Friday night, Trevor had a preseason Cross Country Race at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. Rather than drive home late that night, we decided to stay the night in Orlando and make use of the free Universal passes that Jennifer and I had received earlier in the year.
This was Brandon’s first visit to any of the Universal parks. Trevor was here just a couple of months ago for the 8th grade Grad Night. Jennifer and I had not been since our honeymoon, in May 1994.
We tried our best to fit in both parks in one day, but we missed some rides. We’ll be back to City Walk for shopping and dinner in the near future.
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Anytime I need to do work on the cars, motorcycle, boat, etc., I always encourage the boys to help. Brandon is usually there before I ask though. At nine years old he has helped with everything from lawnmower tune-ups to tire changes.
Recently, my AC condenser fan started to die, so I picked up a new one and told Brandon to swap them out all by himself.
I showed him were it physically was on the car, and let him go. He successfully removed the front grill, removed the old fan, installed the new fan, and reinstalled the grill.
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The second day of our "tubing adventure weekend” was at Ichetucknee springs. The last time that we had been here, was in 1991, the first year that Jennifer and I began dating. Which oddly enough was also with Dan and Doris.
After breakfast, we packed up and check out of Cabot Lodge. We picked up some fried chicken for lunch and headed to Fort White. With Dan and I being of the “engineer” mindset, we had already figured out the logistics of our two cars and the separate start and stop locations. Apparently, the only option for vehicles are the “exact” way the Parks department wants you to do it. So after are redundant scenic route around Fort White, shuttle bus trip, and a brief back-woods-Deliverance moment, we finally got on the river.
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The past weekend was our "tubing adventure weekend”. We spent the it in Gainesville so that we could visit both Ginnie and Ichetucknee springs. I’ve been wanting to go to Ginnie springs since I was a kid, but this was my first actual visit.
We drove up Friday after work, and stayed at Cabot Lodge. My highly recommended “Gainesville” home. Located right off of I-75, it is unlike any other hotel. It is more ski lodge, than hotel. In the lobby common area of the hotel there are tons of big comfy sofas and chairs all around a center fireplace. There are large wall mounted TVs mounted in various areas that provide a living room type of feel to them. Each evening the adults are welcome to a complimentary cocktail social, and each morning you have a breakfast including everything from fresh waffles to Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
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Today's port was Cozumel, which we have been to before. Prior to the trip, we had not made official plans here, due to the fact we were not sure if we would actually be coming here due to the Swine Flu warnings. Instead we were just going to "wing it".
Yesterday I had talked to Brian (in the band) about recommendations for Cozumel. He and his wife mentioned a place called "Caribe", that would try out.
Trevor decided that he would rather stay on the ship, rather than go ashore, so after breakfast Jennifer, Brandon, and I headed out to do a little shopping. Then to meet the rest of our group at Margaritaville so the kids could play in the water, on their advertized "water trampolines".
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My favorite part of any vacation is experiencing something new. Thus far in the cruise this has not been the case. But, today's port-of-call is Grand Cayman, which we have never been to.
Our day started out with a late breakfast in the Top Sider's buffet before meeting up for excursion in one of the lounges. Today's adventure will be a two stop snorkeling tour which would take us to a reef and a shipwreck.
We tendered to to docks, and were lead to our snorkeling boat, which was about 4 blocks away. There were about 35 people in the snorkeling group, which was much smaller than snorkeling excursions we've been on, on Carnival.
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Today was our first day at sea, therefore our first day to sleep in. Trevor was out past 2AM, so he didn't come to breakfast with us, in the Topsider's Buffet.
This being our first breakfast in the buffet and Brandon's favorite meal of the day, he LOADED his tray full of food. Including fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, Krispy Kreme doughnuts (yes at sea), and more. Check out the picture to the right.
Today was another day of not seeing Trevor. After finally getting up, he headed to the teen area. We didn't see him until dinner.
Jennifer and I made great use of the day, lounging by the pool and sleeping for about three hours in deck chairs on deck four. It is by far the most relaxing place on the entire ship. No music, no crowds, great chairs, and the sound of the ocean.
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This morning we arrived in Key West. I had prearranged to rent an electric car, with a GPS guided tour of the island. So we simply met up with others in the same excursion and Disney staff led us off the ship to the tour operator.
After a quick how-to lesson on both the car and the GPS devices, we set off on our own.
The GPS tour is basically a large clockwise tour of the island, passing by the touristy spots, like the Southernmost Point, Hemmingway House, etc. The rental didn't include any admissions to any of the attractions. So at $179 through Disney, it can be quite an expensive excursion. Additionally, the rental period was for only 3 1/2 hours which is not nearly enough time to drive the route, stop at the sites, and do a little shopping or lunch. Ideally, you would need at least five hours to do it all. A few weeks prior to the cruise, I tried to rent the car directly from the tour operator for a cheaper rate, but was informed that Disney reserves the entire fleet.
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Today is our maiden voyage on a Disney cruise ship. While not our original plan for Summer vacation, it was simply a price that we couldn't pass up.
We have cruised on both Royal Caribbean and Carnival in the past, so it is likely I will be comparing a lot of this vacation to them. I apologize in advance.
Today we woke up at home and finished packing, and ended up getting to the terminal a few hours later than we normally do, so we didn't have the time to explore the ship like usual. But unlike RC and Carnival, our rooms were ready as soon as we got on board.
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Yesterday, we all headed to the Pie Festival in Celebration to partake in Celebration’s Great American Pie Festival and the all-you-can-eat, pie buffet. If you have never been, I suggest you do next year. I’m personally partial to Rocky Mountain Pie’s Apple Crumb.
Admission to the festival is free, but the buffet is $10 for adults and $5 for kids, but it is well worth it. It includes all the pie, ice cream, coffee, and milk you could ever want.
While there, Brandon competed in the kid’s Pie eating contest, he didn’t win, but he learned not to get a berry pie next time. Check out the video below.
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