Mother's Day - 3on3 Tournament

We left Florida under a very big wet black cloud on Thursday it didn't stop raining all day however we managed to pass the day before catching our evening flight back to Calgary. Due to our late landing time we booked into a hotel nearby to the airport getting into our bed just before 1am. Both Tegan and Fraser were great on the flight and travel really well. To Fraser's delight the following morning he could look out the bedroom window and watch the aeroplanes taking off and landing - easy entertainment. Our 21/2 hr drive back to Ralston was fine however we were very to surprise as all the snow had disappeared. This weekend has been lovely blue skys and good temperatures.

Before leaving for our holiday I signed up to play in a 3on3 ice hockey tournament on the Sunday and friends kindly invited us round for dinner on the Saturday night. Both events seemed a good idea however we totally forgot that the clocks went forward and therefore lost an hours sleep, already still a little tired from our Disney holiday. So Saturday night we had a wonderful evening round our friends Noo and Richard's house for dinner, Noo is an awesome cook and made a fantastic supper. Before we knew it the clock was saying 1am which of course was 2am so with a sharp exit and into bed to try and get a few hours sleep before I had to be at the ice arena for 7.15am. The tournament was made up of 6 teams with 9 players in each team including at least 2 girls. Although I was a little apprehensive due to playing with predominately guys who can skate considerably faster than me and have more expertise I had a great day, especially as I managed to score 2 goals for my team, one of them in the last few seconds - a great confidence boost. We did make it into the semi final but unfortunately got knocked out So Mother's Day didn't really happen in the Leonard house as again we forgot due to being away but also the Canadians celebrate in May - so there is hope! Chris and the kids came along to the arena to support me which was great, both Tegan and Fraser are very happy playing in the arena with all their friends.

So fingers crossed the weather will remain good this week, so much so the gophers are making a reappearance - which is a little early in the year due to the good weather. Tegan and Fraser have a short week at school this week as the school is closed on Thursday and Friday so I need to find some activities to keep us busy.

Disney Animal Kingdom....

Tuesday was the day we visited Disney's Animal Kingdom and saw some amazing animals in very realistic environments. On entering the park we hot footed it across to the other side to go on Kilimanjaro Safaris, passing by the Tree of Life, which I did briefly believe was a real tree to Chris' amusement. We jumped aboard an open air safari vehicle which took us on an exciting expedition through an African-style savannah where giraffes, gazelles, elephants, rhinos and lions roam freely. On the safari vehicle, which had us all bouncing around in our seats, we were guided through the safari with comical commentary and drove very near to the animals whose habitats were extremely lifelike and plentiful. After going to several parks throughout the week we have got used to planning our routes in order to see the things we really want to see or experience as the day goes so quickly, especially with 2 small children. It was particularly important here as the Animal Kingdom shuts at 5pm in order to allow the staff time to care for the animals. We also visited the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail where we got to see several gorillas including a mum with a 2 week old baby - Fraser was very interested.

During the day Tegan and Fraser also had their faces painted - this was one of the best examples I have ever seen. We then caught the Wildlife Express Train over to the conservation station. After eating our lunch we went to the petting area or as called in Disney the 'Affection Section'. Tegan saw a handler holding a Rose Boa snake and was quite happy giving it a stroke and asking questions.




The next big thing that we did was to watch 'Finding Nemo The Musical'. This was a 45 minute production taken from the original musical - an amazing show to watch. The actors danced not only on the stage but came out into the audience and one of our favourites, Crush the sea turtle, appeared regularly saying - 'hey dudes'. By the time we had watched the show it was 4pm so with only 1 hour remaining we went into the Dinoland section and let Tegan and Fraser run around the Boneyard which is a play maze build around fun dinosaur fossils.

So with our final day at Disney parks over we headed back to the hotel for a quick swim and an early night to bed. Both Chris and I said we have loved visiting all the parks but we have had enough of being herded like sheep with the several other thousand people - dare I say it we are actually craving the prairie or better still Canmore and the mountains!

Today was a day of eating indulgence as first thing this morning we headed to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for breakfast. This is an American institution by the looks of it as the restaurant was packed with everyone's tables fully loaded with pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and many a heart surgeon nearby no doubt!! Tegan was sensible and only ordered one pancake - however it was chocolate and even she couldn't finish it. Fraser went for the 5 pancake option - baby size luckily but again once covered with maple syrup even he didn't quite clear his plate. Chris went for the combo option - 2 pancakes, bacon, hash browns and scrambled eggs, most of the plate was left empty. I however went for the entirely healthy option blueberry pancakes - however 4 enormous pancakes came out loaded with blueberry compote and once I added some maple syrup was a truly awesome stack and yes somehow I did manage to eat all of them!!! We promptly paid the bill and went to play mini golf - phew some exercise! After a week of playing golf in Phoenix recently Chris had to lower his expectation levels and played crazy golf with the family. Once again like everything Disney, its built with quality and entertainment in mind - it was great fun. Needless to say with his recent intense golfing practice Chris won (and was the course leader that day he wanted me to mention!), both Tegan and Fraser loved it.

After a quick stop at an outlet mall to purchase the last few remaining items that we 'really' needed the remainder of the afternoon was spent in the swimming pool at our hotel along with a couple of Mojito's in the jacuzzi.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave Florida for our journey back to Canada after having experienced a really great holiday at Disney and Florida.

Disney Magic Kingdom...

Sunday was spent having a lazy day by the hotel swimming pool in an attempt to miss the big crowds. Thankfully the temperatures finally got better. The hotel has an activities room for children with everything from a pool table, ping pong table (Fraser's ball direction wasn't so hot), bank of pc's, Wii console, and lots of small activities for children. Outside nearby the swimming pool area there is a great climbing frame. So after spending a couple of hours of playing we finally jumped into the swimming pool. Although we didn't leave the hotel we still didn't return to our room until around 6.30pm.

Monday off we went to Magic Kingdom with beautiful blue sky and warm temperatures - shorts were the order of the day for Chris and Fraser. Thirteen years ago Chris and I went to Magic Kingdom on our honeymoon and one thing particularly disappointed me; it was one of Disney's anniversarys and instead of the beautiful blue castle it was covered as a pink cake - today I was happy to see the castle looking great and back to its original best.

As we arrived all the Disney characters were putting on a show in front of the castle which was a great start to the day which both kids really enjoyed. Throughout the day we worked our way around the park from Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland, Mickey's Toontown Fair and finally Tomorrowland. We went on lots of rides and saw many shows which were all entertaining. The whole Leonard family went on Thunder Mountain Railroad which is a runaway train rollercoaster, Fraser was even holding his hands in the air although the expression on his face said "should I really have my hands up Dad?".

The day passed far too quickly and we felt that we had only managed to see half of the park. Dispite being out of the supposed busy season there still seemed to be an awful lot of people there. We were quite happy therefore not to be visiting in the heat of the summer, as queuing would have been a bit grim. The day was ended by watching the amazing fireworks display which even Fraser agreed he enjoyed (normally he doesn't like the loud explosions of fireworks). Leaving the park with the other thousands of people was a lot easier and smoother than we had thought it was going to be. We entered the park via the monorail and left by boat. Chris and I both agreed that you could easily go back to the park and still not see everything as there is so much there. A great day out.

Cocoa Beach and Seafood...

Again we headed East out of Orange County to Cocoa Beach for a day of sea and sun. We had the sun but the temperatures were still too low for Chris and I to go into the Atlantic sea, however it didn't stop Tegan and Fraser who had a great time. After changing into their swimmers they ran towards the sea, Fraser ran in and promptly ran out, after a few more attempts they both acclimatised and we couldn't keep them out. Then we began building sandcastles, shortly after which Tegan decided she would wrap herself up and do a spot of beach snoozing! To Fraser's delight we built the sandcastles and he destroyed them - sounds like a Royal Engineer in the making!

After a couple of hours on the beach we headed to the 'Ron Jon Surf Shack' - the biggest surfing shop in Cocoa Beach. This was clearly a surfing 'mecca' with everything in the store being very 'cool' - so we promptly left with a couple of purchases.

We finished off the day driving to the marina for dinner at Grills Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar. For those of you who have ever been to El Sids in Mojcar Grills was the Floridian version, but we have to say better. We had a fantastic seafood dinner where Tegan ate a 1lb of shrimps to herself. Finally we have arrived back to our hotel once again late in the evening.

Epcot...

Today we visited Epcot and what a great day we have had. The weather still could be a little warmer as we had to wear jeans and sweaters but we had a blue sky and sunshine.

For the first part of the day we stayed within the area around the famous Epcot golf ball - well it looks like one, not sure if that is its official title. Our first stop was the Seas with Nemo and Friends where we boarded a 'clamobile' and set off on a quest to find Nemo and pals, all very entertaining. Then we went into an auditorium to have a 'Turtle Talk with Crush'. For those of you who do not know who Crush is, he is a friend of Nemo's and is a very friendly turtle who has a lot to say for himself; he also says 'dude' a lot which Fraser now emulates with regular prompting from Chris.

Then it was off to the 'Land' attractions. This included a great ride called 'Soarin' which simulated free fly hang gliding adventure over the west coast of the States; luckily Tegan and Fraser were both tall enough to go on this ride which although a little tentative they did enjoy! After Soarin we went on a boat ride which looked at 'Living with the Land' which took us through a greenhouse with ultra modern farming techniques (well it is Epcot!) and a fish farm where Disney are developing different methods of growing vegetables, fruits and herbs - all very educational.

After visiting 'Reimagined - Spaceship Earth' which is located in the parks icon, we then went to meet some of the famous disney characters including, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto which brought a huge smile to Tegan and Fraser's faces.

Much later on in the day we eventually started to walk around the world showcase visiting all the countries. Chris first of all had to have a pint of Guinness in the Rose & Crown Pub in the English sector which apparently was very good. Then shortly after we entered Germany so decided to reminisce where Chris had a weitzenbeer and bratwurst whilst Tegan and Fraser had a preztel; we decided we need to go back to Germany as some point.

Our final destination was the Test Track ride. This is where you board a GM mock car on the longest, fastest attraction in Dinsey history; again Fraser was tall enough so off we all went. We boarded a racing car style ride which went through some of the tests that new cars go through, bumpy surfaces, up hill, quick stops, round corners, and finally outside on a test track at 60mph - Fraser loved it, Tegan not so sure.

We seem to be getting back to our hotel later and later each evening. To finish off our day today we sat on the sofa and watched the Epcot fireworks from the comfort of our hotel room. Tomorrow maybe a visit to the beach and a fairly relaxed day. Tegan has done a great job walking many miles with the aid of ice cream!

Kennedy Space Centre...

We took the road East out of Orlando to the Kennedy Space Centre for a day of memorable experiences. After purchasing our tickets we got onto one of the buses to take a tour around the facility. This included the Apollo/Saturn V Centre and the LC-39 Observation Gantry which is 60 foot tall, where we managed to see the latest Space Shuttle on its launch pad being prepared for an April departure. We also passed the launch control centre and the track that the crawler-transporter takes which carries the shuttle to the launch pad. It takes the crawler approx 7-8 hrs to move the shuttle the 3 1/2 miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch site.

We stopped off at the Apollo/SaturnV centre and stood underneath a Saturn V space rocket which has been broken down into 3 parts so that you could see the various stages and respective engines. Hanging from the ceiling alongside Saturn V are large copies of each of the mission badges. Roy, one of the engineers who worked for NASA for 30 years, was in the centre happily answering any questions, so we went to say hello. Fact - it wasn't until Apollo 11 that America finally landed on the moon and there were only 7 missions that actually made it to the moon. Fact No2 - Apollo 11, the first successful mission to the moon, very nearly never made it back. Buzz Aldrin used a Bic Pen lid to act as a circuit breaker which was essential for the lunar module to take off from the moons surface. Without that pen he and his illustrious counterparts would have been stranded on the moon.
On our bus tour around NASA we were amazed by the amount of wildlife that we saw including an abundance of armadillos, a bald eagle and I spotted an alligator swimming up a small inlet of river. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge surrounds most of the space centre, with NASA owning 2/3 of the park. On our return to the Space Station Centre we wondered around all the exhibits including the rocket garden, several rockets that you could look inside, then Chris and I went on the new Shuttle Launch Simulator Facility ride.

Fewer than 550 men and women of the earth's almost 7 billion people have ever flown in space and we got to meet one of them - Jack Lousma. He flew on 2 missions, Skylab II where he was the pilot, and STS-3 where he was Columbia's commander. We chatted briefly and he even said thanks to Chris for 'serving' and doing his bit; I think he was quite touched!

The other amazing experience that we had today was to actually watch NASA launching its newest weather satellite. The unmanned rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral carrying a $500 million GOES satellite. The launch was scheduled to take place at 6.15pm which we didn't think we would see as we expected to have left by then. However, having been told the launch would be delayed we left the centre and drove down the causeway where we saw lots of cars parked on the verge so decided to join them on the off chance it would take off soon. Luckily, after approximately 20 minutes the launch took place in twilight - quite amazing. It is not everyday you get to meet someone who has actually been into space and watch a rocket launch. A difficult day to beat.

Disney's Hollywood Studios...

Firstly it was very cold today, so much so we had to buy Tegan a warmer top upon our arrival at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Luckily later on in the day the sky cleared although it remained very cool (relatively speaking!) So off we set for another exciting day at Disney, with out hotel again proving perfectly positioned as the journey only took 10 mins. We managed to see most of the shows during the day, also a good incentive to get indoors as it was a little warmer! We started off with the High School Musical parade, Beauty and the Beast, Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular which was the same routine that Chris and I saw 13 years ago on honeymoon, but it was still very good.

Fraser's eyes lit up when we found the Star Wars set and watched the Jedi Training Academy where young children could go up onto the stage and fight with their light sabers against Darth Vader. We then took a turn into the Star Wars shop where Fraser lined up in the queue to have his own custom made light saber built, he even got to pick what parts he wanted.

During the day we also saw the characters street parade which was very entertaining especially as Tegan and Fraser have recently watched Monsters Inc and the Incredibles both of which were in the parade. We did stop for a bit of a treat in a 50's diner for ice cream sundaes and cheese cake for Clare. Another great, full day with more to see and do tommorow - an out of this world experience we think.

Sea World...

We arrived in Florida Sunday evening after a relatively painless journey. We found our hotel straight away, the Parc Soleil Hilton Grand Vocations Club, which is a new hotel and therefore everything is immaculate. We have a one bedroom suite which is bigger then an average one bedroom flat in the UK. The kitchen is fully kitted out including dishwasher, microwave, cooker, washer/drier and a large fridge. Tegan and Fraser are on the pull out sofa which is the size of a king size bed. Our balcony also looks out towards Epcot and Disney so we can watch the firework display each night. The other facilities include several heated pools with water slide, hot tubs, outside play area and indoor activities centre for Tegan and Fraser, gym along with a running trail around the lake (which we have both used already!) and a couple of eating places. We think its about the best hotel we've stayed in.

Monday we had glorious sunshine (Tuesday's forecast was not so great, thunder storms) and about 70F, so we headed off to Sea World for the day. The drive from the hotel to the park was 6 minutes - so we are very near to all the attractions. We all qualified for free entry into Sea World thanks to the generosity of the American armed forces welfare package. This recognises the British Army also and as such Chris was allocated "Hero" status on is his ticket and Tegan, Fraser and my ticket read "Hero Dependents"! Due to the time of year the park was relatively quiet and we could see all the attractions/animals that we wanted to get up close to. Obviously we watched the Shamu show however this had been downscaled due to the recent fatality involving one of the trainers. As such none of the trainers got into the water with the whales but it was still an amazing show. Later on in the day was saw the dolphin show which was spectacular, then whilst having a look at the dolphins in a smaller pool - Fraser commented as one of the dolphins cleared its breathing hole - "that dolphin has just farted!" We got to see the polar bears, walrus's, beluga whales, sharks, sea lions and many other aquatic animals. Tegan and Fraser also braved several childrens rides including the Shamu express (mini roller coaster) whilst I finished up the day going on the Manta - a new very fast ride where you are hanging by just your harness, what a buzz to finish the day.

Tuesday was as predicted very overcast with strong winds so we collected all our Disney tickets from Shades of Green, which is a hotel within Disney that is solely for America Armed Forces personal. Once again they provide a fantastic welfare package for their guys but also allow British serving members to purchase tickets for Disney attractions at a reduced rate. On our way to Shades of Green we spotted several Armadillos on the grass verges, which I have never seen before. We then headed off to an outlet mall for the rest of the day. I have thought of several friends throughout the day who would love to have been shopping there. Needless to say we came home with several bags of goodies and a much lighter bank balance. We then all jumped into the hot tub although the sky was black and strong winds - great fun.

Tomorrow - off to Universal Studios ...