the Last of Orlando (01-02-13)

Oh, by the way, Happy 2013!  Paul and I actually made it to midnight on December 31, but we didn’t go to the RV park party, we just stayed home and watched TV.  I think New Years Eve is a young person’s holiday, but maybe I’m wrong.

Once the kids left, I got “hitch Itch”, ready to move on to the next place, partially because I really miss them after they leave and I need to keep myself pretty busy. We had 4 more days in Orlando though and did manage to find a few things to do!
Two of my favorite days of the year are the day the Christmas decorations go up,  and the day they come down.  I know a lot of people out there know what I am talking about.  The house looks so festive when you put them up:

and so clean and neat (and a little bare) when you take them down:

While I was keeping myself occupied by “undecorating”, Paul found his own project to work on.  This is what happens when Paul gets bored:

That’s our shower enclosure.  Not just the door- the whole thing. We had a leak where the glass meets the fiberglass and when he looked at it, he discovered that there was a problem with the installation of the enclosure.  Now, he had two choices- he could just added silicone to the area that was leaking, or he could pull the whole thing apart and install it correctly.  The course of action he took is pretty obvious.

We had a third “free” day at Universal Studios, so we waited until a “low crowd day” and headed over to ride a couple of roller coasters.

We started with The Hulk.  I must say, this is my favorite coaster ever! Usually, going up the first hill is torturous- that slooooow chugging along, waiting to get to the top.  The Hulk doesn’t do that.  Instead, you are pretty much catapulted to the top, and by the time you get there, you are traveling at 40 mph and are upside down. No time to think, and worry!


 
 I loved that, and also that there was no huge “down” where you lose your stomach.  Just lots of loops and twists. I literally had to hold on to my glasses to keep them on my face.
After a couple of rides and wandering the park for a while, we had dinner at Margaritaville again.






We did some shopping before we left and bought something we’ve been eyeing for a long time:

We love a good campfire but many places don’t have fire pits.  Well, now we have our own!



Blue Springs State Park is one of the best places to see manatees (thanks Elaine!) so we spent a half a day exploring this park.

You can swim, snorkel, and scuba dive at this beautiful spring, but not in the winter when the manatees are there.  After watching them for a while we said, Yup, submerged blobs. 

They don’t do much moving, and only stick their nose out of the water to breathe. We did see a mom and a calf swimming down the river.

I thought this was the funniest picture of the day- just a bunch of friends, hanging out in the sunshine (I wonder if the turtle is afraid if he moves, he’ll get eaten?)!!

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!

Las Vegas, NV

Wow, time goes way too fast sometimes.  Stephen left a few days ago to go back home to Boston. We are already trying to figure out when we can get together again, but life is a little too up in the air to figure it out right now.  Jess went to her stepsister's wedding and had a great time.  She spent Tuesday with them as well, so Paul and I tried to take advantage of her being busy and took off to go hiking Red Rock Canyon.  The day was nice, so we brought lunch and wore light jackets.  Unfortunately by the time we actually got to the canyon, it was 33 degreees out and snowing.  hmmmm. It would have been smart to pack warmer jackets, but we weren't that clever.  Actually, it wouldn't have mattered much.  It was snowing QUITE a bit, and the wind was blowing.  We just did the scenic drive instead, but we are interested enough that we will try to head back there tomorrow after we drop Jess off at the airport.

   Wednesday Paul and I took the shuttle to the strip, wandered around for a bit, did some window shopping, and watched the fountain at the Bellagio.  Later on in the day we met up with Jess, her stepsisters and the guys with them.  We all met at Margaritaville, had some drinks and food, then wandered the strip some more.  We saw the "Siren" show at Treasure Island and none of us were really sure why we actually stuck around to watch the whole thing. Its really silly.  We also saw the fountains at Bellagio again, which was nice for me because I have never seen them at night before.

Also on our list of things to do was visit the Ethel M chocolate factory.  We did that Friday, but they only operate Monday thru Thursday!  We did get some free chocolate though, and since it was only a  2 mile drive, it was no big deal. We came back and decided to go see a movie.  The RV Park we are staying in has a movie theater and bowling alley.  Valentine's Day was starting soon, so thats what we went to see.  It was actually a fun movie.  Once we got back home we played another game of Phase 10, the game that Jess is apparently addicted to at the moment.

This afternoon Paul and Jess went to see Avatar.  I had no interest in it, so I stayed behind to clean up, and make Jess's favorite dinner- Macaroni and Cheese.

Las Vegas, Part 1

Both kids have now arrived, and the last couple of days have been very busy!  Actually, Stephen leaves to go home tomorrow, so the visit with him is flying by! Saturday we picked Jess up at the airport around lunch time, got her settled in, and then she took off to be with her stepsisters!  Her stepsister Jocelyn is getting married here in Vegas, so their family is here too.  So Jess took off with them to go ride the rollercoaster at NY NY, and Paul and I hung out for the afternoon- Paul put together some Chili Rellenos, one of Stephen's favorite meals.  We left to go get him at about 7 pm, and picked Jess up on the way back.  We had a late dinner, but it was really great for the 4 of us to be together for it. We walked Stephen over to the hotel later in the night- the hotel is attached to the RV Park, so its convenient.
Yesterday we had a great time with them. We did some shopping in the morning, then headed back to the trailer to get ready for our outing.  We had tickets to Blue Man Group and we went to Margaritaville for an early dinner before the show.  Its a good thing we left early, because we had quite a wait at Margaritaville.
Our RV Park has a shuttle that has stops at several places along the strip.  We figured it would be easier than Paul having to drive the F350, so we took the 3 pm shuttle.  A few minutes into the trip in the shuttle, Stephen was telling us a story about a customer (he is a computer tech at Staples) and a problem the guy was having with his hard drive. It was really quiet in the bus and his was the only discernible voice.  It soon became apparent that the bus driver was trying to get Stephens attention.  He told Stephen he was being too loud and he had to come up to the "Time out" seat (the Jump seat next to the driver).  Luckily Stephen  has a great sense of humor, so he went up there to sit, apologizing for talking to his parents too loud after not seeing us for almost a year. Then he said it was ok, he didn't mind hanging out with "the dude"  for a while.
Turns out the guy had heard the conversation and was also having a problem with his hard drive, so he was picking Stephens brain to find out what he should do! Everyone was laughing- telling the driver he was lucky to get free advice, because probably people PAY to hear what Stephen has to say about their computer!
     Lunch/Dinner at Margaritaville was great- the food was OK, but it's a fun place to be.  The Margaritas packed quite a punch! Stephen was kind enough to order a drink his sister wanted and set it close enough to her for her to reach easily (she just turned 20- and has been bemoaning the fact that she has been to Vegas TWICE, before she even turned 21). People were coming around giving out small flowers for people who made a donation for Breast Cancer, so we all got a small flower and put it behind our ears.
After dinner we walked to the Venetian, where Blue Man Group performs.  Paul has seen it before and has always wanted us to see it.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it- me, partly because it was fun to see how much fun the kids were having.  The show is somewhat interactive and at one point the Blue guys walked towards the back of the theatre, stepping on the backs of seats to get there.  Our seats were in the first row behind the splash zone. One guy paused right over Jess and Stephen, and the kids handed him their flowers.  It was really cool because once he got to the back and had picked out a volunteer to bring on stage, he presented her the flowers and she took them with her.  The flowers were in the show for about the next 30 minutes. That really made the show great for us.  There were other times it was interactive too, so  it kept our interest.
After the show we took the last shuttle back home, and left Stephen at the hotel.  Since it wasn't even midnight, he had no intentions of going to his room, except to freshen up, since as he said- he's 23 and on vacation in Las Vegas! I wonder if he ever made it to bed?