Days Inn Suites Clermont

... Orlando around 11am and we stopped in for lunch at grandma and grandpa in Boynton Beach before making it back home finally around 5pm. After off loading the car we went for a bicycle ride around the neighborhood, which is the kids favorite activity these days.

By the snoring going on behind me I believe Rebecca and Christopher had a fun weekend as well, and now it is my time to hit the sack.

We're back in our spot at Pat's Place, ready to step up and help her any way we can when she has her knee replacement surgery this week. We SO appreciate being able to park here, with full hook ups and her great company, that we're happy to feel of some use to her!

Taking advantage of our Thousand Trails Membership to kick back for a week at the "Orlando Preserve", which is really in nearby Clermont. Unfortunately, the pool is too cold to swim in, but we used the hot tub one day. Every night, at 9 and 9:45 p.m., we can hear the "boom" of firewords ...

... over the GPS directions along the way and took a wrong turn off of I4. We were re-routed through the back roads and wound up having to pay a toll on John Young Parkway. It took us a good half-hour to get to the restaurant when it should have only taken ten minutes from Downtown Disney, but hey... at least we got to see some of Orlando! When we got to the restaurant we realized that we were only two blocks away from Universal Studios. We parked and headed ...

... them a call. The woman even said that if we needed the location of a Wal-Mart at 3:30 in the morning, we shouldn't hesitate to ask. They were the nicest people ever! Yvonne at Loyalty Homes had shut her phone off and forgotten about us when we needed help regarding her ****** company, and here were these people saying we could call them at any hour of the night about a Wal-Mart! My ...

... really only looks good from the outside.  On the inside it's nothing special; we have better 50's-themed diners in the city.  Anyway, Mike and I sat at a booth that was covered in flies and was right in the sun.  No thanks.  We then moved to a different booth but it was just as bad.  I wasn't a happy camper. I had to go t the bathroom pretty bad by this point so I told Mike that I'd be right back.  I didn't know where the nearest bathroom was, so ...

... settled into the cabin. Lake Louisa has 20 brand-new cabins that face Dixie Lake, the second largest lake in the park after Lake Louisa. (There is also a regular campground, which seemed to be populated by large RVs when we were there.) Our cabin was situated toward one end of the cabin road, where there was a small no-name pond. We wanted to make the most of the dying daylight, so Jim and I walked the sandy path around the pond, then back up the hill ...

... went through the "backstage" area where all the props are held. The fake props. That were never actually used for any movies. It was still fun to look around though. And now it's time to bring out the immature teenage girl in me. I promised my friends that I would get pictures of any cute guys I saw while down in Florida, and I've never been one to back down from a promise. And the guy in front of us was oh so cute. I ...

... saw a Friendly's down the block and figured that you really can't go wrong at Friendly's.  Dad parked while mom, Mike and I ran in to get a table since it was getting pretty crowded.  The guy at the podium asked us how many, and when I said "four" he asked us where we were from.  When I said New York he said he could tell from my accent - I had said "faw" and "New Yawk."  He then asked if we were Yankee fans and I said, "Of course!"  He said that he was from ...

... again. Well Christen was nobody's fool and figured this out after the 2nd time it was done. Realizing this was a total injustice when she re-opened a color book, she whirled the book from the back seat back at us, hitting Leah with the color book. You never learn how smart a 2 year old is except times like these....we've never laughed so hard.