Summer's here (but will it last???)

What great weather we have had here in Devon this weekend. Perfect (if not a little hot at times) for gardening - I think we have caught the gardening bug.
We finished the 2nd veg bed today and I planted some courgettes that I had grown from seed (I'm so proud of myself lol). Our tomatos are hung as are our peppers. At the end of the week I shall get some cabbage, more salad and squash to plant and I think we will have 2 full beds then for a while. I'm really proud of what we have achieved as we are complete novices.

We did have a break during the day when we all went to have a lovely lunch at Mum and Dad's before boring them with photos!!! I think I need to get scrapping to make them more interesting.

As you can see Ben is feeling the heat and is still not impressed with us - we are now spending too much time in the garden lol!

Tomorrow we are back to work :( I think it shall be a shock to the system after over 3 weeks off!!

Off to watch the season finale of Bones we recorded last week - will Booth make it?.....

Gardening and BBQ hunting

No post yesterday - I was pooped and didn't get up until 10.45!!! It took us until 1.30 to get out and go grocery shopping so we had food to eat (which turned into shoe shopping for Russ and a long big grocery shop!!!). Once we got home sorted shopping, fought with the beast to eat his tea (he is trying it on since we came home as punishment for leaving him!!!), walked him and cooked tea I was ready for bed lol!

Today has been a much better day (although the beast is still trying his luck!!). We spent the morning at Endsleigh Garden Centre with Mum and Dad. We wanted some more veg compost and to have another look at BBQ's. After getting our Bench we fancy having a BBQ to do even more alfresco dining! We have pretty much decided which one we want now it's just making the final decision and weighing up the costings (as always).

After lunch Russ cut the back lawn and we tended to our veg patch - it is looking really good and we had salad for lunch and dinner from our garden which was really nice. I have had to start again with the beetroot as one of our neighbour's cats dug the last lot up grrrr. You would think a 40kg, quick moving dog would deter them but alas no - they just tease him!

Sorry no pics today - camera is having a little rest!!!

Back Home

Just a quick post tonight as have had a very long almost 48 hours and I think my bed is calling!!!

We arrived safely back in the UK mid-morning. It was nearly lunchtime before we were on the motorway travelling home. We chose the motorway as there was an accident causing delays on the M3 before we could get to A303 and also the services are better on the motorway for coffee stops!!

I wasn't sure how Ben would react to us coming home - sometimes when we come back from a trip away he is indifferent to our return but this is the first time since about 6 months after we adopted him that we have been away for this length of time. Well after he looked at me through the crack in the door (and sniffed me to wake himself up!!!!!!!!) he went mad with excitment - it was a lovely greeting.

Our veg patch and herbs have changed loads and I will try and get pictures over the next couple of days. In the meantime here is a picture where our hearts still remain...

OK I lied!!!

This really will be my last post from Florida as I am sat in the airport writing this.

After bell services collected our bags we went to Artist Palette for a "Bounty Breakfast" It was lovely and a good filling start to the day (even if it was a late one!) It was then onto the Magic Kingdom for the final few hours. The queues were quite high but we rode on the Walter E Disney train a full loop and then headed up main street. The "Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it" parade had just started and so we managed to get prime viewing spots for it (not sure how we managed that as we were in the train station when it started!!!).

It was very hot stood watching the parade and all the moving and shaking of it meant we needed a refreshment (I know any excuse lol!). We found the Dole Whip seller and had our first Dole Whip float ever after TikiKrissy recommending it forever! It was totally delicious!!!

OK my laptop battery is dying so will carry on with the last day story tomorrow when I am back in Devon with our 4 legged beast:D

Around the world the Disney way

We have had fun in EPCOT again today - well after it took 1.5 hours and 4 changes of transport to get there (far to long a story to go into here!!!!)

We started off in the United Kingdom (as it was 1st stop after the boat stop!!) and then moved to Canada. After lunch in the Land (yes again I love their food and haven't had the same meal twice and still loads to try!!) and then spent time taking pictures of all the flower and garden displays around Future world.

We then went to Mexico (no flu symptoms to report!!) where we had frozen Margarita's then onto Norway in hunt of trolls. Next was China (we ate pot stickers and spring rolls there!!!) and into Germany. We got stuck in the shop there due to a storm (why did it not rain when we were eating where we were sat and had access to food and drink???!!!).

Once the rain had eased we passed through Italy picking up some canolli (pasta type pasty filled with mascapone and caramel fruit (mincemeat without suet). The weather was getting worse again so we stopped in America and sheltered from the rain by watching the American Adventure. Three people in front of us went to sleep and a little boy behind us made a good statement in the middle which went along the lines of "Man this is boring" lol. America led us to Japan and then Morocco with our final destination being in France. As you can see I got some great pictures.

We decided to come home and pack then before going to collect dinner from the Artist Palette here at the resort.

Sadly this will be my last post from Florida in 2009. We have had a great time and I can't wait until our next trip.

I will natter to you all back in the UK later in the week.

All Aboard!

We had a really early start today as we went behind the magic steam train tour at MK. It was worth getting up at a silly time of the morning for and we both really enjoyed it (even if when they were talking trains I had no real idea of what they were talking about). It was right up Russell's street and I am glad that I managed to get us places on this tour.

We then headed to Toon Town Fair so I could get better pics of Mickey and Minnie's house than we already had from previous trips. Other than getting frustrated with Americans with no manners (I felt very English today!!!) I managed to get some good shots. The attention to detail is amazing when it comes to disney - don't you just love these Twolips!!!!! Minnie even has a craft room but there is no scrapping in sight just pottery, quilting and painting.

We decided to carry on with the train theme and go to Wilderness Lodge's train room to see the bits there. It was not quite what we were expecting but cool to think that some of what we saw Walt had riden on and helped build.

While at Wilderness Lodge we had to have lunch and it was really nice again - we have done so well with eating great meals this trip (as you can tell from my blog!!)

I can't belive that we only have 1 full day left here. At least I don't return to work until Monday!!!

May the force be with you....

A few hours ago, in a world where dreams come true,

Hollywood Studio's was under threat of evil forces,

Darth Vader and Darth Maul had been seen

but the clones and jedi's were patrol and in control.......

We had an amazing day today at Hollywood Studio's. We managed to do 2 parades and a talk and got home before the storms came!

As you can see Darth Vader isn't always as scary as he is made out to be!!! Not sure why we have underpants on the outside but it is Goofy after all!! Mickey, Minnie & Donald were also dressed up a star wars characters.

There was also cast members dressed properly as star wars characters and my favourite clone wars character Asoka was the best in my opinon.

We queued to see this talk with 2 of the voice actors from Clone Wars the film and TV series. One was the voice actor of Asoka and the other was the voice actor for Obi-Wan who I also think is cool. The talk was really interesting and I am glad that we were first in line for the queue on this one!

After the show we watch the star wars parade which included a march past of alot of clones and storm troopers etc from a local star wars association who are a bit like reinactment society as we know it.


We went to the Sci-fi Diner for lunch which was nice although not as nice as the last time we went there as last time we went for Dinner and not lunch.


I then put Russ through his punishment for having me on his hands and knees contact lense hunting yesterday!!!! I made him queue to have this pic taken!!

This is Russ with Russell and Doug from the new pixar movie UP! which is not due out in the UK until October!!!! (not happy it is out at the end of the week here!!!) I just had to have a picture of Russ with Russell it was too good an opportunity to miss!!! Doug (the Dog) licked him and he has been traumatised ever since!!!!

After this we watched the Studios parade which we haven't seen before - that was cool too although it was stupidly hot again by this point and I could feel myself burning!

After the parade we headed back to cool off and book a taxi for tomorrow morning. We planned it just right - within 30 mins of getting back to our room the heavens opened at the familiar sight of pink lightening was here again!

My head to bed now - it is nearly 11.30am and we are leaving here at 6.30am for the behind the steam trains tour at Magic Kingdom. Im looking forward to this although not the early start!!!!

I'll leave you tonight with a picture of the view from our balcony.

Who's for a game of....

.... hunt the contact lense?? Well we had a game of that this morning on the path back from Downtown Disney!!!! For some reason it just popped out of Russ' eye without warning. I think anyone in the apartments near where we were would have wonderedwhat the hell we were doing crawling on our knees Russ with no shoes on and shaking himself to see if it was stuck to his clothes lol! Luckily it happened in the right place and it wasn't raining and after about 20 mins we found it - phew!!

Anyway this picture is of our building from Downtown Disney - note the clouds they are actually quite nice clouds compared to some of the others we've had this week!!!

We headed to EPCOT for Lunch and had a wonder around and got to have another go on the great piggie bank adventure - don't you just think this pig is the cutest?!

We then headed to the Studios to check out star wars weekend prior to tomorrow. We had been there for around an hour when the heavens opened again and we had another huge storm yet again we were soaked!

Finally - Happy Birthday too our Godson James who is 4 today! He was born when we were on a trip in Disneyland Resort Paris so I think there is a theme there somewhere!!!!!!! I look forward to giving him a Birthday Hug when I get back.

10 years ago today...

..... I married my childhood sweetheart and best friend. As with all marriages there are always ups and downs but we have ridden them all out to become stronger (especially in the last few months!) and the last 10 years has flown by! I am very lucky to have found and married my soul mate - I love you very much sweetheart.



We didn't want a normal day in the park today so we booked ourselves on a backstage safari tour at Animal Kingdom. It meant an early start but was well worth it.


Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of behind the scenes so we don't spoil the magic for others but we did some really cool things.


The highlight has to be getting up close and personal with a young (2.5yr old) male white rhino called Tommy. He was gorgeous and we got to pat and smooth him. We also got quite close to a couple of elephants but not close enough to touch as there were procedures being carried out in the pens so we weren't allowed in.


Paul was our guide for the morning. He was a retired biology teacher and was the best guide we could have asked for. He was nice and friendly and really knew his stuff. Also everyone we met seemed to know him and all seemed pleased to see him.


The only thing about the tour was that it had to come to an end but we were given these thermal mugs to take with us as a memento of our mornings adventure.


Luckily the rain held off until about 15mins after the tour finished, when we were walking to the resort bus! We wanted to head back to the studio to drop off our mugs. It was another almighty storm and we had to go back out in it for our afternoon tea reservation at the Grand Floridian!

We had tea of our choice, sparkling wine, sandwiches (with a pate/terrine slice and mini onion tart), scone (with jam and cream), raspberry jam tart and Trifle. It was lovely and very un-english lol!!

Half way thorough I was given a gorgeous pink scented rose to take away with me as I was celebrating my anniversary, which is now in a glass on our table in the studio.

Due to the weather and having a rose, we headed back to the studio where I fell asleep after my early start. I woke in time to get dinner from the artist palette again. Tonight it was parmesan chicken and pasta which again was yummy.

I shall leave you now with a picture of the present I had from Russ for our anniversary (Thank you!!). It is a Thomas Sabo bracelet which had 3 charms on it. While at the Grand Floridian I spotted a Cinderella's carriage charm which was perfect on it and so I brought that (our first non food purchase of the trip!!!!). It looks gorgeous and I am very pleased to have a husband with such good taste:D

The sun has got his hat on - well kind of!!

Yes after some parts of the district have had over 20" of water in 4 days we have finally had a day without rain until about an hour ago!! In fact it was dull when we left this morning so no sun cream applied and I have some nice red patches from waiting for the parade when I got home!!!!

We have had a good day today. We started off heading to hollywood studios and rode on Midway mania again. Then we caught the boat to the swan and dolphin hotels where we walked ourselves to fantasia miniture golf where we had 18 holes of fun.

Russ managed to loose his ball in the water and was a little dangerous at times!!! We both got a whole in one on the same hole and I just missed out on another but I still managed to finish the course on Par (really not sure how!!!!) Russ was 5 over!

After a brief walk around the broadwalk we got on the boat to head to EPCOT for lunch at the lotus blossom Cafe in China - this is another of our favourites in Epcot and we had a lovely lunch there.

After this we headed on the monorail to Magic Kingdom so we could watch the parade which we loved! We also had the biggest float (or ice-cream soda) you have ever seen!! It was made with Mr Whippy style icecream and the ice cream doubled the cup in size - no pictures as it was a little messy!!!!

We had to get a few supplies tonight so decided to have tea in the counter service restaurant here which is the first time we have done that. If I had realised it was so good I would have done it sooner. Each night they have a special evening meal and thursday is pork tenderloin, mash potato and corn on the cob - it was lovely. The pork was melt in the mouth cooked.

We finally walked to Downtown Disney to walk off dinner and look in the shops and then it started to rain so we came back via goofy's candy store to pick up dipped marshmallows and pick and mix. The marshmallows are in the fridge to have on our special day tomorrow :D

Need to get to bed now as we have and early start tomorrow on a behind the scenes safari tour at Animal Kingdom.

Aloha!

This morning we went deluxe resort hopping. Of the 3 we visited only one made me want to stay there and that was the grand floridian. this is where weare having grand tea for our anniversary on friday - cant wait.

We had a late breakfast in the polynesian as the tonga toast there is legendary (although very sweet!!!!) after we finished our server brought this desert to us to celebrate our anniversary saying it was from lilo and stitch. I was a lovely gesture although after tongatoast i didn't really want more sweet stuff lol. The Lilo and stitch and congratulations are made of cocoa - how cool.

Once we have completed the monoril tour of the resorts we headed for the magic kingdom. We headed to big thunder mountain and while queuing the announced severe weather was due to hit WDW so the ride could close at any time. luckily we road andheaded for late lunch. Then came the storm!! the rain came down in sheets and thunder and lightening was all around.

We decided to head back home and the puddles around were huge. Some little ones waking had water halfway up their legs! We will head to downtown disney when all is totally calm outside. This should be the worst of it gone now- thank goodness! At least we have managed to carry on regardless:)

And the rain rain rain came down down down....

... in gushing rising rivers!! That is the song from winnie the pooh and the blustery day (for those of you who have no idea what I am on about!). It sums today up weather wise! We have had a good 3 inches of rain (if not more) and in all the trips I have taken to florida I have not known it rain more than 20 minutes max at any one time - it has rained continuously now for nearly 48 hours!!!! I think we have had more rain than we did when we arrived with a hurricane in 2004. Even Russ resorted to agreeing to wear a poncho so it must have been bad!

Despite the rain we have had a great day in EPCOT's Future world. Epcot has so much for you to do that we spent 8 hours in future world alone and still had a few bits left to do.

A few days ago I told you about the great piggie bank adventure (which officially opened today so we didn't get to have a go) well today we were learning about trash sorting and recyling! We even got to push our own interactive trash truck as demonstrated by Russ. I was the driver most of the time but as normal I had very little control over the direction it was travelling in! Our efforts through all the tasks won us this certificate - perhaps garbage sorting is my future career path!!

Looking back over my posts since we arrived I seem to have been doing a lot of talk about food- today is no exception. We had lunch and dinner at Seasons in the land it was so good and varied. We have had some really good food this trip and so far no hot dogs or burgers!!

Tomorrow I think we are hoping around the magic kingdom resorts on the monorail as more rain is forcast.

Publix Saves the day!

Our trip outside of disney has definately been an experience and until we were passing Publix (a supermarket) I was begining to think it was a total waste of time and money.

We got soaked! when we left disney it was dry so no coats etc... We were soaked waiting to catch the i-trolly back from prime outlets (having not purchased anything there or at premium outlets) and when we got off at the next stop on our list we found there is no longer a Michaels there:( It meant another 20 min wait in the heavy rain so we were doubly soaked. Next stop was Walgreens - another waste of time as they didn't have mint oreos (or very much else)!!! By this time I was tired, wet, cold and had no oreos not a happy Nona!

We then spoted a publix supermarket so Russ pursuaded me to get of the trolly there to have a look as we were passing. This was an american supermarket as I know them - I love looking around proper american supermarkets (although had to avoid the cold aisles as we were still wet!!!!) I got my oreo cookies to take back to the UK and a few other supplies we required i the room (incl krispy kreme doughnuts!!!) so the trip had now been worthwhile lol.

We realise that we are holiday snobs as neither of us are wanting to stay on i-drive anytime soon. I know that we are lucky to be able to afford to stay in disney but I think I would chose lake beuna vista or kissimee area over i-drive if we couldn't stay here. It was really nice to get back to Disney and Russ is very pleased that we are heading back into a park tomorrow.

Sending love and hugs and positive vibes to Dad and Mum after someone reversed into Dad in the car today (well yesterday now your time). I am sure it will be all sorted soon although so annoying and frustrating for them at the moment!

OK off out to earl of sandwich now for some tea.

Stormy Stormy Night

As it was Sunday I fancied breakfast out today so we headed to the rainforest cafe at Animal Kingdom. They serve great breakfasts here and their tonga toast is raved about so much so I have been waiting 12 months to have some!!!! It was really nice with lots of Maple Syrup - that is my idea of a perfect sunday breakfast.

We then ventured into the park and we headed for Expedition Everest. We got fast pass' for later but as the queue line was short we joined that. A lady came upto us in the crowd and saw our anniversary badges, checked their was only 2 of us and gave us 2 fast pass' she had got meaning we didn't have to queue - rare acts of kindness like that make you realise that the world is not necessary as bad as it is reported on the news! I love the ride but anyone taking a trip here - don't travel on this ride just after you have eaten tonga toast!!!! I came off feeling a little queasy.

On the way in we also saw this gorgeous creature. When I was at primary school we had a stuffed giant anteater from the library/zoo as part of our rainforest project. It was great to see a live anteater and when we first saw him he was asleep. He reminded me of Ben as he was curled up and then rolled on his back with his legs in the air just like Ben does. He also had a manky tail, long nose and even longer tail - more Ben traits lol.

The heat got so bad by 2pm we left the park at 2.30 and headed back for the cool of the room. That of course meant falling asleep and I was rudely awoken by a large clap of thunder. We have had very heavy rain and storms since and decided against going out again tonight when we looked out about an hour ago! It is sounding a little calmer out there now but thunder is still rolling around.

Tomorrow we are having break from the parks and plan to head to Prime outlets at the top of I-drive and make our way down I-drive. I may even get to a Michaels :o

Visiting a new kind of hotel!

It was off for an early start to Hollywood Studios today for a brief stay in the Hollywood Towers Hotel. Of course the lift was a little faulty and at 13 storey's it decided to drop us lift us and drop us again. After it's third lift and drop the fault fixed and we were returned to the ground floor to exit through the hotel shop!!

The picture it took of us showed us with mouths wide open screaming!! Not an eligant sight lol.

Russ wanted to go straight on again but the reply was no from me! So he took me to ride on Rock & roller coaster - after than I deserved the large Cinnamon Roll I had from ABC commissionary (first naughty breakfast of the trip!)

We had an advanced reservation at the 50's prime time diner. I was a little sceptical on this choice but the chicken pot pie was the best chicken pie I have had in a long time. I enjoyed a grandma's Punch (various alcohol with pineapple juice Mmmmm) to wash it down with and Russ went for a peanut butter and Jelly milkshake which tasted 100 times better than it sounds.

After a trip to toystory mania again, through the prince caspian walk through and then watch "one man's dream" we have headed back to charge our batteries and the camera's!

Magic kingdom is open late and so we are heading over there later to watch Wishes and spectromagic. I think a cat nap is required!

Today we spent the day at Magic Kingdom. The castle is not as magical as Paris' but it is still nice to see it as you enter the park.

Our first stop was country bears Jamboree. We love this show with animatronic bears and it is even better now the sound has been improved and the bears have been spruced up. It was very tired looking and sounding when we visited last year.

It was then on to Splash Mountain - prob my favourite ride of the park if not in the whole of WDW. What we weren't expecting was how wet we were going to get!!! We always get wet but we have ever been this wet! Even in the heat of today (very high 80's) it took a good 2 hours to dry out completely!!!

We headed out of the park round 5 to have a cool down back in the hotel room and decided where to have diner. We made the best choice in going to cap'n Jacks! I am writing this after eating shrimp penne pasta with a crustation sauce followed by white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake all washed down with the most amazing strawberry frozen margarita. Russ had an ultimate margarita which had tequila and grand marnier in it a perfect end to a lovely day! Mum note the picture - this was basically the size of yours in Dallas!

I shall leave you with a picture I took of us travelling back on the bus from MK. I actually didn't think the camera had taken the picture and was quite surprised to see it and how good (for a travelling on the bus not knowing what you were doing picture of yourselves lol) it turned out.

Midway Madness

Sorry this is a looong post and for once I am not talking about my own madness!!!!

The only day with a full agenda prior to leaving was yesterday. Toystory Midway Mania officially opened 5 days after we left last year but we managed to have 1 ride on an unexpected soft opening. It was so cool it was definately the first ride to do on this trip.

The walk on queue was 30 mins but the queue line is so much fun that you totally forget that you are queuing - the couple behind thought I was crazy as I was taking random pics of anything (yes for once I was being a true scrapper).

Here is a trip down memory lane. Remember these??

Obviously when I had a few of these they were not 4ft wide!! This is an exact replica of the original disneyland disc. Items like this and giant ludo counters, crayons and playing cards are scattered around the queue line.

Shoots (or snakes as we know it!) and ladders along with a checker board and scrabble board decorates the ceilings.

This guy is the real star of the area though

He is 4ft high and totally interactive. The queue was moving quite quickly as we passed him so no anniversary wishes this time (although badges will be worn for duration so maybe next time!!).

After muppet vision 3D and the great movie ride we took a boat to EPCOT for lunch in Japan's Yakatori house. I love their shogun combo (teryaki chicken and sukiyaki beef with boiled rice).

We then learnt all about money saving in the Great Piggie Bank Adventure - my Mum will be pleased!!! I wanted to keep the pig he was sooo cute but with $100's of technology in it I do not think they would allow it!!!!

By this time it was soooo hot even Russ was suffering so we headed back to the room and fell asleep for 4 hours!!!! seeing as we had not slept a huge amount on our first night it was obviously needed but our plan to visit the magic kingdom went right out of the window!! May also have been the best thing as we had a storm and the rain unusually lasted for a few hours. Once the rain had slowed we walked to Downtown Disney for tea in Wolfgang Pucks - not sure we were popular as we didn't leave a tip due to poor service!

I guess I should stop this mammouth post and head into the shower so we can get going to the Magic Kingdom.

We are here!

Just a quick post to say we arrived safely in WDW.

We had a good flight (despite Russell seeing a huge hole in the tail of the plane as we walked to the gate :o!) and orlando international airport was a pain free experience.

Our studio is lovely and all our requests have been met. They even gave us happy anniversary pins(badges) to wear so every disney staff member we have seen has congratulated us :D

Had the best sandwich ever in earl of sandwich for tea Mmmmm.

Off to bed now - been up since 6am UK time and believed it is now very early in the morning over there (not 9pm here yet).

I should be cleaning and packing!!

Well with only a few days to go you would think I would want to stay in and be sorting/packing etc... of course this is me and so we have spent the day shopping for last minute bits an pieces and also came home with one of these...

I dont think it will fit in the suitcase but it fits the garden nicely!!! Of course it was flat packed from B&Q and I had to give Russ the challenge to have it up and together by the time I had cooked Chilli! 1.5 hours later and we were eating our chilli al fresco with a lovely glass (or 2) of wine. Shame about the cold breeze but it was nice and relaxing - looking forward to using it more when we return for our bbq summer they are predicting.

Last weekend was spent in the garden getting the veg patch up and running. We should have lots of beans and lettuce and maybe corn, carrots, beetroot and courgettes. It is a little learn as you go along but we are having fun.

Russ is most pleased with our 220l water butt which filled overnight on the 2nd night we had it - I think his free water rain dance may have helped lol!

Well the august leavers at work were announced this week and I was not amongst them. I am pleased as I wanted to still be there at the end of september after that they can get rid of me whenever. The sad thing is that only 3 of my team will be left and we are definately the best team in the office and they are a great bunch to work with - I am going to miss them all :(

Unfortunately no crafting over the last couple of weeks - hopefully when we are home from our travels I can get into more of a routine of gardening and crafting and chilling (oh and decorating for my Mum & Dad !!!)

OK enough waffling for tonight. My next post will probably from Florida some point next week :D