And in the Blink of an Eye, They were Gone (12-30-12)

Well, the kids were actually here for a week, but it sure went by fast.  They’ve both gone home now, and I am keeping my spirits up with the thought that we will see them both in May.     Our visit was a combination of relaxing and just hanging out, and running around Universal Studios.  But first- there was Christmas!



Christmas Eve-the trailer was all decked out!

Jess models her new sweatshirt on Christmas morning.

The kids know us so well…they had these glasses engraved for us!

Christmas dinner!  Our traditional non-traditional Chile Rellenos and turkey enchiladas.

Our first ride at Universal was a water roller coaster.  Hmm, maybe not the best idea we’ve ever had.  We were drenched, and took hours to dry off.

We knew that we were braving Universal during one of the busiest weeks of the  year, but we didn’t have too many options.  We had to skip a few rides due to lines that were over 2 hours long.  The one really long  line we did wait in was in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We waited for over 2 and a half hours,  during which time the ride broke down twice, but in the end, we did experience The Forbidden Journey, and it was worth the wait.

It was so busy at Universal, it was literally wall to wall people, even though we were up, out the door and at the park when it opened.  We were there so long the first day that we decided to stick around and have dinner at Margaritaville,  one of our favorite places.  We sat on the Porch of Indecision, listening to live music while we ate.







 

The culinary highlight of our week was dinner at Emeril’s in Universal’s Citywalk. We’ve eaten here before and had such a great experience we decided to repeat it. It wasn’t as wonderful as our first time there, but we still had a great time.

 

Paul and Stephen both enjoyed  the 5 course Chef’s Dinner while Jess tried the Filet Mignon, and I ordered Emeril’s signature dish- Andouille Crusted Redfish. Both kids were nice enough to share their dessert with their mother!

 

After dinner it was back to Margaritaville for a drink.  We were hoping to hear more music, but they started playing extra late due to the holiday.

In our “down” time, we played Catch Phrase, a family favorite.

 

We also played Monopoly- on the ipad!  It was actually easier and more fun than playing on a regular game board.

I had a great time, especially since we hardly ever see both kids at the same time, because they live so far from each other.  They had their own cottage, here at the RV park, which worked out well, because although our day ends at about 9:30, I know that theirs does not!

The weather in Orlando is not always warm at this time of year, and I did feel bad because there were definitely no beach or pool days this past week, but both kids missed snow storms back home, and as Stephen said, anytime you can sit outside in December, the weather can’t be that bad!