Mom and Dad in Florida

I love my parents. They are the best in the whole universe.

For Megan - Part Three

On our third day of "theming," we went to Universal Studios. The rides are based on movies and it feels like you are walking through different boroughs in the U.S...Hollywood, San Francisco, New York. It is less busy than Islands of Adventure but I think it also has less rides. I'm not positive about that...I know it has less rides that we like to go on. Anyway, we stayed for the whole day and on our way out had dinner at Bubba Gump's. DE-LISH-US. 

This place was soooo good! I ate Irish stew with soda bread. Mmmmmm!!!

One of my top five favorite rides

The Macy's Christmas parade in fake New York City

Another one of my favorite rides ever. It feels like you are riding your bike through space as you travel to E.T.'s home planet.

For dinner I had cajun-spiced mahi-mahi with shrimp, served over mashed potatoes.

See ya next year, Universal Studios!

Why I Love Books - And Am In The Wrong Profession

For Megan - Part Two

Day Two of our Florida vacation found us at Epcot. I hadn't been there in ages and JP couldn't remember ever having been so it was a fun day of exploration. There aren't as many rides as at some of the other parks but there was still a lot to do. We visited each country, browsed gift shops, rode the available rides and ate something from most of the countries showcased. I have never been so full in my entire life. Here are the countries whose culinary delights we devoured and imbibed:

Mexico
Norway
Germany
United States
Japan
Morocco
Great Britain
France
We skipped China because it brought back memories of Aika, Canada didn't offer anything we don't commonly have in WA, and JP was really NOT into eating anything Italian!

We arrived early and left as the gates closed. As Mom would say, "We wrung every minute out of that day!"

Entering Morocco

Aladdin's Lamps

Pretty textiles 

 I want these lamps

Japan

Germany

Norway

Britain

Until next time, Epcot...

For Megan

My bestest little sister has been bugging me to get my Florida pictures up. She said a "sneak peek" wasn't enough. So, here's a written re-cap, followed by pictures. I'm only putting Day One up right now. We arrived in Orlando December 10, rented a car and drove to our condo. It was in the same complex we usually stay but had been remodeled and was very nice. It had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, dining room, living room, washer/dryer, 4 wide-screen TVs...not that we were there long enough to watch anything, but still...

We purchased our theme park tickets ahead of time and got a deal from Universal - buy two tickets get a third free so we ended up going to Islands of Adventure on two different days - including our first day of theme parking. It was lots of fun. We got a wristband which allowed us to eat at different places in the park and figured out how to beat them at their own game and get our money's worth :-)

Taking cues from our younger cousins' Facebook selfies.

First day of "theming." Yeah, baby!

Universal's CityWalk

Entrance to Universal's Islands of Adventure

It has become tradition to take a picture of this on our first day of vacation

Cartoon Land

Hmmm...

Enter if you dare!

My favorite magical destination on the planet

Professor Sprout's Greenhouse

The Lost Continent

Entering Seuss Landing

Goofing around with JP

Leaving Seuss Landing

Stay tuned for more....