Econo Lodge Orlando

... on the day of departure I actually cancelled my plans to go because of a cold front that was making its way through the Orlando area this weekend and that was bringing allot of mositure with it, and because I did not think it would have ended up being a good thing to be sleeping in a tent with two young kids in the pouring rain and with temperatures dipping down into the 40's.

After ...

... winter and hence clothed accordingly.On arriving at Orlando a warmer place , people kept giving us glances and some even smiled to ask where we were coming from which ,immedietly made us remove all the extra clothing we were wearing.I was glad to be here and waiting to take in some sun in the latter pat of our trip to Florida.We stayed at a place called Kissimmi , where the Disney World was situated.A small ...

Today we went for a drive and visited a walmart store - we found some good bargains on t-shirts etc. One interesting thing is that Ipods and other electronics now cost about the same as in the UK. bought a card reader for $13 only to find where I'd hidden mine when we got back to the hotel. so I now have two....

we had the great joy of seeing 3 juvenile alligators in a ...

... high tech and has flight simulations and 3D cinemas showing movies about space and exploration. We both really enjoyed our time here and all the new information.

Whilst in Titusville me made a day trip to Melbourne (ha, ha), Florida that was extened into an overnighter and caught up with some of Jesses cousins. It was great getting to know them and to spend some time with them. Thanks guys for hanging out with us and for your generosity ...

... because of the Fast Pass but we also managed to sit in the right spot to get completely soaked! We all felt much better after that.

After lunch we split up again with the boys going to Dino-Land and the girls going to Camp Minnie-Mickey for autographs and photos. As Jessica describes below, she finally got her photo and autograph with Goofy, along with a few others. In the meantime, the boys went on the Dinosaur ride, which Jarod says was ...

... be damned. Oh how I will miss "Flat Whites"!
-chocolate: there are chocolate stores everywhere
-meat pies: these are like pot pies but they are typically filled with minced (ground) beef.
People eat them with ketchup on top.

Something inexplicable- In much of Australia, they charge you for ketchup, and when I say charge you, I mean like $ .30 a packet. No joke. It is crazy. If you ...

... draw I thought I'd find. After the friend I was supposed to meet had a car accident on the way to the airport to join me., my impressivly impulsive friend Caitlin from SF decided to jump on a plane and join me. Yeah...she rocks! In the meantime I ran into a great local who became a fast friend and showed me the sights all day and night Friday. With Caitlin there to help start my trip on the right note we hit ...

... heated, and it was so sheltered, that while lying on the sand, under the umbrella, you could have been in the Bahamas. I loved the fact that all the lifejackets were free (and really good ones),so we didn't worry the same with the little ones, there was so much space and chairs to chose from, plenty of lifeguards and extremely clean - always sweeping the sand. And for us ...

... We were able to order for take-away, so we sat and watched some football game while we waited. g decided he'd have the 1/2 chicken and chips and the rest of us went with fish. DH drove back to our room at ASM and we ate there. It worked out pretty well, even for the small table - 2 of us sat in the chairs and the other 2 sat on the end of the bed. mmmm - good stuff! By 5:30pm, the rain had stopped, so off to another park. Bro and crew are going shopping, so we're on ...

... to Crystal Palace Mike looked at the sign and said, "A buffet with character?"  He was getting scared.  He had no idea that this was a character meal.  Had I forgotten to mention that?  Oops.  We went up to a guy who was standing around with a list of names and gave him our name.  Our name wasn't on the list, though, so we were told to go over to the podium.  We did and we gave the girl there our confirmation number.  She typed it into the ...