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!!!!!! :(
Monday, September 26, 2011
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
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