whirling and twirling up the walls, laughing and laughing then we get spat out the bottom! I thought kalahni was going to die laughing at me! And although the top part was a bit hairy the bottom was most enjoyable!!! Lol, and just as I think wow that was fun, we go to another ride!!!! This time we head to the family raft ride, a huge tube that fits up to 6 people in it, we had 8 so 4 in each raft. No line up, we jump in our raft, which is on a conveyor belt, then it drops us off the edge and away we go! Of course I go backwards the it spins and I go sliding up the wall so much so that I'm looking down on Glenn Kalahni and Lexi, holding on for dear life!!!! But I had a great time!!! Then when we got down the bottom and I thought it was safe I let go, we hit a bump and I go flying across the raft, creating one massive wedgie!!!! I thought the others were seriously going to pee themselves laughing, ah it was so so funny !!! Now I have to ask, whose idea was it to go next on the slide raceway??? U know the one that has about 8 lanes and u go down on your tummy on a mat over bumps???? Yeh well I though ah this be a breeze, that was until I hit the first bump and built up speed, the second getting even faster and faster,mindd you Lexi was on it as was kai, well I'm screaming my head off, we all hit the bottom, everyone jumps up laughing and having a great time, I let out a few expletives and then want to vomit!!! Non the less I join them on the next ride, a twin slide, kinda like a race, u go down your tummy on a mat again, only this one snakes around like a slalom course, everyone goes down that leaves Pete and I to go, unfortunately the last ride completely rattled me so I chickened out :(, I know I'm such a whimp, but I felt so ill. I met them all in the wave pool for a quick swim b4 closing, boy did the kids give me a hard time, especially kai, he's one to talk!!!! Lol, now of course this day is going to smoothly of course so something's gotta go a miss sooner or later??? So let's rewind to when we arrived and got our lockers, Glenn and Peter have a key right? So Glenn attaches his to a tie on the inside of his pocket on his boardies, Peter doesn't have one of those! ........ Fast forward to end of day pack up, ummmm where's the key Pete???? Must have fallen out! His locker has the car keys, our camera!!!! Etc etc so waiting waiting for the master key to arrive, bingo! Now can we gooooo????? Of course there is no rest for the wicked in this town! We head straight back to the resort, shower and head back to Downtown Disney! Wow this place is fantastico! Shops, bars restaurants, lights, singing dancing ahhh the fun never ends in Disney world! Of course neither dies the walking, this place is a good couple of k's from ene to end and the restaurant I wanted to eat at was...... Yep u guessed it, at the total opposite end! The rainforest cafe, there is a storm every half hour and it rains, thunder and lightening, very spectacular I must say.So it should be when it cost me both arms and one leg for the bill!! ;)and thats a wrap, for Tuesday anyway, I think we arrived home around 11pm? Yawn yawn =O
WEDNESDAY
So today was the day we decided to head to the bike shop, Janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam leave us tomorrow until Sunday when we all meet up for the cruise, so it was peters last chance to get there! A couple of hours later, one bike, no not me, or Glenn (though he was eyeing one very very nice one off! Hellloooo we have a house to finish!), PETER!!! Oh yes he did, so he will be bringing a nice little package home, Janet is just over the moon, literally, she has run away!!!! Lol. So we take off while they sort out the bike, ooh did I mention what I got? A tri suit,sugoi cycling jersey,sugoi tri Knicks, 4 bottle fuel belt, and a Giro helmet, oh yes I did!!! How much u ask??? For all u tri enthusiasts out there you will appreciate this one......... Just under $300, oh yes it was!!!!!!!oh and that included a pair of sugoi knicks for Glenn! Hehehehehe that's all he got, not happy Jan! (between u and I, I was very happy!) so off we go, kids r bored out of their brains by now, though they did keep the staff very entertained, and starving! So back to Downtown Disney we go for some grub the off to typhoon lagoon, another of Disneys water parks! I love the park hopper tickets, and we added the water park option so basically we can go from park to park as often as we like in a 10 day period, super! Typhoon lagoon is the older of the 2 water parks, so thankfully for me the rides were all much tamer! Another family raft ride, which was quite short really but I laughed alot, I've just realized how much laughing I've done on this holiday, maybe I should ease up a bit, clearly I'm having way to much fun!!!! ;) there were a couple of tube slides and non tube slides and a speed slide that went through a tunnel straight down!!! Guess who went on that, 3X!!!! Noooo silly not me........... KAI!!!! Oh yes he did, when he said he wanted to go on it and Glenn took him up I thought Glenn was up for one big forehead slap from me whe. Kai popped out screaming at the bottom, but to my surprise, actually everyone's surprise, he popped out the bottom jumped up with that big kai grin, you know the one, and exclaimed "I wanna do that again!!!" you couldve knocked me down with a feather! so a few more times on that, and the other tube rides, we have a quick splash in th wave pool and it's closing time, locker key in hand, thank goodness, we're outta there. Home time? Not on your nelly! We are all dressed its 5 pm let's go to Epcot!!!! We're only going there for the night show really, a spot of dinner, a couple of rides later and a few continents, epcot is like an expo, so I've crossed a few other countries off my to do list now! Lol, oh and we caught up with Janet and Peter too! Just in time for the spectacular firework and lazer show, just amazing, well worth wandering around for 4 hrs to see! We did attempt to ride soarin, a virtual hangliding ride over the skies of California, but the line was over an hr wait long and all fast passes had been used, soaring was not to be :( Home James!!!! Yawn yawn yawn =O =O , oh and before beddy byes we have to pack!!! Arghhhhh
Today, THURSDAY!!!
We say goodbye to Janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam, they are taking a road trip down to Miami, we were meant to go but decided we'd prefer to not rush the kids through the theme parks and give them (and us) the best experience possible, and completely wear them out, lol! We will meet up with them again on Sunday when We board our Disney cruise, oh yes this holiday is proudly brought to you by Disney!!!!
We leave them trying to fit their bags into their boot, ha that was a sight to see, we would've stayed for the show but we figured it could go on for a while and we had to places to
Go! First stop, our new home for 3 nights, the royal park suites In Kissimmee, it's basically parallel to lake beuna vista and only 1 min further away from the parks, free breakfast and wi fi, cheerin! So we dump our bags and head off for the dance shop, to stock up o. Supplies for miss kalahni!!!! We leave there with 1 pair jazz boots, 1 pair ballets shoes, 2 leotards, 2 dance shorts, 4 pairs of stockings and a pair of jazz shoes for miss Lexi, and all for $230!!!! Everything was about 1/2 off what I pay at home, grrrrrrrr. From here our next stop is Disneys Hollywood studio, not a very big park and not a real lot to do, but the things we did do were very fun! The first ride was woody's roundup, they said an hr wait, and of course all fast passes were exhausted, but I reckon we waited maybe 1/2 hr, so that was ok, geez we havent had to line up for anything since we've been here, so I'm not complaining. It's a 3d ride, u sit in carts with your glasses on, get spun around and stop on every straight to shoot things, it's like carnival games, lots of fun and laughs to be had again, the kids thought it was great! From there it was off to the honey I shrunk the kids playground, the. The muppets 3d movie and finally the new star wars ride! Another 3d ride, u sit in a spacecraft, C3PO is the driver and u fly rather crazily through space and star wars scenes, it was so much fun!!! I loved it!!! Kai was very hesitant and even had a few tears before it started but once we took off he relaxed and it turned out to be his favorite ride!!!! Little miss Lexi, well she goes on anything, she's quite the dare devil so we have discovered on this holiday!!!!! While charli kai lexi and I go to the American idol experience, Glenn takes kalahni on her first twisting looping roller coaster, when we meet up with them she is very shaken and had been crying :( the poor thing, the whole thing was in the pitch black and went from 0-100 in 2 secs, the fastest coaster in America!!!! Whoops, I'm thinking our kids are gonna need therapy when we get back!!!! =O Time to leave, we decide to head back to downtown Disney for dinner and one last shopping expedition. Dinner was in T Rex, very similar to the rainforest cafe only dinosaurs, and every half hr a meteor shower occurred and the dinosaurs all got a little antsy! Very cool indeed! We finished off the shopping, lexi got a Minnie mouse, kalahni bought some pressies for all her friends birthdays she's missing and a few other bits and pieces and we headed for home. We checked in, found our room and then headed straight for the pool, it open till 11pm!!!! So that brings me to now, sitting in bed, everyone asleep but me, blogging! A quick shower then bed me thinks!!! It's 11:42pm, oh my goodness, nighty night!
Sorry this one is long, hopefully u drank your morning coffee or had your lunch or something as you read this, so u didn't waste too much of your day!!! Tomorrow takes us back to Universal Studio for our second day, we want to re visit some rides in Islands of Adventure and then go check out the other side! Sounds like another big day ahead :)
Until next time
Cheers
Clair xx
TUESDAY
Today we went to Disneys Animal Kingdom! Our main reason for visiting was to do the African safari tour and let me tell you it didn't disappoint! Gerrod and Pam did their own thing today so Janet and Peter squished into our car and we spent a wonderful day together. So the African safari was amazing,we fast passed this ride, mind you it's the only ride so far we have fast passed! It's quite a popular ride and it was so hot we couldn't be bothered waiting in the qeue! You travel in jeeps across the "serengeti" and the animals are just roaming around minding their own business, it was such an amazing experience! We saw giraffes and elephants rhino's American crocs antelope wilder beast gazelles cheetahs hippo's a wart hog flamingo's ostrich's etc etc, we just missed the zebras and the lions, but that's ok it was fantastic to see what we did! Our driver was a bit crazy, all part of the show I guess? Lol. We took a little walk around the rest of the park, saw some naked mole rats, ewwwwwww those thi gs are gross!!!! Then Glenn and the new found daring Peter, tackled everest! Not the real one of course, the roller coaster kind! Omg , now I know I've said that alot in these blogs, but this one was something else, and that's just from what I could see! Janet and I and the kids stood in the blaring sun waiting waiting, camera in hand to catch some action shots, watching ride after after ride come zooming out of the mountain side, and the screams, deafening! Next thing you know Glenn is standing beside me, what the??? Yeh I missed them, oops, but they loved it, it went forwards backwards upside down straight down straight up etc etc, vomit!!!!! But u know my saying, whatever floats your boat, it certainly doesn't float mine!!!!!! Pretty much after that little adventure, and possibly a bot of heat stroke we decide to head off and shoot over to Disneys Blizzard Beach water park. By the time we got there, hired towels and a couple of lockers, we had about 2.5 hrs to play! We jump in the tube ride first to take a look around the park, you the ones that gently float you down the river, only this one you could get on and off wherever you liked so that was kinda like pur little motorway! We got off at twin slide ride that had 2 person tube. Janet and I sat the first ride out to watch them come out the bottom, they were mostly open slides thank goodness, as kai has a real thing for enclosed spaces now, thanks to space mountain!!! Lexi, our little dare devil, as you will discover further down the blog, loved it!!!! So Janet and I joined them on the second run. Now I am a little hesitant with anything I don't know much about so although it's just a water slide my heart was still pounding rather quickly! Kalahni decides she wants to take me down, sooooo on we get 3,2,1 off we go. Straight away there's a drop, I scream, kalahni laughs, up around the corner and whoosh down another drop, K A L A H N I!!!!! As I try to stick my feet against the walls, like that's gonna help! The drops stop we go whooshing down, whirling and twirling up the walls, laughing and laughing then we get spat out the bottom! I thought kalahni was going to die laughing at me! And although the top part was a bit hairy the bottom was most enjoyable!!! Lol, and just as I think wow that was fun, we go to another ride!!!! This time we head to the family raft ride, a huge tube that fits up to 6 people in it, we had 8 so 4 in each raft. No line up, we jump in our raft, which is on a conveyor belt, then it drops us off the edge and away we go! Of course I go backwards the it spins and I go sliding up the wall so much so that I'm looking down on Glenn Kalahni and Lexi, holding on for dear life!!!! But I had a great time!!! Then when we got down the bottom and I thought it was safe I let go, we hit a bump and I go flying across the raft, creating one massive wedgie!!!! I thought the others were seriously going to pee themselves laughing, ah it was so so funny !!! Now I have to ask, whose idea was it to go next on the slide raceway??? U know the one that has about 8 lanes and u go down on your tummy on a mat over bumps???? Yeh well I though ah this be a breeze, that was until I hit the first bump and built up speed, the second getting even faster and faster,mindd you Lexi was on it as was kai, well I'm screaming my head off, we all hit the bottom, everyone jumps up laughing and having a great time, I let out a few expletives and then want to vomit!!! Non the less I join them on the next ride, a twin slide, kinda like a race, u go down your tummy on a mat again, only this one snakes around like a slalom course, everyone goes down that leaves Pete and I to go, unfortunately the last ride completely rattled me so I chickened out :(, I know I'm such a whimp, but I felt so ill. I met them all in the wave pool for a quick swim b4 closing, boy did the kids give me a hard time, especially kai, he's one to talk!!!! Lol, now of course this day is going to smoothly of course so something's gotta go a miss sooner or later??? So let's rewind to when we arrived and got our lockers, Glenn and Peter have a key right? So Glenn attaches his to a tie on the inside of his pocket on his boardies, Peter doesn't have one of those! ........ Fast forward to end of day pack up, ummmm where's the key Pete???? Must have fallen out! His locker has the car keys, our camera!!!! Etc etc so waiting waiting for the master key to arrive, bingo! Now can we gooooo????? Of course there is no rest for the wicked in this town! We head straight back to the resort, shower and head back to Downtown Disney! Wow this place is fantastico! Shops, bars restaurants, lights, singing dancing ahhh the fun never ends in Disney world! Of course neither dies the walking, this place is a good couple of k's from ene to end and the restaurant I wanted to eat at was...... Yep u guessed it, at the total opposite end! The rainforest cafe, there is a storm every half hour and it rains, thunder and lightening, very spectacular I must say.So it should be when it cost me both arms and one leg for the bill!! ;)and thats a wrap, for Tuesday anyway, I think we arrived home around 11pm? Yawn yawn =O
WEDNESDAY
So today was the day we decided to head to the bike shop, Janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam leave us tomorrow until Sunday when we all meet up for the cruise, so it was peters last chance to get there! A couple of hours later, one bike, no not me, or Glenn (though he was eyeing one very very nice one off! Hellloooo we have a house to finish!), PETER!!! Oh yes he did, so he will be bringing a nice little package home, Janet is just over the moon, literally, she has run away!!!! Lol. So we take off while they sort out the bike, ooh did I mention what I got? A tri suit,sugoi cycling jersey,sugoi tri Knicks, 4 bottle fuel belt, and a Giro helmet, oh yes I did!!! How much u ask??? For all u tri enthusiasts out there you will appreciate this one......... Just under $300, oh yes it was!!!!!!!oh and that included a pair of sugoi knicks for Glenn! Hehehehehe that's all he got, not happy Jan! (between u and I, I was very happy!) so off we go, kids r bored out of their brains by now, though they did keep the staff very entertained, and starving! So back to Downtown Disney we go for some grub the off to typhoon lagoon, another of Disneys water parks! I love the park hopper tickets, and we added the water park option so basically we can go from park to park as often as we like in a 10 day period, super! Typhoon lagoon is the older of the 2 water parks, so thankfully for me the rides were all much tamer! Another family raft ride, which was quite short really but I laughed alot, I've just realized how much laughing I've done on this holiday, maybe I should ease up a bit, clearly I'm having way to much fun!!!! ;) there were a couple of tube slides and non tube slides and a speed slide that went through a tunnel straight down!!! Guess who went on that, 3X!!!! Noooo silly not me........... KAI!!!! Oh yes he did, when he said he wanted to go on it and Glenn took him up I thought Glenn was up for one big forehead slap from me whe. Kai popped out screaming at the bottom, but to my surprise, actually everyone's surprise, he popped out the bottom jumped up with that big kai grin, you know the one, and exclaimed "I wanna do that again!!!" you couldve knocked me down with a feather! so a few more times on that, and the other tube rides, we have a quick splash in th wave pool and it's closing time, locker key in hand, thank goodness, we're outta there. Home time? Not on your nelly! We are all dressed its 5 pm let's go to Epcot!!!! We're only going there for the night show really, a spot of dinner, a couple of rides later and a few continents, epcot is like an expo, so I've crossed a few other countries off my to do list now! Lol, oh and we caught up with Janet and Peter too! Just in time for the spectacular firework and lazer show, just amazing, well worth wandering around for 4 hrs to see! We did attempt to ride soarin, a virtual hangliding ride over the skies of California, but the line was over an hr wait long and all fast passes had been used, soaring was not to be :( Home James!!!! Yawn yawn yawn =O =O , oh and before beddy byes we have to pack!!! Arghhhhh
Today, THURSDAY!!!
We say goodbye to Janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam, they are taking a road trip down to Miami, we were meant to go but decided we'd prefer to not rush the kids through the theme parks and give them (and us) the best experience possible, and completely wear them out, lol! We will meet up with them again on Sunday when We board our Disney cruise, oh yes this holiday is proudly brought to you by Disney!!!!
We leave them trying to fit their bags into their boot, ha that was a sight to see, we would've stayed for the show but we figured it could go on for a while and we had to places to
Go! First stop, our new home for 3 nights, the royal park suites In Kissimmee, it's basically parallel to lake beuna vista and only 1 min further away from the parks, free breakfast and wi fi, cheerin! So we dump our bags and head off for the dance shop, to stock up o. Supplies for miss kalahni!!!! We leave there with 1 pair jazz boots, 1 pair ballets shoes, 2 leotards, 2 dance shorts, 4 pairs of stockings and a pair of jazz shoes for miss Lexi, and all for $230!!!! Everything was about 1/2 off what I pay at home, grrrrrrrr. From here our next stop is Disneys Hollywood studio, not a very big park and not a real lot to do, but the things we did do were very fun! The first ride was woody's roundup, they said an hr wait, and of course all fast passes were exhausted, but I reckon we waited maybe 1/2 hr, so that was ok, geez we havent had to line up for anything since we've been here, so I'm not complaining. It's a 3d ride, u sit in carts with your glasses on, get spun around and stop on every straight to shoot things, it's like carnival games, lots of fun and laughs to be had again, the kids thought it was great! From there it was off to the honey I shrunk the kids playground, the. The muppets 3d movie and finally the new star wars ride! Another 3d ride, u sit in a spacecraft, C3PO is the driver and u fly rather crazily through space and star wars scenes, it was so much fun!!! I loved it!!! Kai was very hesitant and even had a few tears before it started but once we took off he relaxed and it turned out to be his favorite ride!!!! Little miss Lexi, well she goes on anything, she's quite the dare devil so we have discovered on this holiday!!!!! While charli kai lexi and I go to the American idol experience, Glenn takes kalahni on her first twisting looping roller coaster, when we meet up with them she is very shaken and had been crying :( the poor thing, the whole thing was in the pitch black and went from 0-100 in 2 secs, the fastest coaster in America!!!! Whoops, I'm thinking our kids are gonna need therapy when we get back!!!! =O Time to leave, we decide to head back to downtown Disney for dinner and one last shopping expedition. Dinner was in T Rex, very similar to the rainforest cafe only dinosaurs, and every half hr a meteor shower occurred and the dinosaurs all got a little antsy! Very cool indeed! We finished off the shopping, lexi got a Minnie mouse, kalahni bought some pressies for all her friends birthdays she's missing and a few other bits and pieces and we headed for home. We checked in, found our room and then headed straight for the pool, it open till 11pm!!!! So that brings me to now, sitting in bed, everyone asleep but me, blogging! A quick shower then bed me thinks!!! It's 11:42pm, oh my goodness, nighty night!
Sorry this one is long, hopefully u drank your morning coffee or had your lunch or something as you read this, so u didn't waste too much of your day!!! Tomorrow takes us back to Universal Studio for our second day, we want to re visit some rides in Islands of Adventure and then go check out the other side! Sounds like another big day ahead :)
Until next time
Cheers
Clair xx
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday September 26th - Universal Studios
Today was unreal beyond words!!!! But let's start at the beginning and we'll get to the exciting part!
Up at 7, after a restless night with Lexi, she's still mot 100%. We were out the door by 8:30! What the? Unheard of on this holiday so far, lol. We head down to reception and buy the tickets for Universal Studios, our park of choice today. Janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam all got a 1 day pass as they only have 2 days left here, Glenn and I and the kids all got 2 day passes as we don't head off till Sunday. For those of you who don't know, on Sunday we head to Cape Canaveral to get on our Disney cruise, but janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam head down to Miami on thursday.
We arrive at Universal Studios right at opening time, 9am, yay us!!!! Universal Studios is broken up into 2 islands as such, u have Universal on the right and Islands of adventure on the left, we decided to do Islands of Adventure first because of Harry Potter land, a no brained really! Well what can I say, OMG!!!! It's amazing, exactly like the movies!!!! There are 3 rides in Harry Potter land, the duelling dragons, a twin roller coaster that twist and turns, the flight of the Hippogriff, a kid friendly gentler roller coaster and Harry Potter the Forbidden Journey (when we first arrived we didn't know what this ride entailed, so I'll explain further along). When you first enter you come face to face with the hogswart express, very cool. Then u enter Diagon Alley, there's honey dukes (lolly shop) the 3 broomsticks (restaurant) the post office, Olivanders (the wand shop) and 3 or 4 carts selling butter beer (the beverage of choice for hogswart students), yummo! Think icy butterscotch with a fluffy vanilla top on it! Once u get to the end of Diagon Alley u hit......... The Castle!!! Wow, it just blew me away! There weren't too many people there yet so we decided to hit the rides first and then check out the shops. Speaking of crowds, I'm not sure if I have mentioned the lack of them so far this trip? It's been fantastic, so much so that if we have to wait any longer than 15 mins for a ride we come back later! Now I'm told in peak season u can be waiting hours!!!!! So if you're ever thinking of doing Orlando, and I'd certain ky recommend it, then September is the time to do it!!!! Anyways back to the rides..........
So the forbidden journey was first up, Glenn Peter Gerrod and Pam were up for it, the kids not so much and me with my major fear of the unknown wasn't attempting it till I knew every finer detail about it! So Janet and I stay with the kids. We wait just outside the castle which I'd opposite the flight of the Hippogriff, after watching it a few times the girls start to eye it off. "u two go on it while we are waiting!" "ok!!!" and they're off. When they get off they are raving about it, next thing u know Lexi is mum I want to go on it, then kai says "me too!" (hmmm u sure about that buddy???) the other riders come out from the castle, Gerrod "wow that's cool I've experienced nothing like it!, dads a bit green though!" hmmmmm. Glenn, looking a bit pale and shocked "that was amazing, took me back a bit!" then Peter comes out " well that was interesting, throws unaround a bit, I feel a bit crook" ok so that me out!!!!!
Lexi "dad dad I want to go on that!" points to the roller coaster, so off they go the girls Glenn and lexi Gerrod and Kai. They survive, even kai and noooooo tears!!! Butter beer is next on the agenda as the duelling dragons is all we have left and I sure as hell know I'm not going on that!!!! Seriously the butter beer is yum!!!! It tastes like butter scotch! I got the frozen one but there was a normal one too. Glenn and Peter (gluton for punishment really) go on the dueling dragons, basically it's coasters that are identical but the twist and turn around each other, completely freaked me out just watching, but whatever floats your boat I say......... The kids and Janet and I stayed in Diagon alley and checked out the shops, honey dukes was our first (and only) stop, checking out all the sweets and what we would purchase later, you've gotta try these things! The boys come off, Peter a little shaken, Glenn was in his element (crazy). By now I had Lexi asking every 10 seconds "when are going to dr suess??" so I don't have to tell u where we went next! First stop was a train ride, kinda like a little kiddy roller coaster, charli and I were in the first carriage, we even worked up the courage to put our hands in the air!!!! Bahahahahahaha, ahhh kai and lexi loved it, and really it's kinda my speed! Then we go on the carousel and one fish two fish red fish blue fish, like the dumbo ride at Disney o ly you're in fish and there is water spuritn out at regular intervals and you gotta try to stay out of the way! Well, my driver, lexi, wasn't so good at that and yep I ended up soaked! Lots of fun though and she had a ball, as did kai riding on his own. Then straight to the cat in the hat, a cart that seats 6 people and it takes u around on a track going through the scenes of the book, what they fail tom tell u is that it spins around and jerks you this way and that! Then u go into a dark room and it spins spins spins some more!!!! Oh we thought kai was going to have a heart, the rest of us just laughed laughed. It turns out kai actually really like it, shock horror! Ok so enough kiddy stuff, it's time for a real mans ride, the hulk is next. A stomach churning roller coaster, and thats just from the ground! Glenn Gerrod and Pam go and enjoy that one, I got some rippa pics of them on it! Then lunch, and the kids have a slash around in a kids play area in dr suess land. By the time we finished lunch they were soaked! but cool, was very hot again today. Off to toon lagoon and this time kalahni Glenn Janet and Peter go on the splash mountain ride, ha got some more very unflattering photos of Janet on this one! We then move on into Jurassic park, the kids did some rock climbing, kai ended up with quite a crowd standing around watching him as he slowly made his way to the very top, all the while saying "I can't", to ring the bell, and when he did everyone clapped! The girls had fun challenging themselves too, kalahni was up and down like spiderman! The rapids was the next ride of choice but we couldn't find it, then we discovered it was back in toon lagoon! Back we go only to discover it was closed!!!! Grrrrr
By now the kids are dried off a little so we decide to attempt the spiderman ride, a 3d simulated style ride, I was a bit hesitant but after speaking to the ride man and he assuring me lexi would be fine, I though ahhh toughen up princess let's do this! Of course kai went into meltdown mode so Glenn stayed with him and the girls and I went in, geez I hope lexi can look after herself! Lol. Ahhhh it was unreal!!!!! I had to close my eyes a couple of times, as did lexi, but I survived! The girls, Inc lexi took Glenn on while I stayed with kai. When Glenn got off he said that if I liked that then I could definately handle the Harry potter
ride, hmmmmm we'll see!
The rest of the day, well the last 3 opening hrs, we revisited the kids favorite rides and shopped. Our day ended at Harry potter, yep I went on that damn ride! Alone mind u cause kalahni wouldn't come! I felt sick waiting in that line BUT as Glenn promised I'm so glad I did it!!!!! It was amazing, I got to experience flying on a broomstick (yes believe it or not I've never done that before, it's not my first mode of transport!) play quitich, get chased. Y dragons and dementors and huge spiders!!!! All the while being tipped upside down and sie to side, it was so much fun!!!! When I cam out the usual Orlando storm had hit so it was pouring and all the outdoor rides were closed, no flight of the Hippogriff for me, and just when I was getting into the swing of things!!!! When I found the others I told kalahni she had to do it, and that charli would love it too, especially if they loved spiderman!!! They both agreed, Glenn took them on and guess what???? They....................loved it too!!!! Phew, lol
After a bit of shopping it wa time to leave, just outside the park they have a downtown area so we grabbed a bite to eat there, hang on it's only 7pm, we don't do dinner till 10!!!! So when we pulled up at the resort just after 8 we where cheering!!!! Yet still here I am at 11:15 pm writing this blog! Ah it was great to have a big day and then be home and ready for bed at a reasonable hour!
Tomorrow sees us heading to Disneys Animal Kingdom in the morning and then possibly a water park in The arvo ???? I guess you'll find out tomorrow, as will we! Lol
Till next time
Cheers
Clair xx
p.s Universal is all over Disneys magic kingdom, just sayin ;)
p.s.s now I've read the preview, my apologies for the damn typo's!!!!!! :(
Up at 7, after a restless night with Lexi, she's still mot 100%. We were out the door by 8:30! What the? Unheard of on this holiday so far, lol. We head down to reception and buy the tickets for Universal Studios, our park of choice today. Janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam all got a 1 day pass as they only have 2 days left here, Glenn and I and the kids all got 2 day passes as we don't head off till Sunday. For those of you who don't know, on Sunday we head to Cape Canaveral to get on our Disney cruise, but janet, Peter, Gerrod and Pam head down to Miami on thursday.
We arrive at Universal Studios right at opening time, 9am, yay us!!!! Universal Studios is broken up into 2 islands as such, u have Universal on the right and Islands of adventure on the left, we decided to do Islands of Adventure first because of Harry Potter land, a no brained really! Well what can I say, OMG!!!! It's amazing, exactly like the movies!!!! There are 3 rides in Harry Potter land, the duelling dragons, a twin roller coaster that twist and turns, the flight of the Hippogriff, a kid friendly gentler roller coaster and Harry Potter the Forbidden Journey (when we first arrived we didn't know what this ride entailed, so I'll explain further along). When you first enter you come face to face with the hogswart express, very cool. Then u enter Diagon Alley, there's honey dukes (lolly shop) the 3 broomsticks (restaurant) the post office, Olivanders (the wand shop) and 3 or 4 carts selling butter beer (the beverage of choice for hogswart students), yummo! Think icy butterscotch with a fluffy vanilla top on it! Once u get to the end of Diagon Alley u hit......... The Castle!!! Wow, it just blew me away! There weren't too many people there yet so we decided to hit the rides first and then check out the shops. Speaking of crowds, I'm not sure if I have mentioned the lack of them so far this trip? It's been fantastic, so much so that if we have to wait any longer than 15 mins for a ride we come back later! Now I'm told in peak season u can be waiting hours!!!!! So if you're ever thinking of doing Orlando, and I'd certain ky recommend it, then September is the time to do it!!!! Anyways back to the rides..........
So the forbidden journey was first up, Glenn Peter Gerrod and Pam were up for it, the kids not so much and me with my major fear of the unknown wasn't attempting it till I knew every finer detail about it! So Janet and I stay with the kids. We wait just outside the castle which I'd opposite the flight of the Hippogriff, after watching it a few times the girls start to eye it off. "u two go on it while we are waiting!" "ok!!!" and they're off. When they get off they are raving about it, next thing u know Lexi is mum I want to go on it, then kai says "me too!" (hmmm u sure about that buddy???) the other riders come out from the castle, Gerrod "wow that's cool I've experienced nothing like it!, dads a bit green though!" hmmmmm. Glenn, looking a bit pale and shocked "that was amazing, took me back a bit!" then Peter comes out " well that was interesting, throws unaround a bit, I feel a bit crook" ok so that me out!!!!!
Lexi "dad dad I want to go on that!" points to the roller coaster, so off they go the girls Glenn and lexi Gerrod and Kai. They survive, even kai and noooooo tears!!! Butter beer is next on the agenda as the duelling dragons is all we have left and I sure as hell know I'm not going on that!!!! Seriously the butter beer is yum!!!! It tastes like butter scotch! I got the frozen one but there was a normal one too. Glenn and Peter (gluton for punishment really) go on the dueling dragons, basically it's coasters that are identical but the twist and turn around each other, completely freaked me out just watching, but whatever floats your boat I say......... The kids and Janet and I stayed in Diagon alley and checked out the shops, honey dukes was our first (and only) stop, checking out all the sweets and what we would purchase later, you've gotta try these things! The boys come off, Peter a little shaken, Glenn was in his element (crazy). By now I had Lexi asking every 10 seconds "when are going to dr suess??" so I don't have to tell u where we went next! First stop was a train ride, kinda like a little kiddy roller coaster, charli and I were in the first carriage, we even worked up the courage to put our hands in the air!!!! Bahahahahahaha, ahhh kai and lexi loved it, and really it's kinda my speed! Then we go on the carousel and one fish two fish red fish blue fish, like the dumbo ride at Disney o ly you're in fish and there is water spuritn out at regular intervals and you gotta try to stay out of the way! Well, my driver, lexi, wasn't so good at that and yep I ended up soaked! Lots of fun though and she had a ball, as did kai riding on his own. Then straight to the cat in the hat, a cart that seats 6 people and it takes u around on a track going through the scenes of the book, what they fail tom tell u is that it spins around and jerks you this way and that! Then u go into a dark room and it spins spins spins some more!!!! Oh we thought kai was going to have a heart, the rest of us just laughed laughed. It turns out kai actually really like it, shock horror! Ok so enough kiddy stuff, it's time for a real mans ride, the hulk is next. A stomach churning roller coaster, and thats just from the ground! Glenn Gerrod and Pam go and enjoy that one, I got some rippa pics of them on it! Then lunch, and the kids have a slash around in a kids play area in dr suess land. By the time we finished lunch they were soaked! but cool, was very hot again today. Off to toon lagoon and this time kalahni Glenn Janet and Peter go on the splash mountain ride, ha got some more very unflattering photos of Janet on this one! We then move on into Jurassic park, the kids did some rock climbing, kai ended up with quite a crowd standing around watching him as he slowly made his way to the very top, all the while saying "I can't", to ring the bell, and when he did everyone clapped! The girls had fun challenging themselves too, kalahni was up and down like spiderman! The rapids was the next ride of choice but we couldn't find it, then we discovered it was back in toon lagoon! Back we go only to discover it was closed!!!! Grrrrr
By now the kids are dried off a little so we decide to attempt the spiderman ride, a 3d simulated style ride, I was a bit hesitant but after speaking to the ride man and he assuring me lexi would be fine, I though ahhh toughen up princess let's do this! Of course kai went into meltdown mode so Glenn stayed with him and the girls and I went in, geez I hope lexi can look after herself! Lol. Ahhhh it was unreal!!!!! I had to close my eyes a couple of times, as did lexi, but I survived! The girls, Inc lexi took Glenn on while I stayed with kai. When Glenn got off he said that if I liked that then I could definately handle the Harry potter
ride, hmmmmm we'll see!
The rest of the day, well the last 3 opening hrs, we revisited the kids favorite rides and shopped. Our day ended at Harry potter, yep I went on that damn ride! Alone mind u cause kalahni wouldn't come! I felt sick waiting in that line BUT as Glenn promised I'm so glad I did it!!!!! It was amazing, I got to experience flying on a broomstick (yes believe it or not I've never done that before, it's not my first mode of transport!) play quitich, get chased. Y dragons and dementors and huge spiders!!!! All the while being tipped upside down and sie to side, it was so much fun!!!! When I cam out the usual Orlando storm had hit so it was pouring and all the outdoor rides were closed, no flight of the Hippogriff for me, and just when I was getting into the swing of things!!!! When I found the others I told kalahni she had to do it, and that charli would love it too, especially if they loved spiderman!!! They both agreed, Glenn took them on and guess what???? They....................loved it too!!!! Phew, lol
After a bit of shopping it wa time to leave, just outside the park they have a downtown area so we grabbed a bite to eat there, hang on it's only 7pm, we don't do dinner till 10!!!! So when we pulled up at the resort just after 8 we where cheering!!!! Yet still here I am at 11:15 pm writing this blog! Ah it was great to have a big day and then be home and ready for bed at a reasonable hour!
Tomorrow sees us heading to Disneys Animal Kingdom in the morning and then possibly a water park in The arvo ???? I guess you'll find out tomorrow, as will we! Lol
Till next time
Cheers
Clair xx
p.s Universal is all over Disneys magic kingdom, just sayin ;)
p.s.s now I've read the preview, my apologies for the damn typo's!!!!!! :(
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday Sept 25th
So last night Glenn and I made a deal that we would be out the door earlier today, ther just isn't enough time in the day when your day isn't starting till 10/11! Then we discover that some of the shops we wanted to visit aren't open on a Sunday and the others open at 10! Damn, still we were up by 7:30, kai struggled this morning, and we were out the door by 9am and headed for walmart! There were a Copley f grocery items we needed including medicine, my baby girl has a nasty nasty cough :( not very surprising though when in Vegas and here u are outside in the stinking heat and then walk inside to the freezing cold!!!! And when you're consistently all day in and out in and out, someone was bound to get sick, poor lexi. Anyway back to walmart, OMG that place is amazing!!!! Imagine kmart and Coles as one big shop and there u have Walmart! We scanned the grocery section first, a case of corona's $23, bud lite $12, 6 pack of bitch pops $12!!!!!! 500ml bottle of Gatorade, u ready for this one?.......78c, ooh u bet ya baby, thinking of sending a container ship of the stuff home!!!!! For u non Gatorade drinkers we pay around $3.50. It's coming up to Halloween so u can imagine the stuff in the stores, if only I knew what fancy dress party's I had coming up , there are some cool costumes!!!!! So we made a few purchases, got lexi some medicine, they are little sachets of orange flavored dissolvable crystals, how cool is that!!!! The best part, it actually stops her coughing, who knew there was actually a medicine out there that did that??? ;)
Well the outlets open at 10 so come on gang let's get a move on!! These ones were identical to Vegas, only a little larger (what a shame) so we knew which shops to visit! 5 hours later, 4 tired kids and numerous bags, we head home! We mostly bought shoes, we have discovered kai has a show fetish, so far he has bought 4 pairs and it would of been more only I said no! However we still have 2 weeks left so anything is possible I guess! Glenn left with quite a few parcels too, I think lexi was the only one that missed out today, she's not much of a shopper........YET! Now believe it or not but the highlight of our day today was walking back to our car, yep had me shaking in my boots and my heart beating harder than pharlaps (back In The day).We could hear a car alarm going off, so instinctively u look over to check out which car etc, there is this guy with is backside hanging out the car, he was reaching into the backseat, just as Glenn says "is that even his car?" he backs out with numerous bags in his hands them proceeds to shove them through the window of the car next to him "ummm nope I don't think so!" in he goes again for a second grab, "holy s*#t, he's robbing that car!!!! Just keep walking kids don't look at him!!!" mind you there where other people around, cars driving past etc, so brazen, but he never looked up and certainly wasn't rushing! Please tell me u hid all our parcels Glenn!!!! We had done a parcel dump too, but thankfully our car wasn't as swish as the one he was breaking in to. It's obviously a regular occurrence at the outlet as the other side of the carpark has a security podium type thing with 2 security guards keeping watch over the cars, hmmmm so tell me why our side didn't have one????? I feel so bad for the people who owned that car, man he grabbed some bags!!!! But like Glenn said, what could we do? If we said anything he'd probably pull a hand gun on us (or perhaps we watch too much telly?)
So that brings us to the present, I am sitting by the pool blogging, the kids are having a ball on the slippery dip that is in the pirate ship (check fb later for a pic, I can't post photos on here. Glenn and I are enjoying a bud lite and sweating in the humidity, sooooo humid we are just constantly sweating!!!! Time for another dip me thinks! No plans for tonight, and Universal Islands of Adventure tomorrow!!!! here we come Harry!! Hoping for an early night too, ha wishful thinking!!! Lol
Until next time
Cheers
Clair xx
p.s apologies again for all the errors and auto corrections that I didn't want!!!!
Well the outlets open at 10 so come on gang let's get a move on!! These ones were identical to Vegas, only a little larger (what a shame) so we knew which shops to visit! 5 hours later, 4 tired kids and numerous bags, we head home! We mostly bought shoes, we have discovered kai has a show fetish, so far he has bought 4 pairs and it would of been more only I said no! However we still have 2 weeks left so anything is possible I guess! Glenn left with quite a few parcels too, I think lexi was the only one that missed out today, she's not much of a shopper........YET! Now believe it or not but the highlight of our day today was walking back to our car, yep had me shaking in my boots and my heart beating harder than pharlaps (back In The day).We could hear a car alarm going off, so instinctively u look over to check out which car etc, there is this guy with is backside hanging out the car, he was reaching into the backseat, just as Glenn says "is that even his car?" he backs out with numerous bags in his hands them proceeds to shove them through the window of the car next to him "ummm nope I don't think so!" in he goes again for a second grab, "holy s*#t, he's robbing that car!!!! Just keep walking kids don't look at him!!!" mind you there where other people around, cars driving past etc, so brazen, but he never looked up and certainly wasn't rushing! Please tell me u hid all our parcels Glenn!!!! We had done a parcel dump too, but thankfully our car wasn't as swish as the one he was breaking in to. It's obviously a regular occurrence at the outlet as the other side of the carpark has a security podium type thing with 2 security guards keeping watch over the cars, hmmmm so tell me why our side didn't have one????? I feel so bad for the people who owned that car, man he grabbed some bags!!!! But like Glenn said, what could we do? If we said anything he'd probably pull a hand gun on us (or perhaps we watch too much telly?)
So that brings us to the present, I am sitting by the pool blogging, the kids are having a ball on the slippery dip that is in the pirate ship (check fb later for a pic, I can't post photos on here. Glenn and I are enjoying a bud lite and sweating in the humidity, sooooo humid we are just constantly sweating!!!! Time for another dip me thinks! No plans for tonight, and Universal Islands of Adventure tomorrow!!!! here we come Harry!! Hoping for an early night too, ha wishful thinking!!! Lol
Until next time
Cheers
Clair xx
p.s apologies again for all the errors and auto corrections that I didn't want!!!!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
John F Kennedy Space Centre
Up and at em at 8am, yep the late nights are killing everyone, especially the kids! On the bright side I had my first full nights sleep, such a big girl now! So we didn't hit the road till about 9:40 getting us to the space centre just after 10am. We purchased a ticket which included the today and tomorrow tour, hmmm I could of missed that! The beginning was interesting and getting up close to the launch pads was unreal but the other bits, yawwwwn. Glenn on the other hand loved it, he's fulfilling a childhood dream which is great to be a part of. We saw some interesting wildlife, most dead, lol, but they include a coyote, racoon, eagles, voltures, wild pigs, manatees (sea cows, like big seals) and kalahni saw a gator!!! We saw a squirrel yesterday too, so cute! So pretty much while Glenn was listening to all the ins and outs of the space shuttles I was wildlife spotting! Our last stop on the tour was to a big hanger which inside stored the Saturn 5 rocket! It was monstrous!!!!! Glenn was in his element, hence we have about a 1000 photos of it! The kids were in absolute awwww. But that wasn't the best part of the day, our last stop was at the space shuttle simulator! I was nervous to say the least but figured it wasn't a roller coaster and I wasn't going to lose my belly and hey I'll probably never get back here so what the heck! The girls were in, not lexi she was just a bit too small, so Janet stayed with her. Charli was hesitant but decided to come and kai said no. So off we go up the ramp and low and behold but who should come running up the ramp.......KAI! "r u sure mate???" a nod was his response. So we are next group in line to go in and all we can hear is this huge rumbling and could feel the ground shaking, holy s*#t what have I done???? The doors open and in we go, our pre flight safety talk just scared me even more and we were all thinking, oh no kai is gonna hate this, but on we went into our shuttle, just a seatbelt across the lap, how bad could this be????? I turn to look at kai and see tears streaming down his face, oops too late mate we're in! The ride started with " hello recruits, when a shuttle takes off it's not in this position so let's get u there to start" ahem pardon me???? And back we go till we are vertical, the girls and I laughed and laughed. Then the countdown started and off we went!!!!! The shaking and vibrating was intense and the simulation of g forces felt like an instant facelift! Whoosh into space! Then engines off and silence! Ahhhh this is nice , oops hang on what the, weightlessness is required here so let's tip u all the way forward now to simulate that feeling! Lol, then The roof opened up and we
were looking at the earth and the stars, so pretty. The roof closes they return us to our start position and off we get, a little groggy I might add the head was spinning, but what a rush! Loved it! So much so that when the girls and I saw Glenn taking Janet on we raced back up the ramp and joined them for round 2! Scaring the life out of Janet the whole time of course, cause we thought it was funny! And yep by the time we sat in our shuttle for the second time Janet was saying " what am I doing here???!" she squeezed the girls hands the entire ride but came off with the biggest grin on her face and a smlighkty tighter looking face! Lol. Time to head home, by now it's 6pm and we are all buggered, gee something different! Lol. We get back to the resort by 7:30 ish to call it a day BUt Hold on a minute the shops are open, outlets here we come! A quick look, kalahni found a couple of things but we plan on heading to the premium outlets (the same as Vegas) tomorrow, so we took note of what we found, Inc a bigggg samsonite duffle bag, and will return if need be! A huge storm hit, very typical for this time of year, and that brings me to right here right now, sitting in the room finishing off my blog. It's 8:50pm and we are about to head out for dinner, one day we might eat before 8pm!!!!! Shopping tomorrow, although there are no crowds we figure if we steer clear of the parks over the weekend they should be even quieter come Monday! Wish me luck!!!!!!!!
Till next time
Cheers
Clair xx
were looking at the earth and the stars, so pretty. The roof closes they return us to our start position and off we get, a little groggy I might add the head was spinning, but what a rush! Loved it! So much so that when the girls and I saw Glenn taking Janet on we raced back up the ramp and joined them for round 2! Scaring the life out of Janet the whole time of course, cause we thought it was funny! And yep by the time we sat in our shuttle for the second time Janet was saying " what am I doing here???!" she squeezed the girls hands the entire ride but came off with the biggest grin on her face and a smlighkty tighter looking face! Lol. Time to head home, by now it's 6pm and we are all buggered, gee something different! Lol. We get back to the resort by 7:30 ish to call it a day BUt Hold on a minute the shops are open, outlets here we come! A quick look, kalahni found a couple of things but we plan on heading to the premium outlets (the same as Vegas) tomorrow, so we took note of what we found, Inc a bigggg samsonite duffle bag, and will return if need be! A huge storm hit, very typical for this time of year, and that brings me to right here right now, sitting in the room finishing off my blog. It's 8:50pm and we are about to head out for dinner, one day we might eat before 8pm!!!!! Shopping tomorrow, although there are no crowds we figure if we steer clear of the parks over the weekend they should be even quieter come Monday! Wish me luck!!!!!!!!
Till next time
Cheers
Clair xx
Friday, September 23, 2011
Last 2 days in Vegas cont ........ + Orlando
Wednesday was our last day in Vegas so we pretty much all split up and revisited all the placeswe wanted to, plus some new ones, sooooo much to do in this place! After a late night we were late to rise, so headed straight to farewell our tour guide, Mr Wu, ok ok I'll go back to Lee now, he's threatened me that I'm big trouble if that name sticks, but me thinks that could be too late! ;) a nice 1 bedroom suite in planet Hollywood towers he was occupying, we left him just after 11 and stopped off at pinks for hotdogs (breakfast and lunch in one), I wasn't overly fussed, just saying. Then we headed to the last casino on our visiting list, Caesars palace! Wow that place is amazing!!!! (p.s Jen I did post my hangover pic on fb but I don't think it loaded so I'll try again, it's a beauty!) so now Rome is off the visiting list too! Thanks Vegas, lol. From there we headed down to the Mirage, the kids wanted to see the dolphins and the tigers, it was a stinking hot day and the kids were getting antsy so we promised them a trip to the aquarium. Glad I did though, wow we get so close to the dolphins it was amazing!!!! We were talking to them and waving and they would come over to u and either wave back or out their noses up on the bank of their enclosure and just stare at you with those big gorgeous eyes, we ha e some great photos of them! There were 2 babies as well, I wanted to pack them in my suitcase, so so cute. The white lions were just beautiful too, had there of been cubs I woulda tried stealing those too! if it wasn't so hot we would've stayed longer but we were just baking out in the sun, so we went back in and made a quick stop at the frozen yoghurt bar!!!! Yummmmmm pretty much sums up the experience, I tell ya there are some things over here that the yanks really know how to do! Its prettybmuch just a wall of soft serve machines, u get what u want then around the corner is a Mimi sizzler style buffet of lolls and fruits and sauces to add to your yoghurt, then u go to the cashier weigh your tub and pay, it's calculated by the ounce. So nice, we need one in the riff I think :)
Glenn wanted to pay one last visit to the Venetian, our favorite, when we stepped outside of the mirage the heat hit us like a ball of fire and instantly the kids went in to meltdown, poor buggers! So a flying visit to the Venetian was all we managed, by the time we left everyone was aching, lexi had to be carried, so home we went a d straight to the pool! Swimming and beers and then off to the sugar factory for dinner! Another must do if you're coming to Vegas, it's in the Paris hotel as well. Everyone had a meal, kalahni went straight for the dessert, nutella crepes! The meals were delish but omg those crepes were to die for! She only managed to get half eaten, they were too rich, we are talking crepes filled with a nutella sauce then a chocolate sauce over the top, chunks of chocolate and choc rice crisps then cream and ice cream to top it all off! Glenn me and Janet all had a little bit and we still didn't get it finished!!!! A quick stop in the sugar factory lollie shop then off to bed before our big day traveling to Orlando, Goodbye Vegas, we will miss you!!! (p.s kai informs me he'll be back when he's 25, ?????)
Thursday, traveling to Orlando
Up at 5:30, so 5 hrs sleep was had, out the door by 6:30 to checkout and taxi it to the airport. We check in, $100 in excess baggage, one of our bags was 60lb! Oops looks like someone did a bit too much shopping. She tells us we can take some out, 10lb would do it, so here we are in the middle of the airport unpacking all our clothes so we could get our bag out of the bigger bag and even out the weight a little, something I had suggested before we even left the hotel mind u, so that's all sorted phew! Something tells me though I could be coming home with a new suitcase! ;) through security, which was a nightmare, Glenn had the full body screen thing done, kinda like having a standing MRI I guess? I had the kids so I was ushered through the normal one with the kids. The flight to Dallas Fort Worth Texas was pretty uneventful, I had a much needed snooze, though 1 hr didn't quite cut it. We arrive at Texas and omgosh, I though LAX was big, ha it's got nothing on Fort Worth! Holey moley that's a big, no huge, airport!!!! We had to catch the monorail to our connecting flights terminal (they love their monorails over here, Australia need to learn a thing or two) it was 2 terminals away, just massive! We grabbed some lunch then raced to our gate to find we were the last to arrive, whoops never done that before! We taxi out and I said to Janet " are we flyi g or driving to Orlando?" seriously it was that long out to the runway! Then we sit and sit and sit, flights were being diverted due to bad weather in Orlando , GREAT! We take off late then our flight is extended cause we had to go a different way. We arrive on Orlando soil, thank god, some of the flight got a bit hairy! We pick up our rental cars, Janet and Peter had to swap their car cause they couldn't fit theirs and Gerrod and pams bags in lol! So off we go, now we are driving on the opposite side of the road, it's dark and it's raining, and I'm navigating off my iPad! So scary, my heart was in my throat the whole trip, only one u turn required, and I was given an 8/10 score from Peter! We arrived safely, much later than we had anticipated so at 9:30pm we were looking for dinner, thank goodness everything stays open late over here! An Irish pub in our complex was dinner of choice. Did I mention that they upgraded our room? So we nave this huge room with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms a dining room large lounge a d 2 kitchens????? then handed us a multitude of coupons to make our stay a little cheaper, gee thanks!!!! Woohooo, used our first coupon at dinner, lol. Bed came at 12:30am when I decided to call it quits on my last blog, we had a big day in store the following day so I wanted plenty of sleep! Yeh right, still in struggle city, I was asleep by 12:50 awake again at 3:20 back off by 4:30 then Woken up at 7:30, needless to say I have bloodshot eyes every morning and by afternoon time I'm almost delirious, better than cranky I suppose!
Friday - Disney World!!!!!!
So thats today, wow I'm finally up to date! We arrived at about 10am I think but by the time we caught the little road train thingy to the ticket office then got the ferry across to magic kingdom we walked in the gates around 10:50 ish just in time to catch the first parade of the day. The kids loved it, we got to dance out in the street with all the characters and dancers, of course I was the only adult out there from our group, party poopers! From there we headed for tomorrow land, monsters Inc laugh floor was the first stop, very funny, made even funnier by the fact that Peter was picked on the whole time, the kids thought that was hilarious! The carousel of progression was next, if u ever have a chance to do that, DON'T! 20mins of my life I'll never get back! Space mountain was next, Glenn Peter kalahni charli and kai did that one, lexi was too small and me too chicken so I took her over to the spaceship ride, we were soon joined by the girls in the line and a very very upset and shaken kai! Glenn said when it took off kai yelled out "daddy!!!!" they had to sit single file so there was nothing Glenn could do, my poor little man :( he was from then on very hesitant on any of the rides, even the little kiddy spaceship one I was lining up for, he kept questioning me all the way till we actually got on it! The car race one was next followed by the tea cups! Janet was so excited, it was closed when they were here 30 yrs ago, so kalahni and I spun the bejeebers out of the cup till we nearly puked, it was so funny!!!! That was in fantasyland, we spent a bit of time here, kai and I rode dumbo (I told u he was hesitant!) Janet and the girls did snow white and the carousel. We then went to mickey 3D cinema, that was brilliant! A must must see!!!!! It's actually more 4D, the picture jumps out that far u jump out of your chair and duck and weave, then (and this is where the 4D part comes in) Donald gets splashed with water, next thing we're getting sprayed with water! Champagne bottle corks pop off, we get wet again and then this sweet smell is released into the cinema , it was just brilliant! We the. Go on a magic carpet ride and the wind is blowing our hair, the 3D was that good u felt like u were flying, so much so that Lexi put her hand over her eyes! Oh if we go back I'll pay that ride a little visit I think! The park is very quiet so it's great, waiting no longer than 15min and most times just 5, super! We caught the big main street parade at 3 then head into libery square. Peter glenn myself kalahni and lexi do the haunted mansion, pretty lame really, thank goodness, we were goung for parents of the year trying to scare both kai and lexi in the one day! Bur she was fine. Glenn kalahni Janet and Peter ride splash mountain, we wander through frontierland and adventureland then head back to castle couture so lexi could do some shopping
princess style! Kai and Glenn headed for pirates of the carribean to do some masculine
shopping! We meet at the LILO and stitch ride for our last hoo rah of the day! Again kai wanted to know the absolute ins and outs of the ride, of course I had no idea except that it was a movie style one again, hmmmm something went wrong somewhere as we left with kai in tears again!!!! I was laughing my head off???? There were some blackout moments and then in true 4D style we got squished with water, then our over head bars got pushed down onto our shoulder (this was all in pitch black by the way) to simulate stitch jumping on our shoulders, then all of a sudden I had cold air blowing on our necks, I screamed and then laughed so hard, so I'm not sure which part got kai???? Lol. Home time I think we've traumatized the children enough for one day! We had done 8 hrs and 17km of walking, I think it was definately home time! Kalahni and charli went with Janet and Peter as they were making a stop at walmart to get some groceries and we had 2 little cherubs who were absolutely exhausted. Well that was the plan, until we missed a turn, chucked a u turn lost Janet and Peter and then drove around for an hr trying to find our way home! Ahhhhhhhhhhh, did I mention it was dark and rainy again and this time we had no iPad for directions!!!!! At 9pm we rock up home, no Janet and Peter, oh ohhh, the. Just as we were getting out of the car they arrived, where have u been? We ask. Walmart says Janet, turns out they followed a car they thought was us and ended up on the right road!!!! Grrrrr, meanwhile Glenn and I are driving around and round in circles! Lol. So another very late dinner and me sitting here at 11:45pm writing this blog! One day I'll get into bed at a reasonable hr I'm sure! Tomorrow we are off to Kennedy Space Centre, so wish us luck getting there and back, we could end up anywhere!!!!
The weather here is is extremely humid with intermittent showers, which just makes it worse! We basically just sweat the whole day, very uncomfortable to say the least. I. Sure we'll get used to it :)
Until my next blog
Cheers
Clair xx
Glenn wanted to pay one last visit to the Venetian, our favorite, when we stepped outside of the mirage the heat hit us like a ball of fire and instantly the kids went in to meltdown, poor buggers! So a flying visit to the Venetian was all we managed, by the time we left everyone was aching, lexi had to be carried, so home we went a d straight to the pool! Swimming and beers and then off to the sugar factory for dinner! Another must do if you're coming to Vegas, it's in the Paris hotel as well. Everyone had a meal, kalahni went straight for the dessert, nutella crepes! The meals were delish but omg those crepes were to die for! She only managed to get half eaten, they were too rich, we are talking crepes filled with a nutella sauce then a chocolate sauce over the top, chunks of chocolate and choc rice crisps then cream and ice cream to top it all off! Glenn me and Janet all had a little bit and we still didn't get it finished!!!! A quick stop in the sugar factory lollie shop then off to bed before our big day traveling to Orlando, Goodbye Vegas, we will miss you!!! (p.s kai informs me he'll be back when he's 25, ?????)
Thursday, traveling to Orlando
Up at 5:30, so 5 hrs sleep was had, out the door by 6:30 to checkout and taxi it to the airport. We check in, $100 in excess baggage, one of our bags was 60lb! Oops looks like someone did a bit too much shopping. She tells us we can take some out, 10lb would do it, so here we are in the middle of the airport unpacking all our clothes so we could get our bag out of the bigger bag and even out the weight a little, something I had suggested before we even left the hotel mind u, so that's all sorted phew! Something tells me though I could be coming home with a new suitcase! ;) through security, which was a nightmare, Glenn had the full body screen thing done, kinda like having a standing MRI I guess? I had the kids so I was ushered through the normal one with the kids. The flight to Dallas Fort Worth Texas was pretty uneventful, I had a much needed snooze, though 1 hr didn't quite cut it. We arrive at Texas and omgosh, I though LAX was big, ha it's got nothing on Fort Worth! Holey moley that's a big, no huge, airport!!!! We had to catch the monorail to our connecting flights terminal (they love their monorails over here, Australia need to learn a thing or two) it was 2 terminals away, just massive! We grabbed some lunch then raced to our gate to find we were the last to arrive, whoops never done that before! We taxi out and I said to Janet " are we flyi g or driving to Orlando?" seriously it was that long out to the runway! Then we sit and sit and sit, flights were being diverted due to bad weather in Orlando , GREAT! We take off late then our flight is extended cause we had to go a different way. We arrive on Orlando soil, thank god, some of the flight got a bit hairy! We pick up our rental cars, Janet and Peter had to swap their car cause they couldn't fit theirs and Gerrod and pams bags in lol! So off we go, now we are driving on the opposite side of the road, it's dark and it's raining, and I'm navigating off my iPad! So scary, my heart was in my throat the whole trip, only one u turn required, and I was given an 8/10 score from Peter! We arrived safely, much later than we had anticipated so at 9:30pm we were looking for dinner, thank goodness everything stays open late over here! An Irish pub in our complex was dinner of choice. Did I mention that they upgraded our room? So we nave this huge room with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms a dining room large lounge a d 2 kitchens????? then handed us a multitude of coupons to make our stay a little cheaper, gee thanks!!!! Woohooo, used our first coupon at dinner, lol. Bed came at 12:30am when I decided to call it quits on my last blog, we had a big day in store the following day so I wanted plenty of sleep! Yeh right, still in struggle city, I was asleep by 12:50 awake again at 3:20 back off by 4:30 then Woken up at 7:30, needless to say I have bloodshot eyes every morning and by afternoon time I'm almost delirious, better than cranky I suppose!
Friday - Disney World!!!!!!
So thats today, wow I'm finally up to date! We arrived at about 10am I think but by the time we caught the little road train thingy to the ticket office then got the ferry across to magic kingdom we walked in the gates around 10:50 ish just in time to catch the first parade of the day. The kids loved it, we got to dance out in the street with all the characters and dancers, of course I was the only adult out there from our group, party poopers! From there we headed for tomorrow land, monsters Inc laugh floor was the first stop, very funny, made even funnier by the fact that Peter was picked on the whole time, the kids thought that was hilarious! The carousel of progression was next, if u ever have a chance to do that, DON'T! 20mins of my life I'll never get back! Space mountain was next, Glenn Peter kalahni charli and kai did that one, lexi was too small and me too chicken so I took her over to the spaceship ride, we were soon joined by the girls in the line and a very very upset and shaken kai! Glenn said when it took off kai yelled out "daddy!!!!" they had to sit single file so there was nothing Glenn could do, my poor little man :( he was from then on very hesitant on any of the rides, even the little kiddy spaceship one I was lining up for, he kept questioning me all the way till we actually got on it! The car race one was next followed by the tea cups! Janet was so excited, it was closed when they were here 30 yrs ago, so kalahni and I spun the bejeebers out of the cup till we nearly puked, it was so funny!!!! That was in fantasyland, we spent a bit of time here, kai and I rode dumbo (I told u he was hesitant!) Janet and the girls did snow white and the carousel. We then went to mickey 3D cinema, that was brilliant! A must must see!!!!! It's actually more 4D, the picture jumps out that far u jump out of your chair and duck and weave, then (and this is where the 4D part comes in) Donald gets splashed with water, next thing we're getting sprayed with water! Champagne bottle corks pop off, we get wet again and then this sweet smell is released into the cinema , it was just brilliant! We the. Go on a magic carpet ride and the wind is blowing our hair, the 3D was that good u felt like u were flying, so much so that Lexi put her hand over her eyes! Oh if we go back I'll pay that ride a little visit I think! The park is very quiet so it's great, waiting no longer than 15min and most times just 5, super! We caught the big main street parade at 3 then head into libery square. Peter glenn myself kalahni and lexi do the haunted mansion, pretty lame really, thank goodness, we were goung for parents of the year trying to scare both kai and lexi in the one day! Bur she was fine. Glenn kalahni Janet and Peter ride splash mountain, we wander through frontierland and adventureland then head back to castle couture so lexi could do some shopping
princess style! Kai and Glenn headed for pirates of the carribean to do some masculine
shopping! We meet at the LILO and stitch ride for our last hoo rah of the day! Again kai wanted to know the absolute ins and outs of the ride, of course I had no idea except that it was a movie style one again, hmmmm something went wrong somewhere as we left with kai in tears again!!!! I was laughing my head off???? There were some blackout moments and then in true 4D style we got squished with water, then our over head bars got pushed down onto our shoulder (this was all in pitch black by the way) to simulate stitch jumping on our shoulders, then all of a sudden I had cold air blowing on our necks, I screamed and then laughed so hard, so I'm not sure which part got kai???? Lol. Home time I think we've traumatized the children enough for one day! We had done 8 hrs and 17km of walking, I think it was definately home time! Kalahni and charli went with Janet and Peter as they were making a stop at walmart to get some groceries and we had 2 little cherubs who were absolutely exhausted. Well that was the plan, until we missed a turn, chucked a u turn lost Janet and Peter and then drove around for an hr trying to find our way home! Ahhhhhhhhhhh, did I mention it was dark and rainy again and this time we had no iPad for directions!!!!! At 9pm we rock up home, no Janet and Peter, oh ohhh, the. Just as we were getting out of the car they arrived, where have u been? We ask. Walmart says Janet, turns out they followed a car they thought was us and ended up on the right road!!!! Grrrrr, meanwhile Glenn and I are driving around and round in circles! Lol. So another very late dinner and me sitting here at 11:45pm writing this blog! One day I'll get into bed at a reasonable hr I'm sure! Tomorrow we are off to Kennedy Space Centre, so wish us luck getting there and back, we could end up anywhere!!!!
The weather here is is extremely humid with intermittent showers, which just makes it worse! We basically just sweat the whole day, very uncomfortable to say the least. I. Sure we'll get used to it :)
Until my next blog
Cheers
Clair xx
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Our last 2 days in Vegas
Glenn's Birthday!!!
Son we wake up to say happy birthday to Glenn, kinda felt strange not exchanging gifts etc, glenn's present was the cannon SLR we purchased in Sydney before we left, but Janet remembered a card, ine better than me, whoops. He had a fun night out with Mr Wu and woke pretty chirpy, which I'm sure was for my benefit, he knew he'd be dead if he was hung over, especially since we were headed for the factory outlets!!!! Again we meet our tour guide, Mr Wu, downstairs and proceed to the North exit, "where's that Mr Wu?", " stuffed if I know!" , tell me again how much we are paying this guide????? Outside we go to wait for our cab, and just as we were eyeing off this huge stretch Ford truck unit, Mr Wu steps up and shakes the drivers hand! WTF that's ours!!!!! The kids were beside themselves, ok so maybe Mr Wu has redeemed himself, lol. Glenn was just blown away that this had been organized for his birthday, I'm feeling a bit of man love????? Hehehehe. Kai thought he was king pin sitting up like Jackie in the huge seats, grinning like a Cheshire cat! First stop was the famous Vegas sign for a photo op, may I remind you we are tourists so this goofy behavior is thoroughly acceptable!;) After we made our way through the line up, yep there was a line to get your pic under the sign, we headed back down the strip to the drive through wedding chapel, " because we're going to the chapel and we're gonna get maaaaaaried"! We went to the one where Brittney married K Fed, whoop ti
dooo, lol. Had a few pics taken sat on the love chair and kissed in the tunnel of love, so
romantic, between you and I, I'm sure Janet and Peter were very close to renewing the vowels,
and I tried to marry Gerrod and Pam , they thought I was joking............
Ok peeps enough of the cheesy wedding crap let's get to the important part, the OUTLETS!!!Lol
Upon our arrival at the outlets, we split up to make our shopping experience easier, we
started discussing meeting times Mr Wu said 1 hr will be sufficient, me thinks hmmmm either Mr
Wu has under estimated me OR these outlets aren't actually that good! 4hrs later we were
finished and Mr Wu had left with Gerrod and Pam, hahahahaha, we were having a shopping
experience that dreams are made of, I for one wasn't leaving till I had checked out every
bargain!!!! And bargains I got, but then had to restrain myself as I know Orlando is going to
be even better! We caught cabs back to the hotel and I fulfilled another long term goal, we
rode in a yellow taxi (yep I'm easily pleased, clearly I don't aim too high). Straight to the
pool for our hot and exhausted children, Glenn and I had a couple of beers (yes the bud lites
are pretty good, and boys I totally get the warm beer thing, YUK!)then it was time to get the
kids ready for the nanny! We had a fancy smancy dinner to get too! For anyone visiting Vegas
in the near future and wanting a fantastic culinary experience, I can totally recommend the
Eiffel Tower Restaurant, the view, the food, the service, everything was just A class and
Glenn had an amazing Birthday dinner. (a big thankyou to everyone for your birthday wishes
too, I forwarded them all on) From there we bid farewell to Janet and Peter and off we went to
continue the celebrations!!!! Planet Hollywood was the first stop, a bit of fun on the choccy
wheel (ok so I know that's not it's real name, but I don't know what it's called and it looks
like a choccy wheel), I was WINNING, Mr Wu wasn't happy lol and I had glenn asking me for
chips! They soon dwindled and on we went, this time to seedy Uncle Bills. Roulette was calling
our name but this time Gerrod was the winner, at 1am Glenn and I called it a night, our last day we needed all our energy! Shame I couldn't get to sleep till about 2:30!!!! Grrrrr
To be cont.......... It's now Thursday we are in Orlando and it's 12:30am, I need to sleep big day to tomorrow at Disney World!!!!!
Son we wake up to say happy birthday to Glenn, kinda felt strange not exchanging gifts etc, glenn's present was the cannon SLR we purchased in Sydney before we left, but Janet remembered a card, ine better than me, whoops. He had a fun night out with Mr Wu and woke pretty chirpy, which I'm sure was for my benefit, he knew he'd be dead if he was hung over, especially since we were headed for the factory outlets!!!! Again we meet our tour guide, Mr Wu, downstairs and proceed to the North exit, "where's that Mr Wu?", " stuffed if I know!" , tell me again how much we are paying this guide????? Outside we go to wait for our cab, and just as we were eyeing off this huge stretch Ford truck unit, Mr Wu steps up and shakes the drivers hand! WTF that's ours!!!!! The kids were beside themselves, ok so maybe Mr Wu has redeemed himself, lol. Glenn was just blown away that this had been organized for his birthday, I'm feeling a bit of man love????? Hehehehe. Kai thought he was king pin sitting up like Jackie in the huge seats, grinning like a Cheshire cat! First stop was the famous Vegas sign for a photo op, may I remind you we are tourists so this goofy behavior is thoroughly acceptable!;) After we made our way through the line up, yep there was a line to get your pic under the sign, we headed back down the strip to the drive through wedding chapel, " because we're going to the chapel and we're gonna get maaaaaaried"! We went to the one where Brittney married K Fed, whoop ti
dooo, lol. Had a few pics taken sat on the love chair and kissed in the tunnel of love, so
romantic, between you and I, I'm sure Janet and Peter were very close to renewing the vowels,
and I tried to marry Gerrod and Pam , they thought I was joking............
Ok peeps enough of the cheesy wedding crap let's get to the important part, the OUTLETS!!!Lol
Upon our arrival at the outlets, we split up to make our shopping experience easier, we
started discussing meeting times Mr Wu said 1 hr will be sufficient, me thinks hmmmm either Mr
Wu has under estimated me OR these outlets aren't actually that good! 4hrs later we were
finished and Mr Wu had left with Gerrod and Pam, hahahahaha, we were having a shopping
experience that dreams are made of, I for one wasn't leaving till I had checked out every
bargain!!!! And bargains I got, but then had to restrain myself as I know Orlando is going to
be even better! We caught cabs back to the hotel and I fulfilled another long term goal, we
rode in a yellow taxi (yep I'm easily pleased, clearly I don't aim too high). Straight to the
pool for our hot and exhausted children, Glenn and I had a couple of beers (yes the bud lites
are pretty good, and boys I totally get the warm beer thing, YUK!)then it was time to get the
kids ready for the nanny! We had a fancy smancy dinner to get too! For anyone visiting Vegas
in the near future and wanting a fantastic culinary experience, I can totally recommend the
Eiffel Tower Restaurant, the view, the food, the service, everything was just A class and
Glenn had an amazing Birthday dinner. (a big thankyou to everyone for your birthday wishes
too, I forwarded them all on) From there we bid farewell to Janet and Peter and off we went to
continue the celebrations!!!! Planet Hollywood was the first stop, a bit of fun on the choccy
wheel (ok so I know that's not it's real name, but I don't know what it's called and it looks
like a choccy wheel), I was WINNING, Mr Wu wasn't happy lol and I had glenn asking me for
chips! They soon dwindled and on we went, this time to seedy Uncle Bills. Roulette was calling
our name but this time Gerrod was the winner, at 1am Glenn and I called it a night, our last day we needed all our energy! Shame I couldn't get to sleep till about 2:30!!!! Grrrrr
To be cont.......... It's now Thursday we are in Orlando and it's 12:30am, I need to sleep big day to tomorrow at Disney World!!!!!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Vegas Baby!!!!!
HELLO!!! Wow what a hectic few days it's been. Firstly, I have been quiet on Facebook and the blog because I have had no Internet access! The Paris hotel doesn't offer free wi fi, I have only been picking it up in maccas, and thankfully we've only been there once! But now our American resident friend is here with us, aka Lee, and he brought us a sim card for the iPad, so now it's all systems go! YAY ;)
Well let's start from the beginning, Saturday's flight was not too bad really, V Australia are a fantastic airline, economy class was very roomy and comfortable, the inflight entertainment was unreal, heaps for the kids! Poor old Janet and Peter flew to Melbourne to catch the A380 turns out it was a standard old plane and they went 10hrs with no tv's or reading lights, bummer to say the least! Anyways, when we arrived in LA our Saturday started all over again, I managed to get about 3 hrs sleep the girls got a bit but kai had zero and Glenn about 1- 1.5 hrs, needless to say our 3 hr wait at LAX airport was a very long one! By the time we got on our Vegas flight not one of us saw the pre flight safety demo and I was woken by a strange lady (turns out there were air hostesses on the flight, who knew?) asking me to put my chair in the upright position! What the??? Aren't we still waiting to taxi out onto the runway at LAX???? Lol, that was the best flight I've ever had I think!
We disembark the plane and head into the terminal and are greeting almost immediately by poker machines, I've heard many people talk about it but to actually see it is mind blowing. Lexi said "ooh games" kai responded with "Lexi they are for adults", good boy and don't you forget that son! (today, 2 days later, he bought a poker machine m&m dispenser, hmmmmm......)When we got outside we were hit with this dry heat, similar to Penrith weather I think, very hot and very burny, not very pleasurable, we jumped in a SUV and headed straight for Paris! Glenn had to sit in the front and instinctively went to the passengers side, only to find a steering wheel there, ooops, hahahahaha.
Upon entering the Paris hotel we were greeted with prettiest streets and blue sky I've ever seen........INSIDE! It's just what I imagine the streets of Paris to look like, even the floors are an imitation cobblestone, and lamp posts on every corner, just beautiful!
The rest of day one was filled with wandering outside, not too far though we were very weary, and a bit of lunch in Le Burger. We got to see the Bellagio fountains too, and I must say WOW! And believe it or not but I got a little teary, I know I know me get teary, unheard of!lol, but just so clever how they match the water to the music, it truly is beautiful (as I type I can hear them going off, it's so loud, scared the kids a few times).by the end of the night kai was literally sleep walking, the poor bugger, he was absolutely exhausted, so we called it a night and the kids were asleep faster then I could tuck them in, bless em xxx
DAY 2 - Sunday
Up by 8 out by 9 and the day begins, first on the agenda BREAKFAST! Hmmm where to have it was the hardsest decision all day I think! We walked and walked and walked the. Finally stopped at the Flamingo. I decided on scrambled eggs, bacon and hash brown and luckily I could see what the lady was talking about when she asked me "muffin or biscuit?" ordinarily I would say no to a biscuit at brekky but in America a biscuit is a scone! Ha, who knew??? After a feed we headed on from the flamingo down the strip, in and out of shops the whole way , touristy type ones mostly, but hey we're tourists!!! Walgreens was an eye opener, a supermarket type store that sells everything and anything, including grog, 2lt vodka $32!!!! You've won my heart walgreens, lol. Further down the strip I stumbled across Mickie D's and I couldn't resistant urge any longer I had to go in it was calling me "Clair Clair....... Free WiFi!" hahahahaha, that was my first (since Sydney) and last Internet play date until now! Apparently I was taking too long so they decided to have something to eat, which gave me longer on Facebook! So after maccas we headed to circus circus, which for those who have been to vegas know just how far down the strip it is, especially when it's hot and you're jet lagged and have 4 kids in tow, but to everyone's credit we made it and had a fun Time playing all the carnival games. By the time we left circus circus it was 4pm, ah excuse me but where did that time go?? Jeepers, time to pull the finger out cause we gotta be back at the mirage for 6 to pick up our tickets for LOVE, cirque de soleil!!! You'll be pleased to know that tickets were picked up on Time after much chaos, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the show, a Beatles inspired cirque. Dinner followed then back to Paris, by now we are pushing 11pm, which explained kalahni's response to kai asking to go to the ice-cream bar of "not tonight, I'm not up to it", we all cracked up at the time, but then when I saw the time and then calculated that we had walked around 10kms that day, I understood her pain. So that brings us to........
TODAY Monday (I think, I have absolutely no idea what day it is!)
Gerrod and Pam (glenn's brother and his partner) arrived last night so today was our first day with them. Today also saw us meet up with Lee, my sisters brother in law and a long time friend of both mine and Glenn's. Lee lives in LA and is being our tour guide, so from now on I shall refer to him as Mr Wu (our Asian tour guide! Lol, he joked that he needed a little flag to hold to keep us from getting lost, so after that I affectionately named him Mr Wu).we decided to do the other end of the strip today, which fortunately for us is the shorter end of the strip from where we are staying, however I think we covered just as many k's! I think I felt worse today than I did yesterday, so tired and my legs just ached all day. But suck it up buttercup, we have things to do! We covered the m&m factory new York new York MGM esca,ibur Luxor and Mandalay bay, so many casinos to get through! The Luxor was fascinating, it's a pyramid so when u are inside the walls are inclined and the ceiling goes into a point, just amazing architecture. I figure after all these casinos I've done I don't have to visit Paris, New York, Egypt, a medieval castle, Caesars palace, or Venice, Vegas has it covered! Lol. By far the Venetian is our favorite, just spectacular! So back to today, Mr Wu showed us all the best bits of Vegas, got us lost in Excalibur, apparently that happens all the time, what kind of tour guide is he???? (FREE!)the rainforest cafe in the MGM was really cool, lots of noisyy animals everywhere (fake of course) that scare the bejeebies out of u, then Charli thought it would be funny to put a fake spider on my shoulder, needless to say I almost had an infarction (love that word) whilst her and Kalahni nearly wet themselves laughing! The Lions at the MGM are pretty cool too. Again we looked at the time and nearly died when we saw it it was 4pm again!!! Seriously where does the time go in this city??? We headed straight back for home and an hour later we had a very tired Lexi who was not very happy, so Janet a d in took the kids to the pool while the boys took off with mr wu to buy pre paid cell phones, Mr Wu has been very handy to have around! At the pool Janet and I enjoyed a nice frozen cocktail, piña colada for me and mojito for Janet, yum! By 8pm the kids had declared that they did not want to go out, way too tired, and cereal would do them for dinner, win for me, quiet night in and time to catch up on my blog! Glenn has headed out with Mr Wu for a drink (or 2 or 3 or 7) so as I type my 2 littlies are snoring loudly beside me completely zonked from 3 very big days!!!!
Tomorrow will see us celebrate glenn's birthday, and my mum celebrate hers (they are a day apart but because of this silly time difference I have to send my birthday wishes to mum tomorrow) so happy birthday mum, I hope you have a wonderful day and get super spoilt!!! Xxxx
I'm thinking I won't get a chance to blog tomorrow, so our itinerary is: head out first thing to the outlets, yes Glenn is happy with that, then back to the mirage to see the aquarium with the dolphins, and finally get to try out the ice cream bar (that is of course if kalahni is 'up to it' lol) then dinner at the Eiffel tower restaurant (babysitter booked) and then mr wu is taking us out for the night! We love you Mr Wu xxx
Sorry this is such a long blog but 3 days worth is alot to write! Until next time.......
Cheers
Clair xx
p.s sorry for all the mistakes, I can't see the whole screen on the iPad and now it won't let me go up and fix the mistakes ! I'm sure u get my drift though, if not "suck it up butter up" yep that's our catch phrase for this holiday so far, young or old if u whinge that's what u get back! Lol
Well let's start from the beginning, Saturday's flight was not too bad really, V Australia are a fantastic airline, economy class was very roomy and comfortable, the inflight entertainment was unreal, heaps for the kids! Poor old Janet and Peter flew to Melbourne to catch the A380 turns out it was a standard old plane and they went 10hrs with no tv's or reading lights, bummer to say the least! Anyways, when we arrived in LA our Saturday started all over again, I managed to get about 3 hrs sleep the girls got a bit but kai had zero and Glenn about 1- 1.5 hrs, needless to say our 3 hr wait at LAX airport was a very long one! By the time we got on our Vegas flight not one of us saw the pre flight safety demo and I was woken by a strange lady (turns out there were air hostesses on the flight, who knew?) asking me to put my chair in the upright position! What the??? Aren't we still waiting to taxi out onto the runway at LAX???? Lol, that was the best flight I've ever had I think!
We disembark the plane and head into the terminal and are greeting almost immediately by poker machines, I've heard many people talk about it but to actually see it is mind blowing. Lexi said "ooh games" kai responded with "Lexi they are for adults", good boy and don't you forget that son! (today, 2 days later, he bought a poker machine m&m dispenser, hmmmmm......)When we got outside we were hit with this dry heat, similar to Penrith weather I think, very hot and very burny, not very pleasurable, we jumped in a SUV and headed straight for Paris! Glenn had to sit in the front and instinctively went to the passengers side, only to find a steering wheel there, ooops, hahahahaha.
Upon entering the Paris hotel we were greeted with prettiest streets and blue sky I've ever seen........INSIDE! It's just what I imagine the streets of Paris to look like, even the floors are an imitation cobblestone, and lamp posts on every corner, just beautiful!
The rest of day one was filled with wandering outside, not too far though we were very weary, and a bit of lunch in Le Burger. We got to see the Bellagio fountains too, and I must say WOW! And believe it or not but I got a little teary, I know I know me get teary, unheard of!lol, but just so clever how they match the water to the music, it truly is beautiful (as I type I can hear them going off, it's so loud, scared the kids a few times).by the end of the night kai was literally sleep walking, the poor bugger, he was absolutely exhausted, so we called it a night and the kids were asleep faster then I could tuck them in, bless em xxx
DAY 2 - Sunday
Up by 8 out by 9 and the day begins, first on the agenda BREAKFAST! Hmmm where to have it was the hardsest decision all day I think! We walked and walked and walked the. Finally stopped at the Flamingo. I decided on scrambled eggs, bacon and hash brown and luckily I could see what the lady was talking about when she asked me "muffin or biscuit?" ordinarily I would say no to a biscuit at brekky but in America a biscuit is a scone! Ha, who knew??? After a feed we headed on from the flamingo down the strip, in and out of shops the whole way , touristy type ones mostly, but hey we're tourists!!! Walgreens was an eye opener, a supermarket type store that sells everything and anything, including grog, 2lt vodka $32!!!! You've won my heart walgreens, lol. Further down the strip I stumbled across Mickie D's and I couldn't resistant urge any longer I had to go in it was calling me "Clair Clair....... Free WiFi!" hahahahaha, that was my first (since Sydney) and last Internet play date until now! Apparently I was taking too long so they decided to have something to eat, which gave me longer on Facebook! So after maccas we headed to circus circus, which for those who have been to vegas know just how far down the strip it is, especially when it's hot and you're jet lagged and have 4 kids in tow, but to everyone's credit we made it and had a fun Time playing all the carnival games. By the time we left circus circus it was 4pm, ah excuse me but where did that time go?? Jeepers, time to pull the finger out cause we gotta be back at the mirage for 6 to pick up our tickets for LOVE, cirque de soleil!!! You'll be pleased to know that tickets were picked up on Time after much chaos, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the show, a Beatles inspired cirque. Dinner followed then back to Paris, by now we are pushing 11pm, which explained kalahni's response to kai asking to go to the ice-cream bar of "not tonight, I'm not up to it", we all cracked up at the time, but then when I saw the time and then calculated that we had walked around 10kms that day, I understood her pain. So that brings us to........
TODAY Monday (I think, I have absolutely no idea what day it is!)
Gerrod and Pam (glenn's brother and his partner) arrived last night so today was our first day with them. Today also saw us meet up with Lee, my sisters brother in law and a long time friend of both mine and Glenn's. Lee lives in LA and is being our tour guide, so from now on I shall refer to him as Mr Wu (our Asian tour guide! Lol, he joked that he needed a little flag to hold to keep us from getting lost, so after that I affectionately named him Mr Wu).we decided to do the other end of the strip today, which fortunately for us is the shorter end of the strip from where we are staying, however I think we covered just as many k's! I think I felt worse today than I did yesterday, so tired and my legs just ached all day. But suck it up buttercup, we have things to do! We covered the m&m factory new York new York MGM esca,ibur Luxor and Mandalay bay, so many casinos to get through! The Luxor was fascinating, it's a pyramid so when u are inside the walls are inclined and the ceiling goes into a point, just amazing architecture. I figure after all these casinos I've done I don't have to visit Paris, New York, Egypt, a medieval castle, Caesars palace, or Venice, Vegas has it covered! Lol. By far the Venetian is our favorite, just spectacular! So back to today, Mr Wu showed us all the best bits of Vegas, got us lost in Excalibur, apparently that happens all the time, what kind of tour guide is he???? (FREE!)the rainforest cafe in the MGM was really cool, lots of noisyy animals everywhere (fake of course) that scare the bejeebies out of u, then Charli thought it would be funny to put a fake spider on my shoulder, needless to say I almost had an infarction (love that word) whilst her and Kalahni nearly wet themselves laughing! The Lions at the MGM are pretty cool too. Again we looked at the time and nearly died when we saw it it was 4pm again!!! Seriously where does the time go in this city??? We headed straight back for home and an hour later we had a very tired Lexi who was not very happy, so Janet a d in took the kids to the pool while the boys took off with mr wu to buy pre paid cell phones, Mr Wu has been very handy to have around! At the pool Janet and I enjoyed a nice frozen cocktail, piña colada for me and mojito for Janet, yum! By 8pm the kids had declared that they did not want to go out, way too tired, and cereal would do them for dinner, win for me, quiet night in and time to catch up on my blog! Glenn has headed out with Mr Wu for a drink (or 2 or 3 or 7) so as I type my 2 littlies are snoring loudly beside me completely zonked from 3 very big days!!!!
Tomorrow will see us celebrate glenn's birthday, and my mum celebrate hers (they are a day apart but because of this silly time difference I have to send my birthday wishes to mum tomorrow) so happy birthday mum, I hope you have a wonderful day and get super spoilt!!! Xxxx
I'm thinking I won't get a chance to blog tomorrow, so our itinerary is: head out first thing to the outlets, yes Glenn is happy with that, then back to the mirage to see the aquarium with the dolphins, and finally get to try out the ice cream bar (that is of course if kalahni is 'up to it' lol) then dinner at the Eiffel tower restaurant (babysitter booked) and then mr wu is taking us out for the night! We love you Mr Wu xxx
Sorry this is such a long blog but 3 days worth is alot to write! Until next time.......
Cheers
Clair xx
p.s sorry for all the mistakes, I can't see the whole screen on the iPad and now it won't let me go up and fix the mistakes ! I'm sure u get my drift though, if not "suck it up butter up" yep that's our catch phrase for this holiday so far, young or old if u whinge that's what u get back! Lol
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Only 2 more SLEEPS!!!!!
So I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone! My last post was 3 weeks ago and now I'm done to just 2 sleeps!
We are all packed, which is just completely abnormal for me and my family, usually we are racing around (by we I mean ME) like chooks with our heads cut off trying to pack and clean and tick things off the list, this time however we (again by we I mean ME) have everything under control! We (yep that'd be me again) have managed to pack everything into 2 large rolly duffle bags, 2 adults and 4 children for 3 weeks, I think that's A fair effort, and there's plenty of room. Of course there is method to my madness with my "lack" of packing, the less I take the MORE I "have" to buy!!!! Mwahahahahaha.
The kids are getting more and more excited every day, but me, well I feel like I'm going to explode, my insides are all jittery, so much so that this afternoon I felt slightly nauseas, lol. It's nice to know that deep down I'm still a big kid =)
I know this is another short and sweet blog entry, but my next and subsequent ones will be the real deal, full of fun and interesting stories (I hope!) Ahhhh I can't wait.
Cheers for now
Clair xx
We are all packed, which is just completely abnormal for me and my family, usually we are racing around (by we I mean ME) like chooks with our heads cut off trying to pack and clean and tick things off the list, this time however we (again by we I mean ME) have everything under control! We (yep that'd be me again) have managed to pack everything into 2 large rolly duffle bags, 2 adults and 4 children for 3 weeks, I think that's A fair effort, and there's plenty of room. Of course there is method to my madness with my "lack" of packing, the less I take the MORE I "have" to buy!!!! Mwahahahahaha.
The kids are getting more and more excited every day, but me, well I feel like I'm going to explode, my insides are all jittery, so much so that this afternoon I felt slightly nauseas, lol. It's nice to know that deep down I'm still a big kid =)
I know this is another short and sweet blog entry, but my next and subsequent ones will be the real deal, full of fun and interesting stories (I hope!) Ahhhh I can't wait.
Cheers for now
Clair xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)