Florida Trip Day 7 January 2/08

I woke up at 6:30am, got ready and headed down to the lobby. I wanted to check on all of my blogging friends and I figured I would be able to get on the free computer at that time of the morning. I was right.

By the time the boys got up and we had breakfast, time was marching on. We headed to Disney to take in a day at the Magic Kingdom. We wore our winter coats. It was cold, even by our standards -48 degrees F. Not exactly what you'd expect in Florida. People had on gloves, hats, scarves and winter coats. It didn't help any that there was a brisk wind.

The entrance to Disney World

We parked in Sleepy and were close enough to walk to the park gates. The tram was just heading out when we got there.Just inside the gates, who did we bump into but Mary Poppins.

The train station from outside the park.

Main Street USA all decked out for Christmas

And another of Main Street USA. Beautiful decorations.
Cinderella's CastleCharacters from Song of the South just outside Splash Mountain.

I couldn't imagine that the boys wanted to go on Splash Mountain when it was so cold and windy, but they did. And they did get a little wet. They asked to go again, but I said no. I was afraid they would get sick. They did go on Big Thunder Mountain. We checked out the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean that we'd missed three years ago, but the lines were 2 hours long. So that was out!

It was so cold that we spent most of our time buying hot drinks and looking in souvenir shops to get warm. We saw the Tiki Show, which is talking and singing animated birds and the boys and Grandpa climbed up the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House.

We headed for the souvenir shops again and Jordan bought himself a Mickey Mouse watch as a souvenir. Good choice. Brandon wanted to wait. He's more careful with his money and wants to look around before he chooses. Another good choice.

We left the park around 6:30. It was just too darn cold to do anything. Even shutterbug Grandma behaved herself and didn't take many photos that day. We certainly weren't going to stay for the fireworks.

We had dinner and when we got back to the hotel, Dwight and the boys went swimming. After that I tucked them in bed and before long we were fast asleep. A great end to a very cold day.

Note: I'm not going to post anything more about our Florida trip for a few days. Not sure what exactly I'll be posting, but I'll think of something. I'll continue with Florida photos and stories later in the week.~Blessings, Mary~

Here's to the Long Distance Truckers - Trucker Saves Lives in Toronto, Ontario

It is cold here and I mean really cold. The wind is blowing at 37 km per hour, which almost 23 miles per hour and this makes it feel much colder. It was a good day to stay inside where it was cozy and warm and that's exactly what I did.

It is -12 Celcius, which is 10.4 Fahrenheit, but with the windchill factor it feels like -22, which is 7.6 Fahrenheit. It's been colder, I know, but just coming back from 70 degree Fahrenheit weather last week when we were in Florida makes it feel like 40 below.

On tonight's news forecast out of Toronto, they reported that there had been a 100 car plus pile up on the 400 highway. This is north of Toronto and they interviewed some of the people who were involved. They said they were driving south when suddenly out of nowhere, there was a whiteout. A whiteout, for those who don't know, is when the wind blows snow and causes the visibility to drop to zero. I've experienced my share of whiteouts and they're not pretty. The road was also icy, so other vehicles skidded out of control.

Many cars stopped on the road, which is something you don't do on the 400. That would be akin to stopping in the middle of Interstate 75. Someone's going to hit you in the rear end and that is exactly what happened. Then there was a chain reaction and soon there was over 100 cars involved.

There was a hero in all of this. A long distance trucker who was on his way to Wisconsin saw that he was going to hit several cars that had crashed into one another, so he, being a wise and brave soul, turned his rig off the road and drove into some bushes. If he had hit those cars, someone would have been killed. Instead, he put his life on the line and drove off the road. Luckily, he nor his truck were hurt. Someone was watching over him today.

So, here's to the long distance truckers who pride themselves on driving their big rigs safely and doing all they can to spare lives when they're in a dangerous situation. I pray that angels watch over this man as he and his big rig makes their way toward their destination of Wisconsin.

Florida Trip Day Six New Year's Day 2008

We woke up late on January 1, 2008. I guess we were all tired from the drive. The traffic on 192 was bumper to bumper and it took us a while to get to the restaurant. We ate at Perkins and then headed to Sea World. The traffic was still bad, but once we got past the entrances to Disney World it cleared up. We were glad we had decided to go to Sea World

We arrived at the gates of Sea World at 11:30, which was late and we knew we wouldn't see it all in one day. So once we were inside we got a map and let the boys decide what they wanted to see.

The first thing we saw was this beautiful Christmas tree below. It was so pretty and right by the water.

Then we saw a group of beautiful birds. I believe, but am not sure, that they are some kind of storks or cranes. Any help here would be appreciated.
To the right, we saw Shamu's Stadium. We hoped to head that way a little later.
The gardens at Sea World are beautiful. As we neared the sea lion's area, we saw the area below.
Here are the sea lions. They also had some seals in this area. The boys loved seeing these beautiful animals. There was a lot of noise as the bull that has his head up was warning all the other males to stay away. He seemed to have his very own harem and wasn't about to share.
The fellow below had been rescued and was missing an eye. Once he is healed and rehabilitated, the keeper said he will be set free. All of the sea lions and seals in this area have been rescued. The keeper fed them while we were there and this guy is looking for his share of the fish.

Below the boys poise by a sea lion statue. It was beautiful and a designated photo area.

Next the boys wanted to see the stingrays, so we headed in that direction and bought some fish so they could feed them. Brandon was keen on feeding them. Jordan was a little leary at first, but he finally did it. You feed a stingray by putting a fish between your first and middle finger and placing your palm flat on the bottom of the tank. The stingray will swim over your hand and take the fish. We did get to feel them as well and their skin is smooth as glass.

Then we stopped by the stingray pups. They have several and they ranged from very tiny to the size of the one below. The boys wanted to stay around the stingray tank for a long while. They found these creatures very interesting. Stingrays glide through the water and they are fast.
Next we headed for the dolphin area. They weren't feeding the dolphins while we were there. Here is the view we had when we headed that way.
Here are a couple of photos that were taken from the underwater viewing tank. It's hard not to get the reflection from the glass.

The above photo was taken from above the dolphin tank. A wonderful man by the name of Wayne, who works with the dolphins at Sea World brought along a bucket of ice and threw it in the tank right in front of the boys. The dolphin came right out of the water and almost hit Brandon in the face. The boys got to touch it and they were ecstatic.

As we left that area I was taking a photo of the boys and a lovely couple from Japan stopped and offered to take a photo of all of us. I am not a photogenic person. Everyone else looks great, but I look terrible. LOL That's why I never post photos of myself on my blog. I do get a good one once in a while, but this is definitely not it. However, it is a family photo and I guess that's what I must look like.

We sat down for a while in the area below. It was peaceful and quiet and the surroundings were beautiful.

Next we headed over toward the horse stables. I didn't know that Budweiser, Anheimer Busch owned Sea World, but they do and this area was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

A statue of one of their very famous horses. I couldn't resist this shot, but the menfolk started calling me a shutterbug. That's okay. I have some lovely photos.
This beautifully landscaped area below was not far from the horse barns. More heckling about being a shutterbuy. I ignored them. LOL
On our way back toward the main gate, we saw this area with the pink flamingos. Brandon loves to tell everyone that flamingos are pink because they only eat shrimp and he is correct.
We stopped at the gift shop on our way out and the boys picked up a couple of stuffed toys. Brandon's favorites are manatees, so that is what he bought. Jordan chose a seal. By this time it was 6:30 and Sea World closed at 7pm. When we got to the exit, we were given an update on our tickets that allowed us one free day at Sea World as long as we went back before January 11th. We were glad to be so honored and accepted. The boys were thrilled that they might get to go to Sea World another day. There was so much we hadn't seen and Brandon said it was better than Disney. Remember, we had the boys with us three years ago at Disney World.

We went and had a light dinner and then went back to the hotel. The boys and I went swimming in the heated pool that was 105 degrees. It was lovely and relaxing. I was hoping that the boys would be so relaxed they would go to sleep early. No such luck. They were so excited about their day in Sea World that they didn't fall asleep until 11pm. That is late for Brandon, but Jordan is a night hawk. I was glad when Grandma could finally crawl into bed. I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, but we had had a wonderful day and made some great memories.

I hope you've enjoyed the photos of our first day at Sea World. ~Blessings, Mary~

Show and Tell Friday - Florida Trip Day 5

This is my first Show and Tell Friday since before Christmas and it's nice to be back on track. It's easy to find something to show and tell about today. I know you're all looking forward to hearing more about our trip and seeing more photos.

We got up in the morning and were glad to leave the Days I*n. We drove a little way up the road and had breakfast at the Golden Corral. If you've never eaten there you are missing a real treat. There was every kind of breakfast food imagineable and it was delicious.

After breakfast we took the boys mini golfing. No one wanted to go to Disney on New Year's Eve. I have been there before and it is a mad house. Wall to wall people and you can't move. Brandon sometimes has difficulties with crowds and I knew he definitely would have with one of that proportion. The golf course resembled an old western gold mine and we had our choice of either an easy or difficult course. Being the mini golfers that we are, we chose the difficult one.

After mini golfing, we went back to 27 Highway and went to Wal M*rt. The boys found more of the Disney Pixar Cars that they collect and of course there were a couple that they didn't have. They bought those and I tried to buy some gravol. No such luck.

We stopped at a couple of gift shops and looked around because check in time at the R*mada wasn't until three. We had lunch and just spent our time checking out attractions. Finally it was time to go to the hotel, where I had made the reservation the day before. When we got there we were told it wouldn't be ready for another hour or two. That didn't please me as we were all tired. We looked around their gift shop, discovered an indoor pool and tried to put in time. At 4:30, the room was ready. We got our key and headed up to the room - a kids' suite. The boys were ecstatic. This is what they saw:

The sign said "No Adults." They got a real kick out of that. Of course they'd like to be a little independent and have no adults around. Can you blame them. They sometimes get into it with one another, but at times I hear them laughing and giggling. They have their own little secrets as all brothers and sisters should.
The room had a lovely mural of animals. Here is Brandon watching TV. The hotel actually had a kids' station and the boys hadn't seen much TV since we left home. Jordan moved just as I took the shot and you can see his shoulder in the front left.
Jordan claimed the top bunk. He's always wanted to sleep in a top bunk but since the boys have their own rooms, there's no need for bunk beds. He was thrilled in the beginning but then wanted to know if he could fall out. LOL
Here are the boys watching TV. Jordan has that pesky little penguin in his hands that he bought at the Newport, Kentucky Aquarium. It was cute and he bought it with his own money, but about two hours down the road we found out it squeaked. Grrr! It ended up being our mascot and sitting on the dashboard when we were driving. A very important job for a penguin. Grandpa told them he would give it flying lessons by tossing it out the window. There were times when Grandma also felt like it. Now penguin is home where Mom and Dad have to listen to it. LOL

For New Year's Eve, we decided to stay in the hotel and go swimming in the heated indoor pool. It was wonderful. Everyone was more relaxed when we headed back to the room. Brandon was asleep by 10. Jordan wanted to stay up to see the New Year in, but didn't quite make it. He fell asleep at about 11:30. It was a wonderful way to spend New Year's Eve.

I hope you enjoyed my show and tell this week. To participate or if you'd like to learn more about Show and Tell Friday, be sure to visit Kelli at There is No Place Like Home.