Monday, July 11, 2011

Downtown Disney & Fathers Day

The 3rd week of June Mike and I headed down to the Orlando FL area. My parents and grandparents both own timeshares at a resort in Kissimme. This was our first time back since the summer Mike and I got married, and Mike's first time ever. I was so excited to show him around the beautiful resort (which wasn't as beautiful with the drought, not nearly as green as usual.) It was exciting to be with my family on vacation, everyone was in a good mood and there were few disagreements. The first thing I wanted to do was go to Down Town Disney for dessert and to walk around.
The resort is about 10 minutes away from the parks so it was a great set up. As we made the drive that night I started to second guess my decision, the clouds were really dark and ominous and looking like they were going to wreck havoc at any moment. We wanted to go to planet hollywood for dessert but I forgot how insanely long the lines are in the summer. So we walked all the way around to the other side of downtown disney to go to the giridehli place. Just as we started to get close... I could feel the wind pick up and the sky starting to rumble in the distance. We had already bought tickets to a movie in 30 min so we couldn't afford to get stuck in the rain on the other side of the place. So we made a beeline back to the theater. We used our best NYC native skills and maneuvered our way around tons of people. It was very impressive.
We made our way into a Ben & Jerry's right as the storm started. We took advantage of our location and got some ice cream for dessert. Then headed to the theater for the movie. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides. I really liked it, just not the 3D part, that made me a little motion sick.



Sunday was Fathers day. But our father and mother spent most of their day at a mandatory meeting for owners. Boring. So all of us kids hung out together, which was a lot of fun.
We spent a lot of time either in the lazy river or putt-putting. I'm sad I don't have any pictures of us doing these things at all while we were there. I just never wanted to bring my camera to the pool to get wet.
We went to the local grocery store (Publix) to get stuff to make the fathers day dinner. The guys saw the lottery machines and all realized they had never bought a lottery ticket, so much to my disproval. they all bought one. $6 down the drain, but for the lesson on never winning at the lottery, it was worth it.
I started to make dinner when we got back from the store. Then we went to buy all of our park tickets at shades of green. When we finally got back we sat down to our nice fathers day dinner. I made my staple chicken parm dish (which is to die for) and Bry made a brazilian salad, for dessert we had a german chocolate cake. I think my dad and grandpa were happy campers.
After dinner we all went out to play some more putt-putt. It is really a staple of our FL trips. 5-6 game a day minimum.









Mike was very happy to score a hole in one to beat the boys. The guys were pretty competitive with their putt-putt scores all week. We made some fun memories. My favorite part was after we got back we ended up having a little mini talent show. KT and Andrew knew they wanted to audition for The American Idol Experience the next day at Disney's Hollywood Studios so they sang a few songs for us. Then Liz, Bry and I all sang for fun. Grandma loves music, and loves to sing so she was in 7th heaven listening to all of us. It was pretty fun and got us all excited for them to audition the nest day.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Lobster Dinner

At the end of every school year the school I work for hosts an end of school year lobster dinner for the faculty. It is held a private beach club right on the water. If you like sea food then the food is fabulous and the ambiance enchanting. Mike and I aren't the biggest sea food fans but gave it a whirl. Mike was brave and tried the lobster whole. He had to have some help as to how to crack it open and eat it. I think he enjoyed the first few bites but could have stopped there. I had a bite and hated it. It wasn't so much the taste but the texture of the lobster I didn't care for.
After the dinner there was dancing. It was actually pretty fun. I don't get to dance very often. So anytime I get a chance, I take it. Unfortunately Mike is not a dancer so we didn't stay to much longer but it was till fun. I am lucky to work at a school who values it's employees. It was a fabulous evening and I look forward to next years event.